1951 West Haven, Connecticut

Valerie Vallano
Born in 1946
West Haven, Connecticut
Interviewed on 1.28.19
By Perry Falk

Cinderella. Oh God, I was probably about five years old. It was animated. It was beautiful. I loved it. With the little mice and the coach. Phenomenal! As a little kid, I was in awe. I don’t really remember the story—just the mice and the coach. It was a Sunday afternoon, I think. We sat very quiet and just stared. We behaved ourselves. Yeah, I remember being in awe.

I went with my mother and my sister. It was my sister’s first movie too. She’s three years younger than me.

It was the neighborhood theater, I know that. It was in a little town. I grew up in West Haven, Connecticut. The theater was very old. And I remember the person who took our tickets and everything, she was real old too. Of course, she seemed old to me at the time, but she was old.

I remember this vaguely. It had a real dusty smell. You know how things smell when they’re old? It was like that. Believe it or not, that theater closed down twelve or fifteen years ago. It was there for a long time. It was called the Forrest Theater. Neighborhood people owned it. It was in a section of West Haven called Allingtown. It was small—a small neighborhood theater. They only had one theater. There was only one aisle. Two rows, one on either side of the aisle. Each row had about six seats. The seats were made out of this velour material. I remember them being red.

They had a very small candy counter. It was all very limited. I think they had popcorn that they popped off. I was never a big candy-eater and I wasn’t a popcorn-eater either.

[laughter] The woman who collected the tickets was also someone who would go around and make sure you wouldn’t put your feet on the seats. [laughter] You know, she used to come over and yell at you. [laughter]

I went when I was five, but I took my kids to the theaters when they were like two or three. But when I grew up you didn’t go to the movies that much because you didn’t have the money to go. Don’t forget I was raised just by my mother. She was a single parent. As things got better, you were able to go to the movies.

Oh God, no. I don’t know what my mother’s favorite movie was. But it was probably something with Errol Flynn. She loved Errol Flynn. I’m with my aunt right now—my mother’s sister. She’d know. I could ask her. Aunt G! Do you what my mother’s favorite movie was? [Robin Hood (in background)]. Robin Hood—and who was in that? [Errol Flynn] Oh, Errol Flynn. Yeah, I figured it had to be Errol Flynn.

Now, Aunt G, do you remember the first time you went to a movie theater? [It was probably to see one of the comedians from the old days at the theater on Congress avenue. Probably Charlie Chaplin. He had the cane and the derby.] Oh isn’t that something. My aunt is turning eighty-nine, you gotta see her—she’s as spry as spry can be.