Changes between Version 7 and Version 8 of Plaza (Bangalore)

Timestamp:

Jan 7, 2013, 6:49:59 AM (12 years ago)

Author:

Lawrence Liang

Comment:

--

Plaza (Bangalore)

@@ -32 +32 @@
 He then mortgaged the property on MG Road to Asiatic Mortgage Company to raise money to build the theatre
 
+The architect of Plaza was Richardson and Cruddas of Bombay  who were given instructions to model the Plaza on the Plaza Theater in Picaddily Circus. The equipment for the new theatre was obtained from Century Film. There was also a ballroom and a Bar “Silver Screen Specials”  in the balcony which conducted dances for the British soldiers with a live orchestra . On the first floor of the theatre was a 50-foot-square wooden dance floor, used for the annual Christmas Ball and New Year Ball, and for balls held to herald major motion pictures releases. 
+
+Plaza was inaugurated on March 10, 1936. There were two shows, and 433 seats were filled up on the first day. Two films were screened every week, with three shows each day. The first film Broadway Melody to be show was in 1936. In 1936, tickets were priced between 9 annas and Rs 2 and 8 annas — from Gandhi Class to Dress Circle. In 1960, the rates went up to 75 paise and Rs 2.75. By 2005, the balcony tickets were selling at Rs 70 .
+
+For the first show everything had been set up but when they started the projection of the film, they found that the film was being projected slightly above the screen because of the height of where the projector was and they had to tilt the angle of the projector and the projector was tilted ever since. 
+
+At Plaza's opening ceremony, to seat the chief guest in style, a sofa was borrowed from the house next door, in which lived Mr. Jose Mariano Dias and his family. This house was demolished and, decades later, made way for the Blu Moon theatre complex, which was demolished to make way for a shopping complex. Mr. Dias, one of the earliest Goans to migrate to Bangalore, ran Dias Music Salon, a stone's throw from his house. He opened the shop, which sold musical instruments, in 1927, and was a violinist who played for silent movies at Globe (before the talkies arrived, every cinema had an orchestra in the pit which provided background music). After his death the shop was run by his daughter, Irene, and her husband, John Lemos, until it was sold and turned into a Zodiac tie showroom, which morphed into a snack shop.  Irene who, along with her sister, used to hop across next door to see movies for free because the kindly ushers would sneak the girls in after the paying crowd had entered.
+
+