The Rooster Club was located in downtown Bonham. Across the street near
the post office was a movie theater. It was a single screen building
with an old fashioned marquee and was named The American. Often my
sister and I were sent there for a Saturday morning matinee. By the
time I was watching movies there, I don't think they showed first run
movies. I only remember specifically seeing Snow White and Bambi at
the theater. The tickets were a dollar each and the popcorn was hot
and the butter was immaculate. The velvet curtains were wrinkled perfect
and framed the huge screen beautifully. The speakers popped and
there were more than a couple scratches and burns on the film. I'm sure these
reels were 50 years old. Who knows how many brain wraps they suffered?
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| The American. 1990 http://cinematreasures.org/theaters/22602 |
To
see new movies, Dad and sometimes Mom would drive us half an hour
away to Sherman Texas. They had a theater with multiple screens, so
there were options. We didn't usually have popcorn or candy or soda
there. That was expensive. After the show we'd swing by the
McDonald's at K-Mart or the Taco Mayo (a regional Taco Bell clone).
I remember seeing Milo and Otis, Turner and Hooch, Willow, Father of
the Bride, Batman, The Freshman, Oscar, Sister Act, Honey I Shrunk the
Kids, Back to the Future 2 and Joe Versus the Volcano.
It
wasn't just kid's movies we watched. Dad let us watch “his movies”
too. We saw Rated R movies like The Rookie, Phantom of the Opera,
Lord of the Flies, The First Power, The Hand that Rocks the Cradle,
Unlawful Entry, Cliffhanger, Total Recall and Terminator 2. I almost
saw Freddie's Dead but they were out of the 3D glasses that the movie
previews on TV promised so I doubled back and movie hopped into
Terminator 2 with my Dad and sister.
We
didn't do a ton of stuff as a family but going to the movies was one
of them. Always my Dad, sister and me. And if my mom was off of
work, she'd join us. Until my brother was born. Then she was stuck
at home watching the little rugrat. Sitting in the dark, eyes glued
to the silver screen and experiencing the same stuff for the first
time in unison. We did it together. I loved it.
It
was always dark on our drive home. US Highway 82 was years from
being built so we took State Highway 56 eastbound. I never fell
asleep. It's usually impossible for me to sleep in a car or even a
plane. Country music hits like “Deeper than the Holler” by Randy
Travis, “I Sang Dixie” by Dwight Yoakam or Clint Black's “A
Better Man” were the soundtrack as I gazed out the window of the
backseat in my Dad's 2 door silver Firebird. I'd stare at the clouds
passing over the moon and imagined there was a highway connecting the
continental US to Europe and we were driving to Germany to see my Oma
and Opa. If I tried real hard I would actually believe it during
that 30 minute drive that seemed to last hours. Sometimes I'd count
the reflector guide posts on the side of the highway. It was just
something to do because I couldn't sleep. I didn't know what they
were, they just fascinated me.
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| Sometimes I would just count the reflector guide posts as we drove home. |
I
almost liked the car ride as much as the movie. The radio was on but
was background music, not loud. Not obstructing the atmosphere. I
love the sound of driving, it's soothing like rain on a tin roof. To
me it's beautiful ambient noise. My imagination or counting combined
with auditory splendor fused into blissful serenity. Whatever
problems I had were dissolved. All that was relevant was the night
and the comfort procured by my sensate mobile solitude. I was alone
yet in the presence of my sister and father. I was comfortable.
By
the time I was in middle school The American had been condemned. By
the time I graduated college it had collapsed, sending bricks into
the streets of downtown. It was gone like another ancient downtown
building, Bewley's Five and Dime, which would burn down a few years
later.
 |
| Bewley's Five and Dime. 2003 https://www.pinterest.com/pin/556124253961552172/?lp=true |
While I was in high school, a new theater opened in Bonham.
My longtime friend Nick worked there a couple years. It was the
Majestic 6. I'd watch Apollo 13 and the horrible movie Congo back-to-back with my best friend Bryce. When Lucasfilm released the
Star Wars Special Edition movies I'd take my little brother to see
all of them. Just a few years ago I took my two nephews to see the
cartoon movie TMNT as well. I went with my wife and sister and her
husband to witness horror movie event of the summer of 2003 Freddy
vs. Jason. Oh my gosh I loved Freddy and Jason movies ten years
before, it was a dream come true.
Because I was older and could see things clearer, it didn't have the same aura or carry the same
magnitude as The American or the theater in Sherman. But I'm sure it
represented something just as salient to somebody younger than
myself.
I
will always love the movies. I spent three years working at Commerce
Cineplex in college. I'd meet my wife at a movie theater in 2006.
It is true that you can nearly recreate the experience in your home
now, but nothing will ever top attending a show in person with those
you love as well as complete strangers. Or the smell of theater
popcorn, even if it's from somebody else's tub.
###
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| Dad and Me. July 1982. |
If I had to pick a single song for the soundtrack of this post it would be...
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