Blast from the past
In the 21st century popular culture in an international phenomenon, enjoyed at the same pace the world over streaming sites, downloading and/or simultaneous distribution
patterns ensure that the biggest films are available in New Zealand at the same time as elsewhere.
Tom Cruise conquers the international market all at once, setting 2022 box office records with Top Gun: Maverick in cinemas all over the planet.
In the pre-digital age this was not the case. Arguably the most popular film of all time, adjusted for inflation, did not reach Hamilton until 18 months after its 1939 world premiere in Atlanta, Georgia.
Gone With the Wind opened at the Regent Theatre on Victoria St on July 4, 1941, with an event described as a ‘‘Gala Premiere’’.
The 3 hours, 40 minutes running time permitted but two sessions per day: an afternoon screening at 2pm and an evening show at 7.30pm. Publicity
stressed that the film would ‘‘occupy the entire programme’’, which was unusual in an era of cartoons and shorts preceding the main feature.
An advertisement in the Waikato Times stated that ‘‘Gone With the Wind will be screened for a limited season only and will not be shown anywhere else except at increased admission prices at least for one year’’.
The instant classic was also ‘‘recommended as unsuitable for children’’, the rather stylised depiction of slavery and the American Civil War thought problematic even in 1941. The cultural impact of Gone With the Wind in the Waikato was apparent just over a fortnight ahead of The Regent screening at Putaruru’s Movie Ball, an annual fundraising event for the Red Cross in
which attendees where encouraged to recreate sets and characters from popular films.
A depiction of Tara, complete with a fulsome if necessarily incomplete cast, took out the prize for ‘Best Movie Set’ and a Mrs Behague and a Miss D. Heavey won ‘Best Movie Couple’ for their impersonations of Mammy and Scarlett O’Hara, respectively.
Gone With the Wind was still being shown in the Waikato four years later, opening in Cambridge on June 13, 1945.