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Uploaded on: July 21, 2024

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Photo & history by Tony Beyer which shows the proscenium and re-birthing of The Grand theatre in the early 70’s which was brought about by entrepreneur & Picture Show Man Brian Davis.

History of The Grand - The Footscray Advertiser of Saturday November 18th 1911 records that the Grand Theatre was opened on the evening of the 15th with an “invitation only audience” which included the Mayor and Councillors. Although the reporting is brief in that it concentrates on the opening by Cr Shillabeer and the use of electric light, some idea of The Grand’s activities can be gained from the Theatre’s flyer in the Independent of late April 1912 in which it advertised a double bill of events over the May period listing some 30 films which would be shown including Features such as “A Military Scout”, “The Oath of His Office”, “The Prosecuting Attorney”, documentaries such as “Aquatic Life”, comedies such as “What’s the Use of a £5 note” plus an array of news films from Pathe. As all these films were silent, a theatre orchestra provided appropriate mood background music. The orchestra was later noted as The Grand Symphony Orchestra of 12 players.

The flyer shows on its front page an illustration of a theatre with the projectionist at the rear of the auditorium working a projector set on a tripod. This simple arrangement accounts for the lack of a Bio Box in the earliest plan and why a small projector box was subsequently hand-drawn onto the Health Departments plan at the rear of the building.

Contributed by Greg Lynch -