... venues in Surabaya, the theatre was also
the setting for the weddings of
Seeng Tee’s two oldest daughters. Over the years the
Sampoerna Theatre
hosted a variety of acts, including Chinese acrobatic troupes
from Shanghai
and dramatic productions from Beijing and Hong Kong.
A picture of the founder
and his key staff taken in front
of the Taman Sampoerna in 1935
The theatre also had a modern projector for the screening
of movies with
westerns being the most popular genre in East Java. Charlie
Chaplin visited
the theatre in 1932 when he came to Surabaya. The theatre
was also used by
the aspiring politician and eventual first President of Indonesia,
Bpk. Sukarno
to make a series of speeches in 1938 supporting the Indonesian
resistance
movement. The Sampoerna Theatre operated almost continuously
until 1961
when the space was needed by the cigarette rolling operation.
