The former Wembley Theatre and Picture Gardens were located at 202 Cambridge Street, Wembley, on the corner of Station Street. The property comprised Lots 161 and 162 of Plan 3232.

 

The site appears to have been vacant land in Wembley Park, prior to the theatre being constructed.

 

Plans for a new cinema

Plans were lodged with the Public Health Department Building Section in September 1936. Theatres were legally classed as public buildings under the Health Act 1911. Government approval covered matters including construction, ventilation, lighting, drainage, toilets, entrances, exits, aisles and the safe movement of large crowds.

 

The original plans therefore had to meet a set standard and included architectural drawings, specifications and a block plan showing the building on its property.

 

On 7 November 1936, Perth City Council building approvals included an open-air theatre and gardens in Cambridge Street valued at £4,000, with Wembley Theatre Co. named as the applicant. Another report at the time described a theatre and shops costing nearly £10,000, as being under construction at Wembley.

 

Frank Coote

The architect was Francis James “Frank” Coote, an experienced architect who had been practising well before Wembley was constructed.

 

Coote had come to Western Australia from Victoria and was associated with Clement John de Garis’s ambitious Kendenup settlement project during the early 1920s. He was registered as an architect in WA in 1923 and had already designed substantial public buildings, including the Kojonup Memorial Hall.

 

He was also responsible for the early architectural training of William Garnsworthy Bennett, who later became one of WA’s better-known interwar architects.

 

Benjamin Ernest Blackman

Contemporary advertising, published for the theatre’s opening, specifically credited B.E. Blackman of Coode Street, South Perth, with constructing the new Wembley Theatre

 

Some later heritage records incorrectly record J. L. C. Zelinski as being the builder.

 

Blackman was already an established builder and property operator. By the late 1920s he was advertising as part of B.E. Blackman & Co., estate agents and builders, and continued constructing houses around Perth during the 1930s.

 

Frank Mervyn Byrne Lambert

The young man behind Wembley was Frank Mervyn Byrne Lambert, generally known as Mervyn Lambert.

 

Lambert was only 21 when the new theatre opened. He had attended Scotch College and gained cinema experience through his uncle, Henry Lambert, a cinema proprietor in Albany. His late father, Percy Lambert, had also been a Mayor of Albany.

 

Wembley Theatre Company was the name under which he traded.

 

Pictures before the official opening

Curiously, Lambert was already operating picture shows at Wembley before the formal opening of the completed theatre.

 

Entertainment Tax prosecutions record performances on 23, 29 and 30 March and 6, 20 and 30 April 1937, with Lambert explicitly described as proprietor of the picture show held at Wembley Theatre.

 

Exactly where those early screenings were held is not certain. The picture gardens may have commenced operating before the indoor theatre was completed, or sections of the new complex may have opened progressively.

 

Opening night

The extensively promoted opening on Saturday 8 May 1937 was the official opening of the newly completed indoor Wembley Theatre.

 

The opening programme included Dishonour Bright, starring Tom Walls, and Crime and Punishment, starring Edward Arnold and Peter Lorre, together with an MGM colour short.

 

The complex occupied approximately 106 feet of Cambridge Street frontage and included the indoor theatre, adjoining picture gardens and three shops.

 

The theatre contained 600 stalls seats and 200 circle seats, giving it an indoor capacity of 800.

 

Seats were fitted with sponge-rubber cushioning, while the upstairs circle was constructed using a cantilevered design. This allowed it to project over the stalls without supporting columns blocking people’s view of the screen.

 

Inside Wembley Theatre

The foyer contained ornamental ironwork balustrades and staircases leading to the lounge and circle.

 

The auditorium incorporated geometric Art Deco decoration, including stepped lines, triangular and diamond patterns.

 

Decorative sections of the walls contained Moorish-style arched bays, essentially recessed wall sections topped by arches inspired by Islamic architecture, with small ornamental balconettes illuminated by neon.

 

The proscenium, the large architectural frame surrounding the cinema screen, was also outlined with neon lighting.

 

The walls were treated with special acoustic plaster, intended to reduce echoes and distortion and improve the reproduction of film sound.

 

Contemporary reporting claimed Wembley contained one of the most extensive uses of strip lighting in an Australian theatre at the time.

 

Theatre suppliers

B. Makutz of Coolgardie Street, West Perth, supplied the steelwork, including ornamental balustrades, the verandah awning, roof girders and other structural and decorative steel components.

 

Washing Bros., 321 Newcastle Street, Perth, supplied the stalls and circle seating and furnished the lounge.

 

Wallcraft Co., 130a Rokeby Road, Subiaco, completed the wall treatments and acoustic plastering.

 

The extraordinary projection installation was supplied through the WA branch of Harrington’s Ltd, distributors of Raycophone equipment.

 

The projectors that travelled on rails

Wembley’s most unusual feature was the arrangement connecting the indoor theatre with its outdoor picture gardens.

 

Rather than purchasing a complete second projection installation, the Raycophone projection equipment could be moved between two operating boxes, the rooms we would now normally call projection rooms.

 

The projectors were mounted on a wheeled structural-steel truck running along approximately 70 feet, or 21 metres, of rail between the indoor and outdoor projection boxes.

 

The equipment could be disconnected, moved along the rails and reconnected in less than three minutes.

 

There was a very practical reason for it.

 

If rain interrupted a screening in the picture gardens, the projection equipment could be transferred into the indoor theatre while patrons themselves moved inside. By the time everyone had found a seat, the film could continue.

