SCREEN TIME: Retired printer Ken Biddles with one of the 16mm movie projectors that could be brought back to life for screenings at Morisset Memorial Hall. Mr Biddles is a veteran of 40 years in the movie production business. - Picture by David Stewart
JAMES Cagney in the 1942 classic Yankee Doodle Dandy, The Marx Brothers, Gone With The Wind and Mickey Rooney are just some of the iconic names and films that could soon be appearing on the big screen at Morisset.
And there's a reason why Morisset could be one step closer to a rebirth of the town's cinema: his name is Ken Biddles.
Mr Biddles, of Gorokan, read our story on the efforts of Bonnells Bay resident Maree Murdziak to reopen the cinema that used to run in the Memorial Hall in the 1950s.
The hall is still there, it still has the projection room and the capacity to seat 150 people.
Missing, though, is the expertise, the projection equipment and the films themselves.
And that's where Mr Biddles could become a screen hero in his own right.
Mr Biddles was in the movie production business for 40 years as a professional printer.
"I started work for Filmcraft in Sydney in 1948 making the distribution copies from originals of 16mm and 35mm silent and sound pictures including Crocodile Dundee," Mr Biddles said.
"I never left the printing room, it became my world for 40 years."
Now long retired and a bachelor, Mr Biddles is looking to renew his interest and he has much to offer.
"I've got around 100 films in containers, a couple of 16mm projectors including a professional unit that has never ever been used, a brand new screen and three 35mm projectors. They aren't doing any good just sitting at home," he said.
