The Capitol Theater was one of the Saturday Destinations that 'parents' left their kids for half a day or longer..
Imagine it's 1958 and you're 5 years old -
It's before lunch and you are standing in line with your brothers and sisters, because your Mom and Dad want to mess around and this was a cheap baby sitter.
Twelve year-olds or younger paid 10¢ for a ticket and it was 15¢ cents for those above twelve and under the age of 18.
Most families had at least three kids or more so going to the Movies was something like going to a park where families picnicked with the kids and the kids would mingle with other kids. The town I grew up in was just small enough that you might know a lot of the people there,
The richest kids back then were not like today's and they sat next to the kids who were poor, but not like poor today..... so it was much easier to co-exist, not that it was perfect.
Immediately after getting your tickets at a real 'box' they called a 'ticket booth and was not attached to the building stood alone dead center of a cave like puncture leading to the entry doors. The 'SNACK BAR' was immediately on the other side getting into the theater and the kids went wild because they were built like 'carnival' or 'circus' attractions appealing to broken chipped teeth children that can't protect themselves from sugar by the bag, salt by the shakers, butter by the bar and syrup from the coke.... leave a kid around that and it's not fate what happens next.
Pop-Corn Bags were bags in fact, and a 5¢ nickel bag was a 5" inch diameter 12" inch long bag, that would easily fill the LARGE round tubs today. A 10¢ dime bag was the same diameter, but 20 inches long, and finally for 15¢ the biggest bag was 8" inch diameter opening and 3 foot long.
15¢ cent to a 25¢ could keep you crunching on a sugar high for hours and hours and that was a good thing, because this movie going experience is all day long.
It's hard to imagine, but back then for 25¢ you could go to a movie with snacks and see
three full length movies approximately 90 minutes each,
comedy shorts (think sitcoms) approx 20 minutes,
News-Reels 20 minutes (like 6 o-clock news,)
a weekly serial 'action' short movie approx. 20 minutes,
2 Disney-Daffy-Goofy Cartoon features 14 mins,
coming attractions 30 minutes.....
Figure that out!
........ an average Saturday Children's day at the theater could be over 6 HOURS LONG without 'intermissions.'
..... I remember doctors kids, the trashman's kids, and Gentile and Jew and others too I'm sure there were """and it was that special time''''' when we sort felt more alike than were not.
............ If I were a Praying man, I'd ask for each of you to remember that we are all HUMAN BEINGS - NOT MORE SPECIAL - NOT MORE DANGEROUS - NOT LESS IN NEED!
I would ask 'g.o.d.' to make all of us blind and hope that in our darkness we see better than we ever had in the light day. - - mfg
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