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Regal
Vyonne Geneve:
This 1,200-seat theatre opened in April 1937, managed by Phil Appleby who had previously managed West’s theatre for the Coade family. Soon after, new gardens seating a further 750 were opened on the opposite side of the road, on the site of West’s Palace Gardens. Dorothy Hewett remembers these gardens as more spartan than the earlier West’s Gardens, with vines rather than roses on the trellises. These gardens remained open till 1971, when the increasing traffic noise made further presentations impossible. The gardens was demolished in 1973.
Meanwhile, in 1951 the theatre had been purchased by Clarence (Paddy) Baker, after many years of country touring, and while he was developing his circuit of country drive-ins. In the sixties, he spent a great deal of money on renovations to the building, and it survived the onslaught of television by specialist programming – first of ‘continental’ films, then later with schools programmes during the day, special seasons of surfing movies in the summer months, Sunday films for the Chinese community, and live shows whenever these were available (including providing facilities for the annual performances of dancing schools and other such organisations). The building still retained its crying room, its loveseats which accommodated two without arm rests between them, its numbered pram cubicles, and the photos of the stars in the foyer. After 1977 it was used primarily for live theatre. In May 1986, Paddy Baker gave control of the theatre to a trust specially set up for the purpose, so as to ensure that after his own passing the building would be preserved and would continue to be used as an entertainment venue. He died 11 August 1986. In 1987 a liquor licence was applied for so that a bar could be installed in that part of the dress circle foyer which Paddy Baker had used as a flat. Major renovations to the stage area in 1990 allowed more ambitious performances to be staged, and a roll-up screen was installed so that films could also be shown. Though occasional film screenings were still presented (for instance, in 1993, one special screening to support local film production in Perth), the theatre was really a live venue, with new flytowers built in 1994, and the film screen permanently removed in 1995.
In 1990 the building was classified by the National Trust and in 1995 it was listed by the Heritage Council of West Australia. In December 1998, the sixtieth anniversary of the theatre was celebrated, though by then it was used for live entertainment, rather than for films.
Sources: Public Health Department, building permits, Battye 1459
Max Bell, Perth – a cinema history, The Book Guild, Lewes, Sussex, 1986, pp.42-45, 63-4
Max Bell, ´Regal Theatre, Subiaco WA’, Kino, No.7 March 1984, pp.16-17
Max Bell, ´Looking back’, Kino, no.41, September 1992, p.16
Vyonne Geneve, ´The vulnerabiity of our Art Deco theatres’, Kino, no.28, June 1989, p.6
Vyonne Geneve, Significant buildings of the 1930s in Western Australia, Vyonne Geneve, June 1994, National Trust of Australia (WA)/ National Estate Grants Programme, vol.1
Dorothy Hewett, ´Bring me my bow’, Overland, no.101, December 1985
Bob Parkinson, ´Field report’, Kino, no.41, September 1992, pp.12-13
Ken Spillman, Identity prized: a history of Subiaco, University of Western Australia Press for the City of Subiaco, 1985, pp.264, 288, 295
Stage, Screen and Stars, West Australian, n.d. (1997?), pp.10, 39, 45-46
Everyone’s, 8 February 1928, p.27
Film Weekly Directory, 1943 – 1971
Floreat Post, 27 May 1986, p.1
Kino, no.17, September 1986, p.24; no.20, June 1987, p.23; no.25, September 1988, p.14; no.31, March 1990, p.23; no.32, June 1990, p.23; no.33, September 1990, p.23; no.34, December 1990, p.24; no.40, June 1992, p.26; no.45, September 1993, p.31; no.48, June 1994, p.32; no.49, September 1994, p.31; no.53, September 1995, p.31; no.67, Autumn 1999, p.31.
Post Office Directory, 1918–1949
West Australian, 1917–1989, 27 May 1986
Interview (Ina Bertrand): Dorothy Hewett (1987)
Interview (Colleen Pead): Paddy Baker (1986)
Interview (Peter Morris): Paddy Baker (1978)
Photos: 2 exteriors (Coliseum), b&w, n.d. (Subiaco Historical Society)
2 exteriors (Coliseum), b&w, n.d. Ken Spillman, Identity prized: a history of Subiaco, University of Western Australia Press for the City of Subiaco, 1985, p.194 (Subiaco Historical Society & Subiaco City Council)
5 exteriors (Paddy Baker’s touring van), b&w, n.d. (early thirties?) (Baker Theatre Trust)
1 exterior (Regal), b&w, n.d., Kino, No.7 p.17 (Max Bell)
1 exterior (Regal), b&w, n.d. (forties?) (Subiaco Historical Society)
1 exterior (Regal), b&w, 1988, Kino, no.28, June 1989, p.11 (Lynne Robins)
1 exterior (Regal), b&w, n.d. (Max Bell, Perth – a cinema history, p.43)
1 exterior (Regal), colour, 1981 (Bill Turner)
1 exterior (Regal), colour, 1997, Graeme Bertrand
References and Links
Bell, Max D. 1986, Perth: A Cinema History, Book Guild, Sussex: 20.
Geneve, Vyonne & Ron Facius 2016, Picture Palaces of the Golden West, National Trust of Australia: 24-25.
Jamet, Delphine 2023, Photos of the cinema: 122 high quality photographs.
This page incorporates material from Garry Gillard's Freotopia website, that he started in 2014 and the contents of which he donated to Wikimedia Australia in 2024. The content was originally created on 8 November, 2023 and hosted at freotopia.org/cinemas/regal.html (it was last updated on 26 November, 2023), and has been edited since it was imported here (see page history). The donated data is also preserved in the Internet Archive's collection.