The history of 'gambar-gambar idoep'

By Ida Indawati Khouw

The history of gambar-gambar idoep (the old spelling for motion picture) in Jakarta started almost five years after the euphoria in Europe. This 34th serial article on buildings, cultures and lifestyles of Jakarta from times past is made in coincidence with the 55th anniversary of the Indonesian Union of Cinema Owners (GPBSI) on April 10.

JAKARTA (JP): Even though there were no formal theaters from the early days of gambar-gambar idoep and bioskop (movie theaters) in Jakarta, many historical works record the public introduction of the moving picture marvel as 1900.

In other words, Jakartans first witnessed this outstanding achievement in film technology only five years after motion pictures were first developed by Auguste and Louis Lumiere in Paris in 1895.

According to many records, the first screening of a moving film was in a building next to the Maatschappij Fuchs car shop on Jl. Tanah Abang Kebondjae, or Manege. The building later became known as Rojal Bioscope.

The enterprising owner of the building announced the cinematic debut with an advertisement in the Bintang Betawi newspaper issued on Nov. 30, 1900, declaring that his place was to hold the "first great show" of gambar-gambar idoep at 7 p.m. on Dec. 5, 1900. The first film was a short documentary presenting recent events in countries of Europe and in South Africa.

The advertisement also boasted that spectators of the premiere also would be able to see pictures of "Her Majesty Dutch Queen with His Majesty Hertog Hendrik entering Den Haag (The Hague)".

The organizer set the entrance ticket price at two guilders (locals pronounced it gulden) for a first-class seat, one guilder for a second-class seat, and 50 guilder cents for third class.

A book titled Layar Perak (Silver Screen) states: "Tanah Abang residents were eager to see the realization of the news. People at coffee shops, markets and public places were all talking about the 'miracle'."

That was it. People called it a miracle even though the films were simple documentaries of a few events in countries far away from Indonesia.

The "miracle" was not without its problems. People who were in reality walking, were seen to be running or jumping on screen and the image quality of the pictures was very poor.

As a result, the cinema lost a significant number of enthusiasts within less than a month of the gala opening.

In an attempt to increase the audience, the owner cut the ticket price to 1.25 guilders for first class, 75 guilder cents for second class and 25 cents for third class.

To acquaint the youth of the day with the "miracle", the cinema introduced a special price for children and their escorts of only 50 cents each.

Historian Taufik Abdullah in a book titled Film Indonesia (Indonesian Film) said companies in business to show films had no permanent motion picture houses in the old days. They simply hired buildings to screen arriving films.

"The Manege building at Kebondjae, Tanah Abang, was one of the buildings which were often hired by movie companies ... But some movies were shown in open air areas, such as those in Mangga Besar and Beos fields in West Jakarta and Tanah Abang market in Central Jakarta," he said.

Curator of the Sinematek Indonesia film archives center S.M. Ardan said that to attract more pribumi (indigenous people) to visit the shows, movie companies -- like the Rojal Bioscope -- offered a special price for them.

For orang Djawa dan Slam (meant local Muslims), the ticket price for the lowest class was only 10 guilder cents.

Other movie entrepreneurs offered special prices for ethnic Chinese of 25 guilder cents each, he said.

According to Taufik, in the 1920s when the movie business began to screen films at permanent locations, cinemas in Jakarta were divided into classes based on race.

"There were always movies especially for Europeans at venues like Decca Park cinema and for middle-class society there was the Kramat movie theater in Pasar Senen area, while the poor attended the Rialto cinema," he said.

Decca Park cinema was located at Monas square in Central Jakarta, while the Rialto became the Wayang Orang Bharata puppet show building in the 1970s.

Even though the film industry had become economic and films were screened in permanent locations, the movies -- mostly shipped from Hollywood and China -- were still silent and of poor quality.

Sometimes, the shows were accompanied by orchestras, playing at a side of the screen for musical emphasis. Taufik said that it was not unusual for the rhythm and tempo not match with the show.

But at the time, he said, movie-goers had no complaints due to their low appreciation. That is why only movies filled with violent action were popular, Taufik said.

Some literature states that movie goers in Batavia were introduced to the first real movie, a film with talking people, in 1929 with the premiere showing of two Hollywood films: Fox Follies and Rainbow Man.

The Layar Perak book says that people were once again enthusiastic about going to the movies.

"The Globe cinema (in Pasar Baru) was swamped by movie goers who wanted to know what the talking movie was all about," it said.

".... Up to 1930s we still witnessed two types of movies, the silent ones and those which could talk," the book said.

Ardan said that owners of some movie theaters, including the Globe which first introduced the "talking movie" to Jakartans, hastily made adjustments to include sound systems, to adjust to the new development.

Due to the good response, movies had become good business with many entrepreneurs, mostly of Chinese descent, investing their money to produce films or import them.

The active roles of the Chinese in the business could be seen in several areas popular with Chinese families for residences such as those in Pasar Baru, Senen, Glodok and Jatinegara, Ardan said.

Some cinemas even specialized their business by showing only movies from China.

Ardan said most of the cinema owners announced the films to be shown by distributing leaflets of the movies using horse-drawn buggies.

Today, Jakartans may no longer know what gambar idoep is all about in the old days except the name of a street that still exists in the Senen area in Central Jakarta.