"ELMER'S TUNE" AND "THE PERILS OF NYOKA!"

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CLOVIS REMEMBERED----I LOVED THE LYCEUM THEATER!!
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If there is any other phrase that evokes 1940's memories in my mind like the "Walking Liberty Half Dollar," it is "The LYCEUM THEATER." Few places in my hometown of Clovis were, and are, dearer to my heart than the Lyceum.

You see, on Saturday afternoons, during the 40's, at about 1:20 p.m., this theater began its program, movies for youngsters. It consisted of a one-hour western with the hero, usually in a white hat, and the "mean men." That was followed by a mystery/detective movie, of about the same length; if we were lucky, we'd get a good Charlie Chan film.

These were followed, maybe, by a "Donald Duck Sinks Nazi Subs," or another cartoon of some kind. Maybe a good old Roadrunner! The big event of the afternoon was the fifteen minute"serial," like "Batman," or "The Green Hornet and Kato." My all-time favorite serial was "The Perils of Nyoka." Vaguely remembering this title, (which I called "The Pearls of Nyoka" when I was a kid), I Googled it last year and came up with a clip, and Kay Aldridge as the name of the actress playing Nyoka. I had remembered her for 70 years as that cute lady in the khaki shorts---not to worry, they were the old-fashioned baggy kind.

This drama was set in Africa, and Nyoka met all manner of near-death close-shaves, ending each episode. One biggie was: she was tied to a table with a giant blade swinging over her, getting lower and lower, and then the screen would fold together....until next Saturday!

In those days, I worked all week after school and on Saturday morning at my dad's laundry.  When 12:55 p.m. came on Saturday, he gave me a Walking Liberty silver half dollar and I left for the five block walk to the Lyceum, arriving ten minutes before the show started at 1:20 p.m.  I got there early---- (none of this "This is where we came in" stuff.)

The curtains were drawn; they were kind of golden with the lights dimmed. The theater was playing the same tune it played week in and week out, year in and year out----its music library apparently had only one tune, though it was kind of catchy and relaxing: "ELMER'S TUNE."  They played it only as an instrumental piece even though it has nice words. I quote a stanza here:

The hurdy-gurdies, the birdies, the cop on the beat,
The candy-maker, the baker, the man on the street,
The city charmer, the farmer, the man in the moon---
All sing Elmer's Tune!"

There was something neat about sitting there, eating your 10 cent popcorn, listening to "Elmer's" and relaxing---waiting eagerly for a great afternoon of entertainment…. and just think, between movies you could go get a 10 cent coke to wash down that  popcorn! Hmmm. Today the movie, the popcorn and the coke would cost you: movie---$7.00; popcorn---$3.50; and coke---$3.50. That would be $14.00 today. It cost me 30 cents.  

R.S. reminds us of some things I had forgotten: "Remember the Saturday afternoon bicycle drawings with the big wire drum onstage, going round and round until the lucky winner was announced. Also, the occasional performances by Jimmy Allman's tap dancing girls who took classes in his studio, located across the alley behind the Lyceum. All of those things---the bicycle drawing, the tap dancing, the movies---a bargain at 10 cents!" (Thanks much, R.S.!)

There was no March of Time news at the Lyceum---anyway, not on Saturday. They did have an occasional James Fitzpatrick Travel short, a "Cowboy Serenade" short, or a singalong, with the bouncing ball. (Clovisites were not enthusiastic singers.)

On week nights in the 40's, the Lyceum would show regular full length "B" movies, or even older "A" movies on their second time around. "Swanee River," (Stephen Foster story) played there in 1940, and it is said people were weeping. Another to certainly weep at was  "The Fighting Sullivans," which I saw there in about 1943,  and never forgot.

In the late 40's a high school friend and I would slip off downtown on a winter night, park in front of Anthony's, and walk across those cold red bricks---lining Main Street--to an old movie at the Lyceum.

Back when I was about nine or ten, it was always hard to leave the imaginary world of that movie theater, and walk outside into the cold reality of broad daylight. To ameliorate this back-to-reality-let-down, we would go into all the stores: Anthony's, Penney's, Levine's, Barry's, shopping but not buying. We also went to Woolworth's and that's where we usually parted with 20 cents for their great ham salad sandwich.

In closing this tribute to the old Lyceum, I want to relate this to you: We-- even the young U.S. citizens---were tired of WWII. Too many boys had left who would never come back from that war. If you weren't here then, you don't know the feeling. Everyone was touched by some loss. One Saturday afternoon, about the middle of August, 1945, at about 4:20 p.m. in the afternoon, I walked out of the dear old Lyceum Theater, site of many happy hours; I immediately saw that Main Street was totally blocked at 4th and Main, half a block from the theater.

I made my way down through the crowd to the corner of Barry Hardware. There was a KICA, CLOVIS radio van parked right in the middle of the street, under the stoplight.  There were crowds of people converging from all around: the announcer began to speak over the loud speaker and the crowd quieted! I almost weep to remember that afternoon. He was saying: "THE JAPANESE HAVE SURRENDERED!! THE JAPANESE HAVE SURRENDERED!!" "Oh, joy," I said to myself! "No more wars!"

(Writer's note: the Lyceum Theater opened in 1921. Its purpose was to host vaudeville shows and show movies.  An early "talkie," "Chinatown Nights," starring Wallace Beery, was shown there in 1929. The famous John Phillip Sousa, beloved King of Marches, played there in the early days with his band. The old theater, closed in 1974, was obtained by the city of Clovis in 1982, and has been renovated and restored as a performing arts venue.)

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LONG LIVE THE LYCEUM THEATER!
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"Perils of Nyoka" clip:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EjfBUnI7OCw&feature=youtube_gdata_player

"Elmer's Tune" clip:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KmM0_Ilaww8&feature=youtube_gdata_player
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BY MIL
5/24/12