Tivoli Company

The Tivoli Company can refer to an acting company in Cape Town or an organisation that owned a chain of bio-theatres in and around Johannebsurg.

For more information on the Cape Town acting company, see Tivoli Theatre.

History

Established in February 1910 by Rufe Naylor and Mark Prechner when they launched the first of their Tivoli picture palaces in central Johannesburg, alternating film shows with the usual selection of vaudeville acts. A 600-seater, its success resulted in the opening of additional Tivoli theatres in Boksburg, Germiston and Pretoria, and even an open-air cinema in his sports stadium on Main Street. Within a year the Tivoli Company was well established and Naylor decided to embark on the building of a ‘super-picture palace’. This was to be the 1500-seater Orpheum, on the corner of Jeppe and Joubert Streets. Unfortunately in this case he had underestimated the financial outlay and he and Prechner were forced into negotiations with the Union Bioscope Company, which owned the Vaudette chain of theatres. Towards the end of 1911 the two companies combined to form Africa’s Amalgamated Theatres.

For more information, see Africa’s Amalgamated Theatres.