The fact that just over a year after Cinématographe was invented in 1895, it was demonstrated commercially first in Joburg and then in Port Elizabeth, is indicative of the pervasive nature of technology. Moving pictures had finally been invented albeit without embedded sound.
In spite of these restrictions, people flocked to witness the latest invention which, like all pioneering devices, would be used both for good and ill. Think of Geobbels, the Communist states and even Donald Trump with his fake news.
Long known as bioscopes but in the modern parlance these places of entertainment with their huge screens are called movie houses or just movies.
Main picture: A little crowd gathering outside the theatre that became the Grand
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