The Great Cinemas of Colombo

In this series of interviews on Colombo’s heritage, we cover Colombo’s great cinemas with Historian Asiff Hussein, the Author of The Great Days of Colombo.

By Ifham Nizam

Q:In your book ‘The Great Days of Colombo’ you have covered Colombo’s cinema scene comprehensively. How would you trace the evolution of our cinema theatres. How long do they go back to?

A:It’s a long story, but to keep it short, entertainment in the form of movies was a gradual development. There is said to have been an Englishman named Warwick Major who put up what is described as a tent at the site of the present Regal Theatre to screen English films or bioscopes as they were then called. That must have been in the early 1900s. Another early development was what was called the ‘Bioscope’. The American Consul for Ceylon Stillman Eells wrote in Small Island Markets for American Motion Pictures (1931 that: “There is also a touring “Electric Bioscope” which shows at various times in town halls at more or less regular intervals, with an average audience of about 400 in each place”. It is possible that it showed in Colombo as well. Older folk I have spoken to also recall the ‘Bioskope Man’ who pushed his cart and showed movies like in the cinemas.

This Bioscope man was a Muslim who pushed his cart along the roads of Slave Island and elsewhere in the 50s and 60s. He would gather a few customers and roll the film with a handle while passing it through a light source and a glass that magnified the image and projected it on to a black box. These were monochrome silent films and the man would give a running commentary on the film in Tamil which was understood by the Muslims there. Who knows, there may have been others. Modern cinema as we know it came in the inter-war years, that is to say the years between the Great War or World War I and World War II. The American Consul for Ceylon Stillman Eells wrote in Small Island Markets for American Motion Pictures (1931): “There are three sound theatres in Ceylon- The Empire, the Regal and the Majestic Talkies, all of which are located in Colombo. The latter two are equipped with fading lights and exhaust fans. The average programme at each of the houses is a half hour of gramophone records prior to the opening of the show, a synchronised or talking news reel, a synchronised or talking comedy, and a synchronised or talking feature reel. Pictures at all three theatres are changed twice a week. The majority of talking pictures so far exhibited have been of American origin, although a few British and German productions have been shown”He goes on to say: “A remarkable thing about the exhibition of talking pictures in Ceylon is their popularity with the natives, even those who do not understand English. Every theatre in Ceylon gives two shows nightly, one at 6. pm and the other at 9.30 pm. At the 6 pm performances of the sound theatres, the cheaper class of seats are always filled, mostly by natives who do not understand English. The English-speaking natives and the Europeans have almost forgotten the silent drama for the talking pictures, and even when films are only synchronised, extremely adverse comments are heard from the audience. It would therefore seem that the talking film has really “taken” in Ceylon”.

Q:Who were the pioneers of Modern cinema theatres in the city?

A:One of the earliest was Regal at Parsons Road (now Sir Chittampalam Gardiner Mawatha) set up in 1930 by Ceylon Theatres and which at the time had 900 seats equipped by an American company. At that time it was one of only three talkies or sound theatres in Colombo, the other two being the Empire and the Majestic.

Majestic Cinema at Galle Road Bambalapitiya was originally established by the Parsi-owned Madan Theatres in the inter-war years was bought over by Ceylon Theatres owned by Chittampalam Gardiner. It was called Majestic Talkies back then in the 1930s and was soon showing some great American movies. They showed some very good films and attracted movie buffs of all kinds. They mainly showed Metro Goldwyn Mayer movies like Scapegoat, Green Helmet, Tarzan the Apeman, Secret of Monte Cristo and The Mirror has Two Faces in the early 1960s. In the 1980s the old cinema was demolished by its owners of the Page family and replaced by Majestic City, a large commercial mall which also included a cinema complex still known as Majestic Cinema. The Liberty Cinema at Turret Road, Colpetty (now Dharmapala Mawatha) was built by Jabir A.Cader in the 1950s and showed films by both Paramount Pictures and Universal Pictures. One of the first films shown at the Liberty was A White Christmas. Later came the comedies staring Gerry Lewis and Dean Martin and Danny Kaye’s Knock on Wood, musicals like Cliff Richard’s Summer Holiday and My Fair Lady, thrillers like Towering Inferno and Cassandra Crossing, horrors like Alfred Hitchcock’s Vertigo and Psycho and Robert Aldrich’s Whatever Happened to Baby Jane. The early years of the sixties also saw Franco Zefferelli’s Romeo & Juliet screened here. It is said that whenever a Western was shown at the Liberty, young men would come out with their hands as if about to draw a gun.

