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| The Ritz Theatre in Clinton, Tennessee So many memories from this theatre. This photo was made in 2007, there was an Andy Griffith Show event there that evening. |
Sometimes I wonder how much of my life was spent in movie theatres. I loved movies and spent many happy hours in local movie theatres, especially the Ritz Theatre in my hometown of Clinton, Tennessee. It was also a thrill to go to the beautiful Tennessee Theatre in Knoxville. It still gives me cold chills when I think of the Mighty Wurlitzer Organ, like magic, coming up from the floor and seeing the guy playing the organ. Again like magic, it would disappear into the floor.
Recently I have been thinking of the lasting impressions made on me by the many hours spent at the Ritz
when I was a child. I know there were times I must have been to the theatre three times a week! I am guessing I was around ten or eleven when I saw the following movies. These are etched in my warped brain ... I loved them!
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| Boris Karloff ... he was made for the role of Frankenstein (1931) I liked that Knoxville's own Patricia Neal starred in this movie. Who could forget this role. I never think of Frankenstein without remembering that Mary Shelley, the author, wrote Frankenstein when she was 19 years old! |
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| "What big claws you have, you big dangerous humanoid amphibious fish creature!" The Creature from the Black Lagoon (1954) (After a very trying day yesterday, last night I was telling Clint how the description "dangerous humanoid amphibious fish creature" struck me as very funny. I was laughing about this blog idea and Clint said it was the first time he'd heard me laugh all day) |
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| How great was Lon Chaney in The Alligator People, another favorite movie that I have never forgotten. I always remember my aunt meeting Beverly Garland at a western movie convention. My aunt said she was as beautiful and charming as she had imagined. I still like seeing her in old westerns |
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| The Fly (1958) really freaked me out. At ten years of age it seemed possible that a fly could somehow get crossed with a human. When I think of The Fly, I don't think of the more recent version with Jeff Goldblum, I love the old version with Vincent Price. |
 The Day the Earth Stood Still (1951) |
| Another one I will always remember. I still remember when this came on TV, it must have been around 1958 and my aunt was baby sitting us. Once again, I thought this event could actually happen. Who knows on this one, maybe it could! |
Thank you, dear blog readers, for spending a little time with me and my silliness. I sure appreciate each and everyone of you!
6 comments:
Mornin' Cindy, great post. Stirs up old memories. My mother had to go to a movie every Friday night, and I, being the second oldest, got to join her. We went for chinese food first then across the street to a movie where I got that big cone of chocolate ice cream. Truthfully, I don't remember the movies we saw, just that I got to sit there and nibble that ice cream cone. These days, hubby Mike and I watch things like Masterpiece Theatre, foreign films, and some quirky stuff.
Wishing you and Clint a beautiful Texas day!
I didn't like the scary horror movies. They made me fidgety. I preferred the westerns, where the good guys always won and you knew that was the way it was gonna be even before the flick started. John Wayne was a god. And so were Hopalong Cassidy, Lash Larue, Tom Mix, Randolph Scott and Gary Cooper. Great post! (by Clint, on Cindy's computer)
Klaatu barada nikto, Cindy! This isn't a silly idea for a post. It's perfect as far as I'm concerned because I'm a lifelong horror and science fiction buff. My older brother started taking me to see horror movies when I was only 3, the first of which was House of Wax (1953) starring Vincent Price. I love Lon Chaney, Jr. and Beverly Garland but oddly enough never saw The Alligator People. I saw Lon in many other pictures and remember Beverly from Not of This Earth (1957) and My Three Sons. The Creature from the Black Lagoon was the Jaws of the 50s. Everybody was spooked when they went swimming! I saw The Fly at age 8 while vacationing in northern PA. My parents took me to see it at a theater built onto the side of a mountain. We had to walk down three flights of stairs just to get to the balcony! 1958 was probably the peak year for horror and sci-fi flicks and I remember seeing Attack of the 50 Foot Woman that year. I was saddened to learn about the death of actress Yvette Vickers who played the seductive Honey in that movie. Her body was discovered late last month in her home and she is believed to have died as much as a year earlier. I have a framed collection of original classic horror movie posters on my wall. This is my kind of post, Cindy. Thank you!
Thank you, Carol, for your visit. Those are sweet memories of you and your mom going to the theatre on Friday evenings. We all seem to have favorite food memories, our theatre didn't have ice cream. My favorite food at the theatre was Milk Duds with pop corn. I still like this today. It's nice you and your husbands watch programs together. Now that we have just bought a 60" TV this week, I hope we can start watching TV and movies again. The Red Box has worked well with us and sometimes I get movies from the library.
Shady, I had forgotten all about the phrase from The Day the Earth Stood Still. Thank you and Google for the reminder. he he That must have been one unusual theatre having been built in the side of a mountain. I wonder if it still exists or at least parts of it. I like the idea of your parents taking you to see The Fly. I remember my dad taking us to see Pork Chop Hill at Myrtle Beach when I was around 6 years old. b-o-r-i-n-g Such a sad story about the actress Yvette Vickers, I wonder if dementia was involved in her death. Sometimes the families and friends become estranged because of this mental illness. Your framed movie posters must be fantastic, I am sure you must enjoy them. Thank you, it's nice to know someone else likes these old horror movies.
These are some classic films Cindy, sadly I haven't seen any of them, however I did enjoy the remake of The Fly. I spend a lot of time in the cinema too, (I have a card which I pay by direct debit monthly which allows me to see as many films as I want). I love that feeling of the lights going down and the anticipation of seeing something that you are excited to see!
Emma x
How fun! I forgot how they used to mutate humans in the old movies. Great post!
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