Salon-Cinema Theatre / 沙龍影院劇院 [1909-1910]

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Submitted by OldTimer on Sat, 2017-02-25 11:11

Current condition:

Demolished / No longer exists

Date Place completed:

1909-12-01

Date Place demolished:

1910-07-01

Seating capacity: unknown

Address: 15 Wyndham Street, Central, Hong Kong. Please note street number and location marker are approximate. The current Man Cheung Building is believed to be the occupant at the site of the former theatre. Only the English name is available in the sources. The Chinese name posted on this page, 沙龍影院劇院, has been translated using Google which is likely its name if such existed.

Salon-Cinema Theatre was also known as Salon Cinematograph. It opened some time in December 1909. As discussed by Cinema Treasures, the theatre's advertisement claimed to be the only first class show with excellent films and best artists. The film shown included "Macbeth", a 2,000 feet long film and took about an hour to be produced on the screen as reported in an article published by the Hong Kong Telegraph in January 1910.

The theatre is believed to have closed some time in 1910, less than one year after its opening day.

I wonder if showing Macbeth was the right choice to attract and retain movie-goers. Charlie Chaplin and Western cowboy movies I believe were popular at that (and well before my) time. In my first high school English class in Canada, it was a struggle to try to understand every line in Macbeth written by Shakespeare the famous poet and playwright, partly because they don't follow strictly the rules of grammar which I learned in Hong Kong. Some ex-HK readers my age may remember we relied on Coles notes. I passed, and I think the teacher was generous.

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