1936 Franklin Square, New York

Leonard Caraccio

1927

Franklin Square, Long Island, NY

Interviewed on January 21, 2024 

by Will Caraccio 

Is there a first movie that you remember seeing? 

Yeah, uh, I have to think about it. I used to go to the Franklin Square Theatre in Franklin Square, Long Island, New York. And I used to go to the movies to see a double-feature and a newscast for 15 cents. I think the news-reels were broadcasted by Pathé, or something like that. Well anyway, in the entertainment industry back when I was a kid there were theater houses in New York City that you would go to—the Strand Theater, the Paramount Theatre—it was cheap to go to a movie. Movie houses were always available to pass the time. So, you go to the movies, and you come out, and there’s a sweet shop where you get an ice cream or something like that—it was called Erma’s Sweet Shop. That was always a treat, you know. 

One thing I do remember now that you mention it—Cole Porter, who was a very prolific songwriter, and, uh, I remember lyrics to some of his songs. He made a movie just recently, Delovely. But he was most famous when I was a kid for Anything Goes. Yeah, Cole Porter was a prolific songwriter, and, well, god bless him. Cole Porter had such a mind for music—I remember I first saw Anything Goes, 1936 I think it was. It went (humming): “pum-pum-pum-pum-pum-pum, pum-pum-pum-pum-pum-pum, anything goes!” That was 1936 or so. The first time I saw it was in a movie house many years ago, but, you know, his music lives on.

What did the theater look like? 

There was a big marquee out front, and the entrance fee booth was right smack in the middle. The theater had coming attractions—so you’d walk into the theater and you could see all around the walls advertisements for movies that were coming up, and so you could plan on what movies you were gonna see this week or next week, you know? And the theater sweetshop was really a treat, because it was so inexpensive. You could get a float, which was like, uh, a milkshake, and two scoops of ice cream in the middle, and they put it under the twirler to mix it up good and you got a nice float…then they put another dip of ice cream to top it off. And, well, that was only for a nickel. 

Me: Wow…I just got a coffee from Willoughbies and it was seven dollars!

Ha! Yeah, things were pretty inexpensive in those days. But, yeah, movies were cheap and the, uh, sweets that you bought—you spent 15 cents! There was a chap that I used to run into a lot at the sweet shop, his name was Benny O’Neil. People used to think he was a drunkard, because he had a bright cherry nose, you know? He would be sitting in Erma’s Theatre Sweet Shop outside the movies and people thought he was an alcoholic because of his nose. He was a really nice guy. He had a business that was, uh—he was an electrician. And he had a horse-drawn wagon that he operated his business out of. But then when business got pretty bad he decided he was gonna give it up, and when he did he dug a big hole in his backyard and buried the wagon. 

The theater sweet shop was right next to the movie. And so you see a movie and then you go in for an ice cream float or something like that. And he was always there, usually having some kind of ice cream—never had anything to reflect that he was an alcoholic, but everyone said so because of his nose! He was a very nice guy; he was a father-like individual for me, you know. He always had something good to say, he was a role-model. It was like he was a relative, you know, and he always tried to make you feel good and…well, he was a friend. Yeah, the theater sweet shop was always a good place to relax, have a soda or something like that, and talk to other people who had just watched a movie. 

How did you get to the theater? 

I walked. Just three or four blocks. I lived pretty close to the theater. From my house, it was equidistant between going to church or going to a movie. 

Who did you go to the movies with? 

Most of the time by myself. Both of my parents worked full time jobs so I spent a lot of my free time at the theater or at Erma’s. But I had a couple good friends that I sometimes went with. We used to play football together, you know—we were the Franklin Square Shamrocks, because we were all Irish (my grandfather is Italian). 

Who were your favorite actors? 

 Well I can’t really remember the names of the movies, but Tom Nix was a Cowboy type actor, you know, always on a horse. Most of the Westerns I listened to on the radio, since it was cheaper than going to the movies. I remember we would listen to The Lone Ranger a lot. There was no television back then, so your mind was always picturing what was going on as you listened to the radio: “Hi-ho, Silver, away! The Lone Ranger!” Then you would hear footsteps for the horses galloping. And then the Lone Ranger had a friend called Tonto, and Tonto would say: “get ‘em up Scout!”

In those days there wasn’t television, so you got all of your information over the radio. My father and Uncle and I would stand in the kitchen and listen to the radio for a football game, you know. And my father played semi-pro football, and played at the New York Giants field, so…well those were the good old days (chuckles). 

Do you remember what year it was that you started going to the movies? 

Yeah, probably 1935. I started going to the movies pretty early, I was 8 or 9 years old. It was pretty cheap so my mother would give me 15 or 20 cents to catch a movie before she would head off to work. 

Do you remember watching any silent films? 

In memory there were silent movies, although I can’t exactly remember the names. Oh yes—those were the days of Charlie Chaplin! He always tended to walk funny, with his heels close to each other and his feet sticking out. He was entertaining, though I personally preferred the Westerns. 

When there were movies but no television yet, most nights we listened to the radio at home. You had to use your imagination a lot more before there was television—if you were listening to something over the radio, your mind was active, trying to put yourself in that situation. And that was a similar experience for the silent movies, where there was no dialogue, just music. 

Do you still watch movies?

Well, with the advent of television, there was this desire to no longer go to the movies to save money. That’s how it was in my family, at least. And, well, nowadays all the movies I watch are on the television. We have a television set that your dad set up for me on a console, with the TV on top of the console. And, uh, well, I probably spend a third of my life watching TV here. There’s so many things available nowadays. Recently I’ve watched The Three Tenors—Carreras, Domingo, and Pavarotti—on TV. I still love movies, but, uh, nowadays I watch most of them on TV.