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How was programming organised?
The decision was centralised, with the top
suburban theatres - Regent South Yarra,
Victory St Kilda, Padua Brunswick and the
Windsor (and others) - taking the film first
week after the city. The same program then
moved to second week in the next rung of
theatres, and so on down until fifth week, after
which it was hired to anyone who wanted it.
The release pattern rarely deviated. This
inflexibility was a mistake in the case of a
theatre like the Regent South Yarra. Even a Above and below: The Metro, Collins Street, Melbourne.
western which had played at the Lyceum went
into South Yarra.

How did you find your way to MGM?
I sat at home doing my knitting until one day
the phone rang. A very pleasant lady told me
that Sol Freeman, the manager of the Metro
Bourke Street would like to speak to me. He
knew of my experience at Hoyts and asked if I
would like to come in to discuss a position as
assistant treasurer. I hopped on the next tram to
the city. Sol was a delightful man, a bit of a
renegade with a great sense of humour. His
brother, Sir Bernard Freeman, was the head of
MGM in Australia and a personal friend of
Louis B. Mayer. I was ready to start the next
week.
MGM had an entirely different management
system to Hoyts. The staff at each theatre ran
all aspects of the business. Learning the MGM
accounting system was a study in itself. The
treasurer was a key figure, responsible for I stayed at Bourke Street for two-and-a-half Marcus Loew was the brains behind it. He
completion of the notorious Form 15 every years and was then transferred as assistant started a chain of nickelodeons in the 1900s and
Wednesday night. This included calculation of manager to the MGM Twin drive-in at was smart enough to see that better films in
the weeks takings, all costs including salaries, Clayton, which had two fields of 1,500 cars. I handsome theatres was the future, so he set up
and Metro even charged their own theatres film was there for seven months. a chain of Loews Theatres across America. He
rental! For instance, a cartoon cost 2.5 percent also controlled a small production company,
of the nett box office. Each theatre had the How did you like that? Metro Pictures, and he teamed with Sam
autonomy to change a failing program. Goldwyn and Louis B Mayer to form Metro-
Sometimes this meant a change of program on Being out with the cows and the chickens? I Goldwyn-Mayer in 1924. Goldwyn left his
a Monday night! And every night, at about quite enjoyed it. There is not much difference name with the company, but he wasn’t a team
10 o’clock, the box office figures had to be between managing a drive-in and managing a player and withdrew after about a fortnight. His
cabled to New York, often in code so that our theatre. (I loathe the word ‘hard-top’). Sell the contribution to the company was the New York
competitors were kept in the dark. At the end tickets efficiently, move patrons into the venue Capitol, a 5,000-seater, which became one of
of the week each theatre also sent its printed quickly, be mindful of their safety while they Metro’s principal theatres, a rare case of an
forms to head office in Sydney, and from there are with you and move them out quickly. important theatre not controlled by Loews.
they went to Loews in America. You could go Mickey Rooney and Judy Garland performed
into any MGM theatre in any country and you Quite unexpectedly, the manager of the on stage at the Capitol, five shows a week. The
would find that it was run on exactly the same Embassy in Malvern departed. Metro already other prestige houses were Loews State on
lines. owned it, but it hadn’t changed the name to Broadway and the Astor in the Hotel Astor.
Metro Malvern as yet. I was there for a while,
but always had my sights set on the Metro
Collins Street. After I got it, I was there for 11
years. One difference of being a city manager
compared to a suburban was that I got every
second Saturday night off. I liked that. A
suburban manager never had Saturday night off.
You moved from manager at Metro Malvern to
manager at Collins Street?
Yes, and not in the happiest of circumstances.
The Metro, Malvern Two large rolls of new carpet, worth at least
At Bourke Street, I worked my way up to $10,000, were stolen from a passageway at The Metro Twin Drive-in, Clayton
assistant manager and we had some wonderful Collins Street, where they were in temporary
nights there. We brought the entire cast of My storage. The manager was sacked for not Only in the USA did the individual theatres
Fair Lady around from Her Majesty’s, keeping it in a more secure place. retain the name Loews; elsewhere they were
including the orchestra. Graham Kennedy, branded as MGM theatres. MGM expanded to
Stuart Wagstaff and a series of other stars also Why was the parent company called Loews all the big European cities - Paris, Berlin,
did a charity show on the stage. Incorporated? Moscow. The Empire Leicester Square was

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