1943 New Haven, Connecticut

Arthur Bober
Born in 1936
First movie memories from New Haven Connecticut
Interviewed on January 26, 2019
by Harry Kahn

The first movie I remember seeing was the Phantom of the Opera with Claude Rains. I was seven or eight years old, and I was so frightened that I had to sleep with my parents for a week. It was one of the first horror movies that I ever saw.

Do you know the story of the Phantom of the Opera? It was about a guy that had acid thrown in his face who lived in the opera house in Paris. He was misunderstood so he abducted one of the women, a star of the opera. He scared everyone to death with his marred face. You felt that somebody’s life was intruded by a monster. In the play he turns out to be a hero, but there was no compassion for him in the film.

I saw it in New Haven at the Westville Theater, which is no longer around. I remember they had ushers that were dressed up like Paul Mall guys, like the Philip Morris Advertisements– in red wool suits, long pants and with jackets like drummerettes. They had gold filigree down the front where the button goes, and wore gold fez caps. Those ushers carried candy down the aisle.

The concession was the most exciting thing. There was a lot of candy and a whole lot of popcorn. The whole place smelled like popcorn. In those days the concession made more money than the movie. I couldn’t afford it, but I would eat Junior Mints when someone else was treating me, and I also loved Raisinets.

I would go with my cousins and my friends who were my playmates. We used to go during the winter every Saturday afternoon in the forties and early fifties. I never went with my parents because they were busy.

In the opening to every movie, there was a huge newsreel showing black and white film. There was a voice that was notoriously well-known talking dramatically, almost like propaganda, about the War. There was always a guy in the projecting room; I remember the dust flying around in the light. Very often the reel would break, as it was actual film, and we would have to wait for them to put it back together again.

It was the time of epic films, movie stars and big studios like MGM, Paramount and 20th Century. We watched Ben Hur, Cleopatra, Westerns and gun fights. Movie stars were a big deal, and sometimes you would go just to see a star like Shirley Temple. It’s not like nowadays where it’s all about the stories– it was more about the characters.  

We thought it was pretty exciting to go watch movies in the dark. It was like entering a never never land where you could escape from everything else. Then you would come out, if it was a matinee, and you would be blinking because the light was so fierce.  I grew up just after the silent film era. The sound wasn’t like it is now, but it was still captivating. The movies were a total escape. Nothing replaces the big screen. There is something magical and special about it.