Memories
There was a song back in the 1960s called “Saturday night at the movies” by a group whose name I have long forgotten. (Anyone remember?)
This song sort of talked about Saturday night like I remember, and whenever I hear it, I get all warm and fuzzy with those wonderful nostalgic memories of my childhood.
The 5 miles of gravel road leading from Possum Trot community to the little town of Swifton was seldom traveled when I was a lad. There was just no reason to go to town during the week, simply because there was no money to spend most of the time.
Ahh, but on Saturday night the family went to town for groceries, and my dad always made sure I had the 10¢ needed for a theater ticket and another 10¢ for a soda and popcorn.
During the spring when we were chopping cotton and the fall when we were picking cotton, I might even get yet another 5¢ for a Superman comic book after the movie. Hey, don’t laugh, I liked those comics before they got so complicated. Shoot, I don’t even understand the storyline these days.
I know, I know, some of you young’uns out there are saying “what the heck is this old man talking about? Twenty-five cents for all that? No way, he is outta his mind. Hey, kids, things had to be cheap, cotton patch labor paid a measly 50 cents an hour.
That Saturday night movie was about all the entertainment any of us ever had other than the old battery radio. Most of the time it was a western with the hero saving the day and winning the heart of the pretty lady. Once in a while it might be a Tarzan movie, but whatever the movie was about, I came out of there pumped up, feeling like I was that hero I just watched.
I would bail off the concrete apron in front of the theater and bounce across the street to Ezber Jones’ sundry store where my mom was sitting with her friends. I would grab that new comic, and be ready to get home and get pumped up even more with Superman’s new adventure.
You are thinking “simple life.” Yes, absolutely! And it wasn’t a bad way to live.
Dewitt Rowlett
Conway
Answer
Mr. Rowlett, it was The Drifters.
GravelGertie
A simpler life
I apparently don't go back quite as far as Mr. Rowlett, but I do remember $ .25 movies on Sat. afternoon; $ .50 at night. In college, I could get a cheeseburger, fries, and shake for $1.00 even including tax!
As a kid, I remember neighborhood hide-and-go-seek games and bike races, playing "Mother, may I?" on the front walk, and playing around on the construction sites after the workers left. We even collected the pop bottles they left behind, so we could take them to the grocery store and get $ .02 each for them. Everyone knew all the neighbors and disciplined each others' kids. We had to use our IMAGINATION when playing; making empty boxes into all sorts of things and providing our own sounds to cars, fire engines, and the "guns" we made out of sticks. Today, kids have toy fire engines/cars that literally have all the bells/whistles, parents don't dare discipline another's child, lest they be sued, and if the kids fall down at a construction site, the parents sue the construction company, rather than swatting their little bums.
Yes, we have become a very complicated, "ambulance-chasing" society; where it seems like everyone is out for themselves, except when it comes time to take responsibility, then it's someone else's fault. There certainly is a LOT to be said for the simpler, quieter way of life we enjoyed many, many years ago. Generally, progress is good, but this is a case where "progress" has had a very negative influence on our society.
Sorry to go on so, but this is one of my biggest soap boxes. I really have restrained myself here. LOL