Durban — Old cinemas evoke powerful memories. This week, we feature the old Metro Cinema on the corner of Smith (Anton Lembede) and Aliwal (Samora Machel) streets of which only a section of the Art Deco-style façade remains.
It opened in August 1937, complete with a “Mighty Wurlitzer” organ, which has an interesting story of its own.
Writing on the Facts About Durban website created by Allan Jackson, Rodney Coyne recalled the “Mighty Wurlitzer” rising out of the floor at interval, with, according to Ivan Beal, Buster Wheatley at the keys.
Dorian J Collins revealed that she had “rescued” the organ which was “in a poor and very damaged state and had it installed in my house here in Worcester, England”.
Dave Baird remembers that ”The Metro had a Saturday morning club where kids got in for (I think) 15c. I saw some great old movies there – mostly B movies”.
Derrick Willet was assistant manager of the Metro for the last two years of its life and laments that it “was one of the first of the larger cinemas to fall to the demolisher’s hammer with the impending advent of television. It did indeed have lace curtains on the front doors and it had a phone number 212312 which we sometimes jocularly used as two dozen, three dozen”.
“What memories,” wrote Ivan (Holman) Sibilant. “I worked as an usher in Metro cinema Durban in January 1950 and left in April 1951 and Tommy Maclennon rose from under the stage and played music with words which were pointed out on screen” so the audience could sing along too.
“We were dressed in red waisthigh jackets, white shirt, black trousers, waistcoat and bow tie and were inspected before the doors opened. If anything was not right we were sent back to get smart.
“We also had white gloves and a torch was shone under our fingers to see if our nails were clean. It taught us discipline. We were the smartest boys in cinema.”
John Taylor said his memories “of the Metro included the ornate paintings on the walls. As a teenager in the sixties the Metro was one of the cinemas that we frequented after spending the morning on the beach. As I recall it cost 14c for a movie ticket.”
The auditorium has been demolished, and a section of the Art-Deco style front of the building retained as part of the Albany Hotel. The office tower Shell House has replaced the theatre.
Independent on Saturday