Ask any senior Penangite about Penang cinema showtimes, and they’ll recall them by heart.
Back in the 60s, 70s, and 80s, catching a blockbuster was a real treat.
Old George Town had its share of privately owned cinemas, each with its own quirks.
Families went for afternoon matinees.
Teens sneaked in after school.
Couples enjoyed movie date nights.
Films were the highlight of life.
Sometimes the only entertainment.
Here you could escape into another world for just forty cents.
Tickets weren’t cheap for everyone.
Students usually had second-class tickets, and creeping closer to the screen was an art form.
First-class balcony seats upstairs?
Totally out of reach.
But clever kids found ways to inch forward just enough to see the action.
Air conditioning was a luxury that didn’t exist until the late 1970s.
Giant fans tried their best.
Sweaters were a must for kids.
Parents often had to negotiate special seats to keep them comfortable.
The halls were cold.
The lines were long.
The aisles were littered with sunflower seed shells.
The smell wasn’t of popcorn—well, not yet—but Ken Ken cuttlefish and rojak ruled the day.
Yet, it didn’t matter. Every screening was magic.
Modesty Lines, seriously!
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Back then, cinemas had separate queues for men and women.
Tickets came from perforated booklets, marked with blue for men and red for women.
Single women?
The seller would find you a seat alone.
Seating was first, second, and third class.
The coveted balcony seats upstairs were the most expensive.
Rex Cinema even had a mid-show interval for a quick bio break.
Some cinemas had mezzanine bars selling colas and milkshakes.
But most of us brought our own snacks.
Sunflower seeds, or “kuachi,” were a favorite, leaving aisles littered with shells.
Stray cats and rats sometimes joined the fun.
Smoking in the dark was allowed, too.
Then shopping malls arrived.
New cinema chains followed.
The old cinemas closed one by one in the 1990s, leaving only memories of queues, snacks, and movie magic.
Privately Owned & Housed Cinemas
Cinemas were privately owned in Penang.
Eventually, Shaw Brothers amassed a cinema chain, which spanned the island and included the historic Windsor Theatre.
The names of the cinemas include Central, Eastern, Globe, Rex, Sun, Lido, Royal, Capitol (converted from the Windsor Theatre), and Federal.
Today, Shaw Brothers Cinemas are part of the Golden Triangle Entertainment Complex.
Although these old cinemas have ceased operation, they have been rescued and restored with adaptive reuse.
History of Penang’s First “Talkies”
The Grand Old Dame is back!
Our collective memory is of the golden era of films and talkies.
The extensively restored and renovated Majestic recently opened its doors to a modern theatre for performances during the George Town Festival 2016.
The Majestic mixed circus and theatre, with live juggling and a black comedy, in a uniquely atmospheric, theatrically tuned listening theatre.
Penang’s philanthropist Khoo Sian Ewe’s most memorable bequeath to the movie-starved Penangites in 1926 was the Majestic Theater, which he built attached to 12 adjoining shophouses.
Formerly known as the Shanghai Sound Theatre, it was the first “talkies” and live performance in Northern Malaya.
One of the earliest known Straits-Chinese architects designed the cinema, Chew Eng Eam.
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Art Deco Style Cinemas
There are two free-standing landmark Art Deco-style cinemas with fantastic facades with fine features of Art Moderne.
A fabulous Art Deco architectural style that emphasized curving forms and long horizontal lines emerged in the 1930s.
The Odeon Cinema had the most name changes with each new operator.
I once knew it as the Lyric Theater, King’s Theater, Veenai Odeon, and Penang Odeon.
The last two metamorphoses had Odeon playing mainstream Hindi and Tamil movies, bringing back memories.
The Odeon has reopened and re-emerged as Odeon–The Heritage Asylum, an interactive art destination.
Great Cinema Showtimes
Rex Cinema and the entire residential enclave of Kinta Lane have become a business area, with the row of heritage terrace houses transformed into a furnishing city and Rex.
The King was relegated to being a furniture store.
The Sun Cinema and the Odeon Cinema were Penang’s first-class cinemas and were the best places to watch movies and catch the latest Hollywood blockbuster.
Our life stories are a collection of many forms of memory that we remember with fondness.
