STATE THEATER, CLOVIS, NM
(This marquee once posted in giant letters:
"WILSON," "SERGEANT YORK," and "GONE
WITH THE WIND")
My granddaughter, K.B. being a professional
sports photographer travels the South. As she
moves she sees interesting photos and grabs
them. After studying her grand photo of an old
landmark theater in Birmingham, I was moved
to write down my thoughts about movies of
bygone days.
Fair better or worse we kids of the thirties and
forties (and on through life) went to "the show"
pretty often...what else was there to entertain
us? Our noses were not in handheld gadgets.
And maybe Hollywood was more decent...then.
You know, LASSIE, NATIONAL VELVET,
MEET ME IN ST. LOUIS, FATHER KNOWS
BEST, SINGING IN THE RAIN, THE SOUND
OF MUSIC.
What kids can ever forget Gene Autrey, Roy
Rogers, Wild Bill Hickok, Tim Holt, Buster
Crabbe, Lash La Rue, Smiley Burnett, & Fuzzy
St. John on Saturday afternoons...and Tarzan
or the Green Hornet?!
Along through the years we never thought to
question the morals of our Hollywood heroes.
After all, over maybe fifty or so years, we had
heard only one cuss word in a movie...and
we were shocked at that "damn" in GWTW,
a movie most of us didn't see until 1946.
PATRIOT'S DAY well made up for this dirth in
2015 with 143 profanities, along with DALLAS
BUYER'S CLUB, and BIRDMAN---three of the
worst movies ever seen, some thought.
People have differing tastes in their "picture
shows." Sitting here , studying these theaters,
I have come up in memory with several dozen
of my favorites. Yours may be different.
AIRPLANE, THE SHAKIEST GUN IN THE WEST,
SEEMS LIKE OLD TIMES, PATTON.
GUNS OF NAVARONE, THE SEARCHERS, TRUE
GRIT, ROOSTER COGBURN, THE LONGEST
DAY, THEY WERE EXPENDABLE.
RIVER KWAI, WINCHESTER '73, SILVERADO,
TWELVE O'CLOCK HIGH, TREASURE OF THE
SIERRA MADRE, GWTW, HORSE SOLDIERS.
THE GRAPES OF WRATH, HIGH NOON, RIO
BRAVO, AFRICAN QUEEN, BIG LITTLE MAN,
THE GRADUATE, BEN HUR, RED RIVER.
SEVEN DAYS OF THE CONDOR, A BRIDGE TOO
FAR, MRS. MINIVER, THE WILD BUNCH, THE
SULLIVANS, SANDS OF IWO JIMA. GIANT,
SHANE. HUD, TWO MULES FOR SISTER SARA.
Who can ever forget some of the great lines:
THE SEARCHERS: "I'll thank you to unhand
my fie-anse..." Ken Curtis
RIVER KWAI: "With or without a parachute?"
...William Holden
SHANE: "Shane, Shane, come back Shane."
....The boy: Brandon de Wilde
SEEMS LIKE OLD TIMES: "You'll have to cook
the chicken pepperoni for the governor..I'm
having my feet escraped." Esmerelda
SHAKIEST GUN THE WEST; "Let's see---two at
the can, two at the sign, one at the skillet...and
one in the pants..." Don Knotts
Add your own favorite lines...from memory.
It has been fun thinking back to stories on film
that enriched our lives (I hope) and if someone
decides that we weren't "PC" in those golden
days of our youth...
I hope they don't tear down...THE LYCEUM.
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Mil
6 December 17
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