1955 Grapevine, Texas

Pam Chatagnier
Born in 1945
First movie in Grapevine, Texas
Interviewed on 12 September 2019
By Dominick DeFazio

The first movie I ever remember seeing was actually two movies. They used to have double feature Saturday matinees with little cartoons—like Porky Pig or Mickey Mouse—in between the two. The first showing was always shorter than the second. I was about ten, and my mother let my younger brother—who would’ve been six at the time—and I go to the movies with our teenage babysitter while she was away, but the babysitter hooked it as soon as we got into the theater to watch the film with her friends. I remember being warned by her not to tell my mother before she left us behind.

The double feature that Saturday was some Abbott and Costello routine followed by Davy Crockett, King of the Wild Frontier with Fess Parker. I remember being very embarrassed because my younger brother, Robert, couldn’t stop laughing but I didn’t find it very funny. They were too slapstick-y and over the edge for me. I was very interested in the Davy Crockett film, though, because, living in Texas, stuff like that always fascinated me. I don’t recall the storyline now, but I remember it being like a typical western storyline. I remember being very anxious and worried for his safety. I’m pretty sure after the movie Disney made a spin-off TV show about it—or maybe there was already a TV show and the movie was the spin-off, I don’t quite remember.

The theater we watched it at was the only theater in Grapevine, called the Palace Theatre—nowadays they host plays and theatrical productions—and we walked there from our house with the babysitter. It was only about a five to six block walk. The theater only had one screen, so everyone watched the same movie. There was balcony seating, but beyond that it was a very bland, straightforward theater. It had two rows you could walk down, and all the seats were facing straight forward. I don’t remember there being any ushers around in that theater. 

The matinee cost a quarter, and for another quarter I bought a coke, popcorn, and a candy bar—Mars bars were my favorite. One of the biggest reasons I would go to the movies, and I think this is very unique to the part of the world I was raised in, was to escape the heat. Living in Texas back in the days when nothing was air conditioned, it was completely unbearable basically 24/7 all throughout the summer. Houses weren’t air conditioned, cars weren’t air conditioned, grocery stores weren’t air conditioned, the only place that was air conditioned was the movie theater. My brother, Robert, and I were definitely happy to get out of the house and to feel independent, but the main thing we were happy about that day was being cool for a couple of hours. A lot of times, people would go to the movies solely because of the air conditioning. It didn’t matter what was playing that day, the only thing they cared about was staying cool.