Belgrave’s Cameo Cinemas, an entertainment icon of the Dandenong
Ranges,
re-opened on December 26
2003, marking a new
era for this cherished cinema.
The Cameo, which has National Trust Classification,
was originally opened on November 22, 1935 with Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer’s
David Copperfield, together with a short program of Fox Australian Movietone
News, Walt Disney cartoons, and a “musical novelty” starring Bing
Crosby and Mary Pickford.
The Cameo was built by Alex Jaensch, who came to the Hills with his
family in the early 1920s. An industrial chemist by trade, Jaensch
later became a “picture show man”, touring the Silvan Dam
and Sassafras areas showing silent films in halls and sometimes tents.
In 1934 he commissioned the architects Scarborough Robertson & Love
to design a cinema for Belgrave.
When the Cameo opened in 1935, it was a true “picture palace” of
its time, boasting relatively ornate features of the Art Deco period
and a distinctive “shadow decoration” of silhouetted trees
on the cinema’s interior walls. It also featured the renowned
foot warmers, still in place to this day.
From the time of its opening and through the 1940s and ‘50s,
the Cameo remained a focus of social activity for both the local community
and beyond, as the Dandenong Ranges became an ever-popular destination
for holiday-makers.
In 1961 Jaensch retired after nearly 40 years in the cinema business,
and the Cameo simply closed. It was resurrected in 1964 by Don and
Elaine McWhirter, who renovated the cinema with red leather chairs,
red and gold flock wallpaper, and a gold curtain across the newly installed
wider screen. The McWhirters dedicated themselves tirelessly to the
cinema’s rejuvenation, both in décor and audience loyalty.
When the McWhirter family moved to northern New South Wales in 1977,
partners John McKenzie and Leong Lim took over the cinema and continued
with upgrades, including a Dolby sound system, a curved brick façade,
and two new cinema auditoriums, finally completed in 1987. These alterations
did not affect the existing 1935 auditorium (Cinema 1), which retained
its historical Art Deco features.
Palace Cinemas took over the lease at the Cameo in 1991 and
continued to screen movies at the site until mid 2003.
On September 1, the Cameo was purchased by Eddie Tamir, who had achieved
success with another cinema in need of renovation, programming expertise,
and renewed energy. Tamir’s revitalization of the Classic Cinema
in Elsternwick stands as an excellent example of his faith and determination
in “returning the Cameo to its former glory”.
The new Cameo Cinemas, featuring four stylish cinemas and an outdoor
cinema in 2004, will re-open on December 26, 2003 with a mix of new
arthouse films, quality blockbusters for adults and children, and world
cinema classics. The cinema will retain its finest historical features
from the Art Deco period, together with decorative flourishes from
its post-1970s life and a “touch of glamour”.
The Cameo remains one of the few architecturally notable, decorative
cinemas still operating in Victoria, along with the Valhalla in Northcote,
the Astor in St. Kilda and the Lorne Theatre. The Cameo has been embraced
by the community since 1935 and Tamir intends to uphold this tradition.
He adds, “The hills are alive, and the Cameo is absolutely
a part of it!”
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