1962 Jeonju, South Korea
Lee Myung Joo
Born in 1937 Jeonju, South Korea
Interviewed on 1/18/19 by William Jung
I remember seeing Ben-Hur so clearly because it was our first wedding anniversary. I was 25 at the time, which I know probably sounds too old for a first-time movie goer. But during the war, we didn’t have those types of luxuries, and all the movies I saw were on tiny television screens. We lived in Jeonju at the time, which is a city that wasn’t affected that much by the Korean War. However, most people were extremely impoverished. We were very lucky compared to most.
My husband had just graduated from college and found a white collar job as a bank manager. He loved to watch movies in his spare time. Whenever a good movie came out, he would walk forty minutes from our home to Jeonju Theater, the only theater in the city. Most Korean people were financially struggling at that time, so going to see a film was quite a financial commitment. With the price of one ticket, the two of us could enjoy a delicious and abundant meal at our favorite ramen restaurant. Usually, my husband would go by himself to the films because they were too expensive. I didn’t mind him going by himself because I knew how much he loved movies.
At that time, people wore their best outfits when going to the movie theater. I wore a beautiful tailored Hanbok (Korean traditional dress) and my husband wore a dandy suit, checkered tie, and dress shoes so polished you could see your face in them. It was the middle of summer and there was a downpour that night, which meant all the time my husband spent polishing his shoes was for nothing! Although Jeonju was an urban city and larger roads were paved with asphalt, the rest were dirt roads. Whenever it rained, rural streets would turn into sloshing puddles of mud. I had to wear rain boots with my beautiful dress! And all the mud seeped into the nooks and crannies of my rain boots. Of course, my husband was furious at the weather, but nothing would stop him from seeing Ben Hur. I tried not to laugh when he cursed the weather as we walked forty minutes through the mud.
When we arrived, we were greeted by a sea of colorful umbrellas. They packed the outside of the theater like a dense garden of mushrooms. Under each was a couple dressed just like us: Hanbok and suit. Through the dense crowd, I could make out the shaking heads of the theater staff turning away those who were trying to buy tickets at the last minute. The screening of Ben Hur had caused a sensation in town. Since theater screenings were rare in that period, whenever a good film came out, people flocked to the theaters. But my husband had bought them in advance. There was a small store selling snacks at the entrance, but I didn’t want to pay triple the price for a bottle of Pepsi.
The film had Korean subtitles, which was rare. Most foreign movies I had watched on television were dubbed by voice actors. I tried to avoid those because I much preferred the original voice of the actors even though I couldn’t understand any English.
The main thing I remember was the size of the screen. It was so overwhelming. When Judah’s opponent was hurled into the air, dragged across miles of sand, and brutally crushed by horses and chariots, I had to turn away. It was very intense! Sometimes, I thought I would have to leave the theater because it was such a claustrophobic and noisy experience. Thankfully, there was an intermission, and I was able to breathe some fresh air.
After nearly four hours, people filed out of the theater one by one. It was pitch dark outside as electricity in the city was provided only from 6 pm to 10 pm. There was a mandatory midnight curfew, but, typically, very few wandered around this late anyways because there were no streetlights. Our forty-minute walk home ended up taking over an hour because of the rain. I closely held my husband’s hand and navigated our way back purely from muscle memory. We had to go extra slow because I was pregnant with my first child at the time, so we were very careful not to accidentally step on some stone or puddle that might make me trip. If we had fallen, there would have been no way to get to the hospital! When we finally arrived home, we were exhausted. But, of course, our shoes were so covered with mud that we had to clean them immediately! Despite that, it was a wonderful way to celebrate our first year of marriage.
