1962 Lexington, Massachusetts

Elaine Loomis

1950

Lexington, Massachusetts

Interviewed on 8 February 2022

By Ashley Loomis

I had gone to many movies before this. I am sure of it. However, the first movie I remember truly falling in love with was Gone With the Wind. I’d like to say it was because I picked up on all of the political messages of the movie yet it was the gorgeous costumes, romance, mansions, and beautiful actors that caught my twelve-year-old self’s eyes. I begged my grandmother to take me to the theater, partially because my parents did not let me go to the theater alone and partially because I was itching to see this film. I had just finished reading the book and my hopeful young self thought maybe the movie would end differently than the book and cure my frustration with the ending. 

 After my grandfather passed away, my grandmother would come to our house every weekend. We would walk about a mile to the Lexington theater together. We both preferred romantic comedies, so stayed clear of movies with violence. My grandmother always let me pick out a snack before climbing up the mountain that was the stairway to the balcony theater. I usually went with the ice cream bars and ginger ale. Past the concession stands, to the right, were “so many stairs you wouldn’t believe. It was as if there were four flights of stairs in one.” While it was hard to get up, upon reaching the top step, we would turn to the right, open the door, and be granted the best view in the theater for our hard work of climbing the stairs. 

As a kid, I typically found myself leaving movies halfway through to grab more snacks. This was the first movie I wouldn’t have dared to miss a second of. The acting was phenomenal, making me forget it was acting at all. The beautiful orchestra playing behind intense scenes reinforced my emotional attachment to the characters. I remember a tear forming in my eye during the last scene between Rhett and Scarlett, breaking free upon the drop in the music. My frustration with Scarlett left me thinking about this movie for weeks to come. It was not what I expected from a romantic movie and while this did make it stand out, all I wished for was a happy ending. 

Scarlet’s last phrase, “After all, tomorrow is another day,” emphasized her pattern of pushing off problems, but it also left endless possibilities for what would happen between her and Rhett. My grandmother and I would always talk about the movie on our walks back from the theater, acting like film critics ourselves. This discussion would usually end the second we hit our driveway, where my attention would be diverted to running up to play with my neighbors. However, we talked about this movie for weeks to come, and maybe it was this hopefulness yet dissatisfaction the movie left me with that made it so memorable. Since that day, I have rewatched Gone With the Wind countless times, enjoying the movie, of course, but more so cherishing the memories I shared with my grandmother that sparked my love for the theater. Now called Lexington Venue, the theater that fostered this love is still the theater I choose to go to today with my own children and grandchildren.