Roxy Cinema East Coast Road, Movies And Laksa

The Roxy screened movies after they had been shown in the cinemas in towns like the Capitol, Rex or Pavilion. It was also the hub for gatherings of the 50s and 60s band boys and girls as the Palace and Odeon Katong cinemas were just across East Coast Road from Roxy. Katong then was very suburban. The cinema opened in December 1957 by Sir Robert Scott and the movie shown was Oh My Papa. 

Two major cinema companies used to dominate the Singapore scene for many years. So for business competition, another movie theatre opened diagonally across the road. It was called the Odeon-Katong Cinema, the Odeon being famous already at North Bridge Road in the city and Katong being this suburban place on the east coast. 

Sue Thompson says that sad movies made her cry. ET was one movie. My elder son cried at the end of the show when ET went home?

Then there's the Palace next to the Roxy, separated only by a pencil-thin road at Brooke's. This whole area attracted food shops and other businesses. The shop houses still stand today but the cinemas have long been demolished; we watch our movies at home now...

(Many young Singaporeans are not aware that the Roxy Laksa that is so famous today originally had a little stall behind Roxy Cinema, not too far from its ticket booth. Many patrons would rush to the little stall to have a bowl before popping into the cinema for a show. The owner was a Chinese male. Does his son run the stall today?)

Map from LauKokok's Blog. Roxy is just across from Ceylon Road, next to Brooke.

Tickets at these cinemas used to cost 50 cents for the first five or six rows from the screen, so if you happen to buy a seat near the screen, you crane your neck for two hours to see the movie and the images on the screen are distorted. 

The next 10 or 12 rows of seats cost $1.00 and the last few rows and the circle seats (upstairs/balcony) cost $2.00. There were times when you could put $1.00 into the usher's hand and get a comfortable $2.00 seat in the corner of the theatre. 

Have you been to the Roxy? Tell us. 

1960's Cinema ticket samplings from SKY Theatre. Similarly Roxy's.

Image: Shaw Brothers Website or the National Heritage Board.
Original Article: Andy Lim Collection.