Cathay Organisation

Cathay Organisation Holdings Limited is one of Singapore's leisure and entertainment groups. It has the first THX cinema hall and digital cinema in Singapore. The group has operations in Singapore and Malaysia.

Cathay Organisation was established on 18 July 1935 by Dato Loke Wan Tho and his mother, Mrs Loke Cheng Kim as Associated Theatres Ltd. In 1936, the company opened its first cinema in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, the Pavilion, with 1200 seats. The year 1939 saw the landmark Cathay Building open in Singapore with the Cathay Cinema premiering Sir Alexander Korda's Four Feathers.

Cathay was the country's first air-conditioned cinema i.e. Cathay Cinema and the first skyscraper, the tallest in Southeast Asia during that time. It was the first time patrons could watch movies air-conditioned and sitting in a comfortable armchair. It was also used as a landmark by pilots as a final approach before landing. Three years later, it showed its last show and was converted into a Red Cross casualty station. After the end of war in 1945, Cathay reopened and it was Singapore's first cinema to show American and British pictures as its first screening after closure. It signed a joint venture with another company to distribute mobile films to villages and estates in Malaysia. The group installed a new air-conditioning plant in 1948 and they started to acquire many cinemas in Singapore and Malaysia.

In 1953, Cathay-Keris Films was formed. The studio, situated in out in East Coast Road, produced its own films in the Malay. These were former barracks occupied by the Japanese and were converted into processing labs, sound studios, offices and even a canteen. That year, Cathay-Keris produced Singapore's first colour film, Buloh Perindu. More than 100 films were made at Cathay Keris's studios between 1953 and 1973 including five Pontianak movies; Pontianak (1957), Dendam Pontianak (1957), Sumpah Pontianak (1958), Pontianak Kembali (1963) & Pontianak Gua Musang (1964). Sadly the first two classic Pontianak films are long lost.

Dato Loke Wan Tho acquired Yung Hwa Studio in Hong Kong in 1955. In 1956, Motion Picture & General Investment Co Ltd (MP & GI) was formed. It took over the running of Yung Hwa Studios in Hong Kong. MP & GI was later renamed Cathay Organisation (HK). Some of MP & GI's most popular stars were Ge Lan also known as Grace Chang, You Min, Lin Dai, Peter Chen Ho, Chang Yang, Betty Loh Ti, Lin Tsui and many more.

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