Taiping Theater is a three-story building. From Defu Road west, passing through a corridor, passing through a small open-air courtyard, you will reach the ticket hall. After passing through the ticket hall, you will reach the main entrance hall of the theater.
Although the Taiping Theater has been closed, Yuan Bifu still asks people to clean it regularly, and sometimes takes on some concert business. Kang Jianfei pushed the door and reached out to touch the wall, but it did not accumulate dust as he imagined.
Walk a few more steps and enter the theater. The quaint and atmospheric theater decoration made Kang Jianfei sigh.
Unlike modern luxury cinemas, Taiping Cinema's luxurious decoration is full of ancient style, making people feel as if they were in a theater a hundred years ago.
Kang Jianfei looked up and saw a high couplet on the pillar of the cinema. The book said: "The ancient clothes and clothes make false love and true love can be used as punishment and persuasion. The singing and dancing on the platform mean that the songs and dances are high and the music is nothing but a shock to the common people's experiences."
Jiang Zhiqiang, who was following Kang Jianfei, touched the seat of the theater and couldn't help but sigh: "If you could have such a theater, this life would be enough!"
Kang Jianfei joked: "Brother Jiang likes Taiping Theater so much, so why don't you be the theater manager."
"I'm not available," Jiang Zhiqiang waved his hand repeatedly, and he said, "It's a hundred times harder to operate such a large theater than a small theater. Fortunately, you bought all the land in the theater. If you rent this theater to operate it, I can't guarantee whether you can earn the rent back."
Kang Jianfei smiled and said, "It seems that it is not easy to look at Daheng Shao. He has been operating the Li stage for so many years before he let go."
The luxurious theater-right stage, which is as famous as Taiping Theater, has been rented to Shao Yifu for more than ten years and is a theater owned by Shaw Brothers Theater. It was not until the previous two years that Shaw Brothers' films were not good enough that Shao Yifu gave up renting the stage, otherwise he would not be able to bear the daily rent.
Jiang Zhiqiang walked while watching the theater's furnishings and said, "More than ten years ago, I was only 10 years old. At that time, Li Stage and Taiping Theater were full. There were more than 180 theaters in Hong Kong, which is twice the number of theaters now. Unfortunately, the economy was in a downturn, especially after the stock market crash, most of the theaters closed down."
Kang Jianfei smiled and said, "From the current economic development speed of Hong Kong, the number of cinemas in Hong Kong may reach another peak in a few years."
Jiang Zhiqiang curled his lips and said, "The premise is that the PLA will not fight."
Kang Jianfei asked with a smile: "Are you worried about this?"
Jiang Zhiqiang sighed and said, "Can you not worry? If I hadn't been reluctant to part with the cinemas passed down by my father, my brother and I would have immigrated long ago so that we would not have to stay in Hong Kong and worry about fighting all day long."
Kang Jianfei was silent for a moment. People like Jiang Zhiqiang who were in his teens and who had traveled to Europe and the United States and had a broad vision thought so. It seems that the impact of the Sino-British negotiations on Hong Kong people is far beyond his imagination. It is fine for ordinary citizens, especially those with industries and status in Hong Kong. This type of people are even more worried about gains and losses, afraid of losing everything overnight, and are anxious to sell their industries at a low price and run away overseas.
The two walked from the first floor to the second floor of the theater, and looked even more spectacular from here. They all came to the third floor. The seats on this floor were welded by iron bars. I heard that they were to deal with the rampant "piscillies" that were invasive back then.
Kang Jianfei sat on it and felt it a little uncomfortable, and said, "The seat on the third floor must be changed again."
Jiang Zhiqiang said: "The theater manager has found a name for you. The name is Zhang Moren. He is my father's former friend. He is over 50 years old. He once opened several small theaters. He is Hu Yixing's apprentice and helped Hu Yixing run the Liyuan Amusement Park."
"Oh, that's a character. Why don't you have your own business now?" Kang Jianfei asked.
Jiang Zhiqiang explained: "You may not believe it. A few years ago, he spent most of his life savings and bought a piece of land to build a large theater in the Shanghuan River. What happened to him?"
Kang Jianfei said: "A fire broke out in the theater?"
Jiang Zhiqiang shook his head and said, "The theater is haunted!"
"Haunted?" Kang Jianfei was quite surprised by this answer.
Jiang Zhiqiang sighed and said, "It's just a haunted person. The theater was originally in a good location and the business was also good. As a result, one day it was reported that the theater was haunted, and more and more people said that they saw ghosts in the theater. What happened was that an audience member died of a myocardial infarction while watching a movie. It was reported that it was killed by ghosts. Do you think this theater can still be opened?"
It can definitely be opened in mainland China, but it can definitely not be opened in Hong Kong.
Kang Jianfei sympathized with her: "This old man is also unlucky enough."
Jiang Zhiqiang said: "The theater spent all his money and also borrowed money from the bank. In the end, he lost all the small theaters he had run before."
