Movies

As a child growing up in New York City, Carol frequented the downtown movie theater with her two siblings. The movie theater was on Dyckman Street right next to a grocery store with fresh produce. Carol and her two siblings would often times steal some sort of produce and run into the movie theater. "We didn't count it as stealing back then. We were kids," said Carol. She also recalled that Dyckman Theatre was much bigger than theaters today because it only had one large screen. The theater had almost 1500 seats. 

This is the movie theater Carol frequented as a child.
Her siblings would steal produce from the grocery store to the right of the theater.
http://cinematreasures.org/theaters/27049/photos/34791

Back then, it only cost Carol five or ten cents to see two movies back-to-back. Compared to the price of seeing a movie today, I definitely would have gone to the movies constantly if movies were that cheap. Carol and her siblings always went to see matinees. As kids, they were not allowed to see evening shows. There were no movies that her parents forbade them to see. The only things that would have stopped them from seeing a movie were if they did not have the money or if the movie was an evening show. Going to the movies for Carol was for pure enjoyment. Any time that Carol had money, which was seldom, she spent it on black licorice. Even today, black licorice is her go-to movie concession snack.

Movies never played a role in Carol's courtship and friendships. When she lived in New York, she only saw movies with her older brother and younger sister. None of them ever went alone. This was a way for them to keep out of harm's way. Even later in life, Carol did not go to the movies with her friends or with dates. She never went to the movies with her late husband until after they were married.

Aside from movie theaters, Carol did experience drive-in movies. However, it wasn't until she had moved to Missouri that she actually went to a drive-in movie, putting her around the age of thirty. At this time, she had her own family along with her. They would park their car somewhere in the middle of the drive-in. She and her husband brought lounge chairs to sit outside in, blankets for the kids to sit on the ground, and their own snacks and refreshments.

Carol has a broad variety of movie genres that she thoroughly enjoys. Her interests include musicals, westerns, action, and comedies. Her favorite musicals are "Seven Brides for Seven Brothers" and "Showboat." William Warfield singing "Ol' Man River" really stood out to her in "Showboat." She said, "I could listen to him sing that song all day long. No one can sing it like him." As for action, she liked the "The French Connection" because it was different from other movies she had seen. It was the first movie with profanity. Lastly, her favorite comedy was the "Long, Long Trailer," which featured Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz.

One of Carol's favorite musicals.
http://jacketmagazine.com/11/seven-brides-info.html

Growing up, I always remembered Carol having lots of John Wayne western movies. In fact, my older brothers enjoyed watching those movies with her. When it came to westerns, John Wayne was her absolute favorite. She has quite a few of his movies stored in her basement. In fact, she once went on vacation with her late husband and friends in which they passed through Monument Valley. She told everyone that they would have to stop and spend a few days there because she had to see where John Wayne filmed most of his movies. While she stood there looking out at Monument Valley, she could almost see the Indians, John Wayne, and the cavalry. "Imagination is really good, and I got it!"

Here are some John Wayne movies from Carol's collection.
This is a personal photograph I took. 

Here are more movies from Carol's collection.
This is a personal photograph I took.

As for the influential qualities of films, Carol has never felt that a film has been influential in her life. She has definitely enjoyed films, but they have not changed her. The only thing close to influential she could think of were the newsreels shown before each movie. This was how Carol got her news about what was going on in the world during World War II. "I hated seeing the killing. Even today I hate killing."

In regards to convergence, Carol has little experience. She has never rented a movie before. She has only ever watched movies in a theater or on television. "I guess I had better things to do in life than rent movies," she laughed. Just as with t.v. shows, Carol does not watch movies online. That is too complicated for her. It seems as though media convergence with movies is something that Carol will not dabble too much into.