David Reade-Watts	Manager	His daughter worked for the cinema as an usherette.
Jim Lawrence	Manager
Paul Harris	Manager	For the last two years of it's operations.

Melbourne Theatres Pty Ltd	Exhibitor
Reade-Watts, D.K.	Exhibitor
Cosmopolitan Motion Pictures	Owner
Italiano, J	Owner

Anatomy Of A Virgin	12-09-1974 to 09-10-1974	Lust For A Vampire (Supporting Film)
Casablanca	24-08-1945 to 30-08-1945
Devils Of Violence And Sex	18-07-1974 to 07-08-1974
Fists Of Vengeance	14-02-1974 to 06-03-1974	The Innocent Girl (Supporting Film)
Guess Who's Coming To Sleep With Us Tonight?	04-04-1974 to 24-04-1974
Homo Eroticus	12-10-1973 to 25-10-1973
Love On A Horse	24-01-1974 to 13-02-1974	The Great Sinner (Supporting Film)
Masquerade	13-12-1973 to 26-12-1973
Schoolgirls Growing Up	10-10-1974 to 20-11-1974
Slaves Of Sex	27-06-1974 to 17-07-1974
Strange Girl In Love	23-05-1974 to 26-06-1974
Summer Love	27-12-1973 to 23-01-1974	Isabella The Gypsy Duchess (Supporting Feature)
That Man From Singapore	25-04-1974 to 22-05-1974	Lusty Flesh (Supporting Film)
The Black Dragon	22-08-1974 to 11-09-1974	Two Girls In My Bed (Supporting Film)
The Boss	21-11-1974 to 04-12-1974	Her Private Life (Supporting Film)
The Decameron	05-10-1973 to 11-10-1973	What Do You Say To A Naked Lady? (Supporting Film)
The Erotic Man	05-12-1974 to 18-12-1974	High Society Girls (Supporting Film)
The King Boxer	30-08-1973 to 04-10-1973	Adios Sabata (Supporting Film)
The Other Canterbury Tales	07-03-1974 to 03-04-1974
The Prodigal Boxer	26-10-1973 to 12-12-1973	Light At The Edge Of The World (Supporting Film)
The Wild, Damned Nature	08-08-1974 to 21-08-1974

chapter - A History of Brunswick's Picture Theatres : The Liberty Theatre . 00-00-1995. pp.52-55

Laurie Cunningham

The book contains chapters on various cinemas in Brunswick, all of which have since closed down. The Liberty Theatre is well documented from rise to fall in ...[full record] A comprehensive record of the rise and fall of most of Brunswick's cinemas.

book - Brunswick: One History, Many Voices : 32. The Rise and Fall of The Empire . 00-00-1994. pp.205-211

Laurie Cunningham

The chapter paints a clear picture of a glory which cinemas are destined to never reach again. The theatres of Brunswick have been emphatically represented b...[full record]

web - CAARP http://caarp.flinders.edu.au/ : Liberty/Moderno/Galaxy, Brunswick .

The CAARP database holds a concise collection of pages relating to Venues, Films and Companies in Australia. Each page includes vast statistics, documenting ...[full record]

journal - Cinema Record 38 : The Lawrence Brothers: Pictures Were Our Business - part one Cinema Record 38 V4. 00-00-2002. pp.18-19

Jim Lawrence

Jim Lawrence's article in Cinema Records issue 38 covers his own personal experiences as the operator or various cinemas, including Brunswick's own Liberty T...[full record]

web - Technicolouryawn: Melbourne cinemas of the R-Rated years 1970-84 : Galaxy '73-74 . 22-03-2012

Dean Brandum

Brandum's site is a useful collection of movie posters/newspaper ads and correlating screening schedules for the adult films shown at Brunswick's Galaxy Cine...[full record] Please Note: This web page refers to the Liberty at the time when it was called The Galaxy Cinema.

newspaper - The Argus : Bearded bandit in theatre raid . 10-08-1956. p.1

The Argus' article, whilst it's printing was only due to the criminal activity, reveals the manager at the time being Mr David Reade-Watts. As well as mentio...[full record]

A Brief History

The Liberty Theatre was converted from the Broadway Dancing Palais in 1934 and opened its doors in 1935 whilst still unfinished. Housing around 700 seats at the time, it was certainly one of Melbourne's smallest cinemas, by far. In 1938, the Liberty underwent renovations for a number of months costing in the vicinity of ?4000 (adjusting for inflation would be around $100,000 today). The new-look Liberty was now screening films from the studios of Paramount and MGM. Like all cinemas, the Liberty suffered at the advent of television in the late 50's, however, managed to stay afloat by adapting to the isolated position and local migrant population. Like the Empire Theatre before it, The Liberty began advertising in the Italian section of the Brunswick Sentinel, "Theatro Liberty" started showing foreign language films in 1958. The Liberty managed to outlast all of Brunswick's other cinemas and in the early 70's became known as The Galaxy Cinema. The Galaxy exhibited mostly adult cinema, allowing it to survive into the early 80's until the theatre inevitably closed. In 1984 after drastic remodelling, the Liberty reopened to a dismal audience resulting in an unfortunate closure. The Liberty took it's last breath in Paul Harris, who obtained the lease in 1986. Harris succeeded in revamping the Liberty as an "art house" cinema, however, the owner of the property sold the Liberty for $500,000 to Tom Polydorous who intended to transform the theatre into a clothing factory. Paul Harris was offered the Lease (after petitions were made to save the Liberty) at an increased fee of $60,000 a year. Harris, unable to afford the fees, couldn't accept the lease, and the Liberty was no more. The building still stands today, but has since been made into an Italian Social Club.