MOVIES

Some more of the comments from an old man. (Before I forget!)

1.  Before "Talkies"

My mother, Aunt Mary and Aunt Hattie played the organ at New Bedford, Massachusetts movie theaters in the late 1920's.  They shared the job of accompanying the action scenes that raced along the screen.  They lost their jobs when "Talkies" appeared.

2.  "Free Movies"

Salvation Army

Every Tuesday evening, the Salvation Army (SA) would show black and white movies appropriate for Christians.  They obliged their audience by playing the films backwards, after they played them properly.

SA showed their films namely to us "street kids" to lead us "on righteous paths."  To see the movies, everyone was charged ten cents, to be deposited in a collection plate near the entrance.

We ten-year-old "street kids" didn't usually have ten cents, so, instead of depositing the money, we extricated a like amount.  Shame on us!

Sailors

Over the years, we "street kids" got smarter and learned a new "scam."  It was WWII and our town had a harbor that could handle U.S. warships.  This meant that there were always crowds of sailors in our downtown area.

On days when we skipped school and wanted to see some movies, we would sidle up to individual sailors who held young ladies by the arm and say something like "Please sir, could you spare a dime so I can buy food for my starving mother?"

It worked every time.

When two of us each had a dime, one of us would pay the nickel admission price at one of the downtown theaters.  When in, he would sneak down the exit stairs and open the door so the other kid could get in.  Then, we two would enjoy hours watching movies, newsreels and cartoons, as we stuffed lots of cavity-inducing candy bought with the remaining fifteen cents.

Uncle Charlie's Movies

As young teen-agers my cousin and I would be treated to black and white old-time movies.

While we gobbled up Aunt Hattie's scrumptious treat of dates filled with peanut butter, Uncle Charlie would set up his 8-millemeter projector and show us his collection of train-robbery films... over and over.  He loved to play them backwards and we loved that too.. 

Later, Uncle Charlie discovered television and he sold his projector and purchased what was then the only TV at that time in the neighborhood.

He invited everyone over every Thursday night to join him in laughing with "Uncle Milty" Berle.  A few of us were even allowed to watch the Ed Sullivan Show on Sunday nights.

............................................................................