I attended a funeral lunch here yesterday where many of the attendees had grown up in this neighborhood and several had actually worked in the building when it was a movie theater in the forties. I learned that Saturday afternoon double features were 10 cents. The features were not long, but you could stay inside 3.5 hours or so because there were also cartoons, news reels and serials. It was not air-conditioned. There was no organ, at least not at that time. A couple of fellows said they would throw pieces of soft pretzels at the screen to see them streak in the projected light, and if it happened too often, Roy, who was sort of a security guy, would shut down the movies and throw everybody out. Roy would come around with his flashlight looking for kids up to no good. When the side doors (still there) would open to let people out, kids would storm in and dive under the seating so that Roy would not catch them. I was told that there were about a dozen theaters in the neighborhood within walking distance or a short trolley ride in the forties. I see some information on this site at http://cinematreasures.org/theaters/15184/comments.
Publication date | Jun 24, 2018 |
Neighborhood |
I attended a funeral lunch here yesterday where many of the attendees had grown up in this neighborhood and several had actually worked in the building when it was a movie theater in the forties. I learned that Saturday afternoon double features were 10 cents. The features were not long, but you could stay inside 3.5 hours or so because there were also cartoons, news reels and serials. It was not air-conditioned. There was no organ, at least not at that time. A couple of fellows said they would throw pieces of soft pretzels at the screen to see them streak in the projected light, and if it happened too often, Roy, who was sort of a security guy, would shut down the movies and throw everybody out. Roy would come around with his flashlight looking for kids up to no good. When the side doors (still there) would open to let people out, kids would storm in and dive under the seating so that Roy would not catch them. I was told that there were about a dozen theaters in the neighborhood within walking distance or a short trolley ride in the forties. I see some information on this site at http://cinematreasures.org/theaters/15184/comments.