Lizada: Movies

Thursday, January 26, 2012

CAN you remember when movies in Davao had a "double"? I miss those days. You got your money’s worth when they showed two films for the price of one ticket. There were even times when they had triple features. And if I remember it, there was a time when there was a marathon of Tarzan movies. I went in at lunch and came out at about nine in the evening dripping from jungle water and stained with jungle rope. I guess I looked like Cheetah after that marathon. Those were fun days.

Can you remember the movie houses then? (Yes they were called movie houses not cinemas.)

Have something to report? Tell us in text, photos or videos.

Along San Pedro and Ilustre were the three houses. Golden, Garmon and Galaxy. Golden was famous for its height! When you went to the balcony or lodge you had to to climb a series of stairs. And when you entered the darkened movie house, much to your surprise you had to climb another set of stairs. When you reached the top, you went down to the loge and went up again if you were in the balcony. Golden was also a very cold place. And during the intermission when the lights were on, you would hear what? The Lettermen singing. Summerplace, Symphony for Susan and the Seventh Dawn were some songs I remember.

Garmon was along Ilustre. Beside it was the Chevalier barbershop (but that is another story.) Garmon had some sort semi winding stairs. What I remember about Garmon were the movies shown. They showed a lot of Japanese monster films like the original Godzilla, They also featured vampire films with a smattering of war films.

Galaxy was the "youngest" of the three Gs. It was rather small but that was the one movie house that I went to often because that was the closest to Aming Bahay. Can you remember Aming Bahay? The movie that really made me laugh was a horror film.

If you can still recall, The Exorcist was a big hit then and because of that a lot of copycat films ensued. One such film had this piece of rope that hung from the loge all the way to the screen. There was a monster doll that was placed on the loge part of the rope and when the time came, someone would release it and it would rush to the screen. It was pathetic, it was ridiculous and it was fun. Galaxy theater had also good popcorn. And ice shaved delights.

Of course these were not the only movie houses in Davao. There was Crest and there was Lyric also. Crest was smaller compared to the rest but it was a convenient place because right beside it was Merco.

Crest like Garmon had a semi winding staircase. Lyric, which was a few steps away had this huge lobby wherein you found pictures and pictures of upcoming movies. Lyric was a cold theater that had comfortable seats.

There was Ideal Theater in CM Recto. Roxy Theater in Uyanguren and of course along CM Recto was the famous or rather infamous Life Theater which by itself is another entirely different story. And who can forget Clifford?

Those were the movie houses of my youth. When you wanted to watch another film you either had to walk or take a ride. Nowadays everything is in a mall. Which again is another story.