Page 22 - CinemaRecord #87
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RECOLLECTIONS OF A COUNTRY EXHIBITOR
by Tiff Rayner
Tom was accident-prone and had been hit Tom was an interesting man, honest as the day
with electric shocks so many times. The old is long, he was clean living and sought a
arcs at the Memorial Hall were always a trap livelihood in the way he knew best - hard
and one had to be careful that both switches on work. He was as tough as old nails and I
the wet rectifiers were off or one would get a remember once seeing him fight a man
hell of a belt when changing the carbon rods. younger than him in front of the show. When
it was over, all of his knuckles were skin bare,
Bill and Tom’s relationship dated back to the but his opponent had disappeared.
war years when a large prisoner of war camp
was established in the district. This British We had to brush between the wall and the
camp was manned by the Australian Army number one machine to get to the back of the
and held 1000 Italian officers who had been bio. Tom the assistant was standing between
captured in the Abyssinian campaign early in the two old C&W P6s with the monitor
the war. There were two compounds as the speaker rattling at him with excess volume. To
political divide was rife amongst the the right was a small stage lamp with a scissor
prisoners. The Kings Men and the Fascists had arc and a small fold-up table that held a 78
to be kept apart. Bill had the contract to show RPM pick-up and a stack of glass slides. The
ay, way back in the late fifties like pictures once a week at the camp. They would front brick wall was covered with notes and
Wmany other young lads, now
grandfathers, I had a small eight millimetre
cine camera and projector. It was the envy of
my mates and had been given to me by my
grandmother who was well aware of my
interest in such things, having watched me
with a torch in a shoe box making shadows on
the wall at age 12.
The small gauge film was OK but my passion
was the 35 mm projectors at the local hall
operated by a man called Bill Jennings. Bill
had been a picture show man since his youth
and had been a member of a travelling silent
show that toured the Upper Murray in the very
early days of the century. He was a juggler as
well as projectionist and entertained before
the picture shows. I had made a film of
interesting events in the town with my 8 mm
camera and screened it publicly in a hall much
to the delight of those who came along with
word soon reaching Bill’s ears that I was
interested in moving pictures.
The following Saturday night an usherette
came to me and asked me to go to the bio as
Bill wanted to see me. As I walked up the
steep staircase to the small room at the top I
could not believe that I was at last to see what
was inside. The smell of the carbon arcs and H A L L F R O N T A G E
Myrtleford Theatre c. 1963
the heavy hum of the wet rectifiers plus the 1963
amplified soundtrack blaring out at the same
level as the backstage speaker only increased head off late afternoon and transport numbers all chalked in black with short
my anticipation. equipment to the camp some 12 miles away. carbon butts. I later saw that the length of
The same machines were used for another some special films was recorded for posterity
Bill was standing on the landing at the top of show Bill owned at a nearby town. on this wall.
the stairs waiting for me while the show was
kept ‘on the air’ by an assistant, Tom Tom carried the heavy machines to the There was an old electric wireless set going
Langshaw, who had been with Bill for years. entertainment hall in the number one with race broadcasts and an aerial wire
I was welcomed and asked did I want to come compound and helped with the projection, stretched across the back of the room. Bill
in for a look. Oh boy, did I ever! then pulled the plant down again and moved it was a lover of the ‘neddies’ and even owned
to the number two compound, some feat when racehorses through his lifetime. This radio
Tom spoke to me as I came in as he knew me you think of the weight in the rectifiers and was picking up so much interference from the
well. He lived close to us. He was a colourful projector heads. This continued through the old arcs nearby I still wonder to this day how
character and the best handyman one could war and Bill often told me he would buy treats Bill got the race results.
have. Tom could fix anything. That’s why Bill for some of the inmates and items such as
maintained his close friendship. stockings for them to send home to their wives Tom would run up and down the stairs
Unfortunately Tom was quite hard of hearing and girlfriends. rewinding each spool of film while Bill
and had been like that for most of his life. ‘minded’ the arcs. Then, as the reel ran, Tom
22 CINEMARECORD # 87