Savoy Cinemaat Galle Road, Wellawatte was also built in the fifties and must have taken its name from the more famous Savoy cinema of London. It was owned by a person named CV De Silva who is said to have started life providing entertainment for overseas troops stationed here during World War II which was built by one Jason Fernando. In the late fifties it was the scene of a commotion when they screened the 1956 musical film Rock Around the Clock featuring Bill Haley and the Comets when some Burgher boys attending the evening show got into a frenzy and started dancing inside the cinema. The police apparently had to be brought in to quell the situation as the boisterous lot became a nuisance to the rest of the audience. Among the better known films screened there in the 1960s were Gun Fever, Lady Chatterly’s Lover and The Case Against Brooklyn. They also showed the James Bond Movies Dr. No, From Russia with Love, Goldfinger and Thunderball.

The Rio at Kumaran Ratnam Road, Slave Island came much later, in 1965. . It was set up by Appapillai Navaratnam. At the time it had an open area opposite the cinema which served as a parking lot for cinema patrons. The section between it and the roadway was adorned with cutouts of the film running at the time. The early films shown here were mainly Twentieth Century productions and musicals such as South Pacific, Sound of Music, Can Can and West Side story, war films like Alamo and humorous adventure films like Those Magnificent Men in their Flying Machines.

Q: What was the experience like for movie-goers of the early days, any idea about it?

A:I can speak of the 1960s because I gathered a lot of information from some of our older movie buffs who fondly recall those days. Tickets back then even in the best cinemas cost from fifty cents to three Rupees max. The Gallery usually cost fifty cents, Second Class 1 Rupee, First Class two rupees and Balcony three rupees

Even then almost all the cinema theatres had air-conditioning and so it must have been a very comfortable experience. It would be surprising to many that the Rio was probably the country’s most family-friendly cinema at that time. This is of course a far-cry from today with its focus on adults only movies. It is sad to see the impact the 1983 riots had on it. It was a victim of the riots and was burned by a mob. It recovered, but the quality of its films sadly declined. Today it is only a shell of its former self.

But back then, its impressive facade was Neon lit at night with red lighting running through the name Rio at the very entrance and blue lighting throughout the side of the building. Rio’s exterior in the good old days was covered with Ceylon timber such as Gintota Ply with Satin and Kirihambiliya facings. It also had large comfortable seats upholstered in foam rubber and creamy beige rexine and with satinwood arms which were all tailored to give an unobstructed view of the large screen over forty feet wide and nearly forty feet high. The large lounge which was open to cinema patrons was provided with snacks such as Chinese rolls from the Nippon Hotel across the road. Its snack bar served patties, sandwiches and hamburgers while its ‘sweet bar’ facing the hall was amply stocked with ice chocs, soft drinks, cashew nuts and peanuts.

A couple of cinemas also had usherettes back then. For instance, Rio its early years had its usherettes attired in grey air force caps with a white stripe running in the middle, white shirt and bluish grey jacket and skirt. These women are said to have been drawn mainly from the Burgher community. They would go around carrying trays strapped to their shoulders and selling refreshments like ice chocs. Its snack bar served patties, sandwiches and hamburgers.

It was the same with the Savoy. They too had usherettes in the 1960s. These were usually Burgher women. They would be dressed in white frocks and red and white dotted cravats. They would have torches to show people their seats. In the intervals would make another appearance holding trays filled with sweets and ice chocs for sale.

So I guess it was quite an experience then!