1.6 (above) Playhouse Cinema (later renamed the Shazia), opened 1947, and (right) Highland Cinema, opened 1961, both in Iringa. Photos by the author, 2005
. . .
After the war, the number of cinemas on the mainland mushroomed, as countless people endeavored to elevate the social and cultural status of their up-country towns and shake off their collective status as “country bumpkins” woefully behind their coastal cousins. The vast majority of the cinemas that eventually spanned Tanzania were built in the late 1940s and early 1950s. What is truly astounding is not how widespread the desire for cinematic entertainment was but the degree to which local entrepreneurs were willing to invest in meeting the demand. Of course, many of the cinemas built up-country were substantially smaller than those along the coast, averaging between 450 seats in bigger towns and 250 seats in smaller locales. But then, many of these up-country towns were tiny in comparison to Zanzibar and Dar es Salaam. Bukoba, Mbeya, Musoma, and Shinyanga, for instance, all had urban populations that barely reached three thousand in 1948.38 And though many other towns saw their populations double or even triple between the 1930s and the end of the war, the populations of Lindi, Morogoro, Dodoma, and Moshi numbered only eight thousand each. Nonetheless, families like the Khambaitas—infused with postwar optimism and confident that a cinema would modernize the town and advance its stature as a regional economic, social, and cultural hub—invested their capital in putting on a show.39 And indeed, the bright lights and spectacles of the cinema drew endless numbers to the center of town. Businessmen who invested in building a cinema saw slow returns from ticket sales, but the social capital they amassed certainly exceeded any they might have garnered by opening a dry goods store.
The increasing number of cinemas on the mainland was part of a much larger pattern of urban infrastructural growth across East Africa in the 1940s and 1950s. I was repeatedly told by interviewees that “a lot of people made a lot of money” during the war, and after it was over, many converted their liquid cash into solid investments in property. The downtown areas of urban centers across the region exploded with new commercial, housing, and office construction, and a few people invested in building spaces for public entertainment. In some towns previously considered sleepy backwaters, businessmen either established cinemas for the first time or built up-to-date facilities to replace makeshift theaters that already existed.40 Like early investors along the coast, they hedged their bets and incorporated additional options in their designs. Thus, should a theater flop, which never really happened, the auditorium was constructed so that it could easily be converted into a storage facility or garage. Office suites and retail facilities were also integral components of building designs. Theaters along the coast incorporated office space as well, but the cinema was always the heart of the building and the main reason it was constructed. But in Moshi, Arusha, Mwanza, Iringa, Morogoro, and many other regional towns that blossomed in the 1950s, the pressures for office and retail space were nearly as intense as the demand for modern theaters. Building design thus catered to the multiple demands of the town, while simultaneously allowing investors to diversify their holdings. In these regional towns, the rent earned from office and retail space and small restaurants housed in the same building as the cinema often exceeded the theater proceeds.41
Figure 1.7 Metropole Cinema (later renamed the Shan), Morogoro, opened 1953. Photo by the author, 2005
Asian businessmen and traders generally avoided putting their savings in an established bank at that time, preferring to hide their cash, loan it to others, or pool it in communal savings societies until they had enough to do something substantial.42 Prior to the nationalizations of the 1970s, when Asians in Tanzania and Uganda lost most of their property, real estate investments were considered grounded and relatively secure. They also tended to earn rates of return that surpassed the interest offered by banks.
A fair amount of the capital used to finance the construction boom of the 1950s was acquired from the “illicit” trade and transport of food, clothing, and other items deemed nonessential by colonial authorities in the preceding years. As the British turned their attention and resources toward the war effort, steamers and railways were requisitioned to transport military supplies, materials, and personnel. East Africans’ notions of essential commodities often differed substantially from those of the British and included rice, cloth, matches, and kerosene, all of which were rationed by the state. Private traders stepped in to fill the void between consumer demand and official supply, and soon, alternative forms of transport, supply, and finance moved goods between East Africa and India, Arabia, China, and Japan. The dhow trade in and out of East Africa made a resurgence during the war, and men with lorries moved goods throughout the continent.43 Some dhows docked at established ports, where their cargoes were subject to standard duty rates, but many used smaller landing stations to avoid paying taxes. There, they were met by men with private motor vehicles who transported goods for export and traded them for imports. The risks in transporting goods across the ocean were steep, and the consequences for being caught “smuggling” on land were great; combined with a general shortage of goods, this translated into high black market prices. Individuals willing and able to provide transport earned handsome profits, and by war’s end, they had substantial cash reserves.44 Many of the men who built up-country cinemas after the war earned their capital by operating lorries and buses or by providing spare parts and mechanical services for those who did. Such contributions to the urban built environment served multiple economic, social, and political purposes. They also served to cleanse somewhat dubiously earned cash.
The families who built the cinemas that opened in regional towns were at the center of dense social networks built around the show. Theaters were social institutions that brought life to the town and the region: they were where people went to see and be seen, to share news and gossip, to make connections and solidify potential deals. In the adjacent restaurants, offices, and snack bars or on the benches in front of the theaters, individuals with both problems and opportunities came together to share their thoughts, flaunt their successes, or seek counsel and support. As their hosts, the Khambaitas and other proprietors brought in not only money from ticket sales but also contacts and customers for the families’ other businesses. Through the cinema they not only secured contacts for themselves but shared their knowledge, gossip, and connections with those who came to the show, thus further enhancing their position as people with people.
COMPETITIVE RIVALRY: TECHNOLOGY, FILM, AND STYLE
The entrepreneurs who built and ran East Africa’s cinemas aimed to demonstrate their knowledge of global cinematic and technological trends, as well as their commitment to bringing the best films and facilities they could to the citizens of their towns. Their efforts were spurred in part by innate predilections but certainly enhanced by local business and entertainment cultures, where friends and patrons insisted that proprietors live up to expectations and rivals always pushed them to do just a bit more. For centuries, East Africans had prided themselves on acquiring the latest, the hippest, and the most up-to-date commodities circulating the globe.45 The growth and expansion of the cinema industry created a new venue for expressing this inclination, and changing cinematic technologies, architectural fads, and communal standards kept owners from resting on their laurels. To keep their customers coming back to the show, they had to invest in frequent updates to stay on the cutting edge of their industry. The costs of maintaining a cinema—and thus a reputation—intensified dramatically in the 1950s due to the combined effects of new cinematic technologies, larger amounts of capital in the regional economy, and the entry of new rivals into the industry.
The introduction of sound at the Royal Theater in Zanzibar in 1932, just a few years after the new technology debuted, was symbolic of East African entrepreneurs’ commitment to running world-class theaters and keeping their customers abreast of technological developments. Hassanali Jariwalla did not really need to upgrade to talkies in 1932; in fact, it took most of the 1930s for the majority of theaters
