Grand Cinematograph

Alhambra & Marlborough Theatres

What is Grand Cinematograph and where was it located?

Grand Cinematograph was the first cinema at Beach Road. Its opening day was on 31 August 1907 with 2 shows daily at 7.30 pm and at 9.30 pm. At that time a cinema was known as a cinematograph. The Japanese Cinematograph was next to be opened at Beach Road and at nearby North Bridge Road the Harima Cinematograph. At the initial stage, the movie shown at the Grand Cinematograph was unsteady and flickering. When the problems were rectified, it proudly advesrtised

Free from Flicker
And
Absolutely Rock Steady

In 1939, it was the first cinema in Singapore to have air conditioning and patrons watched the show in the luxury of air cooled comfort. Later other cinemas in town had air conditioning installed but not those cinemas in the suburbs which still used ceiling fans for ventilation. I remembered in the second half of 1940s, while enjoying a movie at the Roxy Theatre, the pictures on the cinema screen suddenly went blank. The people in the cinema hall made all sorts of noise and cats' call to show their unhappiness. Soon after the hall was lighted up. In those days, it was common occurences in cinemas. One reason could be due to poor joining of the jointed films. Another reason was due to a frame of the film melted by of the intense heat of the projector light bulb. Fortunately, it did not take long for the show to go on. As an adult I had been playing with a movie camera using 8 mm films and a projector to show the movie. I experienced the same problems as the projectionist in the projector room.

Name changed from Grand Cinematograph to Alhambra

12 October 1907 The Grand Cinematograh changed to Alhambra Grand Cinematograph

A week later the word Grand was ommited. It was then known as Alhambra Cinematograph

1 November 1907 The Alhambra completely replaced Grand Cinematograph

The Straits Times 14 January 1951

"Face lift for Singapore cinema" and reported "Good news for movie goers in Singapore:
The Old Alhambra, Singapore's oldest theatre is going to have its face lifted. The Alhambra's name when it reopens on Feb 5 will be the New Alhambra and ......................................."
(newspapers' cutting below)

In November 1969, the New Alhambra building was demolished to make way for the present Shaw Tower Beach Road Cineplex.


Singapore's first cinema

Grand Cinematograph

The Straits Times 14 January 1951

The New Alhambra

Picture from National archive

SCWO IT HUB

I am a cyber guide volunteer at Singapore Council of Women Organisation (SCWO) IT HUB since 2000. The IT Hub was set up and managed by volunteers. It trains housewives, retirees and retrenched workers to become IT literate. Membership is opened to the public at a nominal annual fee. The classes are from Monday to Saturday. The original group of volunteers was about twenty with as many men and women. Since then, about two third of the volunteers had left. We recruited new volunteers but almost all are ladies.


Volunteers who started the IT Hub in 2000


Chinese New Year gathering for 'loh hei'.


IT Hub started with desk top computers
My class had more gentlemen than ladies before

Tuitoring the senior citizens

From desk top to lap top computers. Now my class has more ladies than gentlemen

.

A member was enjoying free hot coffee

'A thorn among the roses' was guided by a lady tutor

Another volunteer tuitor guiding a senior citizen

This is my class. I volunteer my service on a Wednesday only. I have 2 helpers to assist me. As shown in the above pictures most of the learners were senior citizens. They came not only to learn new skill but also to socialise. Internet surfing is good for the elderly as it stimulates their minds. When we first started there were many gentlemen in my class. Today, only a hand full is left. What has happened to the men?

Last month I chatted with a senior citizen (younger than me) in a bus. He was not IT literate, so I encouraged him to come to my class. He agreed as the IT Hub was near his destination (temple) at Waterloo Street. By then, the class had already started by my two helpers. I opened the class room door and ushered him in. When he saw the members were all ladies, he turned back and bolted. I could not believe my eyes. Why?

Church Camps

School June holidays is about 3 months away and most churches are already asking their members to register for the Church Retreats. The locations are usually in west Malaysia and the most popular state is Melaka. Besides good Peranakan food, there are antique shops, shopping malls and many heritage buildings to visit. Church members without car travel by aircon luxuary coaches with seats that can recline backwards like in the aeroplane cabins. The highway is excellent and the coaches travel without bumps and jerks. There are rest areas with food stalls and clean separate male and female toilets. At the destination, there is the comfort of sleeping in hotel aircon rooms and eating buffet meals. During free times, there is a choice of shopping in the old town, at the shopping malls or relaxing in the hotel pool with jacuzzi.
I remember my first church retreat in August 1953. Our camp site was at the Malacca High School. We went there by bus. There was no highway and the bus travelled by the old route passing through many small towns such as Ayer Itam, Batu Pahat and Muar. Our rest area was at Ayer Itam. There was only one coffee shop with attap roof and uneven earth floor. On arrival everyone rushed to the common latrine. Soon there was a long queue. Water supply was from a rubber hose connected to a tap outside the latrine. Water was stored in a container with a ladle. There was no flush system and all wastes went into a pipe which was discharged somewhere behing the coffee shop. We had unwelcome guests (flies) to share our food. They flew around our table and many more were on the floor. It was most unhygienic but we had no choice as practically all the buses stopped there for rest and food. At Muar our bus cross the river by a ferry which was like a floating platform. One long rope was tied to each side of the ferry and was pulled manually across the river by men on the opposite side of the river bank. The bus then continued on its way to Malacca. It was quite an uncomfortable ride with all the bumps when the wheels hit the pot holes or went over undulating grounds. Occasionally the bus jerked backwards when applying brakes to avoid a buffalo, a goat, or a chicken not counting the kampong folks who dashed across the narrow road. To the people in the rural area, it was their way of life. Compare to the present, our advantage then was that, we were able to see Malay kampongs and the people, animals like buffalos, goats and poultry, farmers and padi fields and many other interesting sights along both sides of the road.
Our camp site was a school and we slept on improvised wooden beds in the classrooms. There was no aircon but many mosquitoes to interrupt our sleep. Meals were provided at the school canteen. There was segregation between the sexes at meal tables. There was no shopping or sight seeing. Our free times were for fellowship with campers from other states. At night we went to the beach to evangelise and distribute tracts. There was no sedition law under the British rule. It was my most memorable church camp.

