Page 10 - CinemaRecord #79

The Waverley Theatre, near the corner of Waverley and Burke Roads, was
one of eight independent cinemas built in suburban Melbourne in the
mid-to-late 1930s.

Opened on December 26, 1936, it was managed by the Selleck group and was reliant on MGM, Paramount and BEF film product. A close
competitor was the Crystal Palace Caulfield, (500 metres west) which was programmed by Hoyts. Since the Crystal was a bit of a barn, Waverley’s
serious rival was Hoyts New Malvern, 2.5km west. About 1 km north of the New Malvern was the Embassy, another independent. When this
became the Metro Malvern, with a ‘simultaneous with city’ policy, the Waverley Theatre’s MGM offerings lost their sheen…

ur family came down from Orbost in Mum and Dad selected a night and we all went I could not get my Assistant Projectionist’s
Oeither 1941 or 1942, by which time the along and approached the door-man at the ticket because I was too young. It was a hush-
theatre would have been five or six years old. stalls entrance. In those days the doorman was hush job. You have to remember that this was
We moved into a house in Burke Road, only a dressed in a dinner suit, would you believe it? during the war. Blokes were hard to get. I was
stone’s throw away. We hadn’t been there one When he saw the letter he said, “Oh no, you there. I had been associated with the theatre
week when we had a letter from the manager go upstairs.” That was a nice touch. Nobody as a lolly-boy and was selling Film Chat, so
inviting our entire family to go along any night would think of that these days. I still don’t I was pretty well known. Frank Allerdyce,
of our choosing, (possibly excluding Saturday know how they knew about us being new the manager, asked me if I would like to take
night), as guests. arrivals. on the Assistant’s job. They relied a lot, in
retrospect, on a 15 year-old kid. I reckon I
My sister and I started going to the Saturday went there in 1943.
matinees, and one day I saw a slide - something Actually, at the time I stepped up to assistant
to the effect of ‘Lolly-boy wanted’. I asked projectionist it was made plain to me that I
permission of my parents to apply, which they was taking the job of someone who was in the
gave, so I started this lolly-boy caper two or army, and when the war was over he would
three nights a week. A lot of others who ended be entitled to his job back. But when he came
up in the game probably had this humble back he wasn’t interested in the job. I never
beginning. saw or spoke to him at all.

The projectionist was Ken Watts. He was a
funny fellow, but not humorously so. A big
strapping bloke. Most of those guys were in
the army at that time, but of course he was
in a reserved occupation. He went off to the
Majestic Flinders Street and was replaced by
Eric Rowe who was from a Hoyts suburban
theatre on the other side of town. At that time
Hoyts were not terribly good to work for.

Eric Rowe was a very nice fellow. He lived in
Hampton. He also moved on to either the State
or the Majestic. Unfortunately he contracted
pneumonia and died when he was only in his
forties. By this time Ken Neck was Victorian
president of the union. Eric had a son and Ken
Neck told Rowe’s widow that if at any time he
wanted a job in the industry, the union would
do its best for him. The son did work in the
industry for a while.
When Cyril White, who had been with
the occupying forces in Japan, returned to
projecting it was at the Albany newsreel
in Collins Street, before he moved to the
Waverley Theatre “sunburst” proscenium
Waverley.

10 2013 CINEM AREC ORD