Plaza Ballroom

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Plaza Theatre Melbourne 191 Collins Street, Melbourne, VIC - CINERAMA installation

Notes by Eric White: Photo by David Harcoan.

Hoyts was well placed to introduce Cinerama. It had led the exhibition industry in introducing CinemaScope and drive-in theatres, was owned by industry giant Twentieth Century Fox and had prestigious cinemas in all Australia’s capital cities.

Cinerama sent a representative to Australia to inspect possible sites for conversion. The manager of Melbourne’s Esquire in the late fifties remembers being told by the city supervisor, Reg Potter, to expect a visit. A rather physically unprepossessing but fast talking American, Harry Goldberg, turned up in due course and gave the Esquire the once over. Hoyts New Malvern was also briefly considered. It was decided that the Plaza was the best proposition for Cinerama however. The Sydney Plaza was also selected.

Cinerama reserved the right to control the choice of theatres for an installation. The technical requirements were complicated. Only wide auditoriums with the capacity for horizontal projection would do. There could be little or no ‘rake’ as key-stone distortion of the picture had to be avoided. There also needed to be adequate height for the screen as well as width.

Cinerama was not to open in Melbourne until Boxing Day. The Melbourne Plaza closed for renovation on 22 October. The last program was “The Gift of Love” with Lauren Bacall and Robert Stack.

The Plaza was Cinerama’s 40th theatre to open, but that does not mean that there were 40 cinemas operating at the end of 1958. Several had closed due to lack of new product. Only one new film per year was being produced, and many smaller U.S. cities could not sustain a twelve-month run. Hence there was a good supply of second hand equipment.

Considerably more work was required for installing Cinerama at the Melbourne Plaza than in Sydney. Though it was Hoyts most suitable Melbourne theatre, there was not enough stage height for the screen, and only just enough width. The original proscenium height was about 17 feet (5.2m) and the new screen was to be 24 feet high (7.3m). Consequently the floor of the auditorium needed to be lowered, with a greater slope down to the stage. Three new projection rooms, with their own ventilation system, had to be constructed. Only then could the screen and projection gear be installed.

Melbourne’s equipment came from Loew’s Teck in Buffalo New York, which had closed in February 1958. Its screen had been 78 feet wide and 28 feet high (24m x 8.5m). It had to be cut down to 64 feet by 23 feet (19,5 x 7m) to fit into the Plaza. Unusually, this screen had a ‘solid’ centre panel instead of being completely vertical louvers, as was the normal Cinerama practice. The usual curvature of a Cinerama screen was 146 degrees, but due to a lack of usable stage depth, the Plaza could only accommodate a curvature of 120 degrees, or a depth of 12 feet (3.7m). As it happened, the screen fitted neatly between the organ chambers on either side of the stage, just in front of the old proscenium. A new stage apron was built, curving out into the auditorium - Contributed by Greg Lynch -