1961 Minot, North Dakota
Arlo Tonnessen
Born in 1943
Minot North Dakota
Interviewed on February 19, 2021
by Sam Pekarek
I didn’t grow up watching a lot of movies, mostly because I was very active within my church and they did not like kids seeing films. They believed that there was too much sex and violence, which would be very inappropriate for kids. Also, we didn’t have a lot of money for movies and my small hometown of Granville didn’t have a theatre, so I didn’t see a movie until I grew up a little bit. However, once I got a bit older the church had relaxed their stance to where some movies were acceptable, and I had saved up enough money to get the chance to go see my first movie in a theatre.
The first movie I think I remember watching was called Blue Hawaii, which was a funny little musical rom-com that starred Elvis Presley. I was in High School at the time, so I believe I was around 17. My buddies and I – I think we had a group of about 4 or so – drove 20 miles down the road in the early afternoon to Minot, where they had a small theatre called the Empire. We had been planning on this for a few weeks now, and I remember being really excited to get the chance to see a movie. Not many of my friends from my hometown had been to the theatre, so I felt lucky. 
The Empire was a very popular spot for high schoolers like myself, especially for dates. The theatre had a massive screen, just about the size of today’s theatre. I’m pretty sure the theatre had concessions…Oh yeah, I remember the smell of popcorn when I walked in for the first time. But I didn’t have enough money to get anything so I just walked past to find a seat.
I remember the movie being really loud, almost where it hurt my ears. I got over it soon, but that’s something that shocked me. The rest of the film was quite nice. Elvis was the new sensation back then, and people flocked to him wherever he went. I looked left and right and could see people getting into the rhythm of his music. I would say that’s what I most remember about seeing this movie – head bobbing whenever Elvis sang. After the film ended, we sat awhile in the theatre just to take in the moment, before driving straight back to Granville since my friend needed to get the car back to his parents before it got dark.
