13 April 2024
While in Winton we found out that they had renovated the old Royal Theatre. I’d been there before and it was a bit run down, but they have done a superb job doing it up now through lots of love, care and attention.
They were showing Nostalgia Night the night we were there, which was really interesting. Mary (one of four volunteers opening for the same number of patrons) gave us a wonderful history of the theatre. Unbelievably, there were once 5 theatres in Winton in its prime, however only the Royal operates now. The theatre is open air with canvas seats and a skating rink at the front (for use when movies are not showing). The layout included a row four seats to one side where Mum, two kids and Dad could sit, with an extra wide isle where prams could be parked. This was known as Pram Alley.
Mum and Dad went to see The Sound of Music at this theatre. It rained that night (very uncommon indeed in Winton), so they watched from the covered section through the rain.
I also remember Mum telling me the story of how she was lined up to enter the movies once. A doctor from the hospital was ahead in the line and someone rushed up to him to say a baby needed to be delivered at the hospital. The doctor turned to Mum and said, “Helen, can you please hold my spot in the line as I need to deliver this baby. I won’t be long.”
We started with God Save The Queen (the national anthem at that time), then were shown static ads an announcer would speak to, Movie Tone news, a very old Sylvester and Tweety cartoon, and then some old black and white American comedy (no talking).
A really, really great night and so glad we went.
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