Cinemas in Kenya and the Entertainment Tax

                                                       

The sample tickets from the Metropole Cinema (above) and Shan Cinema (below) provide the statement 'Including Tax'. This refers to the entertainment tax. Cinemas in Kenya were subject to an Entertainment Tax of 10%  in the 1970's and 1980's. It is interesting to note that the government implemented a complicated system to ensure it received the tax. The system was not as simple as just reporting 'sales x 10%' as in many VAT jurisdictions today. 

Cinemas had to print their tickets way in advance, and then store the tickets at the local tax office. I had the opportunity to accompany a couple of staff members from the Regal Cinema, Mombasa. We made  the trip to the local tax office to pick up ticket booklets when the current stock of tickets booklets in the cinema office was running low.  Such trips were made monthly or more often when cinema attendance spiked due to popular movies being screened.

Cinema staff had to show up at the tax office with a cheque on hand. The tax had to be paid in advance!. The cinemas therefore had to estimate demand for the next little while for each ticket category. They also had to estimate how much cash they could afford to dish out!!  

At the time of my visit there were 4 ticket categories. These were common to all Mombasa cinemas. Balcony tickets in the mid 1970s were 6 shs. Stalls had 3 ticket categories. These were 4.80, 3.60 and 2.40. Management had to estimate the expected demand for each category and crunch up the total entertainment tax.

I remember my visit well. On a particularly hot afternoon we walked from the Regal Cinema on Digo road, down Nkrumah road towards Old town. The shop awnings kept the hot sun away from us. As we were avid movie buffs, we paused outside the Kenya cinema to view the posters of upcoming releases. Having made a mental note of the competition and what to watch next we continued down Nkrumah road, past the Banki Kuu ya Kenya building and entered the white colonial building on the other side of the roundabout which was just before old town. 

A tax official met us. After some pleasantries he accepted our cheque, He then led us down a corridor to a large stock room. The room was lined with wooden shelves. Each shelf was piled with cinema tickets.  The shelves had labels identifying each Mombasa cinema. These included Kenya, Naaz, Moons, Drive In, Chox, and the Regal cinema. 

At the end of the shelves we found a wooden table and 2 chairs. The tax official brought the applicable tickets to the table. Each ticket booklet had 100 tickets. They were all in numerical order. You can see the numbers on the top right of the sample tickets from Metropole and Shan cinema (above).

The tax official provided a government stamp (holder) and stamp pad that was refilled with blue ink. The stamp holder basically provided the date and a statement that said something like 'tax paid'. We then spent the next hour stamping each ticket!!.

On completion of stamping all the tickets we packed all the ticket booklets in a box and made our way back to Regal. The task that afternoon took a good 3-4 hours!!  

Interestingly the sample ticket from the Avalon cinema (see below) in Dar-es-salaam has a government stamp similar to a postage stamp. This system was not followed in Kenya.

Also note that the sample tickets (see above) from the 2 Nairobi cinemas do not have a government stamp indicating tax was paid. Perhaps they had a different system in Nairobi. Or perhaps these particular tickets were issued without paying entertainment tax!. Staff, owners and cinema patrons had all sorts of ingenious ways to bypass the tax man and in fact avoid paying anything. But that is a topic for another day! 

 

Nairobi Indian Cinemas 1970s tickets!!

Embassy and Liberty Cinemas:

See a sample of an Embassy Cinema ticket - customer's portion below.    

        

In Nairobi upstairs was called 'Circle' while in Mombasa we referred it to the 'Balcony'!!. Embassy Cinema was owned by the Samji Kala family, the same family that owned wonderful Kenya Cinema in Mombasa.

This ticket was probably issued in the early 1970s. The date is in Gujerati! Can someone translate!

On the top left of the Embassy ticket you can see a portion of the the circular entertainment tax stamp. Each such ticket had to be stamped by a cinema staff member at the tax office. The ticket books (usually 100 tickets to a book) could only be released from the tax office after paying the entertainment tax in advance!! You can read more about Kenya's entertainment tax system in the 1960s-1980s here https://historiccinemaseastafrica.blogspot.com/search...

The photo at the bottom provides a Liberty Cinema ticket-customer's portion. 

I liked sitting at the back in the stalls as you could look directly ahead on a screen that was far enough, while in the balcony you had to look slightly down!! The new cinemas have no stalls!! If you find a seat so that you can look directly ahead the screen is usually too big

Globe Cinema, Nairobi ticket

 

Globe Cinema Nairobi ticket

The date is written in Gujarati...12.6.1974

It's for a Saturday Night 8pm show of an Indian film. Looks like its for seat # CC18. Remember the days when an usher showed you your seat even if you knew where your seat was!! Note the ticket #11331.

Occasionally a government entertainment tax auditor would buy a ticket such as this and show up the next day to see the books so as to check if this ticket was recorded as a sale!!

After printing, ticket books were stored at the government Tax office. The cinema had to pay entertainment tax in advance before ticket books were released!! It's a pity they did not extend this system for Video stores!!

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

Majestic Cinema, Mombasa Ticket!!

This ticket probably dates back to the early 1960s! 

Later on tickets had to have a serial number when the entertainment tax was introduced. And there was a door keeper's portion on the left that was separated by a perforation. This made it easier for the door keeper to tear when the film patron entered the auditorium!

At the Regal the door keeper would count the number of door-keeper's ticket portion, write the count on the top and drop these at the book-keeper's office. These would just end up in the dustbin. I always thought this was a make work task! That is, until I saw a door keeper's portion being sold as legitimate ticket to an unsuspecting film patron!!