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The Ventilation System had few Fans – Street Corner Stress
Arthur Knox The veranda awning was a sitting
target for high vehicles.
The Typhoon ventilation system was a
disaster from the word go! Set in a large loft The Great Coca-Cola Calamity
above the stage and behind the proscenium, – Eric White.
access was from a steep staircase. Fans driven
by motor and belt, the whole thing was noisy I was present in 1975 when a
and vibrated. Originally broad-belt driven large truck carrying empty Coca-
then changed to a V-belt, this didn’t stop the Cola bottles tipped on its side
contraption throwing the belts off regularly.
as it went around the corner.
The air- intake in the back wall leaked water A huge vacuum cleaner
when it rained. In a downpour the curtains
on the back of a truck was called
would eventually saturate and shrink about
18 inches. They slowly returned to normal out. It had a hose about a metre
length as they dried out. in diameter. It sucked up all of
the glass in about an hour!
(Those curtains suffered other indignities too. You would never have known
If someone left the back stage-door open anything had happened.
when the curtains were closed and the
projectionist opened the curtains, two massive A Dangerous Occupation –
parachutes would appear as the old motors David Kilderry
struggled with those billowing balloons. –
David Kilderry.) The veranda was always getting
hit by cattle trucks trying to turn
Lightning Strikes (More than) Twice into Glenferrie Road.
– Arthur Knox
It was ringed with pin lights, The infamous corner and the frequently replaced pin lights
The decorative masonry “spires” on the which I often replaced. Up the
parapet were often struck by lightning. One ladder one day I had the thought, "What Craig Cahill, projectionist from 1975-77.
of them had a chunk of concrete blasted out would happen if a cattle truck misjudged the
of it. corner while I’m up here!!??
Orderly Chaos – Craig Cahill

At a 5pm session of Murder on the Orient
Express, with 600 people in the theatre, and
with one reel to run, the power went off. I
raced from the bio-box downstairs to start the
emergency power generator but it wouldn’t
respond. After 20 minutes or so I ran back into
the theatre to discover that the power had
come back on. A huge crowd was now in the
foyer which I assumed was for the eight
o’clock session. I raced back up to the bio and
started the last reel.

Within minutes the Manager came in
screaming “Stop”. I brought up the house
Eric White, sometime projectionist from 1975.
lights to see much confusion in the
auditorium. While I was attempting to get the
generator started, the Manager had decided
he would give out complimentary tickets to
all patrons at the 5pm session. So the theatre
had emptied, and patrons for the 8pm session
The lightning strike-prone “spires”
had been admitted!
Reel Mishaps – Arthur Knox In short, 600 patrons had missed the climax,
and a further 800 had seen the last reel first!
Malvern almost always switched programs
They too had their money refunded.
with the Crystal Palace Caulfield, and
sometimes with the Southern Hampton, All the complimentary tickets that had been
often reel by reel. The situation with Hampton
issued (more than 600) took years to filter
was fraught, since the theatre was eight km
away compared with less than two km to the back into the theatre.
Crystal. Sometimes reel three would arrive
before reel two. Sometimes reel two wasn’t Reminiscences by:
screened at all. Arthur Knox, projectionist at the New Malvern for
30 years.
David Kilderry, relieving projectionist in 1986.

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