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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