13/06/2026
Motion Pictures (Moving Pictures) in Jamaica - Audley Orlando Morais, 1884-1967, a Jewish entrepreneur and noted sportsman (horse racing, boxing) - this is the man who made a business out of the screening of moving (motion) pictures in Jamaica in the first decade of the 20th Century. It seems he initially had a company called Movies Ltd and a theatre called Movies where movies were screened. He was responsible for the construction of the Palace Theatre at Victoria Ave and South Camp Road, which opened in 1915 (Gleaner). He founded the Palace Amusement Company in 1921. He married Nora Gwendolyn Brandon and they had one daughter, Phyllis. He eventually sold the Palace Amusement Company in 1947 to the British-owned J. Arthur Rank Organisation, having also acquired the newly built Carib Theatre, opened in 1938, and the Jamaican Theatres Ltd.
Note that the first movie filmed in Jamaica in 1915/1916,"A Daughter of the Gods", was shown at theatres in Jamaica, including the Palace, in 1919. Another movie, the Devil's Daughter or Pocomania, was filmed in Jamaica in 1939 directed by Arthur H. Leonard and starring coloured American actress, Nina Mae Mckinney. It was shown in movie theatres in Jamaica in 1940. This must have been a black American movie as racial segregation was still law in the USA and there was a separate black movie industry. Black actors and actresses did get roles in Hollywood films, such as the 1939 Gone with the Wind, which saw Hattie McDaniel become the first black American actress to be awarded an Oscar. Roles for black actors were the usual stereotypes.
cinemainjamaica
Images: 1. Audley Morais 2. His Gothic Revival style house which he built for his wife, in 1935, at 6 Fairway Ave, now Temple of Light Church since 1978, 3. an early picture of the Palace Theatre (NLJ), and 4. the facade of the Palace Theatre in 2025.
