by =Tamar » Sun Mar 31, 2013 11:54 pm
It all depends on your individual experience. The theater I went to when I was a kid still had a real stage and a heavy velvet curtain that was pulled back to show the screen. There were special boxes near the stage where (theoretically) people could sit if they paid extra (nobody was ever allowed to use them, I think for safety reasons). There were guide ropes of red velvet with brass trim. If there was a big crowd, they would open the balcony. The ceiling was painted with Greek gods and goddesses and had little Cupid-cherubs molded in low relief, so we had something to look at while waiting for the show to start (this was long before they ran ads). Ushers and ticket takers wore special uniforms. There were two movies for a single price, and sometimes cartoons or special "short subjects" between them. Once in a while the owner would show movies from the 1920s and 1930s - I saw Charlie Chaplin, Laurel and Hardy, W. C. Fields, King Kong - I even saw some WWII cartoons and newsreels on the big screen. We didn't have a television; the movies was the only place where I saw cartoons, and they were the ones that were made on film and intended to be seen in the theater. Moving Pictures is a total nostalgia trip for me. Young theater buffs may see all the films, but there is an aspect to the total experience that is very hard to find now.