OLD PERTH # 6

A Cautionary Tale

Once upon a time there was a city called Perth, it was the remotest city in the whole wide wide world and in this city there were a group of old buildings that were a sight to behold. People used to get all dressed up and go into these buildings where they would laugh and smile and enjoy a thing called live theatre. It made people very happy and the city was very content. One of these theatres was called the Ambassadors Theatre and it was on Hay St.

Ambassadors Theatre
The Ambassadors Theatre

Ambassadors Theatre
Ambassadors Theatre on Hay st

Ambassadors Theatre
Ambassadors Theatre Interior

Slowly but surely live theatre had to compete with something new, it was called a movie, people loved movies. Then one day an evil developer came into the city telling everyone of this wonderful new thing called the Cinema Complex. It was all the rage in a far away land of bountiful opportunity, that people admired it and wanted to be just like it, it was called America. At these Cinema Complexes you could watch a number of different movies on very big screens with things called Sensurround. People loved the movies and they loved Sensurround and slowly but surely nobody went to the theatres much anymore. This is what the evil developer wanted to happen and he bought up all of the old theatres and knocked them all down to the ground....

Ambassadors Theatre demolished
Ambassadors Theatre Demolition

Ambassadors Theatre demolished
Ambassadors Theatre Demolished

Ambassadors Theatre demolished
Sunlight bursts through the roof of the Ambassadors Theatre

....so that he could build his big post modernist Cinema Complexes with really attractive carpets. The people of Perth flocked to these cinema complexes and everyone was happy again. One of these cinemas was called the Hoyts Cinema Complex which was built on top of the grave and bones of the old and now demolished Ambassador Theatre.

Hoyts Cinema Perth

Hoyts 1 Cinema Perth

Hoyts 1 Cinema Perth

Hoyts 2 Cinema Perth

Hoyts Cinema Perth

They showed films at this complex with strange names like Star Wars and California Suite and Cheap Detective....

Star Wars at Hoyts

hoyts cinema


Then in the 1990's people suddenly stopped going to the city based cinema complexes, they now had their own home theatre systems and DVD's and they preferred to group at suburban cinema complexes where there was easy parking and really bad tasting food venues attached. So the city cinemas all went broke and they started to tear them all down and now the people of Perth began to wonder why they tore down the beautiful old theatres for such a short term fad of less than 20 years. They wondered why their city had no life in it after 6pm and wished they had a heap of old theatres in the city. That would bring it back to life they thought because they enjoyed live theatre in the 21st century as they had become more sophisticated as their little city became less and less isolated in the Internet super highway world. Then everyone had a big laugh because they realised that all of the 1980's evil developers had either gone broke or gone to jail or died in their 50's. The people of Perth thought this was funny and ironic and then they realised that as funny and ironic as it was they probably should have stopped the evil developers from tearing the soul out of their city.

The End

Comments

ruz said…
this was a great post mate, cheers
stu said…
hey thanks.
Anonymous said…
that is so sad - Reb .
Garry D said…
I used to go to the cinemas at Wanamba Arcade, but I go to the Borders that now sits on the site a hell of a lot more!
Greg Lynch said…
For those who believe that theatres have souls I mourn the
destruction and passing of the Ambassadors. As a youngster while working for 20th Century Fox, every Thursday I delivered the latest Movietone News-reel to Hoyts Ambassadors Theatre, then crossing opposite with a news-reel change to the wonderful Art Deco flagship known as the Hoyts Plaza Theatre. It was in the front stalls of the Ambassadors Theatre during 1954 that I first experienced Cinemascope & Sterophonic sound with the screening of "The Robe". and now after a lifetime of working in the Motion Picture Industry I look back with warm appreciation to the Golden Era and know we have lost something very special with the passing of our wonderful Picture Palaces..Excellent blog Stu - Greg Lynch.
stu said…
Fantastic memories Greg, thanks for sharing :)
Anonymous said…
As an eleven yrar old my friend and I joined the CCC ( the childrens cinima club.I can still sing our club tune to this day.I think it was the Hoyts we went to,though there were others, The Mayfair, and the Grand (a favourite among expat poms) Mum & Dad took us there often.
I later worked at Sandovers another icon. thanks for the memory
stu said…
My absolute pleasure :)