1953-1958 Hollywood, California

Penny Bianchi
Born 1947
Hollywood, CA
Interviewed on January 24th, 2019
by Eva Herman

     I grew up in Pasadena, but every so often we would drive to Hollywood and see movies at Grauman’s Chinese Theatre. There were ushers, and red velvet chairs and red velvet curtains, and these big chandeliers. There would be drinks and champagne—not for me, but for the adults. Sometimes I’d get popcorn, but generally it was much fancier. At the movies now, it’s all styrofoam cups and nachos and no decoration at all! That is the biggest difference—movie theaters used to these big grand places, and it was a special occasion to go. People called them movie palaces! It was a fun escape from the everyday. This was after the war, and Mother said people wanted to take their minds off of it. It really was the golden era of Hollywood. I was going to the movies right in the middle of it!

We would get all dressed up and have dinner at Musso and Frank’s, usually with my mother, and sometimes with my grandmother too. We’d go to the big premieres. This was after my father had died, and Mother had taken over his advertising agency, so she would often get tickets through work because some of the actors were involved in the ad campaigns. You would see a lot of movie stars on the red carpet, like Boris Karloff. He played Frankenstein. He had the kind of face that could be made up to look really different. He was handsome in real life, a really nice man. Mother’s best friend married him. He was my godfather! He was a Shakespeare actor, too. Movie stars used to be normal people—not like Kim Kardashian. They were famous for a reason. It didn’t end well for a lot of them, though. They were all drinking and smoking all day! They all died!

Some of the first movies I remember watching were Disney movies—Peter Pan and Lady and the Tramp. They were so much fun. They were drawings! But they moved! Everybody was talking about Disney.

Then there was High Society, too. I loved Grace Kelly, and I loved Cary Grant! Mother knew I would like the movie because of the houses and stuff. It had this gorgeous Newport house, and art, and furniture, and curtains. I went nuts over it. This was in 1956, and I was born in 1947. Even when I was really young, I was always into decorating—I’d move the furniture around in our living room.

Old Yeller was around the same time—I saw it when I was ten. I was dying to see it. Since I was a little child, I loved animals. Mother took me because she knew it had a dog in it. I don’t think Mother quite knew what that one was about. I had to get carried out of the theater, I was so upset!

A bit later there were all the Elvis movies, and I went to all of those. I was in sixth grade. I was going to marry Elvis—I had a big huge crush on him. Everyone loved rock and roll. Well, the young people did, at least.