1943 Brighton, Colorado

Paul Okada
Born 1935
First movie memory in Brighton, Colorado
Interviewed on September 9, 2019
by Chaz Okada

    The first movie that I can remember seeing was an old western called Hopalong Cassidy.  Brighton, CO was a small farming town, and there was only one movie theater.  I saw the movie there. I can’t remember exactly how old I was, but I think I was about eight years old at the time.

Even though I was born in Brighton, CO, my family moved to Redondo Beach, CA when I was very young.  I do not recall seeing any movies, despite being close to Hollywood and the California entertainment industry.  This was during World War II, and I am a third generation Japanese American.  Due to the Japanese internment in the early 1940s, my family was forced to move. I was lucky enough to have an uncle in Colorado (the only state in which the governor, Ralph Carr, pardoned the Japanese from internment), which is why I saw my first movie in Brighton while the internment was going on.

I didn’t get to go to the movies much because my family was poor. We were farmers living about five miles out of town, so I rode my bicycle all alone into town to go see the movie.  The movie theater is no longer around, but I believe it had “Brighton Theater” written on the building. I rarely went to go see a movie, but when I did, I didn’t have anyone to go with.  I would sometimes meet my grade school friends, but I don’t really remember them. I never went on dates to the movies. I didn’t know what that was until high school.

It is really hard for me to remember my movie experience. I believe the theater had wood seats.  I didn’t mind it because I wasn’t accustomed to anything more comfortable than that. I don’t recall the price of admission, but I do know that gas was around 25 cents per gallon at the time.  I think that there were concessions at the theater, but I wouldn’t buy any candy. However, I remember that I would buy a small popcorn if I had a little bit of money.

I don’t remember there being any ushers at the theater, and I used to sit in the first two rows. When I was young, I didn’t know any better, so I thought, “the closer to the picture I am, the better!” I don’t remember the smells and such, just that when you are so close to the screen, it gets really loud.  I didn’t pay much attention to the theater itself because I was engrossed in the movie. I really liked the westerns.

Hopalong Cassidy was a very entertaining movie, but I don’t remember much about the actors.  There was a lot of action that I enjoyed. I think there was a stage coach robbery, and I remember Hopalong Cassidy trying to catch them.  I didn’t have an opinion on the movie other than that it was more fun than working on the farm. I was always glad that the bad guys always got killed or put into jail, and I cheered for the good guys to win.  I liked to watch all of the shooting too. However, I was never inspired by the heroes enough to act like them and pretend fight with my classmates. I would describe Hopalong Cassidy as The Lone Ranger, but from the old days.

I remember that the actors had cowboy hats, boots, two six shooters, and chaps like a typical western.  I never thought about the technology used in the theater, but it made the movie seem pretty realistic. The actors did a good job too because it seemed like it could be a true story.  I think my favorite part was all the shooting. I changed since then because nowadays, I would have thought more about how they made the movie and displayed it on the screen. Things have changed a lot since then, and it is good to remember the times when I was young.