The News Pictorial in Kenyan Cinemas 1960s/70s

 

Since Uhuru in 1963 and up to the mid 1970s cinemas in Kenya showed the News Pictorial. Some may remember this news program. It was presented in black and white and lasted around 10 minutes.

The News Pictorial covered 3-4 events of interest in commonwealth countries. Common events included the Queen visiting a commonwealth country. I clearly remember in one issue News Pictorial covered the building and opening of the new 680 Hotel on Kenyatta Avenue as it was a large, successfully completed, private company project in the quickly developing independent Kenya!

Another memorable issue was the coverage of 10th Anniversary celebrations on Jamhuri Day 1973 at Uhuru Park, Nairobi. Many heads of states including Emperor Haile Selassie and President Nimeiry were present. Film patrons reacted with excitement (as they usually did) when they saw President Idi Amin arrive. Our jaws dropped when we saw President Amin, the gentleman who upended the lives of thousands of Ugandan Ismailis a few months earlier in August 1972 sitting close to the Aga Khan on the main dais!! (see the British Pathe segment below including minutes 1.26 to 1.35)

At the Regal the News Pictorial was played during every show after the national anthem. Each week a staff member would walk over to the British Council in City House to pick up a brand-new copy of the News Pictorial. Cinemas in Mombasa would receive the News Pictorial at the same time as cinemas in Nairobi.

Beginning in 1968 the Regal would show only English movies and it was common to have both the News Pictorial and a cartoon or another short program before the trailers of upcoming films.

If you only watched Indian movies chances are that you never saw the News Pictorial as cinemas did not show this during Indian shows given the length of Indian films!!

The News Pictorial was great in that we got a glimpse of what was happening in some African countries and other commonwealth countries.

After 1975 the News Pictorial was replaced with the very interesting Kenya Newsreel. More on that later!!

see British Pathe on 10th Anniversary of Jamhuri Day in 1973 : https://www.britishpathe.com/asset/221304/

Below photo: 680 Hotel in Nairobi

The Kenya Newsreel

 

Sometime around 1975 the Kenya Film Corporation informed all cinemas in Kenya that the News Pictorial was being replaced with the Kenya Newsreel. At the Regal we were informed that we no longer had to pick up our weekly copy of the News Pictorial from the British Council at the City House.

Only a limited number of 35 mm copies of the Kenya Newsreel were available each week. The cinemas in Nairobi would first show the latest copy of the Kenya Newsreel. The plan was to distribute the Kenya Newsreel in the same way new release English films were scheduled. New films would first play in Nairobi, followed by Mombasa, Kisumu, Nakuru, in that order and so forth throughout the smaller centers.

Henceforth we were to receive our copy of the Kenya Newsreel each week from the Odean Cinema in Nairobi. At the time all the films were sent to us through the highly efficient Akamba Bus Service. At the end of the week when we received our new copy, we sent our copy for the previous week to another cinema in Kisumu. I believe it was the Tivoli cinema. The system worked flawlessly for years!

In the book African Film: Looking back and Forward (4), Wanjiru Kinyanjui indicates that the Kenya Newsreel had either a political or development agenda. Around June 1980 the Minister of Information and Broadcasting informed parliament that the Kenya Newsreel would be improved. He outlined that ‘the task of the newsreel was to inform Kenyans of current affairs and also to contribute to the intensification of Kenya’s image abroad,’(5).

Initially the Kenya Newsreel was presented in black and white like the previous News Pictorial. Later, on special occasions such as Jamhuri Day the presentation was in color!

Also of interest was that the person narrating the newsreel in English and consistently for a long period was clearly English!. He was definitely not African nor Asian!

Interestingly the Kenya Newsreel could only be seen if you went to see English films. There were not shown prior to Indian films as the latter films were over 2 and half hours!

The Kenya Newsreel was well received by most film patrons. Most viewed it quietly with interest. Almost all of the news events related to Kenya.

Inevitably like the Voice of Kenya the news events featured President Jomo Kenyatta frequently. Later, the whole 10 minutes was devoted to President Daniel Arap Moi, especially in the early years of Moi’s presidency when Moi toured a lot of foreign countries and different areas in Kenya.

