1944 Great Neck, New York

Winifred Freund

1938

Great Neck, New York

Interviewed on February 9, 2023

by PJ Frantz

It’s always hard to remember the “first time” when it was so long ago. But I think I remember my first movie… I’m almost positive it was Bambi. I was maybe about, let say, six years old? It was towards the end of the war, and well I must have been with just my mom. There were possibly other mothers and daughters there as well. We were living in Great Neck, and the theater was just about a mile away from our house, downtown. “The Playhouse” I think it was called. I think it’s actually still there.

But anyways, I remember just crying so much. One cries when Bambi’s mother dies; it’s very sad. I don’t remember too much else, I was just so young! But I’ll definitely say I remember going to the movies many, many times from that point onward. The Playhouse would hold double features on Saturdays where they would play back to back movies, mostly cartoons, often times with news reels before or between the films. Sometimes there’d even be news reels in the middle of a single movie. I remember these reels quite, quite well. They were narrated by a big, dramatic voice. This was, after all, a big way we received information about the war; along with newspapers and radio. And even after the war, the news reels stayed.

But people loved going to the theater. I don’t remember much about concessions, but there were always big audiences. You know, there’d be kids and their parents, high school dates, just about everybody. It was a very social place.

And oh! There were some movies that were remarkable. I remember seeing Gone With the Wind for the first time; what a movie that was. Clark Gable was so magnetic to watch, and the scale of the movie was just so incredible. The depiction of war in that movie was certainly something I had never seen before. I think that’s a big reason why it resonated with so much of America. Although, even then some of the racial elements and the “mammy” character were quite upsetting. The MGM lion was always frightening. Later in life, my husband would always jump when it would roar before movies.

But yes, there were a number of memorable films from this era. From Here to Eternity and Song of the South, stick out to me now. I remember loving Song of the South and going to see it multiple times, although that movie also had some really upsetting racial undertones.

And then there was Exodus. This came along later, I think I was in high school, or maybe even college. But it was a big deal. You know, my parents were very involved with the establishment of Israel, and Exodus was all about the founding of Israel. It was very empowering to see this story told on a big screen with an audience; especially at a time when anti-Semitism felt so prevalent, particularly in Hollywood.

But yes, I’d say that Bambi is the first movie I remember watching. It’s funny thinking back to these movies now, the acting was so much more dramatic back then. These days it’s much more relaxed and natural. It’s probably better that way, but there is something charming and extravagant about how dramatic these older movies were. Thank you for reminding me!