Moodabe family

The Moodabe family is a long established Auckland family which has been associated with the development and operation of cinema in New Zealand since the 1920s.

Business beginnings

Michael Joseph Moodabe, OBE (1895–1975) was born in Sydney, Australia, on 24 June 1895, and, after the family shifted to Auckland, his brother Joseph Patrick Moodabe (1899–1985), was born in Auckland on 16 December 1899.[1]

Amalgamated expansion

When Thomas O'Brien who owned and operated the Civic Theatre went bankrupt in 1932, the Moodabe brothers took over O'Brien's other Auckland theatres, including the Princess (later the Plaza), the Rialto in Newmarket, and the Tivoli in Karangahape Road. Amalgamated obtained a 50-year lease on the Civic theatre in 1945 when they managed to outbid Warner Brothers Pictures and Robert Kerridge.[1]

MJ's sons

MJ and Alma Moodabe's three sons, Royce Moodabe (born 1937), Joseph Patrick Moodabe (1940? – 8 December 2019) and Michael Barry Joseph Moodabe (15 December 1932 – 3 September 2009) grew up in Epsom, Auckland[2] and were educated at St Peter's College. The three sons used to visit their father's office in the Civic Theatre, Queen Street as they grew up, all were "promised a desk in the corner of that room and their father's supervision". However, each actually began "as office boy out the back, tediously filing admission receipt dockets until they learnt to carve their own niche". They were employed in Amalgamated Theatres from when they left school in the late 1950s.[3] On the retirement of their father and uncle, Royce became managing director and Joseph and Michael had management roles. They continued to be involved in the management of the chain from the 1960s to the 1980s. The owner of the chain, 20th Century Fox sold out in the 1980s to the Chase Corporation and then the chain came into the ownership of Hoyts which continued to employ the brothers in senior management positions.[4] Royce Moodabe became general manager of Hoyts Australian circuit.[5] He retired in 2006 after 57 years in the business.[6] In 1997 Joe Moodabe joined Village Force Cinemas " ... which, as general manager, he built into the "country's biggest cinema chain". In 2006 the chain became wholly owned by SkyCity and was renamed SkyCity Cinemas. Joe Moodabe became executive chairman of an in-house board that oversaw developments in the cinema business.[4] He died on 8 December 2019.[7]

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References
  1. Michael Moodabe, "Moodabe, Joseph Patrick 1899–1985; Moodabe, Michael Joseph 1895–1975", Dictionary of New Zealand Biography, (updated 22 June 2007).
  2. Graham W A Bush, The History of Epsom, 2006, p. 283.
  3. Michael Moodabe, Peanuts and Pictures: The life and times of MJ Moodabe, Michael Moodabe, Auckland, 2000, p. 76.
  4. Drinnan, John (11 November 2006). "'M' is for movies – and Joe Moodabe". The New Zealand Herald. p. C 5. Archived from the original on 23 October 2012. Retrieved 26 October 2011.
  5. Michael Moodabe, Peanuts and Pictures, p. 20.
  6. Philip Wakefield, Short End: Royce rolls off, Croft clocks in, On Film, 2006. Archived 24 July 2011 at the Wayback Machine
  7. "Joe Moodabe death notice". New Zealand Herald. 10 December 2019. Retrieved 10 December 2019.
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