Empire Theatre

56 Neil Street,
Toowoomba, QLD 4350

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function37
function37 on July 23, 2018 at 12:54 am

Worked for (Colonel) Bob Dodd in 62 and 63, tough , fair person. I was 14, 4s11d a session. Loved it, loved the movies, still do, and so pleased to see the restoration of a grand cinema. Now I need to see a movie there.. if only I still lived locally.

ilreput
ilreput on March 27, 2007 at 11:54 pm

In 1980 I was a drama student at Uni in Toowoomba and saw the inside of this theatre prior to any talk of restoration. I never thought it would ever be resurrected from the outrageous vandalism it had been subjected to during the time it sat silent. Anything within arms reach had been ripped up and smashed, the ceiling had huge gaps and 2 feet of rubble covered all floor space. In what had once been the main foyer, an enormous poster of Gone With the Wind framed in hundreds of gold-leafed cardboard crescents had been reduced to a barely legible image, only 3 or 4 crescents remained. A wall of original Coca-Cola mirrors, that had once decorated the refreshments area, were now only jagged bits of glass. The building looked in the last throws of death. I am yet to see the restoration except in pictures, but it’s a miracle that this art deco wonder rose again

tomdelay
tomdelay on September 12, 2006 at 8:22 am

Did this theatre ever have a pipe organ? If so, what was it?

The website claims a chapel has been added to the Empire complex and that the chapel has a pipe organ. I am just curious about the
theatre auditorium itself.

sdoerr
sdoerr on November 28, 2003 at 10:42 pm

Wow what a large and unique lighted stage!