Hoyts Rialto Kew 218 High Street, Melbourne, Victoria

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Lines of history – CinemaScope part 2

The Rialto Theatre was equipped with large typhoon ventilation fans hidden behind ornate plaster grills, these were located on either side of the proscenium. This meant that the width of the new CinemaScope screen was governed, or limited by the distance between the plaster ventilation grills. You can see this by inspecting the photo of “The Rialto” proscenium featured on this page. Our forefathers had no inkling that screens were going to get bigger. The height of the exit doors were also a problem. (Rialto Theatre interior photo courtesy of CATHS). The Miracle Mirror CinemaScope screen, with it’s carefully designed optical units, are not simply sheets of fabric sprayed with aluminum or other reflecting materials, but they have been embossed with tiny beaded elements, each one is so shaped as to reflect light toward the audience, no matter where seated. The result is a screen substantially uniform in brightness from side to side, when viewed from any seat in the theatre. But there are additional costs not normally associated with the requisite equipment. That is the removal of several rows of seats to make way for the new big screen. For the audiences viewing comfort, “The Rialto” seating capacity was reduced from 1269 to 1154 … Contributed by Greg Lynch –