Growing up a Kenyan nationalist I waited in anticipation and excitement each week to see the different countries Moi visited. I think during this time, so soon after the Kenyatta regime, the Kenya Newsreel played a powerful role in bringing Kenyans together. It probably gave the country confidence given the way the Moi entourage presented itself and, in the way, foreign countries received and respected them.

The international visits initiated lengthy debates in the Regal Theatre’s projection room. Topics included would the new Moi government survive, would the change the constitution group rear its ugly head in opposition, would Kenya be peaceful, and was there a future for Asians. At one point after many international visits Moi made the profound statement, something to the effect that, ‘we all were better off here in Kenya’! After visiting Canada and the UK (as part of the family exit strategy) I whole heartedly agreed. The Kenya of the 1970’s had a healthy economy, was peaceful and had excellent warm weather.

Moi was accompanied on international visits by the Kenya Newsreel team that included cameraman Henry Bwoka (1). Another cameraman was Charles Manyara (2) Both became instructors at the Kenya Institute for Mass Communication.

Later on, the last 1 or 2 minutes of the Kenya Newsreel would show various news events from other countries including Czechoslovakia. I recall as the years progressed some local musical talent was added towards the end.

Some of the older audiences and staff were sad to see the discontinuance of the News Pictorial. The News Pictorial was interesting as it provided news about various countries in the commonwealth including Africa. The Kenya Newsreel provided almost no news from the commonwealth.

The Kenya Newsreel was produced with local staff in the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting. Austria initially provided the training and know how in filming and producing the Kenya Newsreel. Peter Roehsler was the project manager for the ‘Organization and establishment of a cinema newsreel in the Republic of Kenya – Kenya Newsreel’ (3).

The Kenya Newsreel was produced in 35mm. It was sent for processing to Austria. Filming in 35mm was stopped when video cameras were introduced.

As time progressed the Kenya Newsreel was also shown late night on the TV service of the Voice of Kenya.

(1) https://ke.linkedin.com/in/henry-bwoka-09581124

(2) https://ke.linkedin.com/in/charles-manyara-b2928343

(3) https://dokweb.net/database/persons/biography/72cda6ea-7f33-4ee1-8df2- 941b12000834/peter-roehsler

(4) https://books.google.ca/books?id=2msxBwAAQBAJ&pg=PA69&lpg=PA69&dq=kenya+newsreel&source=bl&ots=o9ct3zu2VM&sig=ACfU3U1CVR8lvtOgvBZYrSjN9Hk0VCBOAw&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwigtpL8otGFAxV5MTQIHQceBQg4HhDoAXoECAIQAw#v=onepage&q=kenya%20newsreel&f=false

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 managed by YADEN (Youth Arts Development and Entrepreneurship Network). It was used for theatre skits, meeting hall and dance classes upstairs. Then it changed to the PCEA Pangani Church.

20th Century Cinema, Nairobi

 new photo!!

This cinema was on Mama Ngina Street

the former street name was Queensway

In 1987 ownership transferred from 20 Century Fox (EA) Ltd to Queensway Properties Ltd!!

Theatre Royal, Nairobi

 

Way before Theatre Royal became Cameo Cinema, that is, prior to the first World War you could have grabbed a drink and snacks at the Regal Bar & Snacks before the film.

The Casbah in the Regal Theatre building Mombasa used to be called the Regal Bar too!!...but there is no connection (I think!!) to the Regal bar at the Theatre Royal. Regal Theatre also had another bar next to the offices and that you could access from the balcony to the left if you were lucky enough to find the door from the balcony to the bar.

Almost all single screen Kenya cinemas had a bar attached to it in the old days. It appears this was a British tradition that started with theatres.

In the 1980s and later, almost no cinemas in Canada had a bar! Cineplex in Canada now has a restaurant (where drinks are available) attached to the multiplex!! Anything for additional revenue!!

Drive-In Cinema, Mombasa

 Here is an interesting description of an outing to see an English film at the Drive-In cinema in Mombasa around 1960:

"There was no television, and so sometimes my mother and father would go to the drive-in cinema. Since the weather was almost always hot and dry, the drive-in was a favorite venue for them. However, on occasions, during the monsoon it would rain, and they would watch the screen with the windscreen wipers going! It didn’t spoil the evening. They didn’t have carry cots or anything like that for David and I, so they used to get an empty drawer from a chest of drawers and put a blanket in it and place us on the back seat and take us with them. (No seat belts of course!). In later years we were able to stay up on the back seat of the car until the credits rolled at the beginning of the film. It was a great night out for us as well, as it usually meant a sausage in a roll and perhaps a swig of dad’s beer before bed if we were lucky. The drive-in cinema only seemed to play one record before the film, ‘Apache’ by the Shadows which echoed over the vast car park. To this day, when I hear that record, I think of the Drive In at Mombasa.

