Cinemas of old: Gone but not forgotton

By Rishi Singh

Many of us who grew up in the heyday of the cinema will still remember the exhilaration of simply walking to it, the sense of expectation as we queued up to buy tickets, sitting in the ‘pit’ and enjoying management’s choice of music, then the sudden hush when the lights went out and the curtains opened. Many of us who grew up in the heyday of the cinema will still remember the exhilaration of simply walking to it, the sense of expectation as we queued up to buy tickets, sitting in the ‘pit’ and enjoying management’s choice of music, then the sudden hush when the lights went out and the curtains opened.

 VCRs, DVDs and other advanced technological devices have brought the cinema industry in Guyana to an end, but in our memories our cinemas will always live on, along with the colourful names of some of the projectionists [a person who operates a movie projector], such as “Bun Sugar”, “Tan-Tone” and “Bruk-Up”.Below is a list of cinemas of old and brief information on them:Berbice CinemasApollo (Rose Hall): Owned by Messrs Morris & Percy Choong. Cosmopolitan (Rose Hall near to Doc Higgins workshop and Kathy’s Bar): Owned by Mr Woo Sam, aka Loy; closed in the 1950s, but was later used by Brother Dass Church in the 1960s.Faaz Strand (New Amsterdam): Built in the 1960s, it was owned by Mr Fazal.Gaiety Main St & Theatre Alley (New Amsterdam): Owned by Mr Ho A Yun, who was also the owner of Globe.

Gaiety Main St & Theatre Alley was later sold to Mr Somal Rampersaud.Globe (New Amsterdam): Owned by Mr Ho A Yun, but was burned down.Rivoli was originally called “Khrishna Mahal” after the son of owner Sugrim Persaud, a businessman from East Coast Demerara, Sheet Anchor, on the right side approaching Canje Swing Bridge.  The cinema was demolished in the 1950s. A concrete foundation remained there for a while and was used by loiterers to gamble and drink illegal spirits. Syd Latchana, who was a Customs Officer, would sometimes conduct raids.Lotus (Whim): Owned by Cyril Patraj Singh. The cinema was formerly known as “Chanmahal”.Maya (Skeldon): Owned by Mr Vernon Bhairam. Metro (Skeldon): Owned by Maurice Choong.Mohani (No. 64 Village): Owned by Mr Jag Budhram. Novelty (Skeldon): Owned by Mr Narine Dutt. Odeon (Bush Lot, Corentyne): Owned by Poonai, aka “Guts”, who was married to Bheer Jhappan’s daughter. Bheer’s brother was Dhan Jhappan (High Court Judge).Then there was the Olympic cinema in New Amsterdam.Radio City (Skeldon): Owned by Mr Percy Choong; projectionist “Nanah” from No.67 Village. Audience could not tell when Nanah cut 15 minutes off a film.Raj Mahal (Canje) and Roopmahal (Port Mourant) were owned by Mr Dennis Boodram.There was Star cinema in Scottsburg, Corentyne, and Strand in New Amsterdam.Yollanda (Albion Front, formerly

Whitehall) was owned by Mr Francis, who also owned a liquor shop in Albion. The cinema was later sold to Mr Dose of Guava Bush and then to Mr Ng Q Sang (Chun Chun). Projectionist was called “Tan-Tone”.Other Local CinemasAstor (Church & Waterloo Sts) opened circa 1940 by the Correias. In 1978, the movie “Saturday Night Fever” ran for three months. The cinema is now defunct. There was also Atlantis in Suddie, Essequibo; Atma in D’Edward Village, West Coast Berbice; and Avon in Good Fortuin.Crescent, the first cinema in Mackenzie (Linden), opened in 1951. Deluxe in Diamond (East Bank Demerara) opened in 1952.Duchess (Pln. Uitvlugt Pasture) was owned by Mr Sookraj, but was burned down during the riots of 1962. Sadly, it was never rebuilt.Not much is known about the Earlo cinema. Empire (Middle St, formerly Metro) first movie was “Prisoner of Zenda”; it is now a retail mall.Gaiety (Camp St & Brickdam near Roman Catholic Presbytery) was British Guiana’s first cinema. It showed silent movies (a film with no synchronized recorded sound, especially with no spoken dialogue). It was burned down in 1926.There was Gem in Enmore.Opened in 1952, Globe’s first film was “David and Bathsheba”. It also showed the first cinemascope and stereophonic sound movie, “The Robe”.Hollywood in Kitty is now a church.Other notable cinemas were Kay Donna in Triumph/Beterverwagting, and Laxhmi.Liberty, which was located in Newtown, Kitty, Vlissengen Rd, was formerly known as Rialto, and then Doren in 1952. Doren burned down during the unrest of 1963 and was replaced by Liberty.Melanie in Melanie DamishanaMetropole on Robb & Wellington Sts opened circa 1937. The first move shown was “Merry Widow”. The cinema burned down in 2004.Metropolitan in BarticaMonarch in Anna CatherinaOlympic, on Lombard St, opened in the 1940s and had no roof.Paragon in Anna ReginaPalm Tree in Burnham Drive, Wismar, LindenPlaza, on Camp St, originally known as London, was built in 1930; had “sound”. It was renamed Plaza in 1951 and installed a ‘wide screen’.Prince of Wales in Pln. Wales Estate was owned by Mr Kam. Rajmahal in Peter’s HallRegal in Vreed-en-HoopRialto on Vlissengen RoadRio, La Penitence, Albouystown, formerly Capitol, changed its name to Rio in 1952. It was bombed during the 1960s disturbances, killing two women inside.Ritz in RosignolRoxy in LeonoraSaraswatie Star in AlbuoystownStarlite in Pouderoyen, West Bank DemeraraStarlite Drive-In (Montrose, East Coast Demerara) opened in the late 1950s with Elvis Presley’s movie, “Blue Hawaii”. It was owned by Andrew James’ son, Henry James, who owned Pawnbrokery on Main St, New Amsterdam. Andrew James also owned Auto Supplies in Georgetown. Morris Choong may have been a partner (info provided by Syd Latchana). The site is now a Courts’ furniture warehouse.Strand (or Strand de Luxe, owned by Mr Leslie Lucky Samaroo) opened in 1957. Its first movies were “Sayonara” and “Ten Commandments”. The building is now used for religious meetings.  There were also cinemas such as Tiffany in Parika and Vijay in Good Hope.(Acknowledgements: Doos Mahadeo, Godfrey Chin, Syd Latchana, Beauty Ramoutar, Kamie, Oscar Ramjeet, Omar Zabar, Desmond Woon, Peter Halder, and others who wish to remain anonymous. Read more at http://chs-jccss.org)