1940 West Chester, Pennsylvania

Ray Watson
Born in 1940
West Chester, Pennsylvania
Interviewed on February 5, 2023
by Halli Watson

I remember the first movie I ever saw, not with a note of regret, but rather of fear! It was during WWII and my mother and I were the only ones who went. I remember the absence of my younger sister was unusual but cannot recall whether my mom got a babysitter, or just how she made it work. The film we saw was Bambi. There were two theaters in town, the Warner Theater and the Rialto, and Bambi was premiering at the Warner. I was originally in a row seat during the screening, but in my wonderment I found myself walking down the row to get closer, closer, and closer to the screen. At the end of the movie, I realized I couldn’t find my mother! It was dark when I went back up the aisle and I misjudged just how far down I had ventured. I remember the moment of panic I felt upon the realization that I had lost her!

I remember seeing Bambi during the war because my dad wasn’t home, so it must have been 1944. I would have been around 4 or 5 years old and living in West Chester, Pennsylvania which is about 30 miles west of Philadelphia. I don’t remember the plot, but I do remember impressions of bright colors, the soundtrack, and the wonder I felt as I watched—this must have been why I wanted to get so close to the screen! Even though I don’t have a distinct memory, I do remember the feeling of how much I enjoyed the movie. 

Thinking about it, we almost certainly walked to the theater because my mom, sister, and I didn’t have a car at that time. After my dad got back from the war, we still didn’t have a car—that is until he went to an auction in Wilmington. As a veteran, he was eligible to buy used military equipment and so he bought a Jeep (to my mother’s horror and chagrin). That Jeep ended up being our family car! 

I don’t remember any other big Hollywood features, but what I do remember is walking to the Rialto Theater on Saturdays to meet up with my pals. For an admission price of merely 9 cents, we saw many, many movies on those Saturdays: Tarzan, more Tarzan movies, The Lone Ranger and Tonto, just to name a few. I don’t remember standing in line for tickets, but I do remember the popcorn, and more importantly, the guys whose company I was in—my pals. We were probably around 10 years old when we completed this ritual, which was, by the way, not adult-supervised! It’s not because my parents didn’t know where I was—I wasn’t sneaking anywhere—but it was at a time in our country when we weren’t concerned. Nowadays, I think there is a very small likelihood you could turn your kid loose and let him walk to the movies with his buddies in West Chester, especially at the age that we were doing so!

We left West Chester to move to the Washington, DC area when I was around 11. I frequented a theater in Falls Church, Virginia. It was probably 3 miles from our house in Arlington, as the crow flies. The movie that I remember the best from my younger teenage years is the musical Singing in the Rain with Gene Kelly. This was probably around 1953—I was old enough to truly enjoy watching that one. My first date was also at the State Theater, the one in Falls Church. Back then you could drive at 15 in Virginia, so I drove a young lady to see a movie there. I remember how proud I felt after buying her a chocolate bar!