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17/08/2007: "LIFE ON THE ROAD ...... Traveling film shows"

(left) A former cinema at Yeppoon, Central Queensland coast.

(right) A serious problem with my 16mm projector's 'take-up'.

The Yeppoon Cinema is now a church, another independent theater has closed. We did many shows here beginning in 1968 with Ron Taylor's films. For the first show there was a queue waiting to buy tickets that stretched 100 meters down the street.

The original cinema had an earth floor and deck chair seats. One night a snake was set free in the theatre, possibly by one of Wally Muller's wild sons.

Another time during the screening of a skyscraper fire movie, (The Towering Inferno, ) a large heater ceiling fan caught fire. Patrons thought the smoke and flames filling the theater was part of the new special effects.

The picture at right shows a heap of 16mm film that has spilled onto the carpet. A slack take-up reel was the problem. Running a projector meant you had to be nearby. A dreary business when it becomes six or more hour per day. The consolation was counting lots of money.

Eventually the money wasn't all that spectacular. People were not going to the movies like they once did. We could have become very rich in those early days if we'd wanted to work. There were better things to do..... like being underwater.