"Tell him to go to Dream Factory to find me tomorrow." Kang Jianfei said. He came out with Jiang Zhiqiang today, just to ask him to help find a reliable theater manager. Luxury theaters like Taiping Theater are not good at all, otherwise Yuan Bifu would not have preferred to close his business than to open the door to do business, because she loses money every day when she manages it.
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A thin and thin old man walked into DreamWorks. He was wearing a blue suit that was washed white and his silver hair was neatly combed. Although his body was a little hunched, it did not give people the impression of being old and he was very energetic when walking.
Many DreamWorks employees looked at him curiously, wanting to know who this strange old man was.
"Hello, old man, who are you looking for?" Li Shan asked with a folder. She starred in "Happy Ghost" with Wen Bixia and Li Saifeng, and later joined DreamWorks as a clerk. Now she has become a small manager and has five employees under her control.
The old man said clearly: "I am Zhang Mo, and I made an appointment with Mr. Kang Jianfei."
"You look for the boss, I'll take you there," Li Shan smiled, "This is the secretary department, and the boss's office is there."
Zhang Moren followed Li Shan all the way, and after meeting Chen Shuli, he was invited into Kang Jianfei's office.
"Mr. Zhang, please sit down!" Kang Jianfei said with a smile.
Zhang Moren was not polite either. He sat down with a golden sword and crossed his legs to drink the oolong tea brought by Chen Shuli.
Jiang Zhiqiang didn't say it very clearly yesterday. After talking to Zhang Moren, Kang Jianfei realized that the old man's experience was not simple either.
Zhang Moren's original name was Zhang Si. He was originally a slave to the "traitor" Zhang Shankun. When he was in his teens, he followed Zhang Shankun to make movies in Shanghai. Zhang Shankun was the name Zhang Moren who helped him get it.
Zhang Shankun is a film genius of a generation. Although he is a "traitor" on his head, he cannot deny his contribution to Chinese-language films.
In the late 1940s and early 1950s, the situation in the Hong Kong film industry was that the princes competed for hegemony, and the three most powerful film companies were all founded by Zhang Shankun.
Unfortunately, this person has a bad reputation (a traitor). He had to let others be the boss of the company he opened. As soon as the company developed, he was kicked aside. The current famous Great Wall Film Company is actually the real founder of Zhang Shankun. Later, after a series of reorganizations, it became a left-wing company.
Zhang Moren followed Zhang Shankun to work in six film companies including Huaying, Zhonglian, Great Wall, etc., and later was responsible for managing theaters and worked with Shao Yifu, Lu Yuntao and others.
As for what happened later, Jiang Zhiqiang has already said that this person lost all his savings because the theater was "haunted" and now he manages a neighboring cinema.
Kang Jianfei did not doubt Zhang Moren's ability as a person who had been in the Hong Kong film industry for decades. He asked a few questions casually, and Kang Jianfei couldn't understand some professional answers.
As for Zhang Moren who had been a traitor before, Kang Jianfei was too lazy to ask about this matter. Kang Jianfei not only did not dislike him, but also valued him very much. Zhang Moren was able to follow Zhang Shankun for so many years, and even followed the "traitor" after the victory of the Anti-Japanese War, which shows that this person would not betray the master, and there is no need to worry that he would betray him.
Kang Jianfei said: "I now have Taiping Theater in West Ring, Queen Theater in Central Ring, and Yau Ma Tei Theater and Oriental Cinema in Kowloon. The next two theaters may not be opened in a few months. Your task is to manage these four cinemas well, and you will be responsible for the Taiping Theater yourself, and you will find a manager for the remaining three theaters. Do you understand this?"
Zhang Moren nodded and said, "I understand."
Kang Jianfei said: "These four theaters must all join the New Era theater. Among them, Taiping Cinema and Queen Cinema can be used as leading theaters to make up for the shortcomings of the large theaters under the New Era. The New Era theater is a temporary theater. If you don't understand the specific operating rules, you can ask Jiang Zhiqiang."
"No problem." Zhang Moren said confidently.
Kang Jianfei said: "I won't give you a fixed salary. Your income is purely profitable for the four theaters. 2. If the theaters lose money, then sorry, you don't have a penny salary. What do you think this is the case?"
Zhang Moren blew a mouthful of tea and smiled and said, "Then I will take advantage of the boss. 2's theaters make a lot of profits."
Kang Jianfei smiled and said, "It's pure profit, not gross profit. Don't listen to it wrong."
"Don't worry, boss, I haven't carried my ears yet," Zhang Moren said with a smile.
This is the first time Kang Jianfei has been called "the boss". He feels like he has become a landlord in the old society, which is more interesting than being called a boss.
Kang Jianfei said: "Then let it be. The four theaters will be left to you to take care of. You can make an idea of ​​who to recruit. I will go to Taiwan and the United States during this period. When I come back, I hope everything will go smoothly in the theater."
Chapter completed!