1939 Richmond, Virginia
Don Faulkner
1933
Richmond, Virginia
Interviewed on September 15, 2019
by Omeed Fallahi
The first movie I remember seeing was Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. It was 1939, and I was barely six years old at the time. I remember my father and mother telling me that we were going a mystery trip.
We all drove to the theater together in a newly purchased 1939 Buick Special, battleship grey. The car cost twelve hundred dollars, if I recall correctly. Later in 1954, the Buick, which had previously been my older sister’s car, became my car and remained so through my marriage until 1962. Eventually my wife and I decided to sell it after it broke down one day at a stoplight due to a flooded carburetor. We sold it to a friend for one hundred and fifty dollars with a buyback condition so that one day my sons could refurbish the vehicle.
During the showing of Snow White I found myself with eyes glued to the screen, terribly afraid of what was going to happen to Snow White and the seven dwarfs. I was frightened for all of the good people in the movie. I particularly remember how fearful I was throughout it.
For the first time, I feel that the values that I have now of right and wrong were imprinted in me: justice, honesty, integrity. Nobody told me what to do or how to feel. Instead, it felt like I had lived through an experience with the characters and had learned with them.
The theater had concessions, of course, and I always went only for the popcorn with real butter, or what I thought was real butter. They also had Coca Cola, Ginger Ale, and all kinds of candy.
The theater itself was called the Loews Theater, located in downtown Richmond on the corner of 5th and Grace St. At the time, this was the prestigious downtown of Richmond, where all the competing department stores and shops were situated.
The Loews Theater ceiling was painted like a sky with stars, and it really did look like a starry night once the lights dimmed. The theater was very ornate inside and resembled an old opera house, with box seating along the walls and regular descending seating below all the way to the front. Most theaters at that time also had an organ as well, but when you got into the theater the organ was not visible. Before the news clips which preceded the movie, you would usually hear the organ and it would then rise from under the floor. The organ itself was as ornate as the theater, and played songs that youths and adults would all like – current favorites.
The theater also had ushers who wore something that resembled a European military uniform, a red jacket with blue striping. One of their purposes was to not only help you get seated, but to maintain law and order in the movie. You can imagine that in a theater with groups of young kids eating popcorn and watching a movie with excitement, ushers often had a lot to tend to. They were there on every isle.
I remember years later a wealthy family ended up buying the Loews Theater with the goal of restoring its original beauty. They revitalized it and it became a place for all kinds of public events, including movies, but was no longer primarily a movie theater. It’s now called the Carpenter Center and is one of the cultural anchors of Richmond.
