Memory Monday #27

    Another favorite form of entertainment that I participated in while growing up was going to the movies.  Remember, we did not have television and going to the movies was a whole different experience than going today.  For one thing, we didn't have to pay an arm and a leg to get in...for those 12 and under, the cost was 10 cents! ( I couldn't find a "cents" symbol on my keyboard!)  That's right...one thin dime! So for a quarter (.25 cents), we could go to the movie, get popcorn and a coke!

The Clark Theater

   We didn't have the gigantic screens of today...but we did have a lot of choices...just not all at the same time.  A typical movie rotation went like this:

     Sunday-Monday: one title; Tuesday-one title; Wednesday-Thursday-Friday: one title; and Saturday-(matinee and evening): one title. That was FOUR different movies in one week!!!  AND... the specials...every showing would have a newsreel, a cartoon, coming attractions then the main feature.  On Tuesday, there would also be a matinee and a special drawing for prizes.  On Saturday...there would be all of the above as well as a "Serial"!  This would be at the matinee...very kid oriented!  And here is where you would see "RinTinTin" or "Zorro" or...."The Lone Ranger" in action!!  Each episode would end in a cliff-hanger and you would HAVE to come back the next Saturday to see what happened!!!!

   Being a "townie" I could go to movies a lot!  For matinees, we could even ride our bikes, leave them at the bike rack, and never even considered that our bikes would not be perfectly safe and still there when we got out. We weren't allowed to ride our bikes to the movies at night...no reflectors or lights on them.  But movie going for little kids was really mostly the matinees...the "big" kids and teens went at night!