Memories Of Penang Golden Cinema Showtimes Becomes Poignant For Penangites With The Iconic Rex Cinema Set To Be Torn Down.
Chin Chin, 52, who grew up in one of the terrace houses opposite the Rex cinema, recalls,
“In those days, there were no shopping malls.
The Rex was one of the live centers that provided a livelihood for the stall operators in front of the cinema.
Rex used to screen English movies, and the James Bond movies would draw full houses every time.
When Rex closed down, all the supporting small businesses dwindled.
Sadly the coffee shops, Hwa Leong Kopitiam and Embassy, eventually closed down.
“I remember the skillful fruit seller with his assortment of fresh-cut fruit in his glass display case, the aroma of Bak Kwa grilling over hot coals.
The Kacang Putih seller, the titbit seller with his treasure trove of sweets, Ken Ken cuttlefish, prawn crackers, and sunflower seeds.
That was their occupation in life, and it was a time that no one questioned; if they could do something better.
Nowadays, whenever I pass the Rex Cinema, I feel a certain awkwardness that it has turned into a furniture shop.
The social economics and demographics of Penang have changed with time.
The old areas in town seem to have lost their glamour and charm,” Chin Chin added.
Odeon Cinema along Penang Road, Penang. Photo: R. MAHGESHAN.
Rex Cinema along Burma Road, Penang. Photo: R. MAHGESHAN.
Update 28 Jan 2023
The iconic Rex Cinema at the corner of Kinta Lane and Burma Road is set to be torn down to give way to a 27-story condominium project.
The building is considered a heritage of Penang’s heydays as it was a state-of-the-art cinema when it opened its doors some 85 years ago.
Live Chinese Opera in Cinemas
The Sun cinema was a treasure trove of films and performances, including stage shows, magic shows, and Chinese opera.
The first of the cinemas to be refurbished, the Sun became one of Penang’s oldest nightspots with techno music, Rock World.
After that, the Sun was converted into a fitness center.
The cinema manager and his family lived in the Sun cinema, just behind the silver screen.
Old Cinema Memories…
Margie Chee, 48, a homemaker, recalls the Friday night family movie showtimes fondly.
She has watched every Shaw Brothers’ Hong Kong Kung Fu style and sword-fighting flicks.
Kung fu heroes like David Chiang Da-Wei, Wang Yu, Ti Lung, Chen Kuan Tai, Lo Lieh, Fu Sheng, and Bruce Lee movies were legendary and played in packed houses as everyone loved to watch fighting moves.
“I remember meeting the beautiful and regal movie star Li Li Hua who was the darling of the Asian movie world then.
I remember thinking she must be an angel as she stepped out of a sports car. She was so beautiful!”
The beautiful and regal movie star Li Li Hua Photo: http://www.lilihua.net/
Vanishing Cinemas in Amusement Parks
In the 50s and 60s, the Wembley Cinema and Wembley Park (famously known by locals as Choon Man Hui).
The amusement park on Noordin Street attracted crowds of Penangites on the weekends, with
- spiffy swing dance halls
- movie screenings
- live bangsawan performances
- ronggeng parties
- pinball arcades
- billiard parlors
- bumper cars.
Alas, an era is forgotten now that Wembley has been demolished.
The Wembley Site
On the left-hand side, the Wembley Penang and Cititel Express Penang now sit on the former Wembley Park site. Photo: Doris Lim.
Haathi Mere Saathi – Collective Memories
The Lido and the Globe, a semi-open cinema at the New World Park, Swatow Lane, have been demolished.
The grounds of the New World Park are a lively open-air spot with more than 80 street food stalls.
A more extensive amusement arcade had cabaret joints, and gambling dens were known as the Great World Park before Prangin Mall was built.
The Capitol, Paramount, Royal, and Eastern have all been demolished for Komtar.
The site of Royal and Paramount is the current Komtar Walk.
The former site of Cathay is vacant and used as a temporary car park.
Both Royal and Paramount used to play Hindi and Tamil movies.
In 1971, Royal screened the Hindi blockbuster Haathi Mere Saathi (Elephant My Friend) for six months running to the full house.
Haathi Mere Saathi is one of the memories best encased in time capsules.
It is so impactful to a generation of young Malaysian children.
