Tuesday, August 25, 2020

Gaumont Kalee cinema projectors - Typical cinema projectors that were installed at some historic cinemas in Kenya (including Regal in Msa)

watch Gaumont Kalee projector on youtube:

 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s1zxwl8WQ-g

The Gaumont Kalee projectors were very versatile and lasted a long time. 

In the Regal, Mombasa these projectors were installed in the early 50's and lasted till the mid 80's when the cinema burned down. Like most equipment and appliances made in those days top quality steel was used. Nothing broke!!. 

The old timers indicated the projectors were provided by 20th Century Fox on an installment basis as part of their drive to encourage the growth of independent cinemas. In fact I recall a 20th Century Fox sticker on the outside of the top cabinet holding the film reel,

2 of these projectors were installed in each theatre. A typical English movie had 5 reels. You can see the top and bottom circular container above. The movie would be placed in the top container and manually placed thru the sprockets all the way to the take up reel at the bottom. Each reel lasted around 20 minutes. 2 additional reels would be played each show in the beginning. The first would contain the National Anthem followed by a 10 minutes or so Kenya Newsreel. The second reel would contain 2-3 trailers of coming attractions. This would be followed by the interval before the main feature.

At the end of the first reel, the projectionist would watch for a mark (usually small circular) on the right hand side of the screen. This would be his cue to start the next projector with reel # 2. At the sight of the second mark a lever would be released to change from the first to the second projector. Actually there were 2 levers. One for the sound and one for display. Experienced projectionist would make the changeover seamlessly!

The back cabinet housed the light source and reflector. A mirror or reflector, circular and with a radius of around 6 inches was found right at the back of the cabinet. The middle had a hole. The light source would be triggered by using knobs outside to move the carbon rods towards each other. The smaller negative carbon rod was placed on the left next to, and perpendicular to the reflector. The positive carbon rod would be placed to the right. 

Needless to say the projectors emitted a lot of heat, noise and various smells. In the heat of Mombasa it was a challenge to keep the  projection room cool and bearable.

Friday, August 21, 2020

Historic Cinemas of East Africa..Typical Cinema Tickets (add a photo or comment on any post (enabled for all).....anyone has a cinema ticket?)?





This ticket is dated 12th October 1970. At the time balcony or circle seats cost shs4.80. Front stalls cost shs2.40 and back stalls cost shs3.60. Prices were set by the Kenya Film Corporation (KFC). KFC was a state owned corporation It was a subsidiary of ICDC. KFC was created in 1968 to distribute English and Indian movies in Kenya.

The above ticket was typically issued by most cinemas in Kenya. The above portion would be retained by the patron. You can see at the bottom it says 'retain this portion for checking'. The portion to the left would have been retained by the door keeper upon entry. The doorkeepers portion and patrons portion would be separated by a perforation that made it easy to tear.

All such tickets would have a unique number, In this case it is 6955. A typical ticket book would hold 100 such tickets and would be numbered sequentially.

The ticket says: (INC. TAX). This refers to Kenya's entertainment tax.

This particular ticket has the day and time pre-printed. In this case: MONDAY 9 P.M. show. This was not the norm. Most cinemas would not have this preprinted, especially in later years. The date stamp is 12th Oct 1970. In Mombasa, for instance most of the cinema date stamps would provide the date and time.

The ticket also has the term CIRCLE. This refers to the balcony. Circle seats were more expensive.
Almost all cinemas had a balcony that could be accessed by a separate pair of stairs. It usually contained 40% of the total seats. In Nairobi this area was known as Circle seats. In Mombasa this area was known as balcony. 

In the best cinemas in Nairobi, that is 20th Century, Kenya Cinema and Nairobi Cinema, there was an additional area in the front of the balcony that was separated from the rest of the balcony seats by a low partition. This additional area was called the 'royal circle' and was the most expensive. The chairs were more comfortable and had higher quality seat coverings. The carpets were quite lush. It was a delightful treat to sit in this area!! 

The Shan Cinema in Nairobi had 900 seats. It only played Indian movies. Customers often complained that the balcony was very steep and that they often felt dizzy in some seats. 

source: the above ticket appeared in The Awaaz Voices, Volume 16, Issue 3 2019



Liberty Cinema, Nairobi

This was once a well known Indian cinema. By 1983 Indian films were replaced by English films. It closed down by 2002. Initially it was mana...