1957 West Orange, New Jersey

Noelle Heimer
December 1947
West Orange, New Jersey
9/27/19
by Aline Ko

The first movie I actually saw has to be one of three: Snow White which I believe was from the 30s but they put it back in the films in the 50s, also remember Cinderella, and the one Micky Mouse is a wizard in called Fantasia! But the first movies I really remember are the Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers romantic comedies which I was so attached too. They were the “it” couple.  He was a remarkable dancer, and he was a tap dancer basically! I was approximately between eight and 12 years old.  And what do I remember about the movie, honestly it was more of what I remembered of Fred Astaire movies as a whole. I remember they were funny, and they had fabulous costumes! And, mind you these were black and white movies. It was romance and dancing, humor too. And now looking back at these movies, what I really appreciate is the sets and all the stunning art deco. But back in the day when I was watching them, it was really the dancing and costumes. And very often they would have these big dance numbers, and you have to watch one to understand what I’m saying. They would be in a nightclub with a ballroom and all of the sudden everyone would get up, dance, and synchronize around the couple in the middle. So, there was a spectacular quality to the films as well.

When thinking about the characters, actors, and stories, all Fred Astaire movies were very similar. It was boy meets girl, boy loses girl, girl realizes she’s back in love with him, you know they were all very similar and I can remember the songs but the titles… Top Hat was one of the famous one that I recall. And, it had all the same elements in it: it was costume, it was funny situations There was usually a valet who doubles as somebody else to trick people, you know he’d turn his collar around and become a vicar. And, there was this banter of argument between the couple. They were all quite similar, and they were all just so wonderful. I remember whenever I could see one even as an adult whenever I could catch one on Turner classic movies or something, I go “uh let me watch one, I haven’t seen that in a long time!” I also probably had a crush on Fred Astaire. As a young adult, my mother took me to an exhibit where it turns out that Fred Astaire was five feet 2 inches tall. He was very little and his tuxedo was there and it was like my size tuxedo. And then when you get his actual height which is probably not five two, probably more like five six, and you realize Ginger Rogers was dancing in heels. And, she never appealed taller than him. You’ve just got to see the movies knowing that because it’s even more fun. And that she dances, and she danced in these heels! I mean, she did some serious ballroom dancing. And he was a hard task master with the dancing apparently, he was a perfectionist. And, he would hold people accountable to getting the routines down perfectly. I remember learning that about him.

I probably went to see these movies with my mother. She actually saw a lot of movies as a young woman. She was born in 1915, so she saw a lot of films in Manhattan. She grew up with money in Manhattan, so she saw a lot of films. So when I was dating that guy in the Yale Law School Film Society, she would come and see some of the movies when she visited me in New Haven, And, she would say “I probably am the only one here who saw it when it first came out!”

In some movie theatres there were ushers. You could go to Radio City Musical to see a movie at Christmas time and there were definitely ushers, that was a very posh place. You’d go for the movie and then you’d get the Rockettes dancing show. It was a Christmas spectacular, and so my mother would bring us in at Christmas time. We’d see a movie like Oklahoma or Annie Get Your Gun, the big now cinema scope in color. So, I do remember Radio City Musical because it was such a big tree But, I don’t remember much about the local movie house. But, of course the local movie house had concessions! It had popcorn, and it had a glass case with candy. Jujubes were my favorite! They were hard gummy with different flavors. People would get nonpareils which were chocolate disk with something white on top and some hard sugar balls. You could also get Good and Plenty which was advertised on the television a lot, and what the kids would do was take the Good and Plenty box which came in a cardboard box and if you shook it, it was a hard candy with licorice inside, and I didn’t like licorice, but they shake it and go “Good and Plenty! Good and Plenty! Good and Plenty!” like a train and that’s how they would advertise it. So, a lot of these candies that were in the theatres got advertised on TV.

There was an economics thing to movie going, early on in the 40s a lot of kids were given five cents or a quarter and they could go to a movie and have a candy there, and they were babysat for the afternoon. It was not like that in the 50s, I think you were escorted to the movies and later you would go to the movies when you were dating. But, it wasn’t quite like that “Saturday matinee” where kids were sent there. And, this was probably in the 40s, because in the 30s people were too poor because it was after the depression. So, people were starting to feel a little more flush and kids could be sent to the movies. Yea, it was different. And, it sounds like ancient history now!