It was a tear-jerker with a simple storyline that cut across all races.
Orphaned Raju was the beloved elephant in a group of four elephants that were made to perform at street corners to stay alive.
As teary-eyed children growing up in that era, we could not tolerate the harshness towards the lovable elephants and hated that they forced the hero to choose between the elephant he loved and his jealous wife.
We, children, learned of startling questions women pose to force men to choose.
To this day, many Malaysians can continue fondly when the tune is played and sing, “Chal Chal mere haathi…” by rote without knowing a single Hindi word!
I remembered my mother and neighbor bringing us children to watch the movie, and it became a poignant storehouse of memories for me.
Even as a little girl, my favorite actor was Rajesh Khanna.
Fact: In 2015, the Maratha Mandir cinema in Delhi ended its 1,009-week run of the Bollywood blockbuster Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge, taking India’s longest-running movie off the big screen after nearly 20 years.
Churches Transforming Old Cinemas
Full Gospel Assembly Penang occupies the former Choong Nam Theatre in the Ayer Puteh neighborhood, which the church bought in 1997.
FGA Penang also occupied two other theatre buildings, the former Gala Theatre off Aboo Sittee Lane from 1989 until 1997 and the former Majestic Theater briefly in 1997.
Gala Cinema along Macalister Road, Penang Photo: R. MAHGESHAN
Restaurants in Former Cinemas
The modern curved glass-clad Federal Cinema along Dato Keramat Road has been transformed into a Chinese restaurant with a karaoke lounge and fitness center.
Before that, it was once called the Honolulu Club.
Federal Cinema along Jalan Dato Keramat, Penang. Photo: R. MAHGESHAN.
Cinemas Transform into Supermarkets
The Cathay, formerly known as Queen’s, was owned by the Choong Lye Hock Estates.
They have converted it into a Mydin Wholesale Emporium, its facade now clad in metal and glass.
Cathay Cinema along Penang Road, Penang Photo: R. MAHGESHAN
The Last Mohican
In less than a decade, Lotus Five Star Cinemas (M) Sdn Bhd (LFS Cinemas) has grown to become one of Malaysia’s largest cinema chains, with over 13 outlets and 51 screens in both Peninsular and East Malaysia.
LFS Cinemas is dedicated to screening different genres of multi-lingual movies to satisfy its wide range of customers’ interests.
The last of the Mohicans is the LFS BUTTERWORTH.
This stand-alone cinema is still in operation as the only cinema in Butterworth that only shows Bollywood movies.
Golden Screen Cinemas Showtimes
Malaysia has 164 cinemas operating throughout the country. The only states without cinemas are Perlis and Kelantan.
The largest cinema operators
- Golden Screen Cinemas
- TGV Cinemas
- MBO Cinemas
- mmCineplexes
- Lotus Five Star
Penang has a long history of cinemas, from old movies to modern flicks.
Penangites are movie-loving locals who make sure to catch cinema showtimes every weekend.
As you go down memory lane to visit the ‘olden days’ of movie-going in the 1950s – what are your special memories?
What about the present?
Whether you’re a fan of local or foreign films, there’s something for everyone in Penang.
And through the years, Smart Dory is just another movie buff who watches enthralled from beginning to end of every film history and movie – lost entirely in the MAGIC in time!
COVID-19’s Impact on the Film Industry: 2021 Update
In 2020, across the world, the COVID-19 pandemic severely impacted the film industry and all arts sectors.
Cinemas and movie theatres have been closed; festivals have been canceled or postponed.
Film releases have been moved to future dates or delayed indefinitely.
Due to cinemas and movie theatres closing the global box office has dropped by billions of dollars.
As streaming became increasingly popular, Disney and Netflix have taken over the entertainment industry.
Despite the recent closures of these cinemas, the Golden Cinema’s showtimes in Penang still remain a vivid memory.
Source:
This story was published in the defunct Malaysia Outlook and is reproduced here as a memory piece.
The old photos are sourced from R.S. Murthi’s website. Most images are scans of old postcards with photos licensed from European and Asian amateur and professional photographers.
R.S. Murthi “cleaned up” and “posterized” these memory pieces.
Source: Wikipedia – List of cinemas in Malaysia
