Looking back in time

Everyone talks about the ‘good old days’ when times were simpler. Take a look at this picture from yesteryear and see if you can spot places, people and scenes you recognise.

Cinema 1 & 2
Anyone who lived in Grand Cayman back in the day will remember the building on West Bay Road simply known to us as Cinema 1 & 2, which opened in 1972. I have so many great memories from that place.

There were the ladies who worked behind the concessions counter – fantastic characters, dressed to the nines in full makeup with their nails done, wearing gold jewellery.

No matter the length of the films playing there, the two showings per night were always 7pm and 9:15pm in Cinema 1 and 7:15pm and 9:30pm in Cinema 2. Even when there was a three-hour epic playing in one of the theatres, people with tickets for the second showing would just have to wait in the lobby until the first screening finished. They never changed the showtimes.

Those same ladies recorded the answering machine message for the cinema (yes, kids – answering machine), giving brief descriptions of the films playing that week. Action, romance, drama, horror… their tone was always the same. And whereas someone else might delete and re-record if they coughed or messed up part of the message, not these women. It was always a one-take deal. Brilliant.

There was an overwhelming smell of popcorn everywhere, and you had to get all your treats in by the time the 9:30pm film began, because once everyone was in the theatres, they closed the counters and went home.

I also remember a couple of films – ‘Men in Black’ and ‘Life is Beautiful’ – when the two middle reels of the four that ran through the projector got switched by mistake. So, instead of the films playing in the 1, 2, 3, 4 order, as they should have, they ran as 1, 3, 2, 4. The process was seamless to viewers, so it made for some interesting viewing, as both films appeared to have some jarring time-jump scenes halfway through.

When I brought the ‘Men in Black’ situation to someone’s attention, not only were we not offered refunds, but they said that there was no way they could fix it by the start of the second showing, so it would just have to run the same way for those ticketholders until it could be rectified the next day. Didn’t seem bothered at all. Classic!

Saturday matinees were always popular with us teenagers, who ran amok in the theatres. We were all perfectly safe. The worst that could have happened was getting a cup of soda dumped on you. Great times.

Every Christmas, they would give me two free tickets because I went there so much. I loved the women who worked there.

It is fantastic having the Camana Bay Cinema with its multiple screens, which gives us more access to first-run films and lovely facilities, but the memories I have of Cinema 1 & 2 will last a lifetime.

Note: Cinema 1 & 2 was located where Office Supply now resides, on Lawrence Blvd. It was renamed the Marquee Cinema, before closing in 2009. This is why the building is called Marquee Plaza and there is a film reel graphic above the name.

If you have some old photos that you’d like to submit, we’d love to see them to consider them for publication. Be sure to include the credit for the image and any information you have about it. Email to [email protected].