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Han Chin Pet Soo is open! Book now at www.ipohworld.org/reservation

March 2019

Let’s talk about movies

By |2019-03-29T16:02:34+08:00March 29th, 2019|Categories: Memories, movies|

This is a souvenir programme from 1938 – the year Ruby Theatre was opened. What’s so special about the Ruby Theatre? Well besides being built by Lau Ek Ching, it was also known as Ipoh’s Ultra Modern Talkie Palace! What’s a ‘talkie’ ? A film with sound, of course ๐Ÿ˜‰

As Wikipedia states: “The primary steps in the commercialization of sound cinema were taken in the mid- to late 1920s. At first, the sound films which included synchronized dialogue, known as “talking pictures”, or “talkies”, were exclusively shorts. The earliest feature-length movies with recorded sound included only music and effects. The first feature film originally presented as a talkie was The Jazz Singer, released in October 1927. A major hit, it was made with Vitaphone, which was at the time the leading brand of sound-on-disc technology. Sound-on-film, however, would soon become the standard for talking pictures. By the early 1930s, the talkies were a global phenomenon….

Talkies aside, do you remember when films shifted from black-and-white to colour? And for the (even) younger folks, do you remember when Computer Generated Imagery (CGI) was first used in films?

Circus in Town?

By |2019-03-27T16:50:11+08:00March 27th, 2019|Categories: childhood, Identify Photographs, Memories, movies|

Well….not quite. But forget the circus for a while; do you remember the days when advertising was done via vehicles? Like this photograph below (from Hong Soon Kheong):

Do you remember those decorated vans, which advertised movies at the local cinemas?

Teen Idols?

By |2019-03-22T16:54:50+08:00March 22nd, 2019|Categories: childhood, Identify Photographs, Memories, People|

When The Falcons had to end due to their manager quitting, the band members, Joe Chin, Michael Ho, Christopher Choong and Thomas Ham decided to concentrate on their education, leaving the stuffed Falcon (the bandโ€™s mascot) with Christopher. But not long after that, Joe and Michael found two other guys, (Kenny Ham, Thomasโ€™ brother and Vincent Joseph, his cousin), who shared their interest and together they formed ‘The Teenage Fentons‘….

Just wondering…any of the members of the Teenage Fentons still around? We’d love to hear from you ๐Ÿ™‚

Singing with emotion

By |2019-03-21T13:01:21+08:00March 21st, 2019|Categories: Identify Photographs, Memories, People|

Audiences said what set her apart was her complete immersion into the emotion of her songs. Most of her songs are sentimental love ballads, wistful, nostalgic melodies, and her entire composure and movements would reflect the mood of her music. She often cried as she sang on stage…. (read more here)

This time, we’re featuring a celebrity closer to home. The above photo is none other than Taiwanese singer Yao Su Rong. Do you remember her?

Then & Now – Movie Posters

By |2019-03-18T17:14:12+08:00March 18th, 2019|Categories: Identify Photographs, Memories, movies|

Continuing our ‘Then & Now’ series, here we have a comparison of two movie posters. Both were action/adventure films from different years. On the left (courtesy of Edwin Seibel) is a 1957 poster for Moby Dick; on the right is none other then the poster for Avengers Assemble. Anyone know how movie posters were made back then…before computers and graphic-designing software?

‘Reel’ life

By |2019-03-12T16:07:52+08:00March 13th, 2019|Categories: Identify Photographs, movies|Tags: , , |

16 mm refers to the width of the film; other common film gauges include 8 and 35mm. It is generally used for non-theatrical (e.g., industrial, educational) film-making, or for low-budget motion pictures. It also existed as a popular amateur or home movie-making format for several decades, alongside 8mm film and later Super 8 film.” – Wikipedia

Have you ever seen or held such a reel? Tried to feed it through a projector? I’m sure someone out there can share a tale or two about this film reel ๐Ÿ˜‰

“The Greatest Show on Earth”

By |2019-03-14T20:02:59+08:00March 11th, 2019|Categories: childhood, Memories, movies|

courtesy of: Mohd Taib, Ipoh

This play opened in 1938. Some of you may be too young to recall this…or were not even born yet. Then, there was a 1952 film produced and directed by Cecil B. DeMille. A similar production came out in 2017 (titled “The Greatest Showman”), which also revolved around the famed duo Barnum & Bailey.

For the movie-buffs out there, can you identify the poster shown above? Was it for the 1938 play…or the 1952 movie?

“for your eyes only”

By |2019-03-07T13:20:40+08:00March 7th, 2019|Categories: childhood, Events, ipoh, Memories, People|

courtesy of: Hong Soon Keong

In the 1960s, a magician by the name of John Calvert drove from the Ipoh Airport to Lido Cinema…blindfolded! No, I’m not kidding; the above picture was taken at Cockman Street showing Calvert in an Austin Gypsy..with his eyes covered.

We’re not encouraging you to try this stunt…but we’re wondering if anyone out there remembers John Calvert and his magic show ๐Ÿ™‚

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