Wednesday, May 24, 2017

Saturday Matinee

Recently, I went to the local cineplex to see a matinee movie. As a senior citizen at the early show, I had to pay $12 for a ticket, and a small bag of popcorn cost $6. (Apparently, adult non-matinee tickets there cost $19.) The movie wasn’t very good, and I left feeling ripped off, but this experience got me remembering going to the movies when I was a child in southern California in the 1950s. 

Once or twice a month, Dad would drive Mom, my sister, and me to the Saturday matinee at the local movie theater. (Mom wasn’t allowed to drive.) This was a super treat for us. Ticket prices were 25 cents for children, and I think about 50 cents for adults. I well remember the child ticket price, because sometimes Mom would give us each a quarter and let us purchase our own tickets. We’d feel very grown up. There was usually a fairly long line for tickets, full of parents, usually moms, and excited, chattering children. 

Once inside the air-cooled theater with its huge, shiny lobby and snack bar, we’d line up again to get popcorn, 10 cents for a cardboard box shaped like a paper bag with red and white stripes on it. Once in a long while, Mom would get us a candy bar to share. Usually that was a “Cup-O-Gold,” a round lump of deep chocolate flecked with coconut and almonds around a small white, marshmallow center. We never got drinks -- they were too expensive and there was no obsession with hydration in those days.

Inside the cool, dark theater, we lost ourselves in several hours of entertainment. It was always a double feature, with ten cartoons and a newsreel in between the two movies. We’d go to the restroom during the newsreel. Sometimes the main movie was a Disney, and the second movie was usually a Western. Our Mom would make gagging or scoffing sounds during any kissing, and sometimes she’d cover our eyes, not sure why. The frequent killing of cowboys and Indians was OK, though. We’d get very upset if a horse went down. And if a dog died -- oh, what a heartbreak was “Old Yeller.” 

We loved the cartoons best, because this was our only chance to see them. They weren’t shown on TV, and obviously there was no Cartoon Network. Disney’s were our favorites, but we also liked Bugs Bunny, Woody Woodpecker, and others. My personal favorite was Mighty Mouse, because I loved the opera music that accompanied them (did not know then that it was opera music, of course) and because I loved the idea that someone small and supposedly weak could save others (“Here he comes to save the day”). 

After all this excitement, we’d stagger out of the theater, blinking in the late afternoon sun, and Dad would be waiting to take us home in the car. How did he know when to be there? What did he do while we were gone? What could possibly be more interesting than the movies??? My guess is that he napped, but smoking, drinking, and sports on the radio or TV are possibilities.

A little research revealed that current movie prices are indeed a rip-off. Average income increased about tenfold between the 1950s and now in absolute dollars. If movie prices had increased similarly, an adult ticket now would be $5 and a small popcorn would be $1. After a good chuckle, I analyzed it a bit more. While income increased about ten times in absolute dollars, movie prices increased 24 times and popcorn 60 times. An adult movie ticket cost about 33% of the average hourly wage in the 1950s, but now it costs 135% of the average hourly wage. The change in movie prices simply reflects the general economic trend since the 1950s of the middle class losing ground in terms of purchasing power or inflation adjusted dollars, but that’s another long story. However, I think I will take this lesson seriously and stop going to the movies. After all, I still have my memories of those amazing Saturday matinees.

1 comment:

  1. Great story Judy. My parents were even more frugal. i do not even remember going as a child. But later we did do drive-in movies. My brother and I would wear our pajamas and sit in the back seat. But these were all family outings and great fun. Thank you for bringing back the memories.

    In addition, in those days, since you paid to see the movie, you were NOT insulted by several ads, which you can see on your own TV

    ReplyDelete