We were looking for Royal Crown caps. For six caps from RC Cola, each kid got into the movie free in the summer. When we had our sufficient caps, we all walked about a mile to the theater. On the way, we stopped at a feed store, because they have live baby chicks and let us play with them, and because they had one of those water coolers with the little pointy cups. Then we would go to the Lyric Theater, sit in a seat that had ashtrays with flip-up covers on the armrests.
All movies began with cartoons. You could see at least three or four cartoons before the movie started. And then we watched a Disney movie, usually, not just once, but over and over for most of the day. We'd make sure we walked back to Granny's before time for our parents to pick us up to go home.
On Saturday, when I was eight or nine, my mom would drop me and my friends off at the theater sometimes, and we'd call her from the theater phone (not a pay phone) when we wanted her to come pick us up.
If I hadn't spent my whole dollar weekly allowance at the dime store, I'd have some left to buy a coke, maybe popcorn, or candy, or all three. I was a really skinny kid then, so it was probably not all three.
When we weren't going to the movies (which is still my absolute favorite thing to do, sitting in the theater, watching the big screen) we would climb trees, swing in a tire, watch ants, ride our bikes, and do anything else that kept us outside. Back then, parents ran the kids out the door right after breakfast in the summer, and we were allowed back in to get a drink or have lunch.
So there were all the neighborhood kids standing outside, and we all got together and used our imagination to make up games that gave us a lot of physical activity, like tag, or "mother may I" or hopscotch. We also played a game where we sewed together the ends of a long piece of elastic and did like jump rope tricks with it. If anyone remembers what this was called, let me know.
We didn't have cell phones, or microwaves, or game boys. Morning tv was Captain Kangaroo and Romper Room, then we were sent outside. The only tv shows that came on during the day were Queen for a Day and soaps, and my grandmother dominated day time television so we couldn't have watched it even if we were inside.
At night was when tv was exciting. We watched the wonderful world of Disney, Topo Gigio on Ed Sullivan, Bonanza, The Rifleman, and Red Skelton. I didn't care much for the westerns but my dad did. I loved Red Skelton. I also loved Art Linkletter. But I planned to marry Captain Kangaroo when I grew up. I don't think I ever heard a cuss word until I was nine, when my step-dad said a lot of them. My dad has never said a "bad word" in front of me in my life, or allowed anyone else to without being harshly reprimanded.
I didn't worry about child molesters or other bad guys. In fact, I learned the "facts of life" from a girl friend at a bowling alley when I was eleven. I didn't believe her. Then after I asked a few other friends, I remember being so disappointed. All of a sudden it was like we weren't just put here on earth to have fun. We were suppose to do THAT and have KIDS and there's a purpose to all this. That really disappointed me. Believe it or not, my only question after she told me about the facts of life, was "Well, if men do that to women, then why don't they also do that to men?" She assured me that was ridiculous, that it wouldn't work. I guess that was before Larry Craig and foot tapping was in fashion.
Children were innocent. We didn't see feminine hygiene commercials, or ads about erectile dysfuction, or contraceptives. There were no naked people or nearly naked people on television or billboards. And there was no internet. If you really wanted to know something you had to ask someone else, or look it up in the World Books in the library at school.
No comments:
Post a Comment