The Cygnet (Formerly Como) Theatre at Preston Street, Como was the first of the Theatres of the 30s in Western Australia to be classified by the National Trust of Art Deco Society members celebrate in Australia (WA) and the first to be registered with the Heritage Council of WA. The classification documents acknowledge the adjoining Picture Gardens formed an integral part of the place. Although not currently in use, the outdoor space serves as a reminder of a time when Indoor/Outdoor cinema played a major role in the social life of many Western Australians.

Members of the Art Deco Committee of the National Trust were among the invited guests who celebrated the occasion of the 60th anniversary with a special viewing the new film "Great Expectations" followed by a Cocktail Party at the new Broadwater Pagoda Hotel. Art Deco attendees happily recalled memories of the their participation in the celebration of the 50th Anniversary of the Como Theatre, where costumes from the 1039s were the order of the day and the occasion was enhanced by the attendance of Sir Charles Court, who conducted a small orchestra as part of the event.

Recently the concept of Open Air Picture Gardens has been making something of a comeback in suburban Perth. This form of entertainment is still considered by many to be particularly suited to what is generally speaking, the warm, dry, "Mediterranean" climate of Western Australia. Although there were some outdoor cinemas in New South Wales and Queensland - and one or two in California, USA - the phenonemon of the Outdoor Picture Theatre was exploited here more than anywhere else in the world. It is a particularly significant link with the lifestyle of the recent past in our state. The best of those still standing have been classified by the National Trust as part of our heritage. Within the memory of many readers they were an important part of the way of family life in WA until as late as the 1960s. As early as 1933-34 there were twenty three Picture Gardens listed in Postal Directories in suburban Perth alone-with many more in the regional centres including such outback sites as Wittenoom and the Wyndham Meatworks. In addition there were at least twelve Picture Theatres known to have Cinema Gardens attached. Many readers may recall amusing (and sometimes near drastic) incidents that occurred at the Picture Gardens. For instance when side-splitting laughter over the antics of Laurel and Hardy on the screen occasioned many an overweight patron to split the canvas and fall through the deck chair!

Nearly all of the Outdoor Picture Gardens were constructed during the 1930s and for a time were the favoured summer entertainment and social venue of a large proportion of the populace. However with the advent of air conditioning in the hardtop Picture Theatres and the introduction of the 'Drive-in' cinemas in the 1950s and 1960s the old Picture Gardens lost their popularity and became unfashionable. With the changing fortunes of fashion, it is fortuitous that one of the original structures, the Camelot Picture Gardens * at Mosman Park Memorial Hall, has been revived, handsomely restored and again become operational. Two new venues, the Luna at Leederville and the Kookaburra Cinema at Mundaring, have also recently made an appearance. In addition, the Somerville Auditorium at The University of WA has been continuously popular since it commenced operation in the early 1950s.

The designs of these outdoor venues varied enormously, from the most basic and primitive sand patch enclosed by a simple corrugated iron fence in outback townships, to well appointed and equipped lawns and gardens in the inner suburbs. The most prestigous and well designed of the Picture Gardens of the 1930s were those attached to adjoining hardtop cinemas.

A most unique and ingenious design was applied to the Windsor Theatre and Gardens *, Stirling Highway, Nedlands (1937) (now a twinned indoor cinema) and sister to the Cygnet which was designed six months later. This was a world first design for the architect William T. Leighton, who cleverly developed the concept of a projecting wing to the main bio-box which when coupled with a trolley rail system enabled the movie projectors to be quickly rolled from the internal to the external garden projection ports and vice versa. This concept was then brilliantly integrated into the design using the 'Nautical Moderne' style then coming into vogue, linking the romanticism of Hollywood with the excitement and romance of the big ocean liners. He created the feeling of a ship's bridge and funnel with the rounded end of the projecting wing, circular portholes and tubular handrails to balcony and escape stairs. This idea was so clearly successful that Leighton was asked to repeat the main features of the design at what was to become the Como (now Cygnet) across the river. Despite superficial differences in detail, the similarity of the designs and their successful resolution of the technical problems associated with outdoor projection is clearly evident. Long before these advances were made however, the Western Australian public had enjoyed a long association with the outdoor pictures.

Early Picture Gardens The earliest recorded showing of the movies to an outdoor seated audience in Perth took place at the Cremorne Gardens, Hay Street, in 1896, not long after the invention of cinematography. Although vaudeville and concerts were the main form of entertainment, the venue provided for picture shows which featured early Kinetoscopes and Biograph shows. This form of entertainment became an extremely popular feature and in 1904 the venue reopened under the name of the Palace Theatre and Gardens.

