Cinema memories

I rather like Cinema Paris although I don't tend to frequent the complex. It is part of the Hoyts conglomerate without the downsides of that cinema chain. Cinema Paris focuses on art house films, its four screens and auditoriums are well maintained and you don't find yourself battling with giant pop corn carton wielding noisy patrons with a predilection for sticking their feet across the row of seats in front of them.

I went to a morning screening there today. There were only four other patrons in attendance. It was all very serene. We were in Cinema 2 which I think is the largest of the four auditoriums and I know is the only one with giant photograph panels on the side walls depicting Hoyts Cinemas from the 1940s/50s/60s. Those panels bring back memories.

The left wall

The second panel from the left is a photo of the Regent Theatre. I'm sure it's the Regent in Melbourne which still is in operation but as a live venue. I saw Andrew Lloyd Webber's 'Love Never Dies' there last October. The panel shows the cinema was screening 'Anastasia' starring Yul Brynner and Ingrid Bergman. That would date the photograph as 1957.

The right wall

The second panel from the right is Sydney's heritage listed Regent Theatre which was demolished virtually overnight in 1988 and subsequently replaced by a high rise apartment cum retail complex. The panel shows the cinema was screening 'Do Not Disturb' starring Doris Day and Australia's Rod Taylor. That dates the photograph as 1965/66.