1952 Bay Shore, New York

Eric Schneider
Born in 1942
Bay Shore New York
Interviewed on September 12, 2019
by Yaa Owusu

The first movie I remember seeing was Ivanhoe. Let’s see… I can’t really remember what year I saw it, but I was born in ‘42 so it must have had to be ‘52 or ‘53. I walked to the theater with my sister- you want to know what was funny? She had to take me with her because my father wouldn’t let me go to the movies myself. And I remember I had to keep my mouth shut because she was meeting her boyfriend there and didn’t want my father to know!

We walked to the theater- the one on main street which is now the YMCA- not the regent theater which still stands on main street. Back then, before the YMCA the theater was called the Bay Shore theater. It wasn’t as big as the theaters in New York City, but it had a lot of the same features. It was a very pretty theater, not like the regent, which is now also a part of the YMCA. The Bay Shore Theater was like a zoo in that you had to behave when you went to the theater or you were thrown out.

There were ushers and a concession stand, I don’t remember if I bought candy at Ivanhoe but, my favorite candy back then was Mounds Bars. I do remember though that the movie only cost a quarter! Nowadays I spend way more on popcorn than I did to see movies back then!

I remember the action and the color- horses and knights battling it out on the field in tournaments and jousting. What impressed me was the way the knights jousted on their horses. At that time in my life, I had never heard of or seen anything like that before. I can’t really remember any specific actors or the story- at twelve years old I was very impressed with the effects and fighting. I do remember learning later that a young Liz Taylor was in the movie. I enjoyed the movie because as a kid, I didn’t understand a lot about British or European history, jousting or knights, and all the pageantry that went with it.

One movie that has always stuck in my mind was Moby Dick, I was always impressed with the way they made the props- that they made a whale look like a whale- and the costuming too, just the way theater departments can get you thinking you’re looking at the real thing- no phoney baloney; that’s what makes a great movie. If they can get you to say “hey that’s great!” I feel like they’ve accomplished their goal.