Saturday at the Movies

On Saturday afternoon, the Colony show was playing a double feature. We knew one movie was a love picture, but the other starred John Wayne as a U.S. Calvary captain. My brother, Dom, and I wanted to be near the front of the line so we could sit in our favorite seats in the first row of the balcony. Mom gave us each a quarter for a ticket and a box of popcorn. We purchased our tickets, handed them to the usher at the door, bought popcorn, and quickly bounded up the red-carpeted stairs, skidding to a stop on the second-floor landing. We ran and pull open the balcony doors and then bounced down the stairs to the first row.

Sat down, lifted our feet and rested them on the railing in front of us. We watched the coming attractions, laughed at a Bugs Bunny cartoon, and then the Flash Gordon serial came on the screen. It ended when Ming the Merciless was about to zap Flash with a killer beam.
We hoped the U.S. Calvary film would be next. But it wasn’t all of us kids had to endure the boring love picture. We turned restless as a kissing scene dragged on. Then a lone, flattened popcorn box sailed through the movie projector beam. Suddenly, the monotony broke; the idea of throwing popcorn boxes spread like a pandemic, a barrage of popcorn boxes took flight like a flock of birds heading south. Boxes landed on to stage in front of the screen while others fell into the audience. Ushers rushed down the aisles hoping to quell the aerial barrage, just as the love picture ended.

A loud cheer went up from the kids as they settled down to watch the film, we all came to see. We watched a wagon train circled up as Indian war hoops filled the air. Blood-curdling screams from Indians riddled our ears. As the Indians circled the wagon train and began slinging arrows at the wagon train defenders. Just as it looked as the wagon train occupants were about to slaughter in the distance, came the bugled notes of a Calvary charge. On the screen grim faced soldiers riding hard as thundering hoofbeats crashed our ears. Kids jumped from their seats and cheered. Then, bending our knees and whipping our horses, we rode to the rescue with the U.S. Calvary. The Indians took off, heading back into the hills. On the screen, John Wayne shakes hands with the wagon master as a line of prairie schooners gets ready to sail into the west.

After the movie, Dom and I headed for home, galloping our horses and vanquishing savage Indians along the way.