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Old
Peninsula Movie Theatres Perhaps you would consider
adding a new feature: - Dave Spriggs
('64) of VA - 03/11/03 |
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This is now a place for you to record your special memories of times spent at these popular dating places. |
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For a look at http://fsweb.wm.edu/AMST370/instudy/ekrobi/home.html (This site, created by Emily K. Robinson of William and Mary, was also sent to us by Dave Spriggs.) Thanks again, Dave! |
- Dave
Spriggs ('64) of VA - 04/26/05 Before we begin, I have a confession: this did not happen in Newport News, but it did happen in a movie theater. I suppose it could have happened in Newport News, but, in fact, it happened in Roanoke. As you will soon see, geography is not really a factor. I was probably five years old, and my parents had taken me with them to the movies. Who ever heard of a babysitter in 1951 or even had the money for one? At five the movies were a special thrill, no matter what the film was. To be honest, I can’t remember what was playing, but I must have been quite taken by it, as will soon become evident. But first, a quick cultural
history lesson: In those days movie patrons did not take such great pains to
arrive at the beginning of a film. It was not unusual to show up somewhere
in the middle, watch it through to the end, then watch the beginning to see
what you had missed. It was also not unusual to remain beyond the point |
That scene having been set, there
we were. My recollection is that the theater was perhaps half filled, but
theaters were larger back then, so that comprised quite a few people. It was
the beginning of the post-war Baby Boom, and many patrons were there with
their children. The film had ended, and my parents were rustling around in
preparation to depart. They may have been ready to leave ... but, I was not.
I stalled, begged to see the cartoon again, then pleaded to see the previews
and the short subject again. As those ended, I was becoming desperate. I was
determined to see the feature again, but now they were dragging me out
of the seats and starting up the aisle.
If I could only get through the News Of The Day, the feature would begin again … and then we could stay, couldn’t we? I tugged, pulled, whined … but nothing was working. It was time to roll out the “Big Guns”, to make a request that even my parents could not refuse. So, I mustered up all the volume my little lungs could manage, injected a little edge of anger and frustration in my voice, and shouted for all to hear: “I TELL YA … I WANNA SEE THE NEWS!!!” Every parent in the theater knew instantly and exactly what had happened, and erupted in laughter, which continued until we exited the movie. Even my parents were laughing at the scene of a five year old demanding to watch the “News Of The Day”. It is a story which remains etched in our Family mythology, and has been told and retold more times than I can count. |
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by Dr. Charles R. Wicke NNHS Class of June 1945 Saturday morning was the time to head for the Street of Dreams. In Newport News this was three blocks of Washington Avenue holding four movie houses. Plunking down a dime at the Warwick Theater allowed a frail child to enter a heroic world of daring deeds amid perfidy. The feature film was invariably a "cowboy show" starring Buck Jones, Hoot Gibson, Roy Rogers or Gene Autry. Accompanying this fare was the episode of a "serial," perhaps Buck Rogers in contest with the evil oriental-featured Ming - or Tarzan lording it over benighted Africans. But first came the Kiddy Club. At center stage a contemporary would belt out favorites of the moment: On the Good Ship Lollipop, invariably sung by a Shirley Temple look-alike rubbing her midsection while phrasing ". . . or you'll get a tummy ache," or Red Sails in the Sunset, rendered perhaps by a lad who demonstrated difficulty in reaching the low notes. The more sophisticated fare at the Paramount Theater attracted an older audience with a higher ratio of girls. Here one could see, for example, the "Road" pictures of Bob Hope, Bing Crosby and Dorothy Lamour, as in The Road to Zanzibar (1941) and The Road to Morocco (1942). The live entertainment before the picture was more sophisticated, too. As the lights went down, the faint notes could be heard as if in the distance. The music gradually increased as the organ slowly rose from the pit – music matching movement. As if by magic, spotlights popped on, their beams lighting upon the slight musician and mistress of ceremony at the console. She accompanied the singer soloists on the sonorous pipe organ. Her