1948 St. Louis, Missouri

Fred and Kathy Hanser
Both Born 1942
St. Louis, Missouri
Interviewed 1/26/19
By Ward Hanser

FRED
We lived down on Longfellow Boulevard and we used to go up and down Grand Avenue, which had a street car. We’d take the street car over to the movie theaters, there were about 5 of them in that area. We would go to the FOX and play hide and seek because it was a huge theater and a great place to learn little nick-nacks and where things were.

One day I went down with my parents and grandfather, Opa Deets, and it was unique because this is the only movie that I can remember my grandfather going to. We saw Oliver Twist, and I think we went to the Tivoli Theater down own. We drove that time and let Opa Deets and I out at the door and I helped him get inside because it was dark in the movie theater. He really had to watch his step because he was over 90 years old at the time.

The one thing I have to come clean about is that we already had a TV at that time. There was only 1 station, I think. We had a TV so I had seen things on a screen before since we had home movies in those days. So, the experience was not as much of a surprise to see things on the big screen as it was to go to a theater and smell the popcorn and experience how dark it was inside and how you had to feel your way along to make sure there where no unseen steps to fall on. My grandfather would fall on the steps.

Popcorn was my favorite snack. Plus, those snickers bars.

The other movie I saw when I was really young was Shane. It was a western that came out in 1954. It was the first color picture that was widely disseminated. And it was the first in Cinema Scope which was a very wide screen because they were worried about TV starting to eat into the entertainment dollar. So, they decided to make it wider to make it more attractive to go out and watch movies. It’s one of the great old-time movies, it won a bunch of awards.

KATHY
One of my strongest memories was going to the Shady Oaks Theater in Clayton. It was a little theater and it was where we would go as kids. I vividly remember news reels. It couldn’t have been during World War II, I don’t think I would’ve been in a movie during World War II, but it must’ve been the Korean War. They were black and white with those scratchy voices. I remember people like Edward R. Murrow reporting the news and seeing all these pictures of war. It wasn’t cool. It was kind of scary, seeing all these problems. The news reels where all about problems in the world. I wasn’t used to hearing about all the things that were wrong, all these loud voices.

Often these were double features of things. They’d shown cartoons and news reels. This was before TV where in that many houses. I went to movies before we had a TV.

I went [to the movies] a lot. Mostly down on Grand Avenue where the FOX is and Powell Symphony Hall. I had friends who lived in the Central West End and they would have me home from school on a Friday to spend the night. We’d have dinner at home and the parents would drive us down there and give us a buck to buy the ticket and they’d come back and pick us up after the movie.

The best part where the milk Duds.

Also, I have 3 sisters, so sometimes my whole family, all 6 of us would pile into the station wagon before they had air conditioning in cars and we would go to an outdoor drive in movie. They had those until about the 70s or so. You’d roll down your window and put a speaker on the door and we’d all sit in the car. We thought we were getting a bargain since the 6 of us could get in for whatever the price of a car was, probably 50 cents. So, the more people in your car the better a bargain you thought it was. And, you know, it was hot: a July night with 6 people in a station wagon with no air conditioning. I remember getting out of the car and walking to the concession stand with a nickel to buy a box of Milk Duds. Ronnie’s Drive-In was one of the last to close. You used to hear about them in the paper. Now a days, you’d need an app to get the sound because would want their window up and the AC on. I just don’t think their feasible now a days. And then no one would want to run their motor through a 2-hour movie, either.

Oliver Twist