Page 10 - CinemaRecord Cover Section # 45

IVANHOE
IVANHOE

PARADISO
PARADISO

Clyde Simpson taps into his
rich memories of the picture
palace on the hill.

Congratulations to Gary Ross and
Tim Armstrong for their detailed
feature on Hoyts Ivanhoe
(CinemaRecord, Issue 42.)
That theatre was really my second
Years later, when I heard that the years I had stood at the bottom of the
home. Conveniently located at the end
theatre would close on Saturday 29th ladder in the alley so that I could hear
of our street in Ivanhoe Parade, it was a
June 1968, I drove to the theatre with the projectors operating. The small bio
sanctuary where I could escape to
my seven year old son Andrew. The box speaker monitors carried the sound
another world. My favourite vantage
curtains had just closed on the final track quite well above the general noise
point was a seat high at the back of the
afternoon matinee as we made our way of the gear. I was always tempted to
dress circle directly outside the
up to the dress circle to the projection climb the ladder to gain entry to the
projection room door. From there I
room door and to my former ‘technical theatre. I would have loved, just once,
could watch the movie, as well as keep
director’s’ seat against the bio box wall. to push the buzzer button at the bottom
a tally in my trusty exercise book of the
number of reels and changeovers and We were admitted to the booth by the of stairs used to signal to the bio box
note the general condition of the prints. assistant operator. I had actually entered that the film switcher from the theatre
By pressing my left ear to the the inner sanctum after 20 years! My sharing the same print had arrived.
projection room wall, I could hear the first impression was that the projection The stand-alone slide machine was
projectors running and the chatter of room was very small. It was like a located in the traditional spot in the
the Simplex intermittent sprocket as the concrete bunker with a shiny painted booth. It was located between the side
tough nitrate-based film was rapidly concrete floor and mats along side both wall and the back of number 1
transported through the projector. machines - not at all what I had machine. The on-screen slide change at
My childhood hero, master imagined. The old universal projector Ivanhoe was different to anything I had
projectionist Reg. Oldham and his bases inherited from the early Powers seen at any other theatre. It was single
assistant, never seemed to miss a installation were in contrast to the more loading, with an in-focus vertical wipe
change-over, or experience a technical modern Kalee amplifier installation. that would move from both sides of the
breakdown of any kind. Only once did I Foot operated switches were located screen to meet in the middle while the
see a mistake - a glimpse of the start of beneath the spool box of both machines slide was changed.
a Val Morgan film ad. threaded back to on the floor. These would have been used Some slide machines at that time
front at the end of the interval slide for the picture change-over mechanism used a prism to split the light source
presentation - but most of the audience controlled by a solenoid arrangement. from the arc lamp on machine no. 2.
would not have noticed, as it was The sound change-over switch would Slides were faded while the slide was
projected on to the curtains while the have been in the normal position on the changed. Other more advanced
house lights were still half lit. front of the Kalee pre-amp secured to the machines cross-faded or wiped from
bio box wall. one slide holder to a second one,
When CinemaScope was introduced
Standing on tip-toe at the rewind enabling an uninterrupted presentation.
in the early 50’s, the light on the screen
bench immediately inside the projection These systems generated good images
increased. This was possibly because of
room door, Andrew was allowed to and were quite different to today’s
the introduction of new backing lenses
rewind the last reel of the Elvis movie Multiplex 35mm slide/carousel full
and improved mirrors in the light
Clambake, ready for the performance screen images, driven by a low voltage
boxes. I once snuck in through a side
that night. To mark the occasion, we quartz lamp producing a dim image,
door and sat in the back stalls of the
were delighted to be given the movie's even in total darkness.
theatre to watch the highly revered
coming attraction slide.
Hoyts head office technical crew go At the opposite end of the
about their work of lining up the new Outside the projection room a projection box was a small booth with
and improved light source and narrow exit led me to a steel ladder. its own port into the theatre. This area
adjusting the new aperture plates, so This led down to ground level into a contained a spotlight used for the
that the image would sit comfortably on small alley at the rear of Lintons occasional special stage presentations.
the new wide screen. chemist shop. Many times over the
10 2004 CINEMARECORD