name: Gladys Lyle. Once a year the live magic show with Harry Blackstone, Sr., played at the Paramount. The organ background that Gladys rendered added so much to the show that one year Harry persuaded her to go with him on the road: a real road. And so she left us, and things were never the same. At the other end of the strip the James Theater competed with the Warwick for the young viewer. Here was experienced The Popeye Club, with the theme song I'm Popeye the Sailor Man and a Max Fleisher Thimble Theater Popeye cartoon with its feature. Before the films it offered the usual singers interspersed with boxing matches between volunteer pugilists who, like the vocalists, received a free admission ticket for their performance. The remaining cinema, the Palace, had no children's show, but depended on higher quality MGM movies to attract an older audience. Shirley Temple, the most famous female in the world, starred there in pictures with the word "little" in their titles: In 1935, The Little Colonel and The Littlest Rebel; and in 1939, The Little Princess. Members of the NNHS Class of 1945 identified with the cute curly-head as being of the same age: someone they grew up with. Indeed, as we left childhood we gave up the Warwick and the James for the Paramount and the Palace. Putting aside childish things, we began to wrestle with the mysteries of puberty. Glandular changes produced new and mysterious longings. The silver screen came to the rescue with a timely series of motion pictures that dealt with our problems. Offering us didactic vicarious experiences at the Palace were the Andy Hardy films, considered by their producer, Louis B. Mayer, as his contribution to the strengthening of America's family values. As adolescents we perceived the Hardy films differently from Mayer's intent. Girls on observing the female leads saw the growing power of their newfound nubility. Boys readily identified with Mickey Rooney's bumbling approach to dreamlike, chaste, co-stars such as Kathryn Grayson, Judy Garland, and Ann Rutherford in pictures with descriptive titles such as: Andy Hardy Gets Spring Fever (1939); Andy Hardy Meets a Debutante (1940); and Andy Hardy's Private Secretary (1941). Lewis Stone played Judge Hardy, the sagacious father, whose "man-to-man" talks invariably resolved each impasse of Andy's misadventures with worldly ladies. Oh that we could have fathers as understanding as Judge Hardy. Oh that a boy could have a girlfriend as good-looking as Judy Garland. Oh that a girl could become as lovely as Kathryn Grayson. And then came that grand moment of revelation and, perhaps, confusion; an instant when life imitates art. The fortuitous event came to pass on January 10, 1942. Our freshman class had entered high school in September of 1941 a few weeks before. On the following Friday afternoon the school newspaper, The Beacon, carried the headlines "Mickey Rooney Weds NNHS Grad."
A future member of the class of 1945 had to wonder who was the girl-wife of the story, Ava Gardner? She was a member of the class that had graduated the previous year. The older Potter girl, Virginia, the cheerleader, was her friend and had visited her in California -- she knew and could tell us. And she did. Ava Gardner was from Smithfield, NC. She had arrived with her mother and father, but soon after the father abandoned them. Her mother had to support herself and daughter by running a boarding house. Ava had dated older, and presumably more sophisticated "apprentice boys" from the local shipyard. In Hollywood she was working as a Goldwyn Girl while taking speech lessons in order to erase her southern accent. Sam Goldwyn wanted to cast her in speaking parts. But now Mickey Rooney -- Andy Hardy -- had married the beautiful girl next door, next door to us. What was real and what was fantasy in all this? As we viewed Ava's magnificent face in wide-screen color close-ups over the years and followed her stormy career, broken marriages, bouts with alcohol, those questions remained unanswered. Fact? Fiction? That which had seemed to us simple and romantic on our Street of Dreams now appears to be more complex.
Dr. Charles R. Wicke is Professor Emeritus of Art History at the University of Victoria, Canada. In summer he lives at Victoria, British Columbia, Canada; and in winter at Cuernavaca, Mexico. Charles maintains a web site: http://www.angelfire.com/bc3/gringoviejo From Fred W. Field - ". . Street of Dreams" was originally published in 1992 in the Classes of 1945 Newsletter. This version is Dr. Wicke's May 2005 update.
In March 1946 I gave a copy of the original
version to the late Parke Rouse, Daily Press feature writer. Parke quoted it
extensively in his June 1996 article ,"Cruising Avenue of Dreams."
