1948 Cosne-Cours-sur-Loire, France

Claudette Robin Andres

1948

Cosne-Cours-sur-Loire France

Interviewed on January 27th, 2023

by Carla Decombes

Translated from French

The first movie I remember seeing was Bambi, the Walt Disney movie.

It was in 1948. It could not have been before because the war ended in 1945. I was six years old.

It was the first movies that were shown in the rural areas of France. We were in Cosne sur Loire, it was a little town, and it was a big event to go to the cinema. But because I was six years old, I evidently could only see a children’s movie. So it was a Walt Disney. It was Bambi.

My mother had dressed me from head to toe. She had tied some ribbons in my hair that I took off as soon as I got to the corner of the street. When I said that I thought I went with my mother, that must have been wrong because I would not have been able to take the ribbons out. I must have gone with my sister, Michelle. Michelle was four years older than me. She was ten at the time and must have been the one accompanying me.

The cinema room had the red seats. It smelled a bit musty because it was not often ventilated. We got our tickets from an usher. She would then bring us to our seats. I even think that I had chosen to sit in the front row for Bambi, to make sure that I would see everything. A cinema room was something extraordinary for us.

Bambi is Bambi. I cried a lot. I cried all the tears in my body when Bambi lost his mother. It’s a really sad movie. It’s really sad.

The ambiance in the cinema. There was the usher who would come at the intermission. There was always an intermission. They would cut the film in half so that they could sell candy, esquimaux (magnums in the US), and chocolates. The ushers had a big basket, and they would go through the rows to sell their goods. I cannot remember the brands of the candies. But I think that sometimes we would get an esquimaux. Of course, if we had the money to buy it because the cinema ticket was already a significant amount of money. We would not go to the cinema like we do today. It was for special occasions.

The cinema was in the center of the city. It was an old cinema. It has closed now, it does not exist anymore. It was 250 meters away from our house, approximately. We would walk there. It didn’t take us long to get there. And I could run really fast at the time. It was next to the road National 7.

I also think that we went in July. We had gifted me those tickets because it was my birthday and that I was changing class in school.

There was another cinema in our town which still exists to this day. We would go there to see documentaries. We had a subscription to see the documentaries and we could only see those. It was for our cultural education.

I think I can remember the Bambi movie so vividly because I cried so much. It really traumatized me. It was really sad. Since then, I don’t want to see sad movies at the cinema anymore. That’s the reason why I do not go watch sad movies.

 My grandfather interrupted at this point (Nobert Andres, 19, Bouira Algeria).

We would not go to the cinema. We were four children. But when we went to Bouira when I was thirteen or fourteen, the announcement of my mother was, because my father was changing job status, from being a worker he was becoming a foreman, we would go to the cinema on Sundays. We were very happy. It was in 1953. But I cannot remember the first movie.