1929 Work began on the BMA building (135-137 Macquarie Street) and on June 7, the State Theatre in Market Street, Sydney, was opened. It was the most flamboyant of the many picture palaces on which Melocco Brothers worked throughout the 1920s and featured a number of intricate mosaics as well as work in marble, plaster and Tony Melocco’s trademark scagliola. It was also one of the last elaborate public buildings Melocco Brothers worked on before the onset of the Great Depression. In 1929, the Melocco Brothers certificate of incorporation was officially altered to include Galli as a partner in the firm and, with the economic downturn, his interest in the nuts-and-bolts construction side of the business was fortuitous. Also in 1929, Remo Cicutto played soccer for Australia. Earlier both he and his sister, Edith, had represented Czechoslovakia internationally in gymnastics.

“I remember my father used to say he told the architects that the marble they had chosen for the staircases in the State Theatre was not right for walking on — it was not terribly hard — but they insist on using it. Sure enough, if you look at it now, it has cracks. It should never have been used but the architects liked the colour.“ - Jean Hynes