In the early 1940s, David's parents Muriel and Jack Scott screened movies at a Wodonga hall, calling it the Melba Theatre.
During World War II, Jack was honourably discharged from the army due to having dangerously low blood pressure.
To contribute to the war effort, Jack stitched together marquees out of waterproof army tents, fitted them with wooden benches and showed movies at the army barracks around Albury and Wodonga.
At the end of the war, the family moved to Cobram when David, living in a cramped one room bungalow in the middle of a paddock.
Back then, Cobram was a small town with a population of about 450 people with dirt streets and footpaths lined with peppercorn trees.
It was then Jack built the iconic Melba Theatre in Cobram using bricks scavenged from a disused building.
David remembers the early days of the cinema fondly.
“As a kid I would race down to see how far the theatre had progressed after school,” he said.
“The first thing that was finished was the foyer and Mum always put a beautiful display of flowers in there which everyone always admired on a Friday night.”
The opening film at the theatre was Sitting Pretty, a black and white comedy starring Maureen O'Hara, Robert Young, and Clifton Webb, with all proceeds from the full house going to charity.
David said the cinema was once less about the films and more of a social occasion.
“At the end of the show not everyone went home, people would sit there in discussions until all hours of the morning,” he said.
“The theatre was their meeting place and their way of catching up, with many people coming from their farms.
“Everyone dressed up and Mum and Dad were always in the foyer at the end of the show to bid everyone goodbye.”Now is the Hour (the Maori farewell) would play at the end of the night to let the guests know it was time to leave the theatre.
Jack died 1960, aged 51.
Aged 17, David took over the family business, which included the Lakeside drive-in in Yarrawonga and a Melba Theatre in Numurkah.
David said he was happy to hear of the recent success of the Cobram Community Cinema.
David's memoir Stargazer delves deeper into the history of the Melba Theatres and his life.
Cobram and surrounding residents will receive a visit from David in February 2022 to promote Stargazer.
For information, visit https://davidscottbooks.com
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