Melbourne’s The Capitol Theatre is a historic landmark, visited not just by tourists but lovers of film. Designed by Walter Burley Griffin and Marion Mahoney Griffin, it opened on Swanston Street in 1924 and was the first large picture palace in Victoria. It also became the home of the first large Wurlitzer Organ in the country, which was used to provide music and sound effects for silent films when the orchestra was not performing. Across the city, St Kilda’s Palais Pictures opened in 1927 and had its own in-house orchestra. During World War II when there was a shortage of men, an all-female orchestra took over and performed at the Palais up until 1949.
Works in this group
Collection
Not in ACMI's collection
On display until
16 February 2031
ACMI: Gallery 1
Collection metadata
ACMI Identifier
Curatorial section
The Story of the Moving Image → Moving Pictures → MI-05. Sound and Colour → MI-05-C02