1950 Hama’i, Syria

Kamal Abboud

Born in 1939

Hama’i, Syria

Interviewed on February 12, 2021

by Anissa Abboud

Being able to see a film was a privilege for wealthier families while growing up in Syria in the middle of the 1900s. My wife was from a poorer family, so she did not have as many opportunities as I did as a young teenager to see films in real theatres around us. That was just how it was. The nearest theatre to my village was in the town next to mine named Hama’i. I cannot remember the first movie I have ever watched, but I do remember the theatre in Hama’i being the first theatre I was ever able to go into. I watched so many films there.

All movies I watched were American films that were translated into Arabic. Western movies with American cowboys were my favorite ones. I cannot remember one title of those specifically, but I know I watched so many of them. I also really loved watching Bonanza. That was one of my favorites, too. The actors I knew were John Wayne, Kurt Douglas, and Tony Cortez. They were amazing and well-known to us kids. I will never forget watching them on the screen. Each movie was usually an hour or 2 long but time seemed to pass so quickly yet also so slowly in those theatres. It was like an illusion.

One of those first few movies I do remember the name of was Tarzan and the Slave Girl from 1950. All movies back then were in black and white. I must have been 12 years old. I may have watched it anywhere from 1951 to 1953. He [Tarzan] would holler “AHHHHHHHH” and the monkey would always be by his side, like his best friend. It was mostly in the forest, with small houses, like shacks. There were not many big buildings. He went from tree to tree, hollering “AHHHHH” all the time.

We thought Tarzan was our hero at that age. Every boy wanted to be Tarzan. We wanted to act like him, walk like him, swing from tree to tree, and have the strength that he had. He was very strong. He always looked stern and serious, like he meant business. The actor that played him, [Lex] Barker, was a big, strong man, too. He would throw people around like they weighed nothing. No one got close to him because if they did, he was so strong and would handle them easily. All the boys in the village and all my friends at home, including all my brothers and cousins, looked up to him.

When I went to go see the Tarzan movies I went with my friends, who were my age, and others I knew from the village. My best friend would go with me very often, as well. I remember talking about Tarzan with my friends while we would go to the theatre. Back then, my village did not have a theatre of its own, so we would walk from our village to the theatre in Hama’i. It was not far but still far enough that we had to move from one village to the next. We walked everywhere, so this was no different. It cost 25 cents to see a movie and if you paid that much, you knew the film was highly regarded at the time. 25 cents was good money at the time. We used to work an entire day for 25 cents. That was not chump change then.

The theatre was called Sinama Hama’i. There was no concession stand in the theatre then. You would enter, walk in and sit down to wait until the movie started. There was no food or candy being sold because food was not allowed in theatres, either. Ushers were present at the door and they would guide us to our seats. In the theatre, there was probably about 500 seats, all in organized rows. It felt really cozy and really played into the experience. When I came to the States many years later, I found that the theatres in Syria were similar. All seats were next to each other and there were many rows. I loved going to the theatre and I hope to never forget those experiences.