Isadore William Schlesinger arrived in South Africa from America in 1894. Penniless at first, Schlesinger began working in the insurance industry and by 1904 he became a significant figure in the insurance world and eventually developed massive interests in land and real estate. (see 50yr anniversary letter below)
By 1913, through his company African Theatres Trust Ltd, he had acquired all distribution rights to films in Southern Africa.
Schlesinger continued to hold monopoly over local distribution in South Africa, Rhodesia and Kenya, through African Consolidated Films Ltd. American films were distributed through African Consolidated Films Ltd and into African Consolidated Theatres (Ltd).
In 1956, 20th Century Fox bought the Schlesinger monopoly. This included the 3 cinemas in Nairobi that operated since the 1930s, namely the Empire, the Capital and the Playhouse. See photos below. These were then closed and replaced with Kenya cinema and the 20th Century cinema.
The new film distribution organization was called Anglo American Film Distributors.
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