Silver Screen Theatre
42 North Steyne,
Sydney,
NSW
2095
42 North Steyne,
Sydney,
NSW
2095
2 people
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The site is now a restaurant(Fire and Ice), a bar(Tropikana Manly Beach) and a cafe(Rope and Anchor Cafe).
used to live 2 doors up from the silver screen,they used to have 20 cent movies which would start at midnight sometimes,lots of horror movies ,monty python ,cult movies. every one would get stoned then off to the silver screen,what a great place manly was then.
Spent many happy shifts as a young assistant projectionist under the MGM banner when recently equipped with four track magnetic sound in 1970 by MGM following renovation. The projection room had three Simplex E7s with Peerless Arcs. Very very little room to move but really well equipped. Unfortunately no windows to open and enjoy the view of Manly Beach across the road.
I loved this cinema due to the cult film genre and I wished I was able to see those cult R rated flicks that used to display on the front (i was only a kid at the time but i got see films like THE MUPPET MOVIE , SALTY , WHEN A STRANGER CALLS , GRIZZLY and anything else that was shown as Sat arvo matinee or double feature. As you left the cinema, 2 Stanley Krubrick classics A CLOCKWORK ORANGE & 2001 A SPACE ODDESY were displayed as exited the cinema. And the cinema was located across the road from one of the most beautiful beaches in Manly.
Manly has a great pioneering history in establishing movies as major entertainment in Sydney. James Stedman, Manly resident and well known confectionary manufacturer,began showing films in St. Andrew’s Presbyterian Hall and on the oceanfront beach in the period 1905-1908. The enterprise was moved off the sand to North Steyne and was run by The Minns Brothers who built what became known as West’s Castle An ad in The Manly Daily for January 31st, 1910 advertised films “The Life Of Napoleon” and “The Airship Destroyer” By 1913 this site had become The Arcadia theatre. Information and photos courtesy of John MacRitchie, Local Studies Librarian at Manly Library.