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CINEMA AND               Your                                  hank you for CinemaRecord #
                          THEATRE                      Letters                      T72 – an issue of great interest and
                             T
                          C A   H S                                     (continued)  marvelously illustrated.
                                                      ore sad news from Tasmania with the   On my many visits to Melbourne l toured
                  HISTORICAL       SOCIETY       MDecember passing of Andy Lockett   various suburbs, often spotting buildings
                        ESTABLISHED 1989         – Projectionist and relief-man for all the   and wondering if they were old ex-theatres.
                                                 theatres in Launceston.            I do wish that CinemaRecord had been in
                                                                                    operation back then so that I could have
                           Australia             Andy had also run his own show at Lilydale   looked and confirmed sites!
                       ABN 37 195 378 179        (TAS) for a good many years, until television
                        Reg A0020747R
                                                 made the final blow.               Interesting story on the  Boondall Drive-In
                 The aims of CATHS are: to record the                               Theatre! I worked at Sydney’s Dundas Drive-
                 history of cinemas and theatres, and to  l remember the time with two friends we   In for 23 years – and in several others doing
                 promote interest in theatre heritage and  made a tour of Lilydale looking for traction   holiday relief work in the projection room.
                  architecture, and other related areas.  engines and old drivers. Knowing of my   When l commenced, the BBQ and most of the
                           Patrons:              cinema interest and that I had just given   additional amusements had been discontinued-
                      Frank Van Straten OAM      up the game, one said “we must go and see   thankfully there were no things like the Go-Cart
                        Peter Smith OAM                                             races like at Boondall! I was more interested
                          Committee:             Andy and his picture-show”.
                President: Gerry Kennedy 0432 434 169  .                            in helping make the business of viewing and
                 Vice President: Ross King 9370 9479  I shall always remember that the bio-box was   listening to movies better for the large crowds
                  Secretary: Mike Trickett 5278 1986  off-set and very small with two mis-matched   who attended in the earlier days.
                 Treasurer: Rodney Bendix 9563 2927  projectors and an amplifier sitting on a chair!
                   Editor/Committee: Kevin Adams  This was a big difference from the plant that   Good story of the Trocadero Picture-Palace
                         0409 946 066            l had used, and I thought at the time – this   at Newtown. During walks along King Street, I
                     Committee: Shane Moore      must be a pretty poor show. How wrong I   had entered that building when it was occupied
                                 +               was – the program was run to perfection,   by a junk dealer. My impression was of a dance-
                        Qld. Convenor:           proving that a good man can make a good   hall – I had never thought about theatrical
                     Steve Maggs 0413 805 320    show with any old machine!         entertainment – very enlightening!
                                 +
                Archivist: Gerry Kennedy 0432 434 169  Andy (like many of these men), repaired   The introduction of CinemaScope to
                      Events Co-ordinator:       radios and black-and-white television sets.   Sydney’s St.James Theatre took away a lot
                       Les Auld 9689 2765        He would always welcome you to his home   of the charm of that place. All those hanging
                       Publications Sales:       with an engine-mans cup of tea and a smile.   curtains covering the beautiful décor!
                    James Barrand 0418 520 315   He also did some work for the Bye Bros, and   One of the main features noticed when you
                 Membership Secretary: Peter O’Reilly  was an army projectionist during the war years.    entered had been the magnificent proscenium
                   PO Box 476 Bentleigh Vic. 3204                                   and stage area.  There was a lovely dark
                      CinemaRecord Editor:                                          curtain with a white flounce. Some twenty
                         Kevin Adams             Andy had experienced some rather sad
                     cinemarecord@hotmail.com    times too- particularly with the loss of two   minutes before starting time, the curtain
                        CATHS website:           daughters when young, but always had the   would rise revealing a lovely set of sparkling
                        www.caths.org.au         big smile when he greeted you and you could   silk curtains. A separate screen was lowered
                        Postal address:          always see if Andy liked to see you.    for slide presentations.  With Keith Swann
                    PO Box 476, Bentleigh 3204.                                     as the Chief, projectionists at the St.James
                                 +               Keep up the good work.             were the smartest!
                Membership
                Annual membership subscription is $45,                   Ray Peck.  Best wishes for another successful year.
                (overseas subscribers $50) and members             Underwood (TAS).
                receive four copies of CinemaRecord,                                                     William Gray.
                notification of events, and copies of the                                               Parramatta. NSW
                agenda and minutes of all meetings.
                There is no joining fee.
                Meetings                           NEWSREEL                                         CINEMA AND
                Meetings are held on the last Sunday of                                          THEATRE NEWS
                February, April, June, August,
                October & November.
                Archive
                The Archive is located in the Prahran  NORTHERN TERRITORY:          ALICE SPRINGS:  The giant screen of the
                Mechanics’ Institute, 140 High Street                               derelict Starline Drive-In Theatre has caused
                Prahran, 9510 3393. The Archive will  DARWIN:  Birch Carroll and Coyle   much local debate as developers moved to
                be open between 9.30am and 12.30pm  Cinemas  in Darwin and suburban   have it demolished. It was offered for private
                on the Saturday before each meeting  Casuarina made the move to full digital   sale, whilst some are interested in having it re-
                (see above), and at other times by  projection on February 28.      erected elsewhere as a heritage feature.
                appointment with the archivist.
                Publications
                Back issues of CinemaRecord, other
                publications, CDs and videos are
                available at meetings. Items are also
                available by mail. Please contact James
                Barrand on 0418 520 315 for details.






               4   2012  CINEMAREC ORD
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