1946 Lviv, Ukraine
Lew Ackerman
Born: 1941
Lviv Ukraine/Kfar Vitkin Israel/Brooklyn New York
Interviewed on 9/15/19
By: Julia Arancio
The first movie I ever saw? It must have been in Russia when I was little, but we moved to Ukraine when I was five years old. This was in the middle of World War II and we lived on a farm in Northern Russia because there was no food in any of the cities, but there was no electricity and definitely no movies where we were. Then my family moved to Lviv which was a big, medieval city in what’s now Ukraine. I was still little, but I remember being so wowed by how large the city was compared to our old house. It was a big city for the region so they had a theater, which made the city seem even more cosmopolitan.
Going to the movies was a big experience. Especially on Saturday nights, my family and I would wait in line to get tickets – there was no Fandango back then – and seats had different prices depending on what area you sat in. The front seats were the cheapest and the very back was the second cheapest. The seats in the middle were by far the most expensive, but it still wasn’t much, especially compared to how much it costs to see a movie today. We would also go to the movies as a field trip in school. We would go to see the ballet and the opera too, but I always liked going to the movies best because they weren’t boring. It’s funny nowadays to imagine taking a group of school children to the movies, but it really was seen as a cultural experience valued just as highly as going to the ballet or the opera.
The Soviets really loved their movies too. Almost all the films I would see were Russian. They weren’t propaganda, per se, but they were always “Soviet Reality” because directors had to follow the Soviet Doctrine. Actually, in hindsight, it kind of does seem like we were watching propaganda. I’m sorry I can’t remember any specific movie. They are all just a blur of Russian love stories – almost all the movies I remember seeing were war period dramas about the separation of lovers before the man went off to war. In hindsight it really does sound like indoctrination. *laughs*
This was still right after World War II, so even though we were now living in a city, food was scarce. There was no candy, definitely no popcorn. I don’t think I had popcorn until I moved to the U.S. Sometimes, my family would stop for ice cream before the movie. Oh! My favorite was when we would stop for cake and hot chocolate at a cafe along the way to the theater. We didn’t have any money back then so going to the theater was a treat on its own, but I loved getting hot chocolate!
Then I moved to Israel when I was fifteen. Movies were different there. I remember that movie theaters would play films from around the world. This was the first time I ever saw a Hollywood movie. I remember thinking that they were much more exciting than the Soviet movies I was used to. Definitely more glamorous. No, I can’t remember what my first Hollywood movie was, sorry. They also screened a lot of European movies, mostly French and Italian. They all had subtitles which helped me learn Hebrew. I was living on a kibbutz in Kfar Vitkin – we still have cousins there – and they used to screen movies once a week outside for everyone to watch. But then I was in the military so sometimes I would get to go to a bigger city like Netanya or even Tel Aviv and go to the movie theaters there. Everyone wanted to see the Hollywood movies, but I was working so I never really had time.
I moved to Brooklyn in the 60s. Theaters were much larger and grander. Also, double features were big. On Saturdays it would usually be one new movie paired with one older movie. There was only one screen so you had to watch whatever was on! Not like today where there are theaters with lots of screens and you can pick whichever picture you’d like. In America they had concessions. I started eating popcorn but I had to stop because with popcorn you have to buy soda and then I kept having to use the bathroom in the middle of the picture. But I discovered raisinetes! They’re still my favorites but they’re bad for my health now. We didn’t have Fandango so the act of lining up for tickets was half of the experience. I don’t like that nowadays – that there are so many screens and that you have to pay ahead on Fandango. It makes the movie experience lose its charm. Going to the movies has lost its spontaneity. And it’s too expensive!
