Cameo Cinemas 1628 Burwood Highway, Melbourne, VIC - 1935

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Uploaded on: December 9, 2025

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Cameo Cinemas has been an iconic home of cinema in the Dandenongs since it opened with MGM’s David Copperfield on November 22, 1935. It continues to offer an eclectic range of content, a sophisticated food menu and boasts an outdoor cinema blessed with natural beauty.

The Cameo was built by Alex Jaensch, who came to the Hills with his family in the early 1920s. An industrial chemist by trade, Jaensch later became a “picture show man”, touring the area showing silent films in halls and sometimes tents. In 1934 he commissioned the architects Scarborough, Robertson & Love to design a cinema for Belgrave.

When the Cameo opened, it was a true “picture palace” of its time, embellished with ornate Art Deco features and distinctive silhouetted trees on the cinema’s interior walls. The renowned foot warmers in cinema 1 are still in place to this day.

From the time of its opening and through the 1940s and ‘50s, the Cameo remained a hub of social activity for the local community and beyond, as the Dandenong Ranges became a popular holiday destination.

Contributed by Greg Lynch -