When I was a kid in the early 1950's, Friday night was "cowboy movie" night. One of the two movie theaters in town always showcased Roy Rogers, Gene Autry, Rockie Lane and Hopalong Cassidy in a double feature presentation. I think it cost $.25 cents for 3 hours of rock 'em, sock 'em, shoot 'em up entertainment.
My mom would always give us about $.50 total so that we had $.25 for candy and "crap". I would buy a pack of Juicy Fruit gum and slowly keep adding more sticks to my mouth until I had all the flavor sucked out of all five sticks and was chewing on the whole pack. I wonder why I have so many cavities.
And then there were the lemon drops. They lasted longer because you could suck and crunch a whole bag. More fodder for the teeth.
Occasionally we would go through a bag of popcorn. I think that was around $.10 per bag. Would you believe that I paid $5.00 for a bag at a local theater last week.
My favorite cowboy was Roy Rogers. Mostly because he wore two guns versus one. He could sing "Don't Fence Me In" and he always got Dale Evans in the end. He had a golden palamino named Trigger and a dog named Bullit. They were like friends. Roy never got shot. The bad guys actually wore black hats. Yup, and Dale Evans horse was "Buttercup". How sweet. Roy always had buddies that sang with him and they were called Sons of the Pioneers, a musical group that also sold records. I think all the buddies were perverts. They never had girlfriends and they sung in higher toned voices. The theater would come alive with cheering for the good guys and everybody went home happy.
After the movies, next door to to the movie theater was a bar and grill called the Sunnyside. They made scrumptious french fries. Remember this was 1951-1952, 4 years before McDonald's was even a chain restaurant featuring fench fries. Yup, we had french fries and malted milks. I think I exceeded the money my mom had allowed me but somehow I always had enough.
And then, I would walk two blocks to the City Club at about 10:30 PM. My mother would say "Are the movies over already?". You'd think she was trying to get rid of us.
In the early 50's we had no TV. No VCR's to run "Find Nemo". No "X-boxes" to play mind numbing games for hours on end.
So here it is. Friday night. We have cable television with over 100 different stations to view and my comment is "isn't there something good on for a change"?
Oh, I miss the good old Friday nights. Bring back Roy, Gene, Rocky and "Hoppy".
Love,
Dad