BIOSCOPE (CINEMA)

[georg ruf jr.]

Carefull Carl. There are plenty of girls around.
They usualy complain about men not showing feelings like crying. But you know what they realy want.

Übrigens Carl.
Wiederspreche niemals einer Frau. Warte fünf Minuten und sie wird es selber tun.  

I don't know how to translate this one and be sure it's still funny. Psst! Carl!   

[Barbara Eia (Brownless)]

Are you thinking of Top Cat

[Michael Alexander]

I just got it... It was Danny Cat...... Am I right, Huh! Am I? Am I?   

[Rhona]

You know what Mike - I have it from a very reliable source that it is indeed Danny Cat; and it turns out that it wasn't a short before the main movie for our entertainment - but was actually a safety message for us kiddies. Seemingly everything that could go wrong did go wrong for Danny and towards the end of the showing a guy would come along and show Danny how to do things the correct way - like crossing the road, you always have to check up and down the street before stepping off the path................Thanks my reliable source. 

[georg ruf jr.]

So that's where you learned to cross the busy streets of OM Michael??

[Barbara Eia (Brownless)]

I worked at the cinama to earn extra cash. Did it for quite some time, i remember being head usher and had to stay back at the end of the movie to check everything was ok before locking up. The thing was in those days they had restrictions and when it was a 21 movie we were not allowed to watch it but we had to stay untill the end so would sit in the office. We used to creep back in when the movie had started and stand behind the curtains to watch, got caught many a time by Mr Meyers. We used to have so much fun working there, and when the seats weren't full we used to let our friends in free.

[joco Mueller]

Hi there,    when I joined CDM 57/58 the cinema was still situated in the mess building. The films were only run Friday and Saterday night, during the week it was shared with the Players.It was absolutely no funfor us (players) always to remove the screen to use the stage for the plays. Only after the new cinema was opened the old one was now cut down in size , part of it was given to more room for additional tables, manly for the single Dayly Paids,and  the rest turned into the "Little Theatre" What a change !

[georg ruf jr.]

That's interesting Joco.

[Michael Alexander]

... and up until last year the cinema, was back in the little theatre...remember that the bioscope building had been outsourced and turned into a Nightclub..... the residents got bored and so it was decided to use the litle theatre as the bioscope again...who would have ever thought.... anyhow...this stopped last year as it became unprofitable to run this venture....

[Charmain Meier (Heusdens)]

When I first arrived in Oranjemund, I worked at the cinema ticket office with Fred Meier. The best seats were those right at the back.

[Michael Alexander]

I preferred those seats on the side where the exit doors where....got space to stretch my athletic legs......   

[Mike Stenson (RIP)]

anybody remember the first year appies having to cut their hair in funny styles and having to go to the bioscope and sit in the front row.
everybody had a good laugh at us.
then we went home and shaved our heads clean.
this practice was stopped when the first black appies came along.

[Carl Wrbka]

Yea Mike those were the good old days. If you try stuff like that today ur more than likely to be hauled in front of a disciplinary commitee.

During my first year, we spent the first six months in training center and were then posted out to our sections.  We were issued with those big blue Gedore toolboxes in training center and once in the section had to carry them around with us werever we went, even to the toilet. When speaking to an artisan whe had to do it military style, standing at attention. Often we were sent to the stores to fetch weird tools. (A quarter round half inch spanner????????). The storeman was usually always in on the prank. I remember once spending most of the morning at the store waiting for the storeman to issue me with a "Long Weight".

It was all good clean fun and part of making us better artisans in the end.

[georg ruf jr.]

The military drill helped you be a better artisan?

[Michael Alexander]

I was a trouble maker back in the day and always had my way of doing things, My first assigned place as an electrical appie was to 50g, the electrical shop.... when I got there all the old artisans were having tea, Gus was my foreman.... they told me to make their tea and coffee for them, even though there was a tea boy there. I do not drink tea or coffee and so I refused, I was not impressed by the way that they had asked me to , or should I say demanded me to,  and I knew that there was nothing they could really do from a legal point... I never ever did make the tea and coffee, I cannot remember if it Was Gus or Christie, that gave me a lecture about how things 'worked"    ...... sometimes it helped being a big lad........