From Sharing Seats to Sharing Stories

I remember when I was young in the 1970s, Capitol Theatre was one of the top few cinemas in Singapore showing 'first-rate' movies, or movies that were the earliest to be screened.

My father used to buy 'kacheng puteh' (peanuts) for us to share. But we also shared seats.

As we were poor, our family of 8 have to share 5 seats. Being the second youngest, I shared seat with my 2nd sister, who was 7 years older than me. My youngest brother had to sit on the lap of my mum. My elder brother would share with my third sister, and until today, both of them are still quite close. Only my eldest sister and my dad would sit alone.

Our favourite movies at that time were the Shaw Brothers Chinese sword fighting movies.

In the 1980s, I started to watch Hollywood movies at Capitol, and my favourite movie was "Ghostbusters'. But this time round I didn't share seats with anyone. I shared the stories and joy with my friends.

I continued to patronize Capital cinema until mid 1990s. I was not aware that the theatre was closed in 1998, if not, I would have made a last trip there.

In short, Capital Theatre was my cinema where our family of 8 would sit on 5 chairs. And that warmth and close feeling are still lingering in my heads even as I write this article.

Regards,
Andy Ng, Chief Business Coach and Trainer
For list of courses, visit http://www.asiatrainers.com

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