CAARP
Cinema and Audience Research Project

The Tatler theatre opened on May 25, 1934 and was located at 270 Collins Street. The Tatler operated a newsreel theatre screening every hour from 11am to 11pm (though this varied over the years). When re-seated in March 1956 the capacity of the Tatler was 359 (prior to this Film Weekly notes the capacity as 278). The Tatler was closed on the March 18, 1961. It then went under the renovators hammer, reopening 11 days later as the Curzon Theatre. The Curzon Theatre opened on March 29, 1961 and was mainly a foreign film house.

"Only a foyer separated The Curzon and Australia Cinemas. Both were foreign film theatres and they did very well for some time showing these films. They seemed able to attract audiences at a time the others were losing theirs by showing a product that then had no place on our television screens. When the Curzon Theatre first opened, both theatres were advertised together as twin theatres well before it became the normal practice in the 1970s to rapidly open up twin existing theatres.The theatre was taken over by the Village organisation in mid 1968 and was later renamed the Australia Twin Two. The Curzon, as with the Australia Cinema, was completely destroyed when construction work on the Australia Hotel saw the site go under redevelopment." (Walters, pp.197-8)

Changed name to 'Tatler Theatrette' in 1958/59. (Bertand, I "cinema file: 262 Collins St." (unpublished research)).

References
Cinema & Theatre Historical Society 1997, Cinema index : Melbourne cinemas, suburban cinemas, Victorian drive-ins. CATHS, Victoria.

Film Weekly, Film Weekly: motion picture directory, Film Weekly, Sydney. 1946/7-1971

Film Weekly (29 August 1968, p. 3.) reports the change of name, when the Australia and Curzon cinemas became the Cinema One and Cinema Two complex known as The Australian Twin.

Walters, T 2009, The Picture Palaces of Melbourne p.197.