1964 Seoul, South Korea
Lee Kyung-ja
1945
Seoul, South Korea
Interviewed on January 26, 2019
by Arthur Hwang
(Translated interview below)
We watched movies quite a bit back then. No TV’s, you see? Instead we would go to the theaters, movies with Choi Moo-ryong, Shin Seong-il… [laughing]
Saw all sorts of them, with my sisters. We didn’t have a television at home so on rainy days we would go to the theater. It’s been such a long time! I can’t recall when I first went… but I always remember going in the afternoons when it rained, when we didn’t have to help out in the fields.
I was about 18 when we started going. There were movies before then but it wasn’t for everybody. Everyone was very poor, especially after the war. We went to shows too. Live shows. It was what everyone went to before TV’s were introduced. Dongbu theater it was called, down at Shinseol-dong. Movies weren’t cheap back then, a big deal actually. 300… no 3000 won we paid, for each ticket. My friends and I would save up money just to go. Theaters were either at Shinseol-dong or Cheongnyangni… Oscar theater, in Cheongnyangni. I remember it was newly built when I went, brand new place.
When I married, I was 23… and I would go to movies with your grandfather. We would see reruns of Soil, a really old movie. We would see foreign films too, American ones. I didn’t understand a single word! Then I’d always fall asleep and your grandfather will always poke me awake…
Theaters didn’t have concessions like today, it was more formal. When we got out of the movies, 10 p.m. or so, you’d see vendors outside on the streets, people selling foreign goods, candy from America, hair brushes, nail clippers.
I remember my friends, my sisters… we would walk 30 minutes all the way to the bus station to go to the theaters downtown, in Seoul. My town didn’t have a station, just all farmland. Theaters were far away so we would also have the Gasulgeukjang, traveling theaters that would come into town. When they came, it would be the talk of the village. They would put movie posters up around town, put up a large tent in an empty lot, and it was always very exciting. That was our theater. Big crowds, all the time…people would go after work. Guys and girls would go on dates. There were kids who snuck in when the film reel malfunctioned. The traveling theaters would stay for more than a week, playing all sorts of films. Films that opened in Seoul would eventually play in these tents. Cheaper too, about 1000 won. That’s how people got their entertainment back in the day. I remember too, my friends and I would try to go early and get the good spots. Chairs? Oh no—we sat on blankets and newspapers. A lot of people stood.
Yes we all had our favorite actors. Shin Seong-il and Um Aing-ran, were the best lead actors, in romantic films. They ended up marrying in real life. Kim Ji-mee and Choi Moo-ryong, too. They were the top stars of the day. They starred in Barefoot Youth—titles back then were super corny [laughing]—but that one was very very popular for a time, I remember.
