KIDDIE MATINEES THAT WEREN’T FOR KIDDIES Part 1

Posted by morlockjeff on January 27, 2007

something of value
Back in the fifties and sixties it wasn’t uncommon for neighborhood theatres – at least in the South – to run a series of kiddie matinees on Saturday mornings, usually during the early part of summer when school ended. The neighborhood kids would pile into a car and some parent would drop them off at the theatre and come pick them up two hours later, after which you’d go to the pool or play softball or hang out at a friend’s house. Some of my earliest movie memories are from this time. And of course the ones that REALLY stand out are the ones that weren’t actually for kiddies.

Usually the kiddie show was a Walt Disney feature or a comparable children’s film involving animals or fairy tale/fantasy films (Sinbad) or family-friendly adventures (Zorro, Robin Hood) or juvenile comedies (anything starring The Three Stooges or Jerry Lewis). But for some reason in the summer of 1957, we ended up being dropped off for a 10 am screening of Something of Value starring Rock Hudson and Sidney Poitier. Maybe it wasn’t really a kiddie matinee and some parent screwed up and dumped us off anyway. Maybe the theatre manager hadn’t seen it and thought it was a jungle adventure. At any rate, a bunch of kids under the age of eight – I was six at the time – thought they were going to see an African safari film as in – you know – Tarzan. WRONG! Instead, we got a movie based on Robert Ruark’s bestseller about the Mau Mau uprisings in Kenya that began in 1952 (and didn’t end until 1960). What I remember about the movie are two scenes which must have shocked me to my core because they’ve stayed with me for years. I’m not even sure we stayed to see the whole movie since I do recall one of the neighborhood kids fleeing to the lobby and refusing to return after the first horrific scene. And that scene would be when the Mau Mau warriors, armed with machetes, descend on the home of an unsuspecting English family in the dark of night. It produced a feeling in the pit of my stomach I hadn’t experienced before at the movies – a mixture of extreme dread and genuine fear. Frankenstein, Dracula and the Wolf Man all rolled into one were nuthin’ compared to this, baby!

The other scene I recall was disturbing in a way I couldn’t name at the time. Mau Mau members and sympathizers were crowded into a makeshift prison camp by the British colonialists and at one point, one of the prisoners was attacked and seemingly crushed against the wire fence by his own people. Our tiny minds couldn’t process most of this but what we were witnessing was a turncoat prisoner being punished for his betrayal. Living in pre-Civil Rights Memphis in 1957, my white middle-class awareness of African-Americans was extremely limited; one of my few connections was a shy but formidable cleaning woman who would come in once a week to help my mother. After the Something of Value experience, I couldn’t help wondering what was really going on behind that sweet, smiling face. I also began to realize without being able to articulate it at the time the importance of skin color and how it could determine one’s path in life.

7 Comments |

submit

7 Responses KIDDIE MATINEES THAT WEREN’T FOR KIDDIES Part 1

Posted By HelenBaby : January 27, 2007 1:30 pm

I know exactly what you mean. I wasn't going to films by myself as early as 1957 (I would have been 4 years old) but I do remember seeing Your Cheatin' Heart (Hank Williams Sr. biography) and Bunny Lake Is Missing in the early 1960's on the random Saturday. I distinctly remember watching Heart a couple of times that day because I was so affected by the ending. Bunny Lake? I didn't get it and didn't remember much about it however watching is as an adult, I liked it okay–not great but not bad either. Still love Your Cheatin' Heart after all these years though and will watch it just about anytime it comes on. I mainly remember seeing those Billy the Kid Vs. Dracula or some such nonsense, even though I hated those types of films. I just loved going to the movies. Mostly, I loved the Ray Harryhausen movies even though those monsters scared me to death. LOL.

Posted By RHS : January 27, 2007 4:01 pm

Did anyone watch the movies that they showed as matinees? Of course, Roger