Taipei Air Station - 1966 - - - " What you have in the end are memories"......... Photo Courtesy of Richard Reesh.

Sunday, October 4, 2009

What's Showing at the Theater?

Click on the schedule for a large view

I always wondered when a Movie Schedule would be found.


Peter Ciccarello, who worked in the Comm Center, 1962-1963, at the Sugar Building mailed this Movie Schedule and a few more items to share with us.

I could not find the admission prices for a normal film on the schedule, but there was a "Advanced Admission" film, Pocketful of Miracles staring Glenn Ford, Hope Lange and Betty Davis with increased admission charges of 40 cents for adults and 15 cents for children. Makes you wonder what the normal cost was for a child, maybe kids were free?

The films followed a certain route across the Taipei area.

It looks like the first run for films was the MAAG Theater, which I assume was the new theater in the HSA East Compound, then to Taipei Air Station, then on to Linkou Air Station, then to Tien Mou and finally ends up at Grass Mountain.

Movies were always a Big doing in Taiwan, especially for the children. George McAdams, who was 8 years old when he arrived in Taipei in 1958, recalls his experiences when he was a young boy attending movies at Taipei Air Station."when I saw the picture of the movie theater, that was something I really remember. We actually saw THE TEN COMMANDMENTS there, which because only a one reel player was used, and the film sometimes came unwound, made the 4 hour movie a 6-hour extravaganza! "

Most of us spent many a evening at the theater, crunching on a bag of popcorn and washing it down with a coke.

And lastly, we all stood up in respect when the National Anthem was shown on the big screen.


How times have changed....

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