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Short Subjects, Long Memory Valhalla Plan Protest
Many thanks to David Kilderry for • • The National Trust of N.S.W. has
•• • •• • •• • •• • •• • •• • •• • • •
the outstanding article Selected Short •• NEWSREEL •• urged the city council not to pass the
•
Subjects (CR 51). • current plans for the redevelopment of
CINEMA, THEATRE &
••
Having worked for Hoyts from mid- • •• the former Astor Glebe, (now
70s to the late 80s, (mostly in Sydney) I •• SHOWBUSINESS NEWS • Valhalla) which closed in August 2006.
•
remember well the era of Three Stooges • •• • •• • •• • •• • •• • •• • •• • The Trust took a rather novel line
re-issues. (at least in arguments over recycling
National News:
The most incongruous pairing that theatres), arguing that the plan for
An Australian Film Commission
I remember was the Stooges supporting subdivision would discourage any
initiative will see eight venues in
The Dresser, a serious ‘art’ film starring future entrepreneur from re-uniting the
regional Australia equipped with a
Albert Finney and Tom Courtenay. We building as a cinema.
digital camera system in early 2007.
floor staff almost drew straws to avoid Tanner Architects, a firm with
Kodak (Australasia) Pty. Ltd. will
working Cinema 4 where The Dresser strong conservation credentials, claim
provide equipment and installation.
was playing, to avoid the complaints! that their plan is ‘totally reversible’.
Locations are Hervey Bay (Qld),
I wonder if the ‘short subjects’ varied The art deco exterior of the building
Wagga Wagga and Singleton (NSW),
from State to State? One that I remember can be seen in the colour section of
Yarram (Vic.), Devonport (Tas.) Port
with regular monotony in Sydney was CR 53.
Augusta (S.A.), Albany (W.A.) and
Land Of The Long White Cloud,
Katherine (N.T.). Regal Newcastle Closes
produced by the New Zealand Film
Corporation. It was what one would
consider a 20-minute ‘Infomercial’ today.
I remember the acclaim The Herald
in Melbourne heaped on the short
Listen To A City in August of 1966,
depicting the ‘sophistication’ of
Melbourne. City accompanied They’re
A Weird Mob, produced in Sydney - a
sort of tit-for-tat.
When the Palais St Kilda showed
The Regent Yarram, a beneficiary of The hall in the Newcastle suburb of
The Dirty Dozen, the person
digital technology. Birmingham Gardens, which proudly
responsible for fitting the letters into
carried the name Regal Cinema has
the illuminated marquee left out ‘plus’ NEW SOUTH WALES:
so that the sign read - THE DIRTY Reprieve for Avoca Beach become a victim of the high cost of
DOZEN SHORTS. Theatre fitting out to current fire safety
standards.
John Holloway, Strathmore Residents and holiday- makers are
smiling about the turn-around for this Mr Bruce Avard, who has run the
Whoops! Regal since 1968, screening fare that
quirky, single-screen on the NSW
I stand corrected about the would otherwise not get shown in
central coast threatened with
significance of the visit by Fox head Newcastle, was able to keep going
redevelopment (see CR 48).
Spyros Skouras, and wish to correct a because of the peppercorn rent asked
The new owner, Norman Hunter Jnr.
memory slip in the same story by the council.
is the son of the man who built the
(Memoirs Part Two CR 52).
theatre in 1948. Now the council has to comply with
The Snowy Mountains Authority their own safety regulations, and it
Mr Hunter had not been involved
Commissioner was not Hudson Fysh as might be all too costly.
with the theatre for nearly 30 years, but
I stated. Sir William Hudson held that
with wife Beth and three teenage Melbourne:
position.
children to help run it, it’s back in the Outdoor Cinema Booms
Peter Broome, Mount Victoria
family, and spruced up - new seats, Warm nights have brought
sound and new projection equipment. Melbourne’s film lovers outdoors, and
The stage curtains have had an not just to the drive-ins.
interesting life: Regent Sydney to The annual summer Moonlight
Valhalla Glebe, and now to Avoca Cinema at the Royal Botanic Gardens
Beach Theatre. has a big rival: the Open Air Cinema
on the Birrarung Marr parkland behind
Federation Square, close to the Yarra.
Also new is the Rooftop Cinema -
exactly what it says - on Curtin House,
Swanston Street, which brings night
life to a staid commercial building.

CINEMARECORD 2007 5