Nostalgia
Part 2
Gone with the Wind…
By Godfrey Chin
In 1939 David O Selznick produced Gone with the Wind, winner of 9 Academy Awards and one of the best movies ever made, and the biggest box Office Draw until Spielberg Jaws in 1975. The year 1939 was the best for movies with classics such as Gunga Din, Beau Geste, Drums along the Mohawk, Hunchback of Notre Dame, Public Enemy, Intermezzo, Destry Rides Again, The Women, Wizard of Oz, and Stagecoach.
And ironically, while today movies in the cinema worldwide continue to be the popular form of mass entertainment, in Guyana 70 years later the cinema experience is almost extinct. What a shame!
Starlite Drive-In suffered as the individual speaker boxes were stolen – and attempts to short wave the movie sounds via the radio in the car helped for awhile. By the time Television was ‘legit in Guyana in the mid eighties and recognized by Govt, the boat had already gone over the falls.
Starlite Drive-In suffered as the outdoor speaker boxes were stolen, and attempts to short wave the movie sounds via the radio in the car helped for awhile. By that time, television was ‘legit’ in Guyana in the mid-eighties, and recognized by government; the boat had already gone over the falls.
Cinema attendance dropped like Kaieteur Falls, to the extent that maintenance of the cinemas diminished; while with local security threats, plus changes in technology, preferred private viewing in the home was the trend. DVDs subsequently enhanced the pirating of movies worldwide and with multiple copiers available, the local legitimised television stations could show first-run pirate movies without having to pay licences, or commissions. The pirating of music and movies became a lucrative underground business. The Guyana cinemas thus suffered, and fell into decay.
By 2001 at least 25 cinemas were closed, in spite of overtures to the government with representations for legal redress to level the playing field, which were unsuccessful. A meeting at the Umana Yana in September that year was attended by all local parties concerned, including local TV executives, convened by the Ministry of Culture, Youth and Sport.
General Manager of Global Films, Narima Kkan warned that because of continued piracy by local television stations another 3 cinemas had been forced to close. These included Olympic in New Amsterdam, Regal in Vreed-en-Hoop and KayDonna at Triumph. Dilip Singh, Assistant Secretary of the Film Distributors Association asserted that piracy by the TV stations and local video stores had reduced cinema attendance to less than a dozen patrons per show. Video projectors in movie houses were also used to show pirate videos. At least 200 persons would lose their jobs if government did not intercede to stop the debacle, he said.
Hugh Chomondeley, media specialist, legal advisor Bryn Pollard, as well as former Minister Gail Teixeira added to the dialogue, but nothing concrete emerged to remedy the situation.
It is my opinion that the greatest irony in history, is the opening warning statement on pirated copies of movies: Copying or Duplication is prohibited by law and a fine of $100000 will be imposed by International Law and the FBI. Isn’t this the height of barefaced presumption!
Thus the death knell of Guyana cinemas tolled like the last Angelus of the Sacred Heart Church.
The Empire on Middle Street in the nineties became an appliance retail mall. The roof of the Globe which had been previously closed caved in. The site of Olympic on Lombard Street was valuable real estate for GNEC and the Metropole was destroyed by fire in September 2004.
The foregoing are my conclusions gleaned from email exchanges from time to time; I left my homeland in 1982 and did not return until 2006. At that time only 2 cinemas – Astor and Strand Deluxe – were still operating with very few patrons. Plaza was shut tight and the roof recently caved in.
I must, however, share this personal experience which is proof of my personal observations.
Around April 2007, while on busman’s holiday for World Cup Cricket, Spiderman 3 was being released worldwide on that weekend. Believe it or not, I bought a pirate copy from a gift shop on Water Street that same weekend for US$1.25 (4 for $1000 = US$5). The Astor cinema had simultaneously put up a huge banner that weekend ‘Coming soon – Spiderman 3.’ During the next week, having lunch at home, I happened to turn on the TV. Lo and behold a local TV station was showing Spiderman 3.
Christmas 2008 Astor, the last cinema standing, was showing a powerful action double, Casino Royale and Quantum Leap. As I sat in their balcony reminiscing, there were about 12 patrons in the entire cinema. I was impressed that the upkeep and maintenance in the balcony and house area was pretty good. The leather upholstered box seats are still there.
As I thanked Desmond Woon, the Manager, for his cinema tour, I quipped that his last stand reminded me of Errol Flynn in They Died with their Boots On, which opened at the Metropole around 1943. I should really name this Nostalgia, ‘The Astor’s Last Stand.’
In our cinema debacle, the government needed to have been more proactive rather than fiddle as the cinemas burned.
Postscript
It has now been ascertained that the Countryside Digital Cinema owned by David Subnauth has been exhibiting movies at No 64 Village, Berbice, for just over a year now. The cosy, comfortable seating of less than a hundred in total – balcony and house – with daily showings from 5 pm and ticket prices $500 and $300 respectively, has received a tremendous response in the community. Mr Subnauth must be congratulated for his entrepreneurship in resuscitating cinema movie-viewing.
