1951 Bellevue, Washington

Dick Wood
Date born: 1941
City/town where movie was seen: Bellevue, Washington
Interviewed on 9/21/19
By: Ignacio Diaz Pascual

(laughs) It’s been a long time since anyone asked me about childhood movies.

Now the first movie that I remember ever seeing… oh that would probably have been on a, like a Saturday night, a Saturday afternoon, at one of the theaters in Bellevue, which would be a 15 minute drive from where I live now. You know, they would have a lot of series where there would be a movie shown in part one week and then it continued the next week. In the time in between we’d be waiting patiently, especially because sometimes the movies would end on a cliffhanger. We’d come up with theories of what could happen. I don’t remember watching any movies in color at that time, I think they were all black and white. One I remember very clearly was “The Day the Earth Stood Still”.

At this point, I probably would have been, let me see, maybe 9 or 10?

I remember the movie being incredibly scary. I was just terrified. I mean there was this alien that came to Earth and he had a robot that would kind of come out. And he had a death ray, and I just remember being really scared. I think the alien was called Cootu or something like that (interviewer’s note: couldn’t interpret pronunciation over the phone, but alien’s actual name was Klaatu).  And then seeing the movie again later in my life I thought how could I have been so silly? The effects looking back, while I’m sure advanced for the time, seemed laughable, but as a child I was totally drawn in.

I remember feeling that the movie seemed very real. I think today kids kind of  distinguish between what they see in the film as being a film, and really not real, partly because of overexposure to these things. For me, it was very real. That movie gave me nightmares! I remember being convinced aliens would come to my home and we were actually being invaded, and my parents had to tell me otherwise.

What made this experience particularly special was that I had not experienced TV before then. This was one of the first media, visual media experiences that I had ever had. I was totally in awe.

I think we went to the movie with some neighborhood kids.There was a group of kids that always went. After we started watching movies more regularly, we’d all talk about the film afterwards, either at each other’s houses or back at school. I’m still in contact with a couple of those kids now! A lot, of course, that I drifted apart from.

I think either a dad or a mom drove us. One of the neighborhood’s kids’ parents would always volunteer. I’m sure they were happy to get us out of the house for a while. We’d all pack into the back of the car.

I remember concessions being a big deal in the movie theater. I’d usually go for some little candies. I can’t remember what type, but they were fruity and soft. I think there was probably popcorn concessions, but I was never really into that. Whether they sold drinks, I’m not sure. But all the food and drinks options would be quite minimal compared to what is offered today. By minimal, I mean less commercialized.

(long pause after being asked the location of the movie) I don’t know if I can remember the name of the theater. If I had to guess it would be the Bel-vue Theater, the Bel-vue Cinema (note: Bel-vue Theater was a 550-seat theater that opened in March 1946. The theater was demolished in 1981). I don’t remember much about the theater apart from there being these big curtains. I can’t remember if there were ushers.

This would’ve been in 1951, I think. I remember at that point television shows hadn’t really been established, so movies were the only visual escape. As I got older television became more widespread, but I always preferred going to the theater just for the grandeur of the occasion.

Going to the theater was always a very special experience. It was pretty much a treat to be able to go to a movie, something I’d have to beg from my parents. A little apprehension about going in, maybe, but a lot of excitement.

I’d sometimes hear about new movies from advertisements in the newspaper. But more often we’d hear about the movies through word of mouth between kids, like “oh, we gotta go see something this Saturday, can you go?” We didn’t have movie trailers or anything like that, so basically everything you saw in the theater was totally new. I didn’t know anything about the movies I’d be watching beforehand! I think that’s part of what made The Day the Earth Stood Still so scary. I didn’t know if what I was watching was real, and that made it a very unique experience.