Page 13 - CinemaRecord #83

at the Myer Mural Hall included GWTW-
inspired dresses. Brides wore GWTW
gowns, and time-and-again book-sellers
trotted out the line, “the best novel since
GWTW”

During the season at the Savoy, the ads
cautioned that the film would not be shown
at regular prices in any theatre for at least a
year. True to their word, MGM kept it on
the shelf until June 1943, when it opened at
the St James Bourke Street at regular
prices. It enjoyed a healthy 12 weeks.

The usual next step would have been a
release around the suburbs, opening first at
the Palais Pictures St Kilda and the Village
Toorak. This did not happen. Independent
exhibitors were wary of the rental terms,
which required them to charge Saturday
night prices on a week night. Most held off
booking the film, scared that it had ‘run out
of legs’. They also knew that an ordinary
film at regular hire rarely lost money.
Interior, Metro Collins Street “Theatre of the Stars”

Initially, sessions were 10am, 2pm and 7.30pm
(no morning session at the Metro), until the
morning session was brought back to 9.45 for
operational reasons. Part One included an
overture. No newsreels or trailers were shown.
The evening session concluded at the unheard-
of hour of 11.25pm.

After the Regent, the film went into the new
Liberty Bourke Street (895 seats), where it ran
for a solid 19 weeks, also at “advanced prices‘.
This theatre was a complete rebuild of Greater
Union’s Melba. Still with a life in the city, and
still at advanced prices, the film then opened
at the Savoy Russell Street (720 seats), for a
season lasting 42 weeks. It had now been in
the city for two years.
For most of the 1940s, the phrase “gone with
the wind” became a punch-line for lazy
journalists. Cartoonists used it to caption all
manner of subjects, headline writers used it
over photos of storm damage, and it was a
boon to the fashion industry. Fashion parades

The Regent: “The Cinema Show Window”

CINEMARECORD # 83 13