Between the 2
cinemas, there was a coffee shop known as ~Ah Chew` (Asia) and a popular well
behind Sultana Theatre. Behind those 2 theatres were the residences of Mr. How
Kok Meng of HSBC and that of Chartered Bank`s Toh Swee Choo whose mother
produced Chinese noodles (Mee) for sale in the market. There was the house of
Mr. Lau Kong Ming who got lost overnight in the jungle of Pulau Kapas, a popular
picnic spot among the seniors. The news of his mishap spread very fast in town
and the people were worried for him as he was a very bright boy. He was one of
the local bright boys sent to Kirby/Brinsford Lodge in England to attend
teaching course. The original Tien Kee Restorant was around that area too. The
extension at the back of Capitol cinema was a billiard saloon. I used to follow
my late good buddy, Wee Seng Lim, who was 2 years my senior, I was then 13
years old, to that saloon to watch him competed with couples of adults. He was
tall for his age and looked mature. He had a faithful trishaw man, named
Khalid, to take him around liked big boss. He was very clean and health
conscious, never drink or smoke until his unfortunate death in his 60`s. With the constructions of Cathay and Rex
cinemas, the 2 wooden cinemas, Capitol and Sultana, became obsolete -
Capitol was later destroyed in
the fire and a new shopping complex was built which was later taken over by ` The
Store Supermarket` and Sultana theatre was demolished and becomes the parking lots for The Store.
Before the
construction of Jalan Kampong Tiong, the present parting spot and glutton
stalls was an empty open space. A couple of circus came to perform there. One
of the circus was Tai Tien Kew whose main attractions was the performance of
few blind-folded motor cyclist riding inside a big steel globe. Another circus
advertised its main attraction was a man wrestling a gorilla. It turned out
that the man was actually wrestling a tame and friendly orang utan. Like all
circus they would not be completed without trapeze performers and caged big
cats with trainer having a whip in one hand and a chair in another.
Another
attractions in Cina Town when we were small were `Pak Koon Bay Koe Yoke`. They
were actually performances by Chinese medicine men to attract potential
customers. The venue was always at an empty space beside Meng Huat Trading
popularly known as Teck Beng Lorong. They would do their trades at night with 2
or 3 harricant lamps The styles those medicine men used were almost all the same except for their products and
their acts. They would put on loose long pants with a piece of cloths wrapped
around their waists, without any shirts. With forceful voice, the men would
shout in a short sentence, the sidekicks would repeat the last few words
followed by the banging of cymbals twice. To show his might, one would use a 8
feet long ¼ inch iron bar and asked a volunteer to poke and pushed the iron rod
against his throat until the iron bar band. In another performance, the man
would use a 3 feet long 2 inches wide metal bar of 1/8 inch thick and asked a
burly man from the public to hit his chest with the iron bar until it bend.
Really pity those medicine men, had to endure so much pain to sell their
products. The businesses were always good as the Kuala Terengganu town did not
have much choice of Chinese medicines in the shop at that time.. One of those
medicine men whom I still remember was the great Lim Tai Soon, with his barrel
size chest and hair like that of Johnny Weissmuller – the Tarzan.
Another form
of old entertainments were `selap mata` and snake charmer by Indian men and
their assistants who were mostly young boys. They were always held at `sua pek`
between 2 rows of buildings in the afternoon. They did not sell anything. After
the shows, the young assistants would go round asking for donation from the
audences who were very sporting and willingly contributed.
Once a year,
during the Sultan`s birthday, there will be shows at Istana Maziah. Stages
would be put up for `mayong`, wayang kulit, `joget` where an intended dancers
from the floor would buy tickets and presented them to the `joget` dancers on
the stage and had a chance to dance. The Chinese `wayang` were always held on
the other side of the Padang Maziah, at the present Shah Bandar parking lots, as the performers were always very noisy. Those
Chinese wayang were sponsored by Chinese businessmen to make the celebrations
into a more festive mood. People from all parts of town crowded at the Padang
to see the shows while the royalties were entertaining the distinguished guests
in the fenced Palace. Private transportations were rare and `Honda Cub` motors
were never in the drawing board yet. The faithful subjects of the Sultan from
Pulau Kambing areas and as far as Cabang Tiga would walk all the way, passing
in front of our house in China Town, making a bee line (or ant line) to the
Padang to watch a once a year affair entertainments. Normally, the performances
would last for a few nights and in one of those nights His Royal Highness would
come down to the Padang and walked around in appreciations of the efforts put
up by performers as well as donors.
With the introduction
of television in early 1970`s, all those travelling shows just died off, even
cinema theatres had to close down. There were no more celebrations at the
Padang Maziah to mark the big occasions.
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