There
is only one thing that can kill the Movies, and that is education."
- Will Rogers Neon Lights & Silver Screen
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Old theaters are remarkable; why with all those neon lights and the gilded facades, the closure or condemning of this downtown buildings seem all to common - but there is the exception... |
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"There
is only one thing that can kill the Movies, and that is education."
- Will Rogers
"Neon Lights & Silver Screen" is another in the family of Stories of my Soul; and is inspired the once live or old theater that may (or may not) still be...a theater.
It seems true of most old downtowns; that at least one old theater still remains...in some form. Whether the marquee still works - or is even evident - those who have been around for some time can remember when a movie may have cost only a dime. Can you imagine a movie - or most anything - that only cost a dime.
Yet, it was so...and was the theaters that may have begun as a live theater, may still show signs of the segregated seating, and eventually transitioned to a silver screen...and then to general seating. Whatever the events that followed or the type of entertainment, neon lights made a definite attraction and addition for the downtown of any town; and to see such attractions remain, though likely without a silver screen, still reflects on the days when entertainment was limited - as was the cost of a ticket, concession, and the bus ticket to get there...if you didn't walk.
The good old days were not always good days, but neon light & silver screen suggest the possibility. With or without the building as a tangible reminder, the stories of the once-patrons of these theaters are enough to imagine that a quarter could render some good if just in the luxury of air conditioning on a hot summer's day.
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Last Edited: 07/08/2009