1954 Kansas City, Missouri

Calvin Trillin

1935

Kansas City, Missouri

Interviewed on February 5, 2023

by Enkhjin Gansukh

I grew up in Kansas City and I think I watched my first movie while on vacation. I can’t remember a specific movie, but I have very vivid memories of watching Gene Autry, the singing cowboy. Westerns were always my favorite genre to watch and I was constantly humming his hit song “Back In the Saddle Again”. I believe there were two major singing cowboys, Gene Autry and Roy Rogers. Those two were rivals and I remember my father used to tease me about my die-hard loyalty to Gene Autry. 

My father’s favorite movie was Gunga Din. I’m not sure if I remember it because I personally enjoyed it or if it’s tied up with my affection for my father. Honestly, it’s probably both. A physical copy of the film is lost somewhere in my father’s things, but I played it fairly often in my adult years. It was supposedly one of the first danger-filled action films made. Cary Grant and Victor McLaglen acted in the film, which was about British military officials trying to escape thugs in colonial India. The movie was exciting to watch with all the action and irony but also had surprisingly heart-warming moments. 

I mostly watched films with my father when I was younger, then with my friends once I entered high school. That was what you did in high school in Kansas, either watch movies or go bowling. Going to the movies, then the local burger spot was the standard for a hangout or date. Once the films concluded, everyone hung out at the local burger shop in the evenings. There weren’t any concession stands from what I remember. At most, they served popcorn, that’s probably why everyone always went for burgers after. The selection was nowhere close to what it is now.

                                        The Brookside Theatre in Kansas City, Missouri

The Brookside Theatre was in Downtown Kansas City and used to show vaudeville acts before or after the movie screenings. The only act I can recall seeing is of a magician. It was a nice little treat to watch while you were at the theatres. My cousin sang and performed as a vaudeville act once when he was about five years old. The one thing I later realized was that the theatres were segregated, there were no black people at the screenings. Kansas City had an odd quasi-segregation where you would see black people at the ballpark and street corners, but never at the theatres or restaurants. I didn’t think about it until I got to New Haven for college and realized their absence in Kansas. 

Back then, there were a lot of double features, which meant two films were shown back-to-back. My high school friend, Artie, told me a story about how he would pay for one film and walk backwards with a little hop in his gait to sneak into the second feature. He had practiced this so many times that it looked like he was walking forward. The image of him hopping makes me laugh every time I think about it. Going to the movies was the main form of entertainment back then, so it makes sense why he loved them so much.