The Adelphi Cinema was built by the Allen family in 1916 and was owned and managed by Simon Allen, one of the sons of David Allen and a grandson of the original Allengensky. The first member of this family to come to South Africa was Adel Allengensky, who arrived in Hermanus from Latvia, via Cape Town and Greyton early in the 1890s.
However, the Adelphi was not the first ‘bioscope’ in Hermanus. In the early 1900s, Jacob Oblowitz owned and ran a general dealer store on the corner of Main and Harbour Roads, where the Fishermen’s Village now stands. Jacob Oblowitz was nothing if not entrepreneurial and at one time or another had five businesses running: his general dealership, a tea room, hardware and ironmongery outlet, a barber/hairdressers and a bioscope.
Lemm's Corner 1968
There is no record of the equipment he used in the bioscope, but the films were certainly silent. He operated the projector and screened the movie in a large room above the shop. He often stopped people passing in the street and encouraged them to come in to watch a film. However, on one occasion when Mr Luyt owner of the Marine Hotel asked for a haircut just before the film was due to start, Oblowitz ran upstairs and told the cinema audience that they would...
