1951 Boston, Massachusetts

Loretta Chickering
1943
Boston, Massachusetts
Interviewed on 7 February 2021
by Graylen Chickering

Extraordinary: get my opinion on this movie experience, and you expect me to remember back when I was seven or eight years old!

Well, I saw a lot of movies in the ’50s. My folks owned a house in Roxbury, and I would go to the Roxy on Saturdays and spend the afternoon at the movies. We were off on our own a lot during the day as kids. You know, you’re out with other kids playing one or two streets over. My mother had this big bell, and when we were out playing and she wanted me home, she would ring the bell, and I could hear it and I’d go home. We weren’t a gang, but we were a gang of kids! Going to the movies was something to do on a Saturday afternoon. It kept us out of trouble. I don’t think it mattered what we were watching. A lot of times in the ’50s there were a lot of wartime movies from the Second World War, so there was that kind, and then there was stuff with people like Doris Day. Nothing was X-rated. Absolutely nothing, especially in Boston because it would have been banned in Boston, so you could go to any movie. 

At the theater, you got one ticket, and there was always a double feature with cartoons and newsreels in the middle, like the news of the day, news that was going on at the time. Of course, I didn’t pay attention to that; we were kids, gabbing, and chatting, and playing around. I think it always only cost a quarter. My parents would give me 50 cents. I’d get popcorn and ice cream—frozen ice cream and soggy cones, but I liked them! I think ice cream cost 10 cents. I used to like jujubes—I don’t think they make anything like that anymore—and I used to like the nonpareils. Sometimes I’d get ice cream, popcorn, jujubes, and nonpareils. I don’t think I ever had a drink in the movies. They had water fountains where you could get water. 

My dad did something for one of the theaters in Boston, making the metal framework for the chairs. The seats were those red velvet seats, not very comfy! They were cushioned, but not very well. To get to your seat, you’d just have to climb over people. If people were in front of me, I used to sit on my knees. Being short is tough. I always tried to sit in the first row, first balcony. That’s what I liked because I didn’t have anybody’s head in front of me, and I could see right down to the screen. It was awesome.

Oh, it was rowdy at the movies because it was afternoon matinees, and, you know, people were talking and they would cheer when good things happen, you know, it was not like the movies today. And the theaters were big. I mean, now you go to the movies, and the room is small, because they have 10 or 15 in a complex, but before they were big. I mean, you would have plays and stuff as well in the big theaters. The sound was loud, loud like today. There was a person that took the ticket, ripped it in half, and gave you a stub. Sometimes, you know, if the theater was full, they would show you to a seat. When us kids were making a lot of noise, being rowdy, and shouting, they would come by and tell us that we’d have to be quiet, or they were gonna throw us out. They never did! But, the movies were full. I mean, there was not much in the way of TV. Buying a TV set was a luxury, so people went to the movies a lot for entertainment.

I saw Alice in Wonderland in Boston. I don’t remember which theater; it was in Scollay Square, maybe the Shubert. Yeah, that was cool. I was maybe between six and eight—I don’t know—somewhere in that range. I went with my friend Susan and her parents; we drove in. We probably went in the afternoon, I’m not sure; I don’t know what time. That was 70 years ago. You know, they say short-term memory goes first; I guess I lost my short-term memory a long time ago! One of the features with it was The Sorcerer’s Apprentice with Mickey Mouse with the brooms that kept sweeping up the water. 

Oh, I was just in awe. It was wonderful to see it. Alice in Wonderland was the first [feature-length] cartoon movie I had seen. It was, you know, an animated movie, and everything else was not at the time. I remember “The Unbirthday Song.” My favorite character was, of course, Alice! And the White Rabbit, and the Cheshire Cat. And, who was the one who sang “A-E-I-O-U”? That was the worm that turned into a butterfly. That one. That one I liked—because he sang the alphabet! I don’t know; I thought he was amusing. I liked him; I thought he was pretty cool. I remember Alice falling through the rabbit hole—that was scary, yes, ‘twas brillig. I remember I was afraid of the Queen of Hearts. “Off with her head!” I was afraid Alice was going to get hurt. It was so fantastical. It was just, you know, something that held my attention so that I was rapt the whole time. 

I liked Alice in Wonderland, and that’s my official opinion. Now you see where your father gets it, right?

Edit (25 February 2021):
When I was a teenager, I loved Elvis. All young teens were crazy in love with him. I only saw the early movies, the ones before he went into the service. I remember having to change seats because some pervert sitting beside me kept poking me in the ribs…an old creep!  I had to complain to management. I don’t remember which film it was, though.