Generally, in those days the cinema was quite amateurish. The adverts before the film were usually ‘slides’ project on the screen. It was quite common for an advert on a slide to be shown upside down and hurriedly changed! The films were often 1950’s Ealing productions, they were always accompanied by a ‘funny’ (a cartoon – often Tom and Jerry), and a ‘short’, which was a ‘B’ movie. Along with this was a newsreel, by Pathé news, giving us the British national news from about two months ago, narrated in a very ‘clipped’ upper class British accent. Since there were no foreign newspapers, this was the only way of knowing what was going on in Britain."

source: https://petegoddard.pw/882-2

The Shadows - Apache: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7TwULx_wDiI

Amazing!!...I recall around 1974 the Regal had only one Beatles vinyl record album that was played every day for many months!!...until my school friend Hitesh, who worked at Assanands brought me many cassettes of the latest English Hits that I handed over to the projectionist!!

https://www.thebeatles.com/beatles-1967-1970

YouTube clip:Kenya, Nairobi & 20th Century Cinemas - post 1972!!

 This video on YouTube was probably taken after 1972. This is the only video I have seen that shows all of the 3 cinemas in CBD:

Kenya Cinema - minute 1.00 to 1.03; and again 2.09 to 2.17

Nairobi Cinema - minute 3.18 to 3.25 (right of Uchumi building - you can see the blue wall and Nairobi Cinema sign)

20th Century Cinema - minute 3.27 to 3.35 (you can see the top of the red sign '20th')

enjoy!!

also has great scenes of Kenayatta Avenue. Parliament building and New Stanley Hotel!!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TQXGTXmK4hc

Advertising in Mombasa Cinemas in the 1970s: Filmlets (EA) Ltd and Pearl & Dean (EA) Ltd

If you were a regular film patron to Mombasa cinemas in the 1970s you may remember the commercials that played before the National Anthem and News (News Pictorial or later the Kenya Newsreel). The industry used to call these ‘filmlets’. The term commercial was not used at the time!!

The famous Rolex commercial at the Drive-In comes to mind. This is where a swimmer wearing a Rolex watch dives from a very high cliff somewhere in Cancun. This played for a long time at the Drive-In including prior to Indian films.

Yet another one that played continuously were various British Airways commercials at only the Kenya Cinema Mombasa.

Some of the commercials at this early time were locally produced. For example, the Close-Up toothpaste commercial was filmed on a busy Nairobi Street. An attractive African lady bumps into a man and the narrative starts with “suddenly you are very close to someone...will your teeth be bright? ...will your breath be fresh?....”

And then who can forget all the slides before the commercials. At the Regal the slides would whiz by without giving patrons enough time to read them!!

Little known were the companies behind the distribution of commercials. There were only 2 companies. One was Filmlets (EA) Ltd. This was associated with 20th Century Fox (EA) Ltd. The other was Pearl and Dean (EA) Ltd.

These companies would send schedules monthly with updates and a box of new 30/60 second filmlets as needed. This part of the business was quite lucrative. Advertising revenues could be anywhere from 5% - 15% of box office takings. And of course, the higher the cinema attendance the higher the advertising amounts these companies would send each month. The cinemas could not negotiate anything! This additional revenue was pure gravy as there were virtually no additional costs! At the Regal the only headache fell to Jack the rewinder who had to spend time each week splicing up all the 5-9 filmlets. Kenya cinema in Mombasa had the most commercials ranging from 8-16 filmlets each week. At the Regal we would try and boost advertising revenues by sending Filmlets and Pearl & Dean schedules of upcoming films that would likely do well.

As the years went by some filmlets were in Swahili. Later on you could see the same filmlets on the Voice of Kenya TV!

Slides were much cheaper to produce, and local Mombasa businesses would have these made up by local photography businesses. In those days slides were around 5in by 5in. The film would be set between 2 glass panes that would be manually inserted in a slider allowing 2 slides at a time in a dedicated slide machine. The projectionist had to be careful the slide was shown right side up!

