KUALA PILAH IN HISTORY - BLOG 21
QUIET CENTENARY - Fading Memories of
THE CINEMA AND ENTERTAINMENT INDUSTRY IN KP
The Pangung Wayang Story 1916-2016
In these days of Television, Video, Multimedia few remember or care to know....
that just 60 years ago Kuala Pilah had no TV. In 1956 TV was a concept only heard of in the rich countries of north America and Europe . TV reached Malaysia in 1964. But Films were already known even in KP probably around 1916 or earlier. Yes 1916 !! cannot believe it . Well I could be wrong perhaps it was a live entertainment or wayang that opened its doors on Jalan Yam Tuan or perhaps called Second Street in KP those days. The Lister Road of the the early 1900s was earlier called Cart Street then Main Road. Proof of the pangung wayang ?
on Jalan Yam Tuan still stands today 2016 !
But later and particularly after the Second World War, that I remember, there was open air (not Drive In) screening of Health and Information Department fulms on days with clear skies on this padang that is no more. This 1940s picture of a Union Omnibus No N 123 is alongside the Padang that now houses shops and a bank and the Majlis Daerah KP, and behind the padang is the Kanthasamy Kovil .
Kanthasamy Kovil
Crowds like these were treated to Malayan Film Unit films in open air padangs and screened by mobile screening teams
Huge crowds of towns folk would gather on Saturday nights to view free screening of films mostly government information films including ones on the evils of the communist insurgency or bandits as the Communist Terrorists (CTs) were called then. Also screened were health related films such as how to prevent malaria and spread of TB or water borne diseases and importance of washing vegetables, washing hands and clean toileting habits. Many of these latter short films were cartoons and kept children laughing .Families brought mats and cloth to lay on the grass to watch these films as no chairs were provided. Refreshments in the form of ice water stalls and hawkers selling snacks such as roasted squid, cut fruits and rojak sarong did a roaring trade. The next morning the padang was littered with paper (not plastic) slippers and rubbish of the night before. Those were the early film shows in KP.
Pearl Theatre Advertisement from 1951 TMS school Magazine
The advent of real films were screened in the theatre a 2 shop lot space on Jalan Yam Tuan( (illustrated above in 2 pictures) in the 1920s or so were largely movies such as Charlie Chaplin Slap stick comedies with music and subtitles but no speech which was followed by the revolution of Talkies later where the actors actually spoke ! The films were screened in the then Sun Cinema which later post war became the Pearl Theatre (in the Pangung wayang). The theatre had a main hall and a circle on the first floor and unlucky late comers had to put up with pillars that split the view of the screen . The projection room was higher than the circle seats and one could easily see the smoke from numerous cigarettes which was the norm those days. When one returned fron a night out at the cinema ones clothes smelled strongly of tobacco. There was no air conditioning those days and coming out of the cinema after a show was like entering an air conditioned town !
Then in 1953 or so the town had its first purpose built cinema - the Majestic . It too initially was not air conditioned but that was added later. Compared to a 2 shop house Pearl in the Pangung wayang this was luxurious and much larger and no pillars, and a huge screen that could show the then state of the art Cinemascope films. If one could not afford the first class tickets on the first floor one had to put up with the second class seats further back of the ground floor or the still poorer and children had to look practically up straining their necks from seats nearest the huge screen !
A lot of English, Chinese , Malay and Tamil films were shown an on weekends the thrillers brought out everyone who was anyone in tpwn. The Majestic was a Meeting place too for all in KP.
The big cinema chains then were Shaw Brothers owned by Run run Shaw and Runme Shaw out of Singapore and the Cathay chain which was the smaller of the two. The Majestic was however an independent cinema and was soon losing out in the showing of the very latest and better films. soon the Shaw Brothers entered KP and the Cinema became the REX. The Rex and Pearl ruled the Cinema in KP but the clearly weaker Pearl soon closed down and became a large clothing abd department store. The advent of TV and soon the VCD (Video Casette) for rent shops offering a huge variety of Fils and serials especially in Chinese like Kung Fu, La Cha soon drove even the Shaw's Rex to close. this was a nation wide phenomenon and indeed the winds of electronics drove cinemas to the wall. Cineplexes and new release movies in theatres were largely superceded by CDs and DVDs and the huge theatre buildings became department stores of simply left to decay
The Majestic became the Rex and is now the Gedung Minang department store
SCHOOL CINEMAS
The cinema held a great attraction to all as a primary source of entertainment but particularly the young who saved pocket money of 5 and 10 cents those days to get a third class ticket (with straining necks and tobacco stained shirts) to watch John Wayne or war films.
This advertisement in the TMS Annual of the 50s shows a popular Bell and Howell 16 mm projector that TMS had for showing educational films like Julius Caesar, Macbeth that reinforced History and Literature classes those days. Films were carefully chosen by the school teachers who also screened the fils as projectionists. The ticket price was 10 cents and films were screened in the School Hall where all important functions such as Speech day were held.
A 1952 selection of popular films suitable for Schools screening
RADIO
In those days the standard entertainment was not the Film but in fact the Radio.
In fact pre World wat II, the radio was already available firly widely in Malaya - in medium wave and overseas services of VOA and BBC on short wave bands. These were censored during the Japanese Occupation and initially infact all Radios were confiscated from the residents of Kuala Pilah and other towns so that no different news other than those sent out by the Japanese Occupation administration.the radios were returned but sealed to only receive officially authorised news and entertainment. When the war ended the radios were widely available and people allowed to recieve even short wave signals from all over the world . Being under the British military administration and later colonial administration, the BBC broadcasts wewre re broadcast on special occassions such as the Coronation of Queen Elizabeth II in June 1953 and every December the King's Speech or Queen's Speech to the Commonwealth. as loyal citizens of the Commonwealth and British administration many in KP too listened to these speeches on their radio sets. Today the radio set is all but forgotten and in fact the radio is only heard on the car one drives. Those days cars were uncommon and none had radios fitted.
For those who have never seen a state of the art Radio set, here are some sold in KP and services and repaired....(from TMS school Magazines of the 1950s)
The Schools following the example of Radio and its usefulness in mass communication had a public address system or a series of loud speakers to cover the corridors of the classrooms of the Schools. TMS ad a PA system and it was occassion used to address the staff and students and rarely used to broadcast radio programmes.
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