1943 New York, New York

Bette Lee Jablow

1943

New York, New York

Interviewed on February 9, 2023

By Sol Bloomfield

Movie poster for The Song of Bernadette, which premiered in 1943

The first movie that I can remember going to see was The Song of Bernadette. It was before 1945 (I think 1943 or 1944), so I was younger than five. I was living in New York, in Brooklyn, during the war. My father was a Navy dentist stationed at Bayonne, New Jersey. We were living in a clearance project that had been converted to married officers’ quarters. I remember that I stashed an easter egg under my mattress and it rotted. That smelled awful.

The Roxy Theater 

As I said, my first movie was The Song of Bernadette. My aunt Charlotte took me. I think we must have taken the subway, and it was at the Roxy Theater. With the Rockettes! Do you know they are named after the theater? I think they performed before the film. It was a really special treat. It was wintertime, so I think it was a gift for Hanukkah or Christmas. I think it starred Ingrid Bergman, but I have no idea if that is true. I think the movie was about a vision of the Virgin Mary, like Da Vinci, but I don’t exactly remember the story. Yes, it was definitely a vision of the Virgin Mary. People are always seeing visions like that, like Christ, in movies. I don’t remember getting any concessions, but I think there might have been ushers.

The next movie I can remember seeing was King Solomon’s Mines, and I watched it after we moved to Philadelphia. We would go and see movies on Saturday mornings for ten cents and get popcorn. No candy that I can remember. I would go with friends from school, and we would go a lot. I don’t know the name of the theater in Philadelphia, but it started with a B. It was near where I would change trains. 

Movie Poster for King Solomon’s Mines, which premiered in 1950

Stephen Spielberg, who’s about my age, was definitely inspired by it. I was ten, in grade six, and I just loved it. It was exactly like Indiana Jones, Raiders of the Lost Ark. Deborah Kerr and Stewart Granger were looking for jewels, for treasure that King Solomon had hidden away in Africa. I always liked looking for treasure. I became interested in archaeology from the Pennsylvania Museum Egyptian section, and this movie was amazing.