Amswers in the Dark


Using my young eyesight to absorb the world in the dark
Sharing my experience with others
when we paid pennies to
be admitted to our nearby movie house
That was in my formative years
far back in the early 1930s
In the midst of this nation's deepest Depression
our family knew no person with enough money to
buy books or travel.
A highly entertaining substitute were
robust and well made motion pictures
plus a short travelogue
squeezed between the feature film
and boring repeated 'coming attractions

In the beginning we saw only black and white movies
with better scripts than actors to tell the stories
At that time as a kid of ten to sixteen years
I didn't care
In my favorites were heroes with big hats riding horses
along with pretty girls - saloon fights - gun fights
- stage coaches - marshals chasing the bad guys
and rescues of someone abducted
All of that was exciting and offered life lessons for a boy
unaware that back then the romance and mystery films
taught me how adults should speak
how to dress and treat others
They passed on to us proper manners at the table and elsewhere
Old movies seen in the dark enriched my life-long edification


F William Broome 2009