“ For me, there is nothing more valuable about a movie than how people feel in a movie theater.”
— Will Smith Forget the ol’ ballgame, take me out to the movies.
Nothing makes me feel finer than a good flick. However, movies worth a couple of hours of my life are films experienced the way they were intended to be enjoyed: Sitting in a movie theater with people, on the third or fourth row and with a bag of popcorn.
Films for entertainment debuted in 1894 in Berlin, and the first commercial, public screening took place in Paris in 1895. They were black and white, short (around a minute) and silent.
Which is sad because they lacked memorable movie quotes we enjoy repeating today.
“Surprised, Eddie?...
If I woke up tomorrow with my head sewn to the carpet, I wouldn’t be more surprised.”
I know you know that one, but just in case, it’s from “National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation” when Clark Griswold addresses his cousin-in-law, Eddie.
Movies gradually grew into an industry perfecting “new” techniques including editing, lighting, camera movement and creating captivating credits.
Prior to the mid-1950s, viewers saw the credits at the beginning of the movie. More on that in a moment.
“Talkies” entered the picture in 1927.
Meanwhile, the advent of television viewing at home didn’t come until 1933, when the comedymystery “The Crooked Circle” aired on the few TVs in the Los Angeles area at the time.
It would still be a while before Hollywood successfully romanced TV, which came in 1956 when the 1939 movie “The Wizard of Oz” became the first network television feature film.
Movies at the cinema could still be enjoyed, at least for a little longer, where they were intended to be viewed: Sitting with people, on the third or fourth row and with a bag of popcorn.
Around 1956 or 1957, my parents’ and grandparents’ households were introduced to the TV phenomenon of blackand- white images.
Dad and his father watched Friday night boxing matches together. Grandmother viewed Art Linkletter. My mother enjoyed “Queen for a Day.” None of them were moviegoers, but I was becoming one.
Beginning during early grade school years, I walked from Perry Brothers, where Dad worked, to the Ritz Theater. I was becoming mesmerized by 1950s B-movie sci-fi flicks on Saturday afternoons including “The Blob,” “Them” and “It Came from Outer Space.”
After moving to Seymour, my film focus became the ‘50s epics such as “The Ten Commandments,” “The Seventh Voyage of Sinbad” and “Ben-Hur.” It didn’t hurt the Texan theater was just across the street from Perry’s 5-and-dime store.
Once we arrived in Mount Pleasant, the Martin Theater was great for Saturday bicycle trips to town.
However, high school and my first car soon shifted my movie-preference gears. I started enjoying film classics of the 1960s such as “The Pink Panther,” “Breakfast at Tiffany’s,” “Dr. Strangelove” and high-tech gadget spy films including the James Bond movies “Dr.
No,” “Goldfinger” and “Thunderball.”
By then, I was sitting with a date in a movie theater, in the back row of the balcony and with a bag of popcorn.
In 1963, Hollywood movies on television propelled cinema into regular weekly smallscreen showings with NBC’s “Monday Night at the Movies.” Later that became “Wednesday Night at the Movies,” then “Tuesday Night at the Movies.”
But that’s another movie story for another time.
Today, movies seen in a theater are still my favorite, offering the bigscreen visuals, the bold theater sound and laughing with friends one minute, crying the next.
Oh, and those credits? I am always the last to leave after the very last line. I enjoy watching the gazillion names and job titles, marveling at how many people it takes to make a movie, musing about the music score and looking for the filming location.
I’m also wondering, what is a “best boy” or a “gaffer” anyway?
All of this, I can enjoy in Center at The Rio Theatre, which is a genuine 1920s “walk-in” with a work-of-art neon façade and marquee.
Even better, it’s within walking distance of my house.
The Rio turns 100 next year and is still a movie house where the owners sell tickets, welcome moviegoers and thank them for coming as they file out. Mike and Nita Adkison have been doing that at the Rio for 50 years.
It’s the kind of movie theater where I can still sit with a friend on the third or fourth row with a bag of popcorn.
Contact Aldridge at [email protected]. Other Aldridge columns are archived at leonaldridge. com
A STORY
WORTH TELLING
G BY LEON ALDRIDGE