Parke died March 5, 1997. |
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- Courtesy
of Fred Field (June of '45) of CA - Added 11/03/05 |
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http://www.nnhs65.com/BILL-LEE/REVELATIONS-OF-A-MOVIE-THEATRE-USHER.pdf |
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- Courtesy
of Bill Lee (WHS- '54) of NC - 03/13/10 |
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UPDATED | THEATER | LOCATION | STATUS | ||
07/19/06 | The James | 3100 Washington Avenue | GONE! | ||
09/13/08 | The Langley | Queen Street, Hampton | |||
01/25/06 | The Lee | Mellen Street, Phoebus | |||
10/07/15 | The Newmarket | Newmarket Shopping Center |
CLOSED - 50-Year Time Capsule Opened on
09/13/15: http://youtu.be/MgEB6LXqkuM - Part One http://youtu.be/R3PYuI7zjbo - Part Two |
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03/02/08 | The Palace | 3114 Washington Avenue | CLOSED - NOW Full Gospel Church of Deliverance | ||
08/15/13 | The Paramount | 3300 Washington Avenue | CLOSED! - Site now houses Fire Station | ||
The Pix | 26th Street and Huntington Avenue | GONE! | |||
The Port | At the foot of 25th Street, next to the James River beach | GONE! | |||
07/25/09 | The Stuart (I) | 2009 Wickham Avenue | GONE! | ||
The Stuart (II) | 18th Street at Wickham Avenue | CLOSED - NOW the Triumph Pentecostal Church of Deliverance | |||
03/18/10 | The Village | 257 Warwick Boulevard, Hilton Village | CLOSED FOR FILMS - Shows Stage Productions | ||
09/13/08 | The Warwick | 3317-19 Washington Avenue | GONE! | ||
01/23/15 | The Wythe | 2221 Kecoughtan Road, Hampton | CLOSED - NOW Auto Zone | ||
02/25/09 | The Drive-Ins | ||||
02/22/09 | Anchor Drive-In | 10121 Jefferson Avenue | GONE! NOW Francisco Village Shopping Center | ||
02/22/09 | Green Acres Drive-In | 2327 W. Pembroke Avenue, Hampton | GONE! NOW United Rentals (Construction Equipment Rentals) | ||
02/22/09 | Sidney Lust's Drive-In | 1300 Block W. Pembroke Avenue, Hampton | GONE! NOW various home improvement businesses | ||
02/25/09 | York Drive-In | Route 17 and Victory Boulevard, Tabb | GONE! NOW Wal-Mart Super Center | ||
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I have some information on
some of our old movie theaters. I have come to own a 1945-1946 It was interesting to note that there are no drive-in
theaters listed. They must have come - Mike Leonard ('68) of VA - 03/11/06 WOWZERS!!! Thanks so much, Mike! |
1945
- Courtesy of Mike Leonard ('68)
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Listings from the
Sunday, - Courtesy
of Dave Spriggs ('64) |
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(enlargeable in two sections) - Carol Buckley Harty ('65) of NC - 03/22/03 |
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1954 Anchor, p. 178
- Courtesy of Tom Norris (HHS -
'73)
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The following link will bring back a lot of memories to many of your
readers; especially those who frequently paid 14 cents to get
into the Warwick Theater. I was amazed, when viewing this clip, that so many B movie stars rode the range on the back lots of Hollywood when we were very young. http://oldfortyfives.com/thoseoldwesterns.htm FYI, there is specific permission given at the end of this presentation, allowing reuse, but only by link.
- Bill Lee
(Warwick HS - '54) of NC - 09/09/08 |
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The following link will bring back a lot of memories to many of your
readers; especially those who frequently paid 14 cents to get http://oldfortyfives.com/thoseoldwesterns.htm FYI, there is specific permission given at the end of this presentation, allowing reuse, but only by link.
- Bill Lee
(Warwick HS - '54) of NC - 09/09/08 |
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I
have three scans of movie listings in the Daily Press, 1943-1944,
Sure enough, the location is 26th & Huntington. - Jean Lankes (Hampton HS - ’72) of VA - 07/19/09 |
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Saturday, July 24, 1943 | Wednesday, September 20, 1944 | ||||
While catching up on recent newsletters, I noticed some recent interest in old movie theaters. In newsletter 07-19-09 Mike Leonard ('68 - of VA) asks about the Pix Theater. My cousin, Jean Lankes (Hampton HS - ’72 - of VA) responded in 07-20-09 with a newspaper ad copy identifying the location and era of the Pix. Considerable
information on old theaters can be found in
issue 03-10-05 with participation by
Kelly Loose Bustamante ('58 - of VA), Craig Miller ('63 - of FL), Ron Miller
('59 - of NC), Cookie Phillips Tyndall ('64 - of VA), Charles Wicke (June, '45),
Judy Phillips Allen ('66 - of VA), and myself. |
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- Fred Field (June '45) of CA -
07/24/09 Thank you so much for "rescuing" that for us, Fred! |
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(This page was created at the suggestion of Dave Spriggs - '64 - of VA - 03/11/03) 20th Century Fox
theme song midi courtesy
of
http://www.moviethemes.org/midis/midisa-f/20thcenturyfox.mid,
Page
redesigned at the suggestion
of Dave Spriggs ('64) of VA - 02/23/04 Page redesigned (and re-colored) once more on 03/02/08 Animated Smacking Lips clip art courtesy of http://www.webdeveloper.com/animations/s.html - 04/10/03 Animated Sparkling Theater Lights clip art courtesy of http://gifsnow.com/ - 05/22/03
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