Learning about Movies from Grandma

Movies. Most people love them. There is a reason that they are one of the top forms of entertainment in our world. We love to watch movies, but do we love to go to the movies? Actually going out to the movie theater is not as popular as it once was, but it is still a common and relatable form of entertainment. Talking to my grandma about movies was the most fun interview so far, and I learned a lot about her experiences and our family.

Heidi starring Shirley Temple, 1937

© imbd.com

According to Grandma, her local theater in Bessemer, Michigan, was “just like any theater.” As she remembers it, the theater had no concession stand, no balcony, and one movie screen, but it was within walking distance from her house. Westerns were popular there, but some of her favorite films were ones starring Shirley Temple, such as Heidi. As was the practice with most theaters, this one would show news clips before the movie started, and sometimes cartoons for the kids. Prices for this theater ran at about fourteen cents for a child’s ticket, and maybe a quarter for adults. Grandma told me, “You paid, or sometimes the girl would let us in for nothing. But sometimes the man would count the tickets, and then go [in the theater] and count the people.” Grandma and her siblings would go to see a movie whenever they had money. As children, they got some spending money from their parents, but as a teen, Grandma was able to earn a little money by babysitting. “Going to the show” was one of the main activities on which she spent her money. It was not even that important to know what was playing, because they would “watch whatever was on.” Going to the theater with friends was a favorite pastime with Grandma and her siblings, and according to her, it was about all there was to do in their town.  

Grandma did not remember many details about the movie theater, so I reached out to two of her siblings to see what they could remember, and they shared some of their memories with me. The Rex theater, as it was called, was an old building that was rumored to be an old horse barn, so it was sometimes called “Dan’s Horse Barn.” The first ten rows of the theater were wooden benches, and unaccompanied children had to sit there, as opposed to the cushioned seats in the back. Of course, kids often tried to sneak back to the better seats, but the theater owner would routinely check them and send the kids back to the front. Kids would go to the grocery store next to the theater to buy their candy to take in with them. Friday night was the most popular night for kids to go because they could usually see cowboy movies, with actors like Roy Rogers and Gene Autry. 

    

Left: Roy Rogers and Mary Hart in Shine on Harvest Moon, 1938 

 https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/01/Roy_Rogers_-_Hart_-_1938.jpg

Right: Gene Autry, 1950

 https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/d4/Gene_Autry_1950.jpg

Movies directed more towards adults were shown on Sundays, with a higher price. Apparently, the theater would change its film three times a week, so one would be shown on Sunday and Monday, and then a different one would be shown through the week with a new one coming in for the weekend. The “better” movies were shown on Sundays and Mondays. Also, it would typically screen the movie twice in one night, and customers could stay for both showings if they wanted. One interesting observation from my uncle was that “movies back then had to have some singing in them, even when it didn’t even fit into any plot.” We do not see much singing in movies today, besides an occasional musical, so that might reflect the changing interests of audiences. There was never a movie that Grandma’s parents would not allow the kids to see, but the theater owner would not have shown anything that was not kid-friendly. Grandma remembered the cashier at the theater letting them in for free sometimes, but her sister remembers a different way of getting tickets. According to her, a friend’s mother collected tickets and would pass them out to the kids so they could get in for free. 

The Ironwood Theatre today 

http://cinematreasures.org/theaters/2761/photos/108209

© cinematreasures.org user Jasperdo

There was another theater in nearby Ironwood, which still hosts events today as a historic landmark, but Grandma said that she did not go to that one often because it was farther away. However, according to her younger brother, their father would sometimes take them to Sunday matinees there as a treat. They would ride the bus the seven miles there and back. Interestingly, neither Grandma nor her siblings could remember their mother ever going out to a movie. 

The Esquire Theatre at night, 1938

http://cinematreasures.org/theaters/256/photos/151290

© cinematreasures.org user Comfortably Cool 

The Little Gallery area of the Esquire Theatre, 1941

http://cinematreasures.org/theaters/256/photos/176698

© cinematreasures.org user dallasmovietheaters

After moving to Chicago in the 1940’s, Grandma still liked to go to the movies. She remembers “the nice theater around the block,” called The Esquire, that she would attend with her sisters and roommates. After she met my grandpa, they would go there on dates. Drive-In theaters were also a popular attraction. They went sometimes in Chicago, and continued to go after they got married and moved to Missouri. They would take their 1934 Ford and cruise to the Highway 50 Drive-In during the late 1940s and 1950s. The drive-in had stations with speakers that visitors would hang on their car windows, and ramps to elevate the car. It also had a concession stand in the middle of the lot and it featured a playground for kids. Unfortunately, it was destroyed by a tornado in 1980, but a new multiplex theater was built in its place. 

After their kids were born, Grandma and Grandpa did not go out to movies as often. Grandma remembers taking my mom and uncles to the drive-in when they were little, even though they do not remember it well. In addition to the drive-in, there were two indoor theaters in town, the Uptown and the Fox. They frequented the Fox more often, because it was “more modern,” and had “better shows.” It also featured serial movies, which would come out on Saturday nights, so it was the popular place to be. The Uptown and the Fox were where my parents, aunts, and uncles saw many movies throughout their youth. 

Ad for the grand opening of the Hi-Way 50 Drive-In, Sedalia, MO, 1949

http://cinematreasures.org/theaters/37052/photos/12474

© cinematreasures.org user dallasmovietheaters

Grandma did not mention many specific favorite movies, but Grandpa, who was listening in, was quick to chime in with his love for Westerns. Luckily for him, Westerns were very popular in the theaters, so he was rarely disappointed. One popular actor of the time they did not care for was Elvis Presley. Grandpa said, “He didn’t go over very big here.” Needless to say, they did not go see many of his movies. However, they did go to see reruns of older movies, like Gone with the Wind and The Wizard of Oz when the theaters would screen them.

