Biography
Australia's 'Mr. Movies' - renowned film critic, TV host and music arranger/pianist whose career spanned four decades.
He described himself as the "definitive, reluctant TV star".
Ivan Joseph Hutchinson was born in Melbourne on February 11 1928. His father was an Anzac who had been wounded in World War I and continued in the Army until his retirement in the late 1950s. Ivan grew up in Fitzroy where he attended St. Bridget's Primary School, St. Thomas's Clifton Hill and his final year at Parade College.
He began studying piano at the age of eight, eventually obtaining A. Mus. A. and L. Mus. A. diplomas at the Melbourne Conservatorium of Music. At 16 he joined the Victorian State Public Service as a clerk in the Lands Department. However during his teens he had developed a keen interest in jazz and popular music and by the age of 17 he was playing regularly at the Malvern Town Hall dances.
Aside from music his other passion was movies. Much of his spare time was spent at cinemas and writing his own reviews. In 1949 he met Grace O'Connor, married in 1953 and raised four children.
In 1960 he began working in television for HSV Channel 7 as pianist with the station's orchestra in variety shows including "Sunnyside Up", "The Bob Crosby Show" with Bob Crosby , children's shows such as "The Happy Show" with Happy Hammond and Time for Terry (1965) in which he regularly appeared in an on-camera role with young Olivia Newton-John.
These were the pioneering days of Australian television when Seven was producing 16 local live studio programs a week -- and Ivan and his piano was a part of most of them and led his studio band through the golden days of Melbourne television variety. He worked as accompanist, arranger, conductor and occasional on-air personality. He was knowledgeable about every type of music and soon found himself much in demand as a jingle writer and session musician.
In 1970 he was appointed Musical Director and at the same time was offered the opportunity to write film reviews for the Australian Catholic national weekly The Advocate. During the early 1970s as live variety waned, Ivan and the orchestra continued playing weekly Saturday nights, in between 'the trots' (harness racing) on the Penthouse Club (1970) with Mary Hardy and Michael Williamson
1973 found him approaching management with his own proposition, along with fellow Melbourne film critic Jim Murphy, to host what would become Australia's first movie review program Two on the Aisle (1971) Thursday nights after "TV Ringside" with Ron Casey and "League Teams", a spin off of World of Sport (1959) with Lou Richards, Jack Dyer and Bob Davis. The show was telecast only in Melbourne on HSV Channel 7.
The loyal following this program generated made Ivan increasingly well known as an on-air movie critic. When the show went on hiatus in late December 1974, Seven suggested he also become a movie presenter and host the midday movies -- at first he was reluctant, but network executives knew from his work on "Two On The Aisle" and variety shows over the years that what he had to offer was a passion and understanding for movies along with a sincerity and humility that was unmatched.
The midday movie soon became "Ivan's Midday Movie" on HSV Channel 7 (in later years "The Afternoon Movie with Ivan Hutchinson") beginning in February 1975 at the dawn of the introduction of colour television to Australia - the glories of Technicolor soon kicked in on viewers' brand new colour TV sets and it's success was immediate. The show was picked up nationally throughout the Seven Network in the late 70s where it rated solidly against the Nine Network's "The Mike Walsh Show" from 1975-1984 and "Midday with Ray Martin" from 1985-1993.
To many growing up in Australia during this period, pre-home video and pay TV, Ivan's choices of midday movies were the introduction to the golden years of cinema, a course in film appreciation one would not receive outside of a university and some of the greatest movies ever made (at least, those that the Seven Network had the rights to) usually could be found playing either from 12 noon Monday to Friday, in later years 1.30pm-4.00pm.
Often the movie running times, including commercials and station promos, would run short within the program's 120/150 minute time slot, leaving sometimes as much as half an hour left to fill. As a result, to use this airtime, Ivan would take a camera crew and film interviews with most of the directors, producers or movie stars coming through Melbourne on publicity tours and question them not only about the film they were promoting but also their careers in general -- as a result he ended up filming definitive interviews with many of the greats in world cinema and television, the best of these interviews were packaged into a separate show "Face To Face with Ivan Hutchinson"
His show's success also coincided with the renaissance of the Australian film industry and many features in production in Melbourne during the era were often featured in interviews with those behind and in front of the cameras. Most fittingly, Ivan is seen (briefly) in the documentary feature on Australian genre films of the 70s and 80s, Not Quite Hollywood: The Wild, Untold Story of Ozploitation! (2008)
With the ratings success of the midday movie, from 1977 through to the mid 80s there was a prime time spin-off -- "Ivan's Movie Classics" which ran 8.30 pm Fridays as well as in the late 70s, "That's Hollywood" highlighting black and white classics of the 30s and 40s, following Seven's Sunday Night Movie. He was resident movie critic on Seven's rock music show "Night Moves" (1977-1984) and was heard weekly on Melbourne FM radio with The D Generation, soon on the way to have their own television and motion picture careers.
As well as continuing to be musical director for the Seven Network, he hosted "Ivan's Late Night Matinee" (1980-1983), a mix of movie serials, episodes of classic television and reviews of current movie releases and his one movie special which became an annual event to many families "Ivan's Christmas Movie Guide" (1974-1987, 1992, 1993) usually broadcast mid-December, taking a non-critical look at all Christmas releases and highlighting the big movies for the upcoming year.
Many consider Ivan's enduring legacy was as a film reviewer and he became widely regarded throughout Australia not only for the quality of his film writing, but for his ability to frame his criticism in accessible language and assess a film from the position of everyday movie-goer and professional analyst.
He continued as film critic for The Advocate (1970-1978), then to Melbourne daily newspaper The Sun News-Pictorial, later the Herald-Sun (1980-1994), national TV magazines Listener-In TV/TV Scene (1977) and TV Week (1979-1994), monthly video magazine The Video Age (1982-1986), with editor Jim Murphy and letters editor Graham Kennedy) and author of the book "Movies On TV and Video", published in 1992.
Ivan continued working until sudden and untimely illness forced him to retire - his final week hosting the afternoon movie was in December 1994. It has continued without a host ever since.
The tributes that flowed in following his death were evidence of the breadth of his influence, the affection he evoked and the high esteem in which he was held. Channel Seven's Melbourne managing director Brian Mallon said that Ivan was undoubtedly one of the television industry's pioneers who found a special place in the nation's heart over his 35 years in the business -- he concluded by saying "There was not a person of higher integrity nor one who possessed a greater passion for Australian television and film."