Bethesda Sunday School Class



Church Camp in Malacca 1953



Bus waiting for ferry to cross the river




Meal time at ladies' table



Meal time at guys' table



Luxury Church Camp at Frazer's Hill



Genting View Resort



Meeting room with confortable sofas and chairs

Malacca Park Plaza Resort

Queen Elizabeth II Coronation

On 2nd June 1953 Princess Elizabeth was crowned Queen Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom and the British Commonwealth. There were great celebrations in United Kingdom as well the British Commonweath countries. In UK those who were at home were able to watch the coronation ceremony at Westminister Abbey London in black and white television. In Malaya, British North Borneo, Sarawak and Brunei, there was no television then. Anyway, each British colony had their own celebration. Public and commercial buildings were decorated with Queen Elizabeth II photo, a crown and two Union Jack flags. There were also archways built across the roads with the words "Long Live The Queen". Parade and march past were held at the Padang with the Governor taking the salute. Floats sponsored by commercial firms and Chinese clans and associations made their ways along the main thoroughfare in the City during the day time as well as at night. I remembered our scout troop built a structure by the side of Stamford Road canal to watch the float passed by from the padang towards Victoria Street. After the parade there was a big traffic jam. Click here for the Big Jam. Singapore General Post Office issued special coronation evelopes and stamps to mark the occasion. My pen pals and I exchanged photos showing the celebrations carried out in our own hometown. I got mixed up with the photos as I forgot to mark them. You have to guess the States where each photo was taken. It is easy to recognise KL.

This coronation envelope is about 56 years old.

Pen Pals

In 1950s Singapore and Malaysia were still ruled by the British and together was known as Malaya. During my secondary school days, there was a students' magazine named Young Malayans. It was first published in 1946 in Kuala Lumpur. The monthly publication was distributed throughout Malaya, British North Borneo (Sabah) and Sarawak. I subscribed to the magazine as there were not only many interesting articles including those contributed by students, especially from Leslie Fong who wrote Chinese stories about filial piety but also a pen pals column. I wrote to many whose names appeared there. Writing to pen pals was my favourite past time and I spent a lot of time and money buying stamps, envelopes, writing pads and taking photos. In school I studied Malayan geography and travelling to the mainland gave me the opportunity to see the various plantations and tin mining methods. As the saying goes "a picture is worth a thousand words". I also got to meet my pen pals. Actually it was like killing 2 birds with one stone.

I travelled by bus and train to Ipoh, Kuala Lumpur, Klang, Malacca and Segamat. It was difficult to fix an appointment with my pen pals because of communications. We had no phone at home, the mail was slow and unpredictable. It was also a problem finding their homes especially those living in small towns like Kuala Lipis, Betong and others. Nevertheless, I manage to meet up with pen pals in KL, Klang, Seremban and Malacca. My most memorial visit to them was the one at Klang town. She invited me to lunch with the family in her house. Later she gave me a guided tour to Port Swettengham, now known as Port Klang. My male pen pals were all in Malacca. They came from rich families. One is now a private medical practitioner in Orchard Road, Singapore.

A pen pal wrote love letters to me. She usually signed off her letter with drawings of two hearts overlapping with the abbreviation of our names P & E. I met her in her hometown Seremban, but her parents allowed us to meet for a very short time. See the reverse side of her photo below.




Rex Theatre at Seremban (1952)


Theatre at Pudu Road, KL near the prison (1952)


Pen pal Winnie Joo on the right



Lily Goh of Seremban





Irene Ong from Ipoh

Pen pal Lillian on the left from Seremban

Steven Chong (left) and Charlie Koh (centre)

A letter from a Malayan pen pal studying in England

Letter from Maureen Lim of Klang

Maureen Lim C Bee

In Port Swettengham (Port Klang)

Port Klang Pier

All the beautiful girls above are by now grand mothers with many grand children. How time flies!