1964 East Coast Demerara, Guyana

1962-1964 Montrose (East Coast Demerara), Guyana

Zena Singh
Born 1950
Montrose, Guyana
Interviewed on January 27, 2019
By Ashley Anthony

It was at a Drive in Cinema named “Starlite” somewhere on the East Coast [of Guyana]. My grandmother and grandfather was with me. They had a vehicle so we would drive. We went often.

It was an outdoor cinema and they had a big screen. You would drive in and park next to these short short posts that had these speakers. You would take the speaker from the post and put it in the car and you’d hear everything.

They didn’t have ushers or anything. There was a concession but I never buy anything, I don’t even know what they had. They [my grandparents] were two old people, they didn’t want you to buy anything- they hand hold they pocket [were stingy].

I couldn’t come out the car to go nowhere so I never had any kind of experience. I didn’t dress up, just normal.

The first time I think I was between twelve and fourteen. I don’t remember exactly.

It was a movie called Dosti. It was an Indian [Hindi] movie in black and white. They had a blind boy, and  another one, he had an accident and he was lame. The blind one used to sing on the streets to collect money to send the other one to school. It was a good story— nice.

It had a happy ending because the boy, you know he went to school and he did well.

I cried in the movie.

I remembered it for such a long time because it was so sad.

1965 Enmore, Guyana

Chanderdai Anthony
Born 1945
Enmore (East Coast Demerara), Guyana
Interviewed on January 27, 2019
By Ashley Anthony

In Enmore [where I lived], we had a cinema out on the road and so we would usually walk. It was called Gem Cinema. They had a balcony and a lower part that was called the chair— I don’t know why it was called the chair, it just was, and then they had the bottom called the pit. They had ushers at the door and when you buy the tickets you would buy for one of the sections and the usher would show you which seat to take.

We didn’t go a lot to the movies, once every three months or six months, sometimes not until Christmas time. The cinema was always packed with people on the holidays. It wasn’t expensive. It was like a dollar or so, then to go in. At those times the people were old fashioned. It was the religion, right, they don’t want you to go out too much and you always had to have an elder person with you. It was the culture.

So it was a big thing. You were so anxious when you hear “oh I’m going to take you to the movies”, you were so anxious.

The first movie I remember seeing was Dosti.

I was about 20 years old. I went with my sisters. Three sisters: Droey, Sabi and me. Sabi was like 25, she was already a teacher, and she took us out. Otherwise we couldn’t go.

There was a concession. My favorite was popcorn, but there was also nuts and corn curls and the three of us used to share.

The movie was a sad movie. It was about two friends. One of the friends was rich and very intelligent and the other one was blind. The rich one I can’t remember what happened to his family. But the headmaster realized he was very intelligent and took him over and took him to school. But the blind one was on the street begging and he was poor. The rich principal didn’t want the poor one to go see the other boy. It was a very sad story. I think the blind one ended up sick. I think he eventually died. The rich one came back looking for the other one but it was too late, he was very sick because he was living on the street.

I can’t remember if the blind one died.

Oh, They were very good actors, and I think the story was telling you about rich and poor.

I cried in the movie. It was a sad movie. I remember it up to now, especially when I hear the songs. Sometimes I listen to the songs. I really love the songs. They were so sad.