On The Way

By Olivia Fowler

Olivia Fowler

As children we’d often go to the movies on Saturday mornings while Mama ran errands and bought groceries. We lived 10 miles from town, so going to town for supplies was a pretty big deal. We didn’t refer to it as going to the movies.

Mama would say, “Would you like to go to the show?” And of course, we always did.

There were two movie theaters in town, the Gibson and the Centre. Movies stayed on sometimes for several weeks until everybody in the county had an opportunity to go.

This was at a time when Saturday morning movies began at 10, and there would usually be a double feature. The Lone Ranger and Tonto were very popular, as were Davy Crockett and Tarzan.

Mama thought snacks bought at the show were way too expensive. After all, you could get a ticket for 15 cents.

So after the car was parked we’d go into the bakery and buy a cream horn or a Long John, then stop in the Legion Drug Store on the corner of Main Street and buy a fountain drink. You could get a cherry smash for a nickel.

So the entire outing would cost a quarter. Keep in mind that at this time a gallon of gas cost about 20 cents.

We’d stand in line with Mama and buy our tickets. Then we’d go inside while she left to do all the myriad of tasks that fell to her lot.

Nobody stopped us and told us we weren’t allowed to take our snacks in with us. And we would have been astonished if that had happened.

Although some Saturdays only Matt and I attended, sometimes we’d have our cousins with us. This was a lot of fun.

.I’ll never forget the Tarzan movie that shocked us all to the core. It was a black and white film, and I don’t remember who was playing the part of Tarzan. It could have been Johnny Weissmuller, the great Olympic swimmer.

Anyway, the scene in the movie that caused such a stir involved Tarzan and Jane. Jane was either asleep or unconscious, lying on the bank of a stream. Tarzan came across her and dipped water from the stream and touched her leg.

We were so shocked we didn’t know what to think.

On the way home we all discussed it. It was not considered appropriate behavior on Tarzan’s part, and we had no idea why this scene had been included in the script.

Of course we’d never given any thought to Tarzan and Jane’s somewhat peculiar relationship.

They were living together in the trees and traveled by vine.

We didn’t know whether or not they were married. It never crossed our minds. And then Tarzan had a somewhat limited vocabulary, so he seldom explained anything.

He could call jungle animals to his assistance whenever needed with his special call.

The elephants, lions and apes would hurry to him and do his bidding.

This usually meant trampling the rogues who were up to no good. He’d rescue Jane whenever necessary, and his adventures always ended on a happy note.

This was important and one of the reasons I have found current movies so frustrating to watch. Too many times we’ve been left hanging with too many unanswered questions.

I like a positive outcome, with good triumphing over evil. That’s the kind of entertainment worth paying to see. Otherwise I’m better off at home doing something constructive.