Moving magic of the silver screen

MOVIES on the Move has to be an apt title for Richard Wynne-York’s rather novel business. Richard takes his mobile drive-in movie shows almost anywhere, and can be seen at places such as the beach and the dusty desert.
And it’s probably just as much or more fun than going to the old drive-ins we recall from so long ago.
Berwick Village Chamber of Commerce executive members hit pay-dirt earlier this year when they asked Richard to set up a movie night at Akoonah Park Berwick.
One chamber member said: “This decision resulted in lots of work, it was a first try for us, and not all went exactly as it should have gone.
“But most people weren’t aware of the problems, and even ‘trauma’, we all went through.”
The chamber put the little hiccups down to experience and put the takings in the bank.
Treasurer Paul Russell reported a profit of almost $5000 for the night and was smiling about that.
Besides it turned out to be a good family night at $20 a car and the film Race to Witch Mountain was a popular choice.
The chamber says it can provide even better film nights in the future.
Richard arranges the films and can usually get one that is a recent release that lots of people would not have seen.
So at $20 a car and four people in a car we have a cheap night out.
Post-mortem discussions after the event revealed that about 20 people, volunteers, would be needed for the next chamber film night and probably it would be better to let the experts such as Rotary and vendor van people take over things such as the sausage sizzle, drinks, and popcorn, to make a little money for themselves.
Prudence also says the council needs to be notified for such a big public event.
Richard lives at Beaconsfield and has three mobile units and helpers.
He presents movies by the lake at Wilson Botanic Park and set up the Moonlit Cinema in the Royal Botanic Gardens.
“I installed their equipment to get them started.
“We have presented Picnic at Hanging Rock for nine consecutive years, at Hanging Rock.
“That’s where the film was made and people come back every year to see it,” he said.
Hanging Rock is a sit-in show with seats provided by the organisers.
“Girls in white gowns, and pan flute music as dusk settles, creates a strange and beautiful atmosphere at Hanging Rock with imaginations active.
“And we had a unique idea at Hamilton when McDonald’s staff on roller skates delivered food to cars.”
Richard said a regular film night in the City of Whitehorse drew bus loads of people.
“We run movies for Relay for Life fundraisers and one show at Portland Airport had the ‘house full’ signs up,” he said.
Richard has spent a lifetime in the movie business and worked at Hoyts Cinemas for more than 30 years.
He is a New Zealander, born in Christchurch and came to Australia when he was aged five.
“I spent my early days at Yallourn and worked at the Yallourn North Cinema when I was at school.
“Later I moved to Melbourne and became a projectionist at Hoyts.
“I spent five years working at the Regent in Collins Street.
“That cinema would seat 3252 people and I found working there to be quite an experience.
“When Tony Fenelon played the cinema organ we had nights with a magic atmosphere,” he said.
He became chief projectionist at the Cinema Centre in Bourke Street and later the sound engineer for Hoyts.
He was living in Springvale, and found this job giving him plenty of travel, particularly throughout Victoria and Tasmania.
So Richard learnt every aspect of the job and got to be a jack-of-all-trades at Hoyts.
His work included being technical manager and this was set aside when he donned a dinner suit and became front-of-house manager.
This led to a position as City Circuit supervisor.
“The most challenging time was when I was working on the technical side because we needed to fix problems after the show,” he said.
Richard left Hoyts to set up an audio-visual shop in Springvale.
“We hired out projectors, video recorders, accessories, and overhead projectors, among other things.”
The business traded as Wynfor Projection Services and part of the service involved setting up little cinemas in the country.
Richard has a state-of-the-art cinema with 40 seats at his home.
“We have some great family and friends nights,” he said.
He said the rent at Springvale was tripled so they closed shop and brought the business to Beaconsfield.
“I bought my business partner’s share and the whole thing has been working very well,” he said.
The idea of Movies on the Move evolved probably because of a need for shelter.
“I drove to Sydney to run a film night under Sydney Harbour Bridge but weather was a problem.
“This was outdoors and I’d been in the business for years running shows in small halls.
“We began to think about a way for people to stay in their cars.
“Drive-ins were closing down through lack of patronage and we had the other problem of putting speakers out.
“But I knew of one drive-in that was transmitting to car radios so decided to set up a radio transmitter,” he said.
The radio reception works well.
Richard looked around and found a useable screen.
“From that we learnt enough to design our own screens with improvements.
“We now have three and they are easy and quick to erect.
“We needed to consider things like wind, and to comply with health and safety issues, but quickly resolved those issues.
“We have been able to get lots of people started in movie businesses of various kinds.
“The Rotary Club of Warrnambool even produced a booklet to be given to each car with reproductions of the advertisements that appeared on the screen,” he said.
Richard commended the quality of advertisements produced for the Berwick Village Chamber of Commerce film night held in May this year.
Top line advertisements, added to the fact that Richard has access to new release films, provides a basis for community groups to hold excellent fundraiser nights and the chamber is already thinking about its next production.