A favorite memory during grade school was going to the movies in Laurel on a Monday night at the Legion Hall. There was a fellow, Bob Gray, from Marshalltown who was a policeman by trade, but, went around to small towns in the area and showed movies. I learned later when I ran into him in Marshalltown that he got them from a distribution center in Des Moines, Iowa.
Some of the movies were classics like Ma & Pa Kettle, Francis the Talking Mule, Abbott & Costello, and many more. We grade school kids sat up front on straight 2x12 wood planks. High school kids sat generally in the back on wood bleachers. Worth noting that it took 50 plus years for movie theaters to design stadium style theaters where people could see better. It was funny when the lights came on after a movie, to look back at the high school kids and catch them at "making out."
The first science fiction movie I saw was with my cousin Bob Bueghly. It was called The Day the Earth Stood Still. I was only about ten years old and scared me to death. I put my baseball hat over my eyes and my cousin kept trying to take it from me. I ended up on the floor. The robot coming out of the flying saucer was scary and the music gave you a chill for sure. I own that movie and still watch it annually or so.
Another concept in the 1950's was 3-D. This is where you put on cardboard glasses with colored plastic for viewing. It was neat watching a movie like The House of Wax with Vincent Price with figures falling out at you when the museum was burning. Also, there was a Western in 3-D where flaming arrows came right at you, boulders were thrown at you, and bodies were flipped into your lap during the fight scenes. It was neat stuff. Not until the early 2000's, did 3-D become popular again.
A lot of the science fiction movies, which I dearly loved, were in black& white. Them, It, and the previously mentioned, The Day The Earth Stood Still. And, who could forget The Creature From the Black Lagoon.
The drive-in theater was an experience not to be forgotten. Being able to watch a movie from inside your car with just a speaker hanging from your window was cool! The one in Marshalltown, stood at the northwest corner of old highway 30 and 14. When my kids were little, we would go with them in their P.J.'s, big bags of popcorn and go to the drive-in at West-Vue, on the northwest corner of Hickman Avenue & 86th Street in Urbandale, Iowa. One of the last movies we saw all together was a back to back Godzilla movie. We all woke up about 2 a.m. before leaving.
In 1979, I saw, at the Southeast 14th Street drive-in, The Texas Chainsaw Massacre. To this day, it's the scariest movie I have ever seen. I wish I hadn't. At one time there were three drive-ins along just 14th Avenue in Des Moines, Iowa. All are gone now (2014) except for one west of Newton, Iowa. At least in Central Iowa. Lots of things killed them off like daylight saving time, air-conditioning, and of course television. Maybe again someday?
Throughout my life, I have enjoyed going to movies and taking in the whole theater experience. I couldn't put a number on the amount of movies I have seen over the years. It's still one of my greatest enjoyments and hope to continue for a long time to come.
No comments:
Post a Comment