by Mere

Created on: June 06, 2009

When Saturday matinees are mentioned my mind goes back to life in St. Clair Shores, a small town in Michigan in the Forties. The kids on Pleasant Avenue were like one big family and we went to the movies en masse. Conveniently the movie theatre was just two blocks from our homes.

It was called The Shores and it was at the corner. Translated that meant it was at the intersection of Nine Mile Road and Mack Avenue. It was the one and only theater in town.

All we needed was a quarter for admission and a dime or two for popcorn or a candy treat. Sometimes we traded a Milk Dud for a Good N' Plenty.

I can still visualize the manager, Mr. Shook. To us he was old. He had gray hair and was always dressed in a suit.

The ushers led us to our seats with their flashlights. If there was any misbehavior the culprits were told to leave and go home.

The first showing was at 1 in the afternoon. First to be seen were the newsreels which showed vividly the weekly progress of World War II. As young as we were we applauded if we saw President Franklin Delano Roosevelt on the screen.

Next were the cartoons and then the previews of coming attractions. Two full length movies were shown and that meant spending the entire afternoon there. We were in our glory if at least one of the movies was in Technicolor. Most of the movies in those days were black and white.

What movies we saw on Saturday determined our play adventures for the following week. A war movie guaranteed that we would play army. The boys became soldiers doing battle. The girls took on the roles of WACS and WAVES. A Western movie divided us into teams of cowboys and Indians. A musical brought out our singing and dancing antics.

Reading the movie magazines Photoplay and Modern Screen cover to cover kept us girls connected to Hollywood until the next time we went to the movies. We had our heart throbs such as Clark Gable, John Garfield, Audie Murphy, Van Johnson, Randolph Scott, Cornel Wilde, Cary Grant and Joel McCrea. We marveled at the beauty of the actresses like Lana Turner, Jane Russell, Lauren Bacall, Ingrid Bergman, June Hayworth, Jeanne Crain, Rita Hayworth and Betty Grable. It was not uncommon to join a movie star's fan club. How excited we were when the mailman delivered a big envelope bearing a Hollywood, CA postmark that contained a glossy photo of our favorite movie star.

Those were the days

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