 

The arrangement was described at the opening as unique in Australia.

 

The neon sign

A large vertical neon sign subsequently became one of the building’s prominent external features. Interestingly, it doesn’t appear on Coote’s original working drawings, suggesting it was added either during the final stages of construction or shortly afterwards.

 

It was certainly old enough to be regarded as an existing feature when plans were prepared for the building’s conversion in 1961.

 

Lambert’s problems begin

The impressive new theatre didn’t give Lambert a particularly easy start.

 

In June 1937 he was prosecuted for a series of breaches of the Entertainment Tax regulations relating to his March and April screenings.

 

Five charges concerned failures to provide complete and accurate returns. Another prosecution in September alleged that entertainment tax had been collected from patrons but not forwarded to the Commissioner of Taxation.

 

This occurred only weeks after the formal opening.

 

By 25 November 1937, Lambert’s financial problems had become considerably more serious and a meeting of his creditors was held in Perth.

 

The meeting resumed on 9 December, when his creditors passed a special resolution requiring Lambert to execute a deed of assignment under the Bankruptcy Act 1924-1933.

 

In basic terms, his financial affairs and assets were placed under a trustee so money could be distributed amongst his creditors.

 

The trustee was Finn Magnus Melsom.

 

The end of Lambert’s Wembley Theatre Company

Lambert’s financial affairs continued to be administered through 1938.

 

On 13 September 1938, Melsom announced his intention to declare a second and final dividend to creditors.

 

The notice described:

Frank Mervyn Byrne Lambert, late trading as the “Wembley Theatre Company”, 202 Cambridge Street, Wembley, picture theatre proprietor.

 

The words “late trading as” establish that Lambert was no longer operating Wembley Theatre Company by then.

 

Hatfields Pictures

Following Lambert’s financial collapse, Wembley passed into the hands of Hatfields Pictures, an established Perth suburban cinema operator. This occurred sometime after Lambert became unable to maintain his financial commitments.

 

Wembley during the Second World War

The theatre continued operating throughout World War II.

 

Wartime cinema directories list the Wembley theatre and the shops forming part of the Wembley Theatre Buildings, as operating during the 1940s, while newspaper notices show the theatre being associated with local patriotic and community activities.

 

Television and the end of the cinema

Wembley continued showing films into the television era.

 

Television broadcasting began in Perth in 1959, after which suburban cinemas faced increasing competition from people being able to watch entertainment at home.

 

Wembley eventually ceased operating as a cinema and a completely different future was found for the building.

 

Wembley Lodge

In 1961, J.L.C. Zelinski was engaged to prepare the former theatre for conversion into a reception and catering venue for Messrs Horawicz and Zen.

 

Approximately £17,000 was spent on the work before the building reopened around 1962 as Wembley Lodge, also known as Wembley Catering Lodge.

 

At decimalisation in 1966, £17,000 was equivalent to $34,000. In general purchasing power, that represents roughly $600,000 today, although modern construction costs cannot be directly compared using ordinary inflation alone.

 

The conversion brought an end to the picture gardens, which were demolished. The former outdoor cinema area could then provide space associated with the new reception venue, including parking.

 

Zygmunt Horawicz

The “Horawicz” involved in the conversion was very likely Zygmunt Horawicz as Wembley Lodge proprietor but this is yet to be confirmed.

 

Zygmunt was listed as a taxi driver in 1958. By January 1964 he was living at 26 Connolly Street, Wembley, when his certificate of naturalisation was recorded.

 

By the late 1970s he was listed as an investor. His wife, Wanda Horawicz, was recorded as undertaking home duties.

 

Who was Zen?

The identity of Horawicz’s business associate “Zen” remains uncertain. Two possibilities have been identified.

 

Giuseppe Zen was working as a timber worker at Deanmill in 1963 and was subsequently a mill worker living at 90 Whatley Crescent, Maylands between 1968 and 1972.

 

Josef Zen was living at 25 Ruth Street, Perth from at least 1963 through to 1977 and worked as a hat maker. By 1977 an Alexander Zen, clerk, was also living at that address.

 

Weddings, receptions and functions

Wembley Lodge became a popular wedding reception, catering and function venue.

 

A 1962 promotional pamphlet advertised specialised catering for functions, while later newspaper references show the venue being used for weddings, celebrations, dinners and organised gatherings.

 

Various clubs, societies and other organisations also used Wembley Lodge for functions.

 

Care is needed with references to “Wembley Park Lodge”. A Wembley Park Lodge belonging to the Protestant Alliance Friendly Society, existed before the cinema was converted and was the name of the organisation’s local branch and not the Wembley Lodge building.

 

Friendly societies and organisations such as the Druids, Oddfellows and Foresters commonly referred to their branches as lodges, so a reference to a “Wembley lodge” doesn’t necessarily mean the former theatre.

 

The 1980 fire

Wembley Lodge came to a disastrous end when the building was gutted by fire on 16 September 1980. Damage was estimated at approximately $250,000.

 

The fire destroyed most of the former cinema interior and the building was subsequently extensively reconstructed.

 

The cause of the fire was never reliably confirmed.

 

What remains today

Although the building still presents a recognisable Art Deco facade on Cambridge Street, very little of the original 1937 cinema survives internally.

 

The 1962 conversion had already substantially changed the property and removed the picture gardens. The 1980 fire and subsequent rebuilding destroyed or replaced much of what remained inside.

 

The original street façade is now the principal surviving part of Frank Coote’s Wembley Theatre.