1957 Oxford, Mississippi

Emma Richardson

Born 1949

First movie memory in Oxford, Mississippi

Interviewed on 1/19/19

by Michelle Li

It was Cinderella. I loved those Disney princess movies when I was a little girl. They were all the rage back then. Cinderella was always my favorite princess. I think I saw Snow White around the same time too, but it wasn’t as good. We went to see it for a friend’s birthday party. She had invited all the girls in my class. I must have been 7 or 8. I remember her Daddy was on the board at Ole Miss so her family had money. It was a big deal. We were all so excited. I’d never been to a movie theater before.

I remember my mother used to say, “why would you waste money seeing a movie when you could just read the book!”

“It’s not the same thing!” I’d yell back. Funny thing is, I tell my grandson that all the time now. He’s always got his eyes glued to his computer screen watching that Netflix show. Kids don’t read enough books these days. Everybody’s watching TV.

There was only one movie theater in Oxford at the time, called The Lyric. It was owned by Faulkner’s family and the man himself would go sometimes. I think they closed it down back in the 70s when I went to Ole Miss, but they reopened it now. I think it’s a community theater now. I’m really glad they did that. They’ve switched out so many of the stores in The Square, it’s a shame.

I remember being astounded by the animation. That was relatively new at the time. Watching cartoons come to life was amazing. I mean it was crazy! The colors and the realness of it. It was really something. I mean, I’d watched shows on the telly before, but that was with people and actors in it. Most of it was also in black and white. So you can hardly imagine the excitement of seeing such a lively animation. It was all us girls could talk about for weeks afterwards. We’d reenact our favorite parts and sing the little songs.  I remember all the other girls wanted to be Cinderella but I wanted to be the fairy god mother. She had the magic wand.

I really couldn’t tell you who voiced the characters. It didn’t occur to me at the time that there were actors voicing the cartoon characters. I just didn’t think of it that way. Cinderella was Cinderella.

I don’t really remember how we got there. I think her Daddy must have brought us over in his Chevy after the party. He had a nice car. I think it was blue. There was cake and ice cream at the party. It was a picnic. It was in the summer so we were by the lake. I remember the weather was very pleasant. It was a good day.