1961 Waterbury, Connecticut
Gary Payne
Born 1955
Waterbury Connecticut
Interviewed 9/21/2019
By Sekou Conde
Now if we’re talking movies, you gotta understand there were movies on TV, and then there were movies in the theater. Growing up in the 60s, my family was very frugal. You know after World War II and everything that that entailed, being frugal was just the way it was. Because of this, going to the theater was a big occasion, a once a year type of event, something just short of going to a wedding.
The first movie I remember seeing in a theater was in 1961, and it was 101 Dalmatians. Now I’m sure you know what 101 Dalmatians is about, so I won’t take the time to explain to you what it was about, but it wasn’t even the most memorable thing. No the thing I remember the most from that time was the theater itself. I remember—there I was, six years old, standing in a long line during a hot summer, under this huge marquis with icicles decorated on it hanging down, and big letters that read “air-conditioned.” Now this was a time where, you know, air-conditioning wasn’t everywhere like it is now. If it was summer, it was gonna be hot and being inside wouldn’t change that. But I remember being inside that packed, old-style theater, looking up to that stage and screen, having that cool air… it was an experience all on its own.
After 101 Dalmatians, I remember seeing one or two more Disney films in that theater, and Mary Poppins. It was a family event mostly, but there were times I went with friends. I remember once I went with my friends to the theater, and they wanted to sit in the front row of the balcony. They chose this particular seating because they wanted to throw Jujubes, you know those little candies, they wanted to throw them on top of the people below us during the movie. I did not find it amusing, as I was always a pretty by the rules kid, not a troublemaker. I never went to a movie with them again.
I saw all these movies at the Palace Theater, in Waterbury. It was part of the Loew’s Poli Theater chain, and it was the flagship of that chain, seating over 3,000 people. A friend’s dad bought the theater to try and keep it alive, but years later the city seized it to do who-knows-what. Another group later fought to restore and keep it alive, and it remains today as a gemstone of Connecticut. It’s a glorious place and I’ve been meaning to take my wife there as a nice sort of event.
I remember I had cousins from California come in one summer, I think 1965. We went to see The Sound of Music in a theater in Hamden. That theater isn’t there anymore but it was a big family event and I haven’t seen those cousins since that movie experience. I also remember in 1971, when I was 15 or 16, I saw my first R-rated movie, Summer of ‘42. I went with some other cousins and my parents. We were so embarrassed at watching the love scenes with my parents, and couldn’t look up at them during those scenes. It wasn’t a particularly “good” movie, but it was kind of like a rite of passage for our teenage years.
The theater used to be somewhat ritualistic. Part of the ritual was that we were permitted to one item of candy or food every time we went to the theater. It was all about the concession stand, and the big deal was the popcorn. All popcorn was judged by movie theater popcorn standards. They had little shorts before the film and even an intermission during it just so people would have time to go back to the concession stand. They don’t do intermissions anymore, everything’s too rushed. More time was carved out for movies, at least three to four hours. It was more of an experience. The ushers would be around in their airline pilot style uniforms, helping you find a seat with these big, long flashlights. It was spectacular, and grandiose, and they stopped all that for a while. But I think that everything is cyclical. I think the grandiose nature of theaters starting to come back. People want to be dazzled, and dazzling is making a return!
