1955 Aurora, Illinois

Edith Spuhler Benson

1939

Batavia, Illinois/Aurora, Illinois

Interviewed on January 29

By Ryan Benson

You know, I grew up in Batavia, Illinois, which was just a tiny town, and the movie theater there was just the tiniest thing. I always walked from my house to the movies. I would take my little brother and we would go to the movies and you could have a quarter and we could both get into the movie and maybe even get a drink. We went on Saturday afternoon. It was such a ritual. The movies the theater showed were all kinds of cowboy and indian movies, with Gene Autry and Roy Rogers. Those are the two I remember the most. But the first movie I really remember seeing was when I was a sophomore in high school and I saw Rebel without a Cause. I was probably fifteen.

I remember that a friend of mine–a friend in my class, Kathy Johnson was her name–was talking all the time about this wonderful movie with James Dean in it. She was just crazy about it. I suppose she had been reading movie magazines, like Modern Screen. So about eight of us take the bus to Aurora, a town about ten miles away, to see this movie.

It was so fabulous. First of all, it was about kids! It was about teenagers! It was unbelievable that there could be a movie from a kids’ point of view. It wasn’t like the cowboy movies. Those were so unreal. But this one–this James Dean movie–was so real. It was about two misfits and one girl who was real popular. But the thing about the movie was that it took your breath away because James Dean was so gorgeous. And Natalie Wood was in it and she was so beautiful. And there was Sal Mineo.

And then on top of that, it changed my life because from then on we followed James Dean for every movie he made, even though he didn’t make many. It wasn’t just the movie but it was the movie star. We read everything we could about him because he was such a star. We read all the movie magazines–lots of girls read those. You could write in to the stars and they would send you pictures. Isn’t that a riot! Kathy Johnson had this whole album of shiny black photos that look like they had been signed and the magazines would just send them to you for free. That’s the thing about the James Dean movie–it was a whole introduction to a cult figure and following. I then moved on to Paul Newman and Robert Wagner. I mean gorgeous, young actors. I guess Elizabeth Taylor would be the woman actress at that time.

I think seeing those kind of movies that are so captivating–that’s what keeps you going to the movies. Because you are learning as well as enjoying. Those are the kind of movies I like the best. There are things you just never forget–like James Dean wore that red jacket and Natalie Wood was such a pretty girl. There are scenes you just never forget–like when he’s on the stairs and the dad is yelling at him and he’s crying.

Then it was all about the movies, all about the movies, because of course there wasn’t TV.