1963 Ciudad Juarez, Mexico
Carolina Constandse
1950
Ciudad Juárez Mexico
Interviewed on 9/25/19
By Vanessa Strait Constandse
The first movie I remember my parents taking me to see was West Side Story. I was maybe 13 years old, and I had gone to see shows before but was the first time that my parents took my siblings and I. I was so excited to see it and I loved, loved that movie. Just loved it. I saw it in Juarez, and of course, it had subtitles. All the American movies we went to see had subtitles. The theatres in Juarez wouldn’t get them right away— it would be maybe a year after they came out in American theatres that we would get them in Mexican theatres, but we went to go see all the movies you can think of. Probably 70% of the shows in the theatres were American and 30% were Mexican. We went to see a lot of movies, and of all different types. Of course, they had ratings, but I would go see both the “For Adults” and the “For Children” films. I once went to go see Splendour in the Grass, which was the equivalent of rated R at the time, but they let me in despite my age. It starred Natalie Wood, which was one of my very favorite actresses ever.
The movies started at 3 pm and they would run until 1 am. With one ticket you would get to see two movies, and the ticket was 5 pesos if you wanted a seat on the floor of the theatre and 3 pesos if you wanted to sit in the balcony. And this was in the nice theatres, but if you went to a crummy theatre it was 3 pesos for the floor and 1 peso for the balcony. The movies would run immediately after one another and in between they would play either the previews, news cartoons in intermission. Usually, they played a newsreel and then the next movie would start. But, you could walk into the movie at any time and you could stay and watch all the movies until they ended. Say you went to the 3 o’clock movie but you got there at 4, you could watch the rest of the movie and the movie following and rewatch the beginning of the first movie after. They all played on loop like that. They were ushers who would take you to your seat. Later on, when I got to be about 13 years old, I saw A Hard Day’s Night at The Plaza theatre in El Paso, Texas. The theatre was really nice, it cost you a dollar to get in. They had this beautiful red velvet curtain and in between the movies, someone would play the organ. There was a concessions stand and it always smelled so wonderful of popcorn. But I never had the money to buy anything from it. It was pretty small, only with soda, popcorn, and a couple of candies, but I could always smell it.
On Sunday morning, they had matinees for kids. Usually it was a Disney movie or cartoon. My cousins and I would all go to it, the group of 7 or 8 of us would walk a couple blocks to the movies downtown and walk right back home after. I was one of the oldest, at maybe 10 or 11 years old, but we always looked out after one another. That’s just what it was. Nobody thought anything of it.
I remember once my sister, my cousin, and I went to go see Psycho. I was so young! When the movie it was already dark and as we were walking back to the house we were holding and hugging one another the whole way home because we were so scared from the movie. I went to go see The Birds, and that was a really, really good movie. It was scary, I was 12 or 13 when I saw it but I absolutely loved it.
I have always enjoyed going to the movies, since I was little. It’s cheap entertainment. Its cold and dark. It’s a spectacle. You are there, and it’s a huge screen—so big it draws you in. Big productions especially are incomparable to the theatre. I saw The Ten Commandments and Ben-Hur on the big screen, and there is truly nothing like it. It is just wonderful, just to be there. here is something about going to the movies and enjoying it all together at the same time. It’s an experience. I have always, always watched movies and always enjoyed it.
West Side Story
The Plaza in El Paso, Texas
The Plaza in El Paso, Texas now
