(Remembering life as a boy in Lewisburg, WV, an amazing town and an amazing time to live)
There was just one movie theater in Lewisburg when I moved from Beckley – the Court Theater. It was located, naturally, on Court Street, about a half block from Washington Street, the main thoroughfare through town. The Court Theater served as a major hub of social activity for young and old alike. If there was a decent movie playing, we went.
The admission to the Court Theater back in the fifties was a quarter if you were under 16. Cokes and popcorn were a dime each, so in effect, you could go to the movies, have a Coke and a box of popcorn for less than 50 cents. Today, it costs 50 cents if you just add butter to your popcorn. Times have changed.
The first time I went to the Court Theater, I noticed a small tear on the bottom right of the screen. I don’t know how it came to be, but it remained there as long as I can remember. It bothered me at first, but eventually you never noticed the rip was there.
One of the most enjoyable parts of going to a movie in those days was the cartoon, which played right before the feature. Characters like Elmer Fudd, Mr. Magoo, Tweety Bird, Sylvester the Cat and Popeye the Sailor kept us thoroughly entertained. Often the cartoons were better than the movie itself, but three movies that played at the Court Theater stand out in my memory to this day. They were Rebel Without A Cause, Mr. Roberts and The Invasion of the Body Snatchers.
Rebel Without A Cause, starring James Dean, Sal Mineo and Natalie Wood, was one of the first movies I attended in Lewisburg. The car race scene when James Dean jumped out but the other boy was trapped in his car before they plunged over the cliff was startling. We were all on the edges of our seats. Rebel Without A cause was the crown jewel in James Dean’s movie career, cut far too short by his early death
The second movie, perhaps my favorite of all time, was Mr. Roberts. My neighbor and buddy, Brad Stuart and I went to that movie on a Friday night with only a handful of others in the theater. Jack Lemon, as Ensign Pulver, was hilarious and James Cagney nailed the role of the tyrannical Capt. Norton, but Henry Fonda, as Mr. Roberts, was remarkable. Brad and I never expected the ending, when the crew read Mr. Roberts’ last letter, then found that he had been killed in action aboard the USS Livingston during the Battle of Okinawa.
When Jack Lemmon stormed up to the Captain’s room and tossed the infamous palm tree overboard, it helped a little. But we both left with tears in our eyes. Mr. Roberts was nominated that year for three Academy Awards and Jack Lemmon won the award for Best Supporting Actor.
The third film that stood out was the most frightening movie I have ever seen. It was the original version of The Invasion of the Body Snatchers. Bill Shaver, Dave Gladwell and I attended and it was so scary, Shaver left halfway trough the movie. By the end, when all the local townsfolk had been swallowed up by alien pods, Dave and I had squeezed so far down in our seats, just our eyeballs were visible.
There were many other great movies back then, but those three in particular – and the old Court Theater – I’ll never forget.