1961 Los Angeles, California

Megan Callaway

1951

Los Angeles California

Interviewed on February 13, 2021

by Katherine Dai

Going to the movies in my generation was incredibly exciting. I loved, loved the movies. It was not just a regular outing—it was a big event, especially for children. I remember my parents taking my two sisters and me to see those early Disney movies. I loved when the paintbrush colored in the scenes. I thought all of that was magic. But looking back, they have all mushed together into one big, colorful piece.

For the first movie that I really remember, I remember being just completely absorbed in, moved, and emotionally connected. It was, strangely enough, The Red Shoes. That type of movie would have never made it to television. It was made in the 40s, so it would have been out for some time and must have been restored at this screening. It wasn’t like today, where you can see anything at any time. It was a really special outing. My two sisters and I went to the Grauman’s Chinese Theatre in downtown Los Angeles. I must have been around 10.

Of course, we went in knowing nothing about what this movie was about. But it was this very over-the-top, theatrical, and emotional drama. It was a folk story about a girl who desires these red shoes. She cannot live without them, but the deal is that she can never take them off. There was this remarkable scene in the movie: a half-an-hour or so sequence where they show the ballet. She must keep dancing and dancing. And she was an exquisite dancer. She was also an interesting role model—a woman with this drive to be a professional, to dedicate herself fully to an art form, and to achieve something that took that much commitment and sacrifice. It was really powerful in terms of the choices that this woman was forced to make.

She also meets this impresario who runs this ballet company. He was this suave, sophisticated, handsome man in a dark, menacing sort of way. He does not believe that love or anything like that should interfere with art. Totally on a side note, the complexities of human relationships is much more apparent to me now. But I was young and preadolescent. I remember thinking what a creep, what an idiot, her husband was. He was just this needy, unappealing, and weak character. There’s this one scene when he tells her “Give it up. Don’t dance. Leave. Come back to me.” It was so emotional when they played the ballet without her. It just tore my heart. It was a very magical movie, and seeing it was a really significant experience.

I can’t even count the number times I have watched this movie since. Of course, now we own it and can watch it at any time. Back then, it was harder to see movies when you wanted to see them. We lived in the suburbs, so it would have been a half-hour drive to Los Angeles. LA was very strange and urban, compared to our little town. There were two other movie theaters in the downtown area: the Roxie Theatre and Warner Brothers Theatre. The Roxie, I believe, was 35 cents and the Warner Brothers was 50 cents. Maybe that was a kid’s rate. Later, when I was in high school, they would play old movies there. Every movie was just a dollar. Then shopping malls started to come out and the old theaters began to lose patrons.

But I always remember going in as a kid—maybe for birthday parties. It was like I was entering this magical place. I’m sure these were terrible movies [chuckles]. Hollywood just slopped. But I loved them all. It was the experience of being transported to another place that was so different from my life growing up in Southern California. Part of it was being away from the sunlight and in the dark, having the lights on the screen, and waiting for the curtains to part. For the Red Shoes, I remember the Grauman’s Chinese was really ornate. It was really an experience of opulence. It was beautiful and ornate. There were red curtains and lots of gold. Then I would walk back outside where there were lights in the streets. And I was back in the real world, although downtown LA was not my world. So it felt kind of foreign, which was probably one of the reasons why seeing the movies there was so memorable. It was really a theatrical experience.

I don’t have a strong memory of this, but there were ushers with little buzz lights to help people find their rows. There was definitely a concession stand that sold things other than your usual back-to-school snack. We used to like this little chocolate-covered ice cream that came in boxes of six. They were wonderful and are still wonderful. I also always liked the chocolate-covered raisins.

I think many theaters now just can’t make it financially. They are closing up, which is very sad. Today, movies are much more routine. They are less of an ornate theater-like experience. Movies back then were more of a special occasion. Everyone was quiet and respectful. Everyone was there with this same expectation that we were about to experience something captivating. People are less in that hushed world together now. A shared experience. I think that’s really the difference.