Saturday Matinee's

GROWING UP IN ROCKVILLE

MOVIE TIME!

                I don’t remember my first movie.  I do however remember my first movie theater. It was the old Princess Theater, located on Village Street. The building still stands, only a short distance from Rockville Hospital. It wasn’t big except when it came to boyhood adventures.  

                Once I discovered movies, I became a regular. Saturday matinee at the Princess cost 10 cents. A nickel more would buy a Sugar Daddy, a delicious chunk of caramel on a stick that if opened right after the previews of next week, would last until the end of the feature film of the week.

                At the time I became a confirmed movie-goer, my weekly allowance was either a nickel or a dime. Sometimes Grandma or Gramps would slip me some coins. It was wartime and Mom would save bacon grease, which I took to a little butcher shop on the way to the theater and that would give me enough for the movie and candy.

                The movies were fabulous. Roy Rogers and Hopalong Cassidy, the Cisco Kid, Gene Autry, Red Ryder and Little Beaver, the Lone Ranger and Tonto. They wore the white hats and would triumph over the bad guys every week, never killing anyone, but shooting the bad guys guns from their hands and escorting them off to jail. There was also a weekly serial film to go with the feature and bring us back week after week to see what would happen to the Black Commando, Superman, Batman or the Green Hornet. While western films were the big game for me and my friends, every so often one of the scary movies would come to the Princess. Frankenstein, the Wolf man, the Mummy’s tomb and the Dracula films were tests of courage, especially when the walk home was after dark during the winter months.

                We cheered the guys in the white hats, booed the villains and the occasional previews that told of upcoming feature films about singing and dancing or heaven forbid “love stories”. The Princess Theater was an escape where good always triumphed over evil.

                There were two theaters in town.  The Palace Theater was located on School Street, adjacent to East School and behind the former Rockville High School. It was bigger, had nicer seats and a Saturday matinee at the Palace cost two cents more. I didn’t go there much, but did once work there for a couple of days sweeping floors in exchange for a free movie ticket. It was the favorite theater in town for the adults. I remember it drawing big crowds every night when good movies were playing.  Most of the adults in town attended the Palace.

                Television was the beginning of the end for Rockville’s movie theaters. Gramps was one of Rockville’s first TV owners. I don’t know why. He certainly wasn’t a big money guy, but he sure did fall in love with TV. The set was a 10-inch screen in a big console that also had a record player and an AM/FM radio. We picked up one clear channel from Hartford and when atmospheric conditions were right, we could also view a snowy channel from new Haven. I always got the job of running to the attic, opening the window and rotating the antenna while a relay crew from the rest of the family yelled directions until we achieved the best reception.

                When special programs happened, Gramps living room at 90 Talcott Ave. was a crowded spot.  Some of the early Joe Louis and Willie Pep championship boxing events even brought the Reverend Forrest Musser and family to the house.

                Entertainment was easy growing up in Rockville. We were good at making our own fun, whether it was shooting hoops or playing sand lot baseball and football. Then too there was the Paper Mill Pond, “the Pape” and fishing and that had a major impact on my young life. Another story for another time.

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THE RAINBOW STORE

                                GROWING UP IN ROCKVILLE!

                Hanging out at the Rainbow Store:

                Old time School Street in Rockville was a busy spot in the late 40’s and early 1950’s.  There was the firehouse and offices of the Rockville Journal.  Johnny Gessay owned the Sports Center and a package store, all in the building at the corner of School Street and Union Street. Ed Dymon owned the market and grocery store. The Backofen family had a meat market and in the same building which currently holds a vacant pizza joint, John  Idziak ran the rainbow store.  He sold cigarettes and tobacco, had a neat soda fountain counter and a soda cooler.

                Orange Ball soda sold for a nickel. A generous bag of State Line potato chips was priced the same. At the rear of the store, John had a nickel pinball machine.  John also mixed up a great Cherry Coke at the soda fountain. During the summer when we worked the tobacco fields, we all had money and found out that John could put together a great chocolate malted sundae as well.

                I don’t really know why or how, but somewhere along the line, John picked up the nickname, “Cheap John”.  I think it was maybe because he wouldn’t let us hang out inside the store unless we were eating or drinking or playing the pinball machine.

                Those of us in our early teens, adopted the place as a spot to meet, talk, sneak cigarettes  and figure out what life was all about. Bob Hanson and I were regulars. Tommy Trapp, Milton Schlipack, Eddie Oller, Bob Lukeman, Bob Rankin and Tommy Pleasa, would show up, at the store for a soda, chips, candy or ice cream. Those of us who smoked would light up. Sometimes we’d pool our money for a pack of Lucky Strikes, Camels or Old Gold’s.

                Cheap John was always friendly. When there was a big crew, we would all gather at the back of the store by the pinball machine where someone would raise the front legs of the machine onto their toes, put in a nickel and proceed to rack up a bunch of free games in a hurry. Then we would set the machine back down and take turns playing until the games were gone.

                Cheap John must have known, but the one or two times he caught us doing it, he simply kicked us out of the store for a time and a few nights later we would be back doing it again. He did get upset when we hung around outside the store.

                I only remember John calling the police on one occasion. We were standing around outside the store talking and one of the older kids from a different neighborhood showed up in a car with his girlfriend.  I remember he was a bad apple and none of us liked him much and John didn’t like him on sight. We hadn’t been talking long when John came outside and told us all that there would be no hanging around in front of the door. The kid with the car gave him some backtalk and John went back inside. A short time later a police car showed up and the cop told us to clear out. That was the end of the incident.

                That’s the only time I remember John being disagreeable. He had to be a really nice guy just to put up with us. 

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