Page 24 - cr53

Week by Week.
Critics and audiences alike were
unanimous that Father of the Bride
(1951) was the comedy of the year.
MGM panache in casting - Spencer
Tracy and Joan Bennett as husband and
wife and Elizabeth Taylor as their
daughter - script, and production
values, ensured big box office.
Father ran for six weeks at the
Metro Collins Street and entered the
suburbs on Friday 29 December 1951,
where it ran for a week at most theatres.
Here is its progress across the city:
Week One
8 cinemas
Albert Park Kinema
Burnley Burnley
Carlton North Adelphi
Collingwood Austral
(Tues.-Thurs., Hoyts program at weekends).
Richmond National
St. Kilda Astor A new decade, same magic. Spencer Tracy and Elizabeth Taylor as father and daughter
St. Kilda Palais in Father of the Bride (1951).
Toorak Village
Av. Distance from GPO: 4km. Week Three Week Five
9 cinemas 6 cinemas
Week Two
(Balwyn Balwyn)* Box Hill Rialto
7 cinemas
Camberwell Rivoli Coburg Plaza
Brunswick Empire
Brunswick East Liberty (Initially in week three).
Brunswick West Western
East Malvern Waverley Heidelberg Orient
Caulfield Camden
Essendon Regal Newport Plaza
Elsternwick Esquire
Glenferrie Glen Williamstown Empress
(Opened 1946 sharing with North
Hawthorn/Kew Vogue (Always switches with Newport)
Melbourne Central. Moves to fifth week
(Ormond Plaza)* Yarraville Sun
due to switching problems. This theatre is
Preston St. James Av. Distance: 9km.
now the Classic).
Moonee Ponds Moonee (Repeat of Planet programs) Week Six
Av. Distance: 9 km.
Newmarket Newmarket North Richmond Victoria
*Balwyn usually switched with the
(Tues.-Thurs. Hoyts program weekends). (Three nights)
Preston Planet Rivoli. In a rare exception it did not Oakleigh Plaza
Westgarth Westgarth screen Father until weeks later, when it Av. Distance 12km.
Av. Distance: 8 km. ran mid-week! In 1953 Balwyn, Rivoli
and Essendon Regal move to week Week Seven
Theatres initially in week two were Surrey Hills Surrey
four.
Malvern Embassy and Northcote Distance 13km.
Ormond Plaza was a week three
Plaza.
theatre that did not take Father. Week Eight
The Embassy switched with
Camden, but this ceased when the Week Four Murrumbeena Argosy
(Three nights)
former was sold to M.G.M in 1950. 7 cinemas Preston West Rivoli
Father of the Bride ran at the Embassy Ashburton Civic (Tues -Thurs.)
in ‘pre-release’ (week zero). The theatre Brighton Middle Dendy Av. Distance: 11km.
was renamed Metro in April 1952, and Elwood Broadway
went ‘Simultaneous with City’. (Frid. -Mon. only). Theatres which did not take Father
Fairfield Fairfield
Northcote Plaza did not screen of the Bride in the first eight weeks
MGM films. By 1951 the Plaza was a (Tues.-Thurs.; Hoyts program at weekends). accounted for 26 percent of the total
Footscray Grand
vaudeville house. listed in the two columns.
Gardenvale Mayfair
Still to enter the list at week two is What policy were these outsiders
(Changes soon to art-house films).
Preston East Melody. As the old following? Five of them (nine percent)
(Nth. Melbourne Central)
Gowerville, it rarely showed MGM were fully integrated into Hoyts
(Occasional week four, does not take Father.)
films. After re-modelling to become the programming (examples: Hartwell
Sandringham Roxy
Melody, it switched with the Planet. Regal, Caulfield Crystal Palace),
Av. Distance 10km.
continued page 26
24 2006 CINEMARECORD