Melody Theatre
247 Belmore Road,
Sydney,
NSW
2210
247 Belmore Road,
Sydney,
NSW
2210
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Riverwood is a small suburb about 16 miles southwest of Sydney. Until 1957 it was named Herne Bay and you might wonder why an entrepreneur like Tom Virgona would want to build a cinema in a district with only 2,000 people.
The answer arrived in 1943 when the US Army established a large hospital and barracks base. The 490 buildings housed over 4,000 beds and a medical staff from Johns Hopkins University. General MacArthur, Eleanor Roosevelt and Bob Hope were among the visitors.
At war’s end the Royal Navy moved in, treating over 9,000 patients. A few years later buildings were converted to public housing and Herne Bay’s increased population could see the latest films at the Melody Theatre which opened on 15th January 1947. The Melody Theatre operated until 30th January 1965 when it closed with Ernest Borgnine in “McHale’s Navy” & Audie Murphy in “Bullet for a Badman”. Tom Virgona died in 1966.
A supermarket was built on the site, which today is now part of Riverwood Plaza shopping centre.
Contributed by
john gleeson
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Description credit I Grew Up in Mortdale 2223 Facebook page.
“15 January 1947, the Herne Bay (Riverwood) Melody Picture Theatre opened on Belmore Road back in the days when all proceeds were donated to Legacy.
The Melody Theatre (right of pic in gallery) was built by Tom Virgona in a paddock on Belmore Road. The suburb was not served by local buses in the early days due to poor roads and there were very few trains which kept people away in wet weather. However, it was very popular because the manager was a passionate movie lover who was very tolerant of children. His theatre was his hobby. At Saturday matinees he encouraged children ‘to come on stage and sing, recite, play or generally raise cain to their own and the audience’s delight’. The picture theatre closed less than 20 years later on 30th January 1965 with the screening of “McHale’s Navy” and “Bullet for a Badman”. The building subsequently demolished and replaced with a supermarket."