1956 Knoxville, Tennessee

Liz Burmaster
Born in 1942
Knoxville, Tennessee
Interviewed on September 8, 2019
by Ris Igrec

The first movie that I remember seeing was Seven Wonders of the World – and it was so thrilling. That was in the cinema. I probably saw others before – that one sticks in my mind. It was so awesome. I still watch the movie, and I’ve read the book. 

I think I was probably around eight or nine. I’d seen other movies – my mother loved Clark Gable. He was her idol. My brother had big ears, like Clark Gable. 

When the sound came on, it was so dramatic – I was in the balcony, and it was a fantastic theater. It was a fantastic theater in Knoxville, it was so gorgeous. There would be news, and to this day, when you see old movies and hear the news come on, the music is so dynamic – you feel like you want to sit straight and listen and not move. It makes you so attentive – it was so important because back then, we had the printed word, but not news on television. It wasn’t that dynamic. So to this day, when we’re playing something old, I have to be so attentive. It springs me to attention. 

What sticks with me is- you can’t deny the music. The music and the different places that we saw in just a short time to introduce and feel it – you’ve probably never seen it, but it was in an airplane flying, and it was just awesome. I think because it was in cinema, it just took my breath away and I got to see such wonderful sights. Of course, it was in color- I don’t remember many movies not in color, but I remember TV in black and white. 

I really don’t remember any of the characters because it was a narrator that led you through the sights. The voiceover would tell you about the different places. Honestly, we saw so many things, but the biggest experience was sailing through the air with music, it was the biggest thing. 

I was with my mom. We made movies a date – once a week – and you dressed up back then. A glove, a hat sometimes – I didn’t like wearing hats – but mom made me wear that. My sister wore bows – I would have died at that. So every week, we dressed up, we went out to eat just down the street from the Tennessee theater, and they played music while we ate and we thought that was just grand. 

We wore gloves, we wore stockings, we wore heels when I was old enough. It was a really fun time. We did not have a car for a long time, so we rode buses. That was wonderful. It makes you street smart. 

Today, movies just aren’t the same – today, people eat, we never ate in the theaters – I don’t like to hear all the crunching. You got popcorn, that was the only thing. Sometimes, we’d get the popcorn and eat very neatly – no one trashed the place – we’d be finished before the movie would start. One show per movie theater, so they didn’t have a lot of shows before.

We had three theaters right on the main street – Broadway in Tennessee. The Tennessee theater was the grand one, I’ve traveled back and it is just as beautiful. There was also The Bijou. And I cannot remember the other one that was there, but it’s no longer there. Way back in Prohibition, it got a strip show and gambling and illegal booze and things but when I grew up it was a movie theater, so I guess mom thought it had a reputation back in her day. So we never went. 

Today we don’t find as many [movies] that we enjoy as we did… back when. Movies were such a new.. Such an entertaining thing. I think [today] there’s so much over saturation. It drowns it out. You just don’t… get that excitement. You can turn anywhere in your room and turn on anything and see a movie. Going to these movie theaters… they’re not like the Tennessee. I thank god for that old grace… that they represent. Now it’s just commonplace. I don’t complain, it’s just what it is, and people are on their phones, people are talking, people are eating. I don’t like all the rattling. It’s just not the big, wonderful experience. Now there’s [live] theater – I mean, The Lion King, I was so engrossed as the children were. But there are still so many movies that are moving and fantastically done. If the movie captivates me… I don’t think about where I am. There have been quite a few movies recently that have been very thought-provoking. 

Nowadays, you don’t experience the movies with a large group. Back then, you’d experience it… with a whole group that you don’t know, you’d all watch the same movie and feel the same thing together. You don’t get that today.