ANOTHER ONE BITES THE DUST

Pearl White

The awning has already gone from the South Darling and Oxford Streets corner site which had been a movie house since 1911. Originally West’s Olympia Theatre, seating two and a half thousand in its circle and stalls, it first showed The Power of Love, presumably the Pathé Frères Pearl White - Crane Wilbur vehicle.

Up graded in 1920, the building passed to Union Theatres and was later claimed as Sydney’s first suburban “talkie” cinema. Greater Union redecorated in the 1930’s and it was renovated and rechristened as Darlinghurst Odeon in 1954. Closed in 1960 it became part of Chris Louis’ Greek movie circuit till opened again 1969 as the Mandala Cinema, with an “alternative” cinema program.

The original theatre building was hollowed out and rebuilt into shops, offices, accommodation, cafes, and a Greek Orthodox community Center. The redevelopment included The Academy Twin Cinemas seating 478 and 291 people. They opened in 1973, with pictures of London’s Oxford Street Academy Cinemas on the walls to suggest its art movie aspirations. The dual auditoriums on street level had a new entrance on Sydney’s Oxford Street.

Following their acquisition of the Chauvel auditoria up the road in in Paddington Town Hall, The Academy Twin Cinemas were closed by then operators the Palace chain in 2010.

I felt connections with all this. In its days as the suburban movie house closest to the CBD, Greater Union showed no interest in competing with it’s city houses there and gave it over to Columbia second runs. I walked up from the park for Glenn Ford and Randolph Scott  double features and you can (could) still see the recesses in the street chip board display wall the shape of the then standard one sheet posters.

  Restored interior.

The Academy did Press Events for its festivals where I got to talk to Sandrine Bonnaire, Yves Angelo and Nikita Mikhalkov. Eddie Allison’s Russian Film events aired some of the best work of the time - Konchalovsky’s 1979 Sibiriada (Siberiade)  and Aleksandr Zarkhi’s 1980 Dvadtsat shest dney iz zhizni (Twenty Six Days from the Life of Dostoyevsky) among them. 

One of these opened a deep vein of nostalgia, with a stroppy gauntlet of hostile anti-Ruskie immigrants framing the entrance in the best fifties tradition. I suggested that Bob Gowland call the Herald but he figured that that kind of attention could back fire and let the free publicity go.

The Academy Twin also premiered my I Am No God (on a double with M. Hulot’s Holiday!) Nothing else came out that week so we actually got some press, even if Film News’ rep skipped the briefing.

When Palace shuttered it, I made a doomed attempt to have the Academy Twin made a Cinematheque - established central venue, right size. Clover Moore forwarded the proposal to the minister and nothing more was heard. I picture the established interests who would have laid down on the tracks in front of that one, if it was ever seriously considered.

You can still stand on the opposite side of the road, and note the profile of the 1911 picture palace. I suspect I’m the only one to see this as another loss for local movie activity and history.  They say the new hotel development will preserve the original exterior. We'll see.

West's Olympia runs It's Love I'm After in 1938

Barrie Pattison 2021.