The families who built the cinemas that opened in regional towns were at the center of dense social networks built around the show. Theaters were social institutions that brought life to the town and the region: they were where people went to see and be seen, to share news and gossip, to make connections and solidify potential deals. In the adjacent restaurants, offices, and snack bars or on the benches in front of the theaters, individuals with both problems and opportunities came together to share their thoughts, flaunt their successes, or seek counsel and support. As their hosts, the Khambaitas and other proprietors brought in not only money from ticket sales but also contacts and customers for the families’ other businesses. Through the cinema they not only secured contacts for themselves but shared their knowledge, gossip, and connections with those who came to the show, thus further enhancing their position as people with people.
COMPETITIVE RIVALRY: TECHNOLOGY, FILM, AND STYLE
The entrepreneurs who built and ran East Africa’s cinemas aimed to demonstrate their knowledge of global cinematic and technological trends, as well as their commitment to bringing the best films and facilities they could to the citizens of their towns. Their efforts were spurred in part by innate predilections but certainly enhanced by local business and entertainment cultures, where friends and patrons insisted that proprietors live up to expectations and rivals always pushed them to do just a bit more. For centuries, East Africans had prided themselves on acquiring the latest, the hippest, and the most up-to-date commodities circulating the globe.45 The growth and expansion of the cinema industry created a new venue for expressing this inclination, and changing cinematic technologies, architectural fads, and communal standards kept owners from resting on their laurels. To keep their customers coming back to the show, they had to invest in frequent updates to stay on the cutting edge of their industry. The costs of maintaining a cinema—and thus a reputation—intensified dramatically in the 1950s due to the combined effects of new cinematic technologies, larger amounts of capital in the regional economy, and the entry of new rivals into the industry.
The introduction of sound at the Royal Theater in Zanzibar in 1932, just a few years after the new technology debuted, was symbolic of East African entrepreneurs’ commitment to running world-class theaters and keeping their customers abreast of technological developments. Hassanali Jariwalla did not really need to upgrade to talkies in 1932; in fact, it took most of the 1930s for the majority of theaters in North America, Europe, and India to be outfitted with sound, and the demand for silent films in Zanzibar was showing no sign of decline. At Cinema ya Bati, the antics of Charlie Chaplin remained incredibly popular through the 1930s, frequently drawing sellout crowds. (Charlie Chaplin became such an icon that the term chale was adopted into Kiswahili to denote a joker or clown and is still used today.) Issak Esmail Issak was one of many who recalled the indelible mark Chaplin left on island audiences. On walks during the 1950s, a young Issak noted that his grandfather pointed to the former location of Cinema ya Bati every time they crossed the bridge, proudly proclaiming, “This is where I saw . . . the great epic Raja Harischandra [the first Indian full-length feature film (Phalke, 1913)] and the mustachioed tramp Charlie!”46 Mwalim Idd and Haji Garana were two others who fondly reminisced about flocking to the silent films with other children at Cinema ya Bati, where admission was a mere two cents.47 Asad Talati, whose father purchased the cinema from Jariwalla in 1932, recalled that the silent films continued to attract large numbers of patrons, including many adults, for years. Action and adventure films and the slapstick comedies of Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy were widely adored, and many people identified Fearless Nadia, a circus performer who became the first female action star of Indian film in Hunterwali (Wadia, 1935), as one of the most popular personalities of that generation.48 But regardless of the ongoing allure of silent films, Jariwalla knew that talkies were the wave of the future, so the proud provider of the first picture palace in East Africa installed synchronized sound as soon as the equipment was available.
Indo-African Theaters Ltd. exemplified entrepreneurs’ commitment to operating with the latest technology and the most impressive architectural style during these early years. In the 1930s, Talati and his partners transitioned from silent films to talkies, and after their initial efforts with the Empire in Zanzibar proved successful, they began pursuing options to build a larger, more modern building in town. After five years of wrangling with the colonial administration to get their permits, Shavekshaw Talati and his partners took out a thirty-year mortgage to build the contemporary theater they felt the Zanzibari public deserved. (See fig. I.2.) The Sultana opened on New Year’s Eve in 1951 with John Payne’s Tripoli (Price, 1950); this was followed on Sunday by Sargam (Santoshi, 1950), starring Raj Kapoor, Rehana, and Om Prakash.49 The crowd at both shows exceeded the available six hundred seats, inaugurating the box office melee that would be a defining feature of filmgoing at the Sultana for the remainder of its existence. Opening ceremonies were graced by the British resident and the sultan, who publicly expressed their gratitude to the investors for adding such a sophisticated institution to local life. Talati also spoke at the opening, saying that it had been his dream for years “to open a theater in Zanzibar as up-to-date as those in Dar es Salaam.”50 But within a year, the Sultana was rendered nearly obsolete by new developments in cinematic technology, requiring the partners to invest even more capital to maintain their status as premier providers of cinematic entertainment, not proprietors who were willing to shrug and tell their clients that last year’s model was good enough.
In 1953, 20th Century Fox released the first CinemaScope picture, accompanied by stereophonic sound. Shot with a new type of lens, CinemaScope inaugurated panoramic filming, which all the major studios then adopted in various forms. The use of these innovative wide-angle lenses allowed for more encompassing views. They also produced an illusion of three-dimensionality, making patrons feel they were part of the action. But to display CinemaScope, one needed new, expensive projection equipment as well as a significantly wider, concave screen. The use of multiple microphones during filming, required to capture a more dispersed subject, led to the development of stereophonic sound. This too required changes to a theater’s sound equipment and numerous additional speakers. Almost immediately after opening their cinema, the owners of the Sultana updated all their equipment, at a substantial cost. And while they were at it, they decided to transform the facade of the building too, eliminating some of the Saracenic elements that had been insisted upon by the colonial administration’s chief secretary, Eric Dutton. In addition, all the original chairs, which had been locally produced, were replaced with spring-loaded, upholstered seats imported from the United Kingdom. Ultimately, more than TSh 400,000 (or over $57,000) was spent renovating the Sultana.51 A commitment to excellence came at a cost.
“Keeping up with the latest” and good-natured competition were key elements of the capitalist ethos permeating East Africa’s exhibition industry. When Hassanlai Hameer Hasham purchased Zanzibar’s Royal Theater from Jariwalla and renamed it the Majestic, he vowed to do all he could to cater to the tastes of “the modern public.”52 With his rivals showing silents in a tin shed or even talkies in a venue half the size of the Majestic, he felt secure in his place at the apex of the local cinematic economy. But by the 1950s, the original picture palace of East Africa was some thirty years old and was now being challenged by the Sultana. He needed to modernize or risk losing customers to the new venue, so he and his manager installed new projection, sound, screen, and seating equipment. Unfortunately, just before the theater was to reopen in 1954, an electrical fire destroyed the entire building, resulting in a loss of at least $140,000 (or more than $1.2 million in 2016 dollars). Undeterred by the calamity, Hassanali Hameer Hasham rebuilt the Majestic from scratch. He redesigned the exterior to reflect the modern era, replacing the earlier Saracenic architecture with art deco elements, and infused the interior with panoramic projection, screen, and stereophonic sound.53 The new theater comfortably sat 750, and it boasted a large, steep balcony with seats for 200.