Pei Ho Theatre

The Pei Ho Theatre was a neighbourhood theatre in Sam Shui Po on the Kowloon side of Hong Kong.

The theatre opened to business on 24th January 1934 with "Flying Devils".

As the theatre was near the pier to the Central on the Hong Kong Island, its advertisements in the Chinese language newspapers also listed the time of the last ferry from the pier back to the Central.

Pei Ho is the name of a place in the Mainland China, and is the Cantonese pronunciation of its Chinese name, literally meaning " North River."

Its 1,476-seat auditorium with dress circle and balcony was on the ground floor of the theatre building. The lobby and the entrance of the theatre was on the Pei Ho Street, with three exits by the Fuk Wa Street and three by the lane between Fuk Wa Street and the Cheung Sha Wan Road. The facade of the theatre building facing Pei Ho street had a huge arch door.

As the theatre had a stage and dressing rooms, besides showing selected talking films, the theatre also served as a main venue for stage performances and social functions before World War II.

The theatre had re-opened to business on 21st January 1942. According to an article published by a Chinese language newspaper, the theatre was not in business as of 17th October 1943. The theatre had re-opened at an unknown date in late-1944. During the war years, only films censored by the Japanese Armies could be shown at the theatre. The libretto of stage performances also had to be approved by the Japanese Armies.

The theatre re-opened in October 1945 after the war. Another date of its re-opening was 1st June 1946, probably under the new management.

On 23rd September 1948, there was an explosion in the films store room on the 1st floor in the front section of the theatre building behind the screen and fire broke out, and several audiences were injured in the stampede to leave the
auditorium.

The theatre showed first run Cantonese and Mandarin films until its closure on 28th March, 1977. A high rise residential building was built on the site of the theatre.

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