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Known as ‘The Theatre of the Stars’ and built for Loew’s Inc., the Metro Theatre was a dazzling Art Deco style cinema, seating some 1,411 patrons.

The Metro Theatre opened on November 10, 1937 with “After the Thin Man” with William Powell and Myrna Loy.

The entrance to the theatre was ‘resplendent in polished red granite and chromium metal’. The outer foyer had gray marble walls, picked out with stripes of darker shades.

There were 804 chairs in the stalls and 607 in the lounge/circle. The lounge and foyers were tastefully decorated with soft lights and furnished with comfortable sofas. Mirrors framed with drapes added an air of spaciousness to these areas.

The auditorium was of a parabolic or a saucer-shaped design, gently sloping towards the centre, both upstairs and downstairs, to give patrons better sight-lines and hearing conditions. The screen was a modern English white rubber screen, perforated all over with tiny holes to give better effect and let the sound through from the six speakers mounted behind.

There were three projectors, two for running the film and one in reserve in case of a breakdown. This was a familiar trait at all Metro theatres around Australia.

Contributed by Greg Lynch -