Victory Theatre

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Uploaded on: February 3, 2023

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The Arcadia was not the first cinema in town. Animated pictures had been screened at the Blackheath Public Hall for some years by a variety of traveling picture show men. In 1912 entertainer Bert Black set up permanently in ‘the old hall – brought up to date with a powerful electric plant’ (an 8 h. p. De Dion run for a while by Fred Carroll, later manager of the Melbourne Capitol). The local newspaper reported: ’From Glenbrook to Mt. Victoria there was not a spare crag or dilapidated fence which did not bear evidence in poster form of the Grand Opening Night - Saturday 23rd November 1912’. Screenings continued there until the Arcadia opened in 1915. (Black also screened for a while at Leura).