In Cape Town there presently is a tussle going on between our local newspaper group and the cinema companies with regard to advertising movies at the various cinemas, or should I say bioscopes.

To my knowledge the word bioscope is one which originates from Cape Town and it's origins can be traced back to 1935 when there was a bioscope in Adderley Street called Wolfram's Bioscope. The owner was (yes, you've guessed it) Mr.Wolfram who was a leader in the entertainment industry in Cape Town. While the United States labeled the word "movies" into their vocabulary and the British utilised the word "cinema", Cape Town called it a bioscope. It has been told that Mr.Wolfram took the name from the Dutch word bioskoop.

Article submitted by: Selwyn Davidowitz
Email:cptn@mail.com

SATOUR accredited tourguide with an immense passion for Cape Town and its surrounds. To see more about Selwyn's services as a tourguide please click here .