Movies: 1943

Catching the phone on the first ring,

“Yeah?” Lennie said.

“Hey,” Donnie asked,

“ya wanna go to the movies?”

“Yeah, sure!” Glancing at the Baby Ben,

“think your ma’ll make lunch?”

“Yeah, sure!”

“Toasted cheese?”

Lennie, asked,

“Think your ma’ll make toasted cheese?”

“Yeah, sure… I think.”

Turning his head from the phone,

“Hey Ma, Lennie want’s’a know

If you’ll make toasted cheese?”

“Yeah, sure,” Ma replied.

“Why wouldn’t I make toasted cheese?”

At the stove

pressing the second batch of

four pieces of butter browned

bread together with a spatula,

causing melted American Cheese

to ooze from between the slices of

Silvercup bread onto the hot griddle.

“Hello, Mrs. Zimmerman,"

Lennie said,

“Hello, Leonard.”

Mrs. Zimmerman said,

“You two,

go wash your hands,

lunch’ll be ready in a minute.”

                          ****

Through with lunch,

On the downstairs stoop,

“So,” Lennie asked,

“What’s around?”

Chicago Sun movie section upon his lap.

A cornucopia of movie theaters to choose from:

On Ogden, two blocks to the west, the Lindy;

On Kedzie, four blocks east, the White Palace;

On Cermak, four blocks south, the Douglas;

Further east on Cermak, the Marshall Square.

In the opposite direction:

North to Roosevelt Road was the Gold,

the Twentieth Century and Central Park theaters.

Saturday afternoons

the theaters catered to the kids:

two movies,

newsreels,

weekly serials,

three or four cartoons, and,

more often than not,

a comedic short.

With the price of admission

theaters often gave gifts 

and most had weekly raffles

for anyone buying at least

one ten-cent war stamp

that came along with a raffle ticket.

Gene Autry, Roy Rogers,

Red Ryder, Wild Bill Elliot, Lash LaRue.

The “good guys” wore white hats

 the “bad guys” wore black hats

with the exception of “Hoppy;”

Hopalong Cassidy always wore black.

Tarzan, Boston Blackie, the Thin Man,

Charlie Chan,

Sherlock Holmes… “Elementary, my dear Watson.”

Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy,

Abbot and Costello,

The Three Stooges…

“My girl Nellie wore a brand new dress,

it was really might thin.

When she asked me how I liked it,

I answered with a grin.

Wait till the sun shines, Nellie!”

Superman… “Up, up, and away!”

Captain Midnight, Don Winslow of the Navy,

Terry and the Pirates, Rocket Man,

Captain Marvel… “Shazam!”

Popeye, Woody Woodpecker,

Mickey Mouse, Donald Duck,

Bugs Bunny, 

Porky Pig… “Th-th-that’s all folks!”

Previews of coming attractions and the newsreel.

For the price of a quarter for admission

and a quarter for candy and popcorn,

parents felt the movies were, indeed,

a baby-sitting value beyond comparison,

giving them at least three and a half hours

of peace and quiet,

so…

“So, nu, you want to stay a second time?

So, okay! So stay a second time.”

©September 8, 2011 / Mark M. Lichterman