Yesteryear Local Entertainment - Time Out #224

As 2019 draws to its conclusion, be sure to make all those important resolutions, and, of course, happy 2020 to you and yours, from our family to yours!

Growing up in Our Town during the simpler and gentler times of the 1950's/60's, I spent so many hours enjoying the dark recesses of our local movie houses. Remember, dear souls, during these earlier times, our televisions had only black and white pictures, and very limited broadcast choices on the CBS, NBC, ABC and PBS networks. Living in Stillwater. unless your home was positioned on a high-elevation location, too, your tv was unable to get any adequate Tulsa station channel signals, only Oklahoma City. And, unless you enjoyed the television screen total snow pattern, there was nothing to watch after midnight when the OKC stations signed off their normal broadcast day. Late viewers did get to hear our Star Spangled Banner song just before the screen went to snow (white) each evening.

Thus, going to the movies was almost an entertainment necessity for my buddies and me. We would meet up on location, either arriving via our parents taking us, talking an older sibling who had their driver's license to take us, or riding our trusty bicycles to the movies. When our family first arrived in Our Town in the early 1950's, the theater choices were several downtown; the Crest, Mecca, Aggie and Leachman. At the corner of College (later renamed University) Avenue and South Knoblock Street, was the small Campus Theater, a unique place that had a limited audience. With our theater variety, which one to choose was sometimes a good dilemma for young lads like me? Price wasn't usually a major stumbling block, since during my youth, I vividly remember a dime (as in 10-cents) admissions as a single-digit age kid, slowly advancing to a quarter, and then even to 50-cents before I grew too tall to get in for the children's rate. I also usually arrived on site somewhat hungry, too, but, with popcorn for a nickel, a small fountain soda or candy for a dime each, my valuable pocket change went quite a long way to satisfy my ever-present snacking needs. Double feature films were always highly-sought after by me, especially in the heat of Stillwater's summer time. Of course, the principal reason for this were the theaters' wonderful "Refrigerated Air" inside, that I absolutely cherished for those few hours. I thoroughly enjoyed those cool conditions, while viewing the current newsreels, coming attractions, and, of course, feature presentations. All was made much better, I might add, with the previously mentioned tasty snacks I constantly consumed, lounging comfortably in my chosen seat!

So, what do I remember about each theater? For the older Crest and Mecca movies, I really enjoyed the Saturday morning double-feature cartoon flicks, or the regular, old-fashion westerns. On those weekend mornings, these places would have many children in their audiences, laughing or cheering (for the good guys), while munching on our delicious treats.

Just a short distance north up South Main Street, I remember the beautiful Aggie Theater, with it's large refreshment area just inside the main entrance doors. The Aggie usually featured more older audience films. I remember seeing the classic Ben Hur in 1959, and felt like I was part of the epic chariot race, while sitting in the memorable Aggie.

Continuing to move on north up the street a couple of blocks, but crossing over to the west side of South Main Street was (and still is the original structure's outside shell), the huge Leachman Theater. Oh, my, what a dark, cool place to escape many, many times during my youth years. It offered a large lobby inside the lovely, clear glass entry doors, behind the famous ticket booth, a big refreshment area, a sit-down carpeted lounge area with nice adjacent restrooms, an expansive balcony, and a huge lower-level seating area. The most unique thing about this particular movie icon, however, was the Cry Room, located at the back of the north side. In this special room, parents could bring their infant children with them to the theater. It was soundproof, so if their babies began crying/screaming, the loud noise would not bother any patrons in the main theater seating area outside. I also recall the large velvet curtains at the front of the theater on the elevated stage, and how the curtains would magically separate or come together, depending whether the movie was beginning or ending. That was entertainment at its finest for the day in Our Town, dear folks!

Lastly, for the indoor theaters (excluding the legendary Moonlight Drive-In, located near the north end of Main Street, and next to Louie's Club 40) was the small Campus Theater named earlier. I really enjoyed this cozy gathering place, with it's tiny refreshment stand and limited seating area. Not only did it usually feature the same type of youth films the Crest and Mecca showed downtown, but the Campus was adjacent to College Drug. This large store had many pinball machines, where I wagered most of my youth nickels I earned or found (?). The Campus was also the closest theater to our home, so it didn't take me long to get there by pedaling my 20" Colson bicycle as fast as I could down tree-laden West Fourth Avenue.

Wow, just writing about these wonderful theaters of times past, makes me very nostalgic. However, these boyhood movie-going memories will always be alive in my mind's eye!