Grandma reiterated a few times that she and her friends went to movies because there was not anything else to do in their town. I relate to that because that is how my friends and I feel now. Seeing a movie is always our standby when there is not anything else going on. It is an easy way to spend time together and share an experience as a group.

These days, movies are not a big part of my grandparents’ lives. The last movie they remember going to the theater to see was Pearl Harbor, which came out in 2001. They watch movies on TV occasionally, but they usually prefer regular TV programs. They never rented or bought movies, and I do not think they ever had any kind of video player. Movies went from being one of their go-to pastimes to just something that they used to do.

Movie theater attendance may be lower than in the past, but we still love movies. Streaming services like Hulu and Netflix are part of our culture, and they will continue to play a huge part in our entertainment in the future. Movies are how we pass many nights with friends and family. Our favorite movies say something about us, which is why when we get to know someone we often share our favorite movies. Movies can be the common ground we find with new friends. They are how we escape our own world for a couple of hours and enter one that is more exciting, more dangerous, more outrageous. People have been searching for this escape since the days of the “peep show” galleries in the late nineteenth century. Today, we regularly see multimillion-dollar blockbusters that attempt to create unique, larger-than-life viewing experiences. While much has changed about movies over the years, our reasons for seeing them are largely the same. That just shows that my generation is not so different from our grandparents after all.

Learning about Print Media from Grandma

"How appropriate," I thought, as I brought a magazine in to my grandma on the day that I interviewed her about print media, including magazines, newspapers, and books. Even more appropriately, it was a Reminisce, which is a nostalgia magazine that she likes to read. I had high hopes that this would be a good interview because I know my grandma loves to read, and I was not disappointed.

An issue of the Ironwood Daily Globe from July, 1938 

https://newspaperarchive.com/ironwood-daily-globe-jul-20-1938-p-2/

An issue of The Bessemer Herald from Dec. 1933

https://newspaperarchive.com/bessemer-herald-dec-08-1933-p-1-203532737-thumbnail.jpg

The Katzenjammer Kids 

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/40/Katzenjammer1901.jpg

I began by asking Grandma about newspapers; she said that her family always subscribed to the local paper when she was growing up, and it was their main source of news other than the radio, so everyone read it. She surprised me by remembering the names of both newspapers that they read: the Ironwood Daily Globe, which was the daily paper, and The Bessemer Herald, which was a weekly paper. She told me that her brother was a paperboy, so the Daily Globe would get dropped off  at their house every afternoon for him to deliver around the town. Her dad was likely always the first to read the paper, and Grandma commented, "I doubt if Grandma (her mom) had a lot of time to read the paper with us kids." Later, she added, "She'd read the newspaper and go to sleep."

I asked about the content of the newspaper, and she looked at 
the latest copy of our local paper and noted how similar it was--sections of sports, news, comics, obituaries--the norm for local papers. She flipped through the comics section, reading the names of the classics that have been in print for decades, but even these are different from what she read as a child. She mentioned a favorite, The Katzenjammer Kids, which was originally printed in 1897 in the American Humorist.



Since I know that doing newspaper crossword puzzles is one of my grandma's favorite pastimes, I asked if she did them when she was young. She surprised me by saying no, and she actually seemed a little surprised by her answer. Doing puzzles was a hobby that she picked up as an adult, and it is how she passes a lot of time today.
As the conversation shifted to magazines, Grandma told me they did not have many magazines at home when she was growing up because they could not really afford them. However, as an adult, she subscribed to some magazines, including some typical women's magazines of the time: Good Housekeeping and McCall's. She would even read Grandpa's Legion magazine. Magazines are still a relevant part of her life. She reads the aforementioned Reminisce, as well as Birds and Blooms and Reader's Digest, among others.
Asking about books revealed stories and history that I had never heard from my grandma. She began by telling me how she and her siblings would get their books. During the summer, their school library was open a few days a week, so they could go down and check out what they wanted to read. They would pick out "anything that looked interesting," but The Bobbsey Twins were a favorite. When I asked if there were any books that she tried to check out that she was not allowed to read, she said, "There weren't any that the lady wouldn't check out to me, and I don't know if grandma even looked at them."

The Bobbsey Twins at the Seashore 

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Bobbsey_Twins_at_the_Seashore.djvu

With year round access to the school library, the family never really bought any books. However, another interesting source of literature was the neighbors. Grandma said that she and her sisters would get "love story books" from "the neighbor lady's daughter," when they were in junior high and high school. They would go there and read them "when we should have been doing our chores at home."
To this day, Grandma still reads books, magazines, and the daily newspaper. While I do not know if she still reads "love story books," I know she enjoys mysteries and her daily devotionals. The love for reading is something that has certainly been passed on in our family. Some of my earliest memories with books include scribbling my name inside the front cover, excited to have something to call my own. I even enjoy Reader's Digest, which is something that I share with both my grandma and my mom. Even though that particular magazine has changed some over the years, it is still relevant and enjoyed by millions.
Print media are unique in that they have the ability to last for generations. Unlike many forms of electronic media that seem to be here today and gone tomorrow, newspapers, magazines, and books have a permanence to them. We clip out meaningful articles, we save recipes for future use, we pass to our friends books that we think they might enjoy. Print media connect people. They connect generations. In my case, they connected me to my grandma. I now have a greater appreciation for these "legacy media" because I realize that even though they have been around for practically forever, they continue to have an immeasurable impact, and I think they are here to stay.