We are very sad to inform you of the passing of our Victorian branch member, Lesley Alexander, who passed away suddenly on Friday January 29th. Lesley was 84 years old, having been born on September 26th 1936. Lesley worked most of her career at the Village Rivoli Cinemas and at the Village Cinema Centre in…
The Society of Australian Cinema Pioneers wishes to recognise the sad passing of TESSA McCANN back in August 2013 after a long illness. Tessa was born in Goulburn (NSW) in 1946. Many years later in Noosa (Qld) she would meet Ian McCann and the two were Wed after a short romance. The couple were inseparable,…
The Society of Australian Cinema Pioneers has instituted a Humanitarian Award to recognise outstanding and exceptional service to the cinema industry and/or the larger community by a member of the Australia Cinema Pioneers. This service might be for charity work, mentoring, community service and any other activities of merit. The award is not necessarily made…
My love affair with the Cinema industry started with a visit to the Village Moorabbin Drive In, in September 1967. After completing my 2 years National Service, I went to the Drive In with my girlfriend at the time. My uncle was a carhop and he served me, I asked how did he get a…
Maxwell Reddin’s love of movies started the day his Mum took him to see “Snow White” at the Plaza Theatre. He was 3 years old and immediately fell in love with “the picture business’ as it was then known. His father, Keith, was the accountant at Paramount Pictures, and many Saturday mornings were spent in…
Born 1942, as a young lad Peter went to the Thebarton Theatre to watch movies and was fascinated with the light coming out of the porthole at the rear. He eventually worked as a tray boy at the theatre in mid 1950s earning One Pound 7/6 a week. Peter progressed to the projection room as…
Born in London Julia was waiting to go to University when she was lucky enough to get a job in drama production with Stella Richman. Stella was consistently producing, working with new and established practitioners in the way that is happening now. She was a great champion of filmmakers. It was a great entree to…
Tony commenced working in the Film Industry with Metro Goldwyn Mayer Brisbane Branch in 1956 as the office junior at the age of 15 years. This was towards the end of the musical era but with the highly entertaining Guys & Dolls and High Society yet to come. The action era followed with Dirty Dozen,…
JOHN CRONIN – NATIONAL PIONEER OF THE YEAR 2020 It was obvious from a very young age that John Cronin was destined to be a showman. As a young primary school student he would often stage backyard concerts and invite his school mates to pay him a penny to see him perform “Take Me Out…
Rob Hailey was born July 6 1937 in Richmond Victoria. His father had an unknown make of 35mm projector and a number of unknown nitrate films from around the 1920’s. His father showed them reluctantly due to the nature of nitrate film, but this led Rod to have a fascination for film that was to…