1950 Baltimore, Maryland
Jacqueline Morgan
Born 1941
Baltimore, Maryland
Interviewed on February 2nd 2026
by Annabelle Hee
What is the first movie you remember seeing?
Good Lord, Annabelle. That’s 80 years ago. I mean, the first movies I recall are probably…what were they? Cinderella and Alice in Wonderland.
Cinderella was released in 1950, and Alice in Wonderland was 1951. So if you saw both of them in theaters, you probably saw Cinderella first.
Yeah, probably, yes.
It definitely was at the theater, because we did not have a TV. They didn’t have things like that. They didn’t have movies on TV back then. Not that I recall.
I would have been around 9. I don’t remember who was with me, but I probably didn’t go alone. I was in Baltimore, and the theater was where we would go for special things. There was one downtown and one on some cross street. They were the ones within walking distance. And there were a lot more, but I don’t know where they were.
The only thing I think I ever got was popcorn. And it was in a small bag. The other day, I was in a movie theater, and I swear the bag was like a foot square. And ours was just a thin bag.
What do you remember about the movie?
I think it was in color? I’m pretty sure it was. Colors weren’t strong until the ’60s, for sure, and maybe the mid ’50s. Oh, jeez. I think it was in color, and it was just seeing the fairy tale and the story. That was the other thing. It was pretty special when I was young. Some movies were in black and white, and then color started; some were in color. Cinderella and Sleeping Beauty — they were all in color. They were good.
Did you like it?
Of course, I liked it. I mean, it was a fairy tale.
You know, I knew it was a fairy tale, and I knew it was all made up. I don’t remember that the characters made a big impression on me. Did I want to be Cinderella? I don’t ever think I did because she was so unreal.
In retrospect, is it as memorable as some other movies? Maybe not. Maybe because I’ve heard the story so much and I’ve read it, you know, to your mom and things like that, that it’s not as memorable as I would think.
When I think about it now, I have to ask myself, why was it such a popular story anyway? Because I didn’t really care for the prince. I didn’t care for anybody in particular. Could it have just been that it was a fairy tale, and it was beautiful? It was a story I knew. It was part of the culture of that time, fairy tales were. And did we get lost in them? You know, in other words, pretend we were them, and we were doing those things? I don’t remember. But it’s possible. That is part of why we like fairy tales.
I like a movie with a story, you know. It doesn’t always have to have a happy ending, but it sure is nice if it does.
*This interview has been edited for length and clarity
**Jacqueline Morgan is the maternal grandmother of the interviewer
