Huang the legend
Fifty-five years old this year, Huang Ping-hsi's love affair with movies began at 17. He and his friends used to wait outside of any one of the small theaters in his hometown of Hsiluo in Yunlin to slip in and catch the end of a movie when no-one was watching the door. To this day he remembers the joy those adventures brought. At 18, he went to Taipei to work. His brother-in-law, who was working in a theater in Hsimenting, asked him to work there too. Huang didn't need to be asked twice. He jumped into the industry feet first, starting off as a gopher delivering and storing reels.
After completing his military service, Huang actively pursued a career in movie theaters. He wanted to be a manager. In 1980, he leased Hsimenting's Paihsueh Theater. At the time, business was booming for theaters that showed two second-run films for one ticket. He later leased the Kuotai, Kuaile, Yuanhuan, Chiaohsing, Hsingfu, and Yingke Theaters. At one time, he had as many as ten cinemas, including ones in Kaohsiung and Pingtung. You might say he was the originator of movie theater chains in Taiwan.
Over the course of running theaters, Huang has experienced more than his share of disasters. After operating for six years, the Paihsueh was destroyed by fire. He lost everything he had made from it. Even worse, after investing almost NT$10 million in renovations for Sanchung's Chiehshou Theater, Huang incurred serious losses when the cinema burned to the ground just three days after reopening. Later, his landlord failed to mention that the municipal government was planning to widen the road next to the Happy Stage Theater in Taichung, and only six months after Huang signed the three-year lease, the building was razed. His landlord skipped town with three years' rent money and the deposit.
Fortunately, Huang remains confident about the movie industry. Every time circumstances land him on his keister, he gets back up and keeps plowing ahead. He feels that there are no shortcuts to success in movie theaters, but you need to be honest. If you are honest, everything else falls into place. Because he stuck to his guns and stayed honest, he eventually came to own a theater of his own.
Huang has other hopes and dreams for the movie industry, including combining the film and cultural industries. Over the years, he has accumulated a collection of over 500 35-millimeter films from all over the world, old out-of-production movie projectors, and more than 1,000 carefully mounted movie posters. He has been careful to protect them, ensuring that they are maintained and stored in dehumidified conditions. To do his part in passing on the torch, he has stored everything neatly in the cinema's storeroom where the public can view it free of charge.
Huang Ping-hsi doesn't feel that he is successful per se. He has a different definition of success: "Success is watching lots of good movies with others in the theater."
The proprietor is continually on the lookout for new opportunities for Chin Men Theater and producing all kinds of film-related products that give the public a ride down memory lane.
After Wonderful Cinemas was converted into a multiplex, projectionists find themselves busy running back and forth between theaters with reels of film. The photo on the right shows film reels used in Wonderful as works of art.
Chin Men Theater handed out hand-painted tickets based on Ang Lee's Oscar for Best Director as collector's items for moviegoers. They drew a great deal of attention, while spurring sales.
After Wonderful Cinemas was converted into a multiplex, projectionists find themselves busy running back and forth between theaters with reels of film. The photo on the right shows film reels used in Wonderful as works of art.
Huang Ping-hsi is confident about cinema and believes that if you fall, you have to get back up and keep plowing ahead. He also feels that there is no secret of success in the theater business, but honesty and sincerity take obstacles out of the way.
After Wonderful Cinemas was converted into a multiplex, projectionists find themselves busy running back and forth between theaters with reels of film. The photo on the right shows film reels used in Wonderful as works of art.