With the construction of the Kings Theatre at the foot of William Street in the same year, this popularity was 'reinforced and outdoor pictures quickly became so popular in WA that country and suburban cinemas were soon being constructed with an accompanying Picture Garden. Most of the gardens adjoined hard top cinemas (in many cases converted from live theatres), such as the Edwardian styled Lyceum Theatre in Mt. Lawley, which later became the State Theatre and Gardens and eventually restyled as the Astor Theatre* (and now twinned). Patrons at the Old Coliseum Theatre at Subiaco were seated in an open air venue behind the pictured fa~ade until the building was demolished in 1938 to make way for the new Rega1 Theatre* (with Picture Gardens on the opposite side of Rokeby Road)

Many Picture Gardens operated independently from the hard top cinemas and were specially constructed to attract patrons and provide family entertainment during the hot summer months. One of these was the Amusu Theatre in Victoria Park (now demolished) which consisted of little more than a lattice-topped fence which protected front, sides and rear of the establishment, rows of canvas deck chairs, a bio box and a screen. The perimeter fence which frequently housed a ticket box at the entrance, was often traversed by creeping vines and plumbago plants which created a "garden" atmosphere. In some cases however the "garden" was a complete misnomer and relied on a few wilting potted palms to justify the description . Occasionally the screen was flanked by wings and towards the end of the decade stepping and other motifs were sometimes introduced in these side screens.

At the seaside suburb of Cottesloe, local residents and holidaymakers would spend the balmy summer nights at the new Lido Picture Garden constructed beneath tall pines near the Indian Ocean at the foot of Forrest Street. One of the most prestigous in the group, the Lido was built solely as an open air venue. It was designed by Howard Bonner in 1936 and adjoined the popular Lido Cabaret which operated until the 1960s as Perth's favoured night club. Catering for an exclusive audience of 550, the Lido (also closed in the 1960s) consisted of a 94ft .x 92ft. walled garden space, and a proscenium with a vaguely Oriental motif.

Many, such as the Rockingham Picture Gardens, were situated at seaside suburbs and holiday resorts. In the State's north west the old Derby Pictures * is still operational and Broome's famous Sun Picture Gardens (1916) is believed to be the oldest operating picture gardens in the world. It is probably also the only picture gardens that, until the construction of a levee bank in 1974, was subjected to periodic flooding by high tides so that patrons had to hitch up their skirts or roll up their trousers before wading to higher ground. The more chivalrous males would sometimes carry their partners but on one wet occasion a well built woman was observed giving her smaller husband a 'piggy-back'. A popular tourist attraction today, the half roofed structure has been painted up in bright colours but still looks much as it did more than eighty years ago.

Whilst it has been acknowledged that most of these Picture Gardens were constructed during the 1930s, those built earlier were invariably upgraded during this active period in the state's cinematic history.

In the early decades of the cinema, Picture Theatres with adjoining outdoor gardens generally made use of the interior bio box, and projection for outdoor viewing involved the tedious and time consuming physical relocation of the projectors which had to be unbolted and then reconnected in the alternative location. By the late 1920s several Perth architects had begun to specialise in designs for Picture Theatres often with Gardens attached.

The pioneering cinema specialist, Samuel Rosenthal, designed many picture theatres and gardens in suburban Perth. One of his early ventures in the genre was the Regent Theatre* and Gardens in James Street, Guildford (now the Slovenian Hall) in 1926. Two screens were used both here and in Rosenthal's design for the Wembley Theatre and Gardens * (later upgraded by F. Coote in 1937) and now operating as Wembley Lodge.

A First World War veteran, Rosenthal had gained firsthand knowledge of modern trends during Post War rehabilitation in Europe. He was able to incorporate ground-breaking features in his design for the Richmond Theatre c. 1927) (now demolished) at East Fremantle. The plans show a projection room which was designed to project to either indoor or outdoor theatres by unbolting and rotating the projectors instead of having to laboriously relocate them in the advent of inclement weather. This early example of the integration of outdoor projecting was again utilised by Rosenthal when designing the 1937-built Beacon Theatre and Gardens (later converted to a supermarket.

During this period, William G. Bennett's proposal for the Renown Theatre and Cinema Gardens at Midland Junction, allowed for two separate bio boxes, the decision governed by the approximate fan shape of the block. Here Bennett utilised this ideal space to secure maximum seating capacity and make the most of the relationship between the audience and the screen by placing the proscenium and screen at the short end of the wedge. A similar scheme was adopted for the engineer-designed Piccadilly Theatre and Gardens (1935) at Inglewood. First to be built after the Depression, this later became known as the Civic Theatre* and Gardens. Today this prominent landmark which still retains the interior features of the cinema, houses a motor cycle shop (the owners of which are very proud of being the only biker shop in WA to be classified by the National Trust).

Bennett was also commissioned in 1938 to design a Hal1 and Picture Garden as part of the Beverley Town Hall * and Shire offices complex and was so successful in creating an attractive and stylish architectural result that in September of that year the Western Mail included the structure in a photographic survey of important 'modern' buildings. The only other example of a cinema and purpose built Picture Gardens being designed as part of a local government administrative complex is the Mosman Park Memorial Hall *, or 'Camelot' as it is now called. Although refurbished in the Art Deco style in 1939, two years after the construction of the Windsor and Como cinemas, the bio box of this cinema still required the unbolting of the projectors and physical manhandling through ninety degrees to project into the Picture Garden. These projection ports can be seen in the illustration accompanying this article.

Although the Windsor Theatre* has been twinned in recent years to the detriment of Leighton's design, the architect's original concept is still clearly evident. The technical innovation, coupled with the social significance of this building presents a clear case for heritage listing.

* Classified by the National Trust

All contents Copyright (C) 2004. All rights reserved. Terms of use/Privacy/Disclaimer. Comments.