ROSS KING – 2026 VICTORIAN CINEMA PIONEER OF THE YEAR
Ross King writes…
At the age of seven or so, and a regular attendee of the Saturday Matinee at the local Hoyts Suburban – The Circle Theatre, North Essendon – I became entranced with going to the pictures. It wasn’t so much about the film that was screening, but more the whole sensorial experience of the theatre with its plush interior, expectant atmosphere and the eager audience who would loudly cheer when the lights dimmed for the show to start.
Of course I wanted to emulate this at home, where a backyard bungalow became the theatre with the aid of a filmstrip projector and wind-up gramophone. However, I wanted to know how the pictures were able to move and talk. When about twelve, following a matinee I knocked on the bio-box door and asked if it would be possible for me to have a look at the projectors. The operator was the late Pioneer Harry Gratton to whom I eventually became assistant. Years later Harry recalled my visit and said had I asked to “see the cameras“ he would have declined my request. From this point on I knew becoming a projectionist was my career goal.
By the time I completed secondary education in 1960 much had changed. With the introduction of television, two of our three local theatres had closed. Still determined to pursue my goal I was interviewed by Ken Neck at his office in the Regent theatre and commenced a one month training induction at the Circle. When completed I transferred to the Barkly, Footscray. My parents were most unhappy about my choice of career and convinced me to accept, although rather begrudgingly, an apprenticeship as a Radio Mechanic in the Service Department at Pyrox Ltd. Pyrox were agents and manufacturers of a wide variety of projection and sound equipment and many of the fellows in the service department were projectionists, including a few displaced by theatre closures. Frequently I would be asked to do the holiday rosters for the assistants of the projectionists with whom I worked during the day and thereby I gained a lot of experience on a variety of both new and ancient equipment. This, along with my apprenticeship training repairing audio and projection equipment gave me a good grounding in cinema technology. A couple of years later the assistant operator position at the Circle became available and this became my nightime job where I remained until the theatre closed in 1966.
Having completed my apprenticeship I left Pyrox and took a position at the Radio Theatre at RMIT where Colin Williams and the late Pioneers Sid Williams, Kelvin Rodgers and Garth Eva also worked. RMIT conducted the Projectionists Training Course and while there and having reached the mandatory age of 21, I passed the examination and qualified as a licenced Projectionist.
The theatre at Gisborne, then a small country town north west of Melbourne, had been closed for a couple of years. Keen to run my own show I re-opened the Gisborne Mechanics Theatre where I was able to exhibit quite successfully for a few years.
After a couple of years at RMIT I moved to the State Film Centre as a Technician / Projectionist where I remained for five years.
While working at the Film Centre, a teacher from the Maryborough Technical School visited. The school had purchased the closed Paramount Theatre to use as an assembly hall. As there was little entertainment in the town the School committee decided to start a weekly film show in the theatre. One of the teachers, an instrument maker by trade, volunteered to train as the projectionist. He would visit me every couple of weeks and we would go over the subjects required for him to sit the Licence examination. Having qualified for the licence and running the show at Maryborough for some time, he contacted me again and suggested I may like to apply for a position as a teacher of Media at the newly constructed Technical Teachers College, in Hawthorn. I hesitated, as the idea of being a teacher did not appeal. However, I did submit an application and when advised the application had been successful I made a protracted decison to accept. A condition of employment required me to undertake further study for a teacher training certificate and later a Diploma and a Degree.
For many years I taught Media, film projection and Cinema Studies, all the while doing relief projection work at a variety of situations around Melbourne and in the Western District.
Having retired 25 years ago I joined the Cinema and Theatre Historical Society and have written articles for the CinemaRecord magazine. This has given me the opportunity to research and record the exploits of a number of the original Cinema Pioneers whose stories would otherwise have been lost to history.
Now as an old codger I’m still amazed that I retain just as much interest in cinema as I did 70+ years ago, and would like to thank the Victorian Committee of Cinema Pioneers for a most unexpected nomination. It’s been a great journey.
Hoyts Circle Theatre, North Essendon