Ticket for Shan Cinema

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