Ambassadors Theatre

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Hoyts Theatres Ltd – Greatest Theatre Circuit in The Southern Hemisphere – TRIBUTE – Ernest G. Turnbull, Managing Director of Hoyts Theatres Ltd, also chairman (1953-63) of The Fox Film Corporation (A'sia) Pty Ltd – Ernest G. Turnbull oversaw the dawn of an entire new era in entertainment with “The Robe” & a new wide-screen, stereophonic process called CinemaScope to the Ambassadors Theatre.

Ina Bertrand wrote – In December 1941, Ernest G. Turnbull succeeded C. E. Munro as managing director of Hoyts Theatres Ltd in which the Fox Film Corporation (A'sia) Pty Ltd held a controlling interest; Turnbull was also chairman (1953-63) of Fox. A period of expansion saw the introduction of wide-screen processes, such as CinemaScope and Cinerama, in which he took a personal interest, and the opening in 1954 of Australia’s first drive-in theatre at Burwood, Melbourne; the period of decline began with the challenge of television. After a brief retirement, Turnbull returned in 1966 as chairman of Hoyts Theatres Ltd and Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation (Aust) Ltd. A chevalier of the Légion d'honneur for his fund-raising efforts for French widows and orphans of Indo-China (Vietnam), Turnbull was appointed C.B.E. in 1960. He died on 24 July 1974 at Rose Bay, Sydney, and was cremated. His wife, son and daughter survived him – FIN

CINEMASCOPE & 4 TRACK MAGNETIC SOUND – History tells us that the first CinemaScope installation in Perth was at Hoyts Ambassadors, with 20th Century Fox’s “The Robe”, premiering Dec 31, 1953. Hoyts Theatres Ltd, managing director Ernest G. Turnbull made an advance announcement In the “Sunday Times”, 22 Nov 1953, that Hoyts would spend £20,000 equipping the Ambassadors for CinemaScope. He went on : “Instead of the limited, almost-square picture we know today, CinemaScope gives real-life perspective, on a curved screen, two and a half times the normal width. Special glasses or viewers are not required. ( The modern miracle you see without glasses ) CinemaScope’s dimensional depth is an illusion created by light on myriad’s of tiny mirrors embedded in the screen, which at the Ambassadors Theatre will be 39 feel wide and 15 feet high. Sound we are accustomed to hearing from a single amplifier set at the center of the screen, is recorded on 4 separate magnetic tracks at point of origin, and is distributed through speakers arranged behind the screen, and around the auditorium. The outlook for 1954 is very bright indeed, said Mr. Turnbull. Leaders of the motion picture industry see CinemaScope as the dawn of an entire new era in entertainment – Contributed by Greg Lynch –