Good early, early morning family and friends. Let’s try a little brain exercise. This is as close as I’ll get to strenuous exercise. Sorry, Physical Therapists.
We’re now in Flushing, Queens, NYC and it’s 1953. (that’s about 71 years ago for you, engineers). LOL. Ike had ended the Korean War. The Cold War with the Soviets and Red China was just starting. Vietnam didn’t exist.
But, it was another summertime Saturday morning. I had amassed a fortune of about 75 cents from allowance, returned soda bottles and tips from neighbors for bringing them cigarettes or something from a store 3-4 blocks away. I could go to the movies with my buddies, Allen and Richie.
Oops, pardon me. I gotta throw the springy toy from my bed to the floor somewhere for the cat. She wants to play, dammit. Ok I’m back.
The movie theaters were downtown, Main Street Flushing. A 20 minute bus-ride on the Q28 bus (redundant). There were three to choose from (another grammatical error) Oh well.
The Loew’s Prospect theater (we always called it “Loweeys”. I dunno why. The RKO Keith’s “The Keets,” to us ignorant city kids. And finally, a little dumpy theater, named the Town. We called it “the itch”. I’ll let you figger why. RKO and Loews always had Saturday special early showings. For 25 cents “a caughter” to us; you could see a double feature, 10-15 cartoons and Movietone News (remember that? I do. ) Cartoons were mostly Disney or Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies (Bugs Bunny), with an occasional “Three Stooges” thrown in.
The movie was usually a western, but almost always an adventure movie like “Robin Hood” or war ”pitcha”. Like Sands of Iwo Jima (my favorite Duke Wayne pitcha). The “B” movie was usually black and white and old. But never a “Luv pitcha”. And if that’s not enough, there was candy and pop corn for sale in the lobby.
So, 10 or 15 cents each way for the bus, 25 cents for “da movie”. And 10 or 20 cents to get cavities from candy. That takes care of your 75 cents. Wow, what a great time in an Air Conditioned theater in July in hot, humid Flushing.
And my mom got rid of me (and vice versa) for about 5 hours. Say 10:30am to 3:30pm. Go ahead and fact check me. I dare ya. Enuf