Regular patrons may remember the last slide that was used for years in Mombasa cinemas that said ‘Please check your belongings before you leave. Management is not responsible for lost items.' This started after a high-profile loss in one of the cinemas in the 1960s. Regal showed this social message by way of a business card held in the palm of one’s hand, while Kenya cinema showed a man's lower body as he left the cinema!!

And who can forget the slide that played continuously at the Kenya Cinema about a Marlon Brando film on Wounded Knee. This film never arrived!

Filmlets (East Africa) Limited was incorporated in Kenya in Sept 1960 (see below)

Pearl and Dean (East Africa) Limited was incorporated in Kenya in Sept 1961 and was dissolved in April 1994 as film attendance dropped precipitously!! (see below)

Advertising in Cinemas appeared to be still lucrative by the mid 1990s. See the Advertising Rate Sheet from the Fox group below.

see Pearl and Dean logo that played at the Regal Theatre Mombasa (the actual one had a rotating globe in the middle!)

from 1.25min to 1.40min:

https://www.bing.com/videos/search?q=youtube%20pearl%20and%20dean%20history%20of%20logo&docid=607993053714016303&mid=1AA8517BF28E004797201AA8517BF28E00479720&view=detail&FORM=VIRE&fbclid=IwAR1MCHJJXkrkl6e1hsRz1lFB98DnCfwb2PWuIePdiqayscQyS8X2xu7MAbk

 

Dar es Salaam Film Listings, Sunday News May 8th 1966

 

1973 Bruce Lee Stamps Tanzania

 Bruce Lee was considered the "non aligned super hero" in Tanzania!!

The Kenya Cinema, the Regal Cinema and the Port Reitz Hotel Mombasa

 

Port Reitz, an area located to the northwest of Mombasa Island, was named after Lieutenant J. J. Reitz, an officer in the Royal Navy, who became commander of Mombasa in February 1824.

Interestingly the hotel was designed and built by William Miller Robertson as business was bad at the Regal Theatre on Salim Road!

We do not know what happened between 1935 and 1955 at the Port Reitz Hotel. However, in 1956 Mohanlal Kala, the owner of Majestic Cinema and Kenya Cinema in Mombasa decided to purchase the Port Reitz Hotel and 50 acres around Port Reitz Airport (see below screenshot from the book Jambo Samji Kala).

The hotel was leased to a British expatriate. According to the book, the hotel was only open to the British, and even Mohanlal Kala was expected to enter the hotel from the side entrance. Because of this and the fact that the hotel served meat, Mohanlal Kala decided to sell the hotel! ...and that was that!!

Who built the Regal Theatre in Mombasa?

 Some literature makes claims that the brothers Janmohamed Hasham and Valli Hasham built the Regal Theatre. However, I vaguely recall my dad telling me that they in fact purchased the property after construction. I have come across some evidence confirming this!!

William Miller Robertson is listed as a company director in the 29th December 1934 edition of the Kenya Gazette. (see screenshot below).

Additionally, one of the Kenya Regiment Association booklet‘s (see screen shot below) explains that business was so bad at the Regal Theatre in 1935, that William Miller Robertson who was running the theatre and who was a registered architect decided to design and build the Port Reitz Hotel to generate income.

Consistent with the above, the 20th November 1934 Kenya Gazette indicates that the Regal Theatres and Cinemas (East Africa) Limited sold the business (assets and goodwill) to Valli Hasham & Company (see screenshot below). Amazing!!

This further adds to the role and influence of the British in the early development of the theatres, cinemas and the entertainment industry in Kenya.

It appears William Miller Robertson continued in the capacity of a manager or lessee at the Regal!!

Film India Cinema, Nairobi

Film India Cinema changed its name sometime in the 1960s to Casino Cinema!!

Top Photo: present day Casino building is now a church

Middle Photo: premises on corner of Varma Road leading to Casino Cinema (extreme left)

Bottom Photo: River Road in junction with Latema Road on left and Verma Road on right. Right of Moonlit Chemists about 50 yards was the Casino Cinema formerly Film India Cinema.

photos from:

http://www.sikh-heritage.co.uk/.../nostalgic%20EAfrica...