Grove Open Air Theatre

Greg Lynch says – THE GROVE OPEN AIR THEATRE – The Grove Picture Company was the instrument of the Trustees of Alexandra Park, locally known as The Grove and was set up to raise funds for improvement to Alexandra Park. At the time the group were running silent movies at a loss in the New Shire Hall Yarrawonga. A decision was made to investigate talking pictures. Finance was arranged and the necessary equipment was purchased. With sound the venture at The Shire hall became profitable, and in 1935 it was decided to construct a new open-air theatre to run during the summer months. This theatre was established on the site in Belmore Street, which is now Rotary Park and the car parking area in Hume Street. The theatre was named “The Grove Open Air Theatre, Yarrawonga”. Picture shows were run very successfully at this location, providing residents with quality entertainment, while at the same time raising funds for community benefits. For the bulk of the time the theatre was managed by Don Forbes. During the early 60’s, this writer has memories of Don making the journey to Melbourne to book film for The Grove. This was while I was the film booker at Universal Pictures. Don was regarded as an astute programmer. However by 1964 the arrival of the television juggernaut made the picture business unviable, so the Grove Picture Show was forced to close, regretfully forever –