LEE GREGORY – 2026 SOUTH AUSTRALIAN CINEMA PIONEER OF THE YEAR
92 year-old Lee reminisces…
Aged 13, at school, I came to know a near neighbour (Noel Gregory) who was assistant projectionist at the Hindmarsh Town Hall. I helped out on weekends and holidays for free as ‘3rd Boy’ in the projection room, and my interest in movie projection was sealed.
I stayed on after I left school whilst working as a Telegram Boy for the PMG which lasted 6 months (not my favourite job). At 15 years of age, in 1949, I was offered and took up a traineeship as assistant projectionist at the Plaza Theatre on Henley Beach Road. At that time Adelaide supported about 130 theatres, some operating 4 sessions per day. Evening sessions, particularly on weekends, were a real social occasion requiring formal wear. Many people had standard week to week bookings. Being 15, for me it was a real buzz to be part of.
For the technically-minded, the Plaza Theatre projectors were open head, front shutter systems still with pedestals to play accompanying sound recordings on disc, the format used when talkies were introduced. Old technology even then. As we screened nitrate prints which were highly flammable, my training emphasised fire safety management along with electrical and lighting. I worked at the Plaza for about 18 months, then transferred to West Theatre in the city. Turning 18, I spent 3 months training at Woodside (National Service) and remained in the Reserves for the next 5 years.
At West Theatre, I joined Bert Craddock in showing movies on weekends and evenings at orphanages which were free events. The projectors being large, were disassembled into boxes and re-assembled at each venue. We attended Goodwood Orphanage, Escort House, Minda Home and Magill Boys Home. It was fun for us and the children, but I had to stop after 18 months, for my National Service.
Turning 21, I passed exams and testing to attain my Projectionist Licence and transferred to Clifford Theatres (Greater Union) as Projectionist, also relieving at various Odeon theatres around Adelaide. I was given the “Goodwood Star” theatre (now Capri) as home base. My new assistant was young man named Bob PARR – we shared a lifelong friendship. My Manager Mr. Clem Williams also sent me to Ballarat to relieve for 7 weeks and then later to Loxton for 4 weeks.
The introduction of television in the late 1950s resulted in smaller theatres closing. The Unley Odeon started hosting live-shows, featuring, amongst others, The Luton Girls Choir, Vera Lyn , Nelson Eddy & Gale Sherwood. Meeting and working with these people was a great experience.
Murray Nehius of Clifford Theatres then asked me to assist with servicing projection equipment, an offer I took up. Later I went to Mount Gambler and other locations to upgrade or remove systems no longer used. The early sixties saw plain paper copiers enter the office business market via Rank Xerox , and the Clifford Service department was asked to carry out the servicing of this equipment. Due to growth in the copier market, via Noel Sweeney (ex-Clifford Theatres), I joined him at Rank Xerox in 1963. We expanded to accept government contracts including Woomera, Pine Gap and Alice Springs. It grew so fast we moved to larger premises three times, and I became service manager, looking after 25 personnel. I ended my official working life after another 28 years with Rank Xerox.
Interestingly, Rank Xerox and Greater Union were both part of the Rank Organisation. Years later I happened to notice an advertisement in the Guardian local newspaper. The City of Charles Sturt was calling for volunteers. They had decided to reactivate the Woodville Town Hall and were seeking volunteers with past connections with the Hall to assist in its operation. Keen to play a part, I volunteered from 2011 through to 2021 when the council chose to close the program. I must say that I enjoyed operating the lights, curtains and performing other duties.
I feel fortunate to have enjoyed working in the projection rooms of so many of Adelaide’s movie theatres. I feel fortunate to have had this experience and practiced my craft during the peak of the movie theatre boom and its social importance across those years. Whilst advances in the making and presentation of movies seem to show no bounds, personally, I find myself recalling and reminiscing for the nostalgia of that period.
Capri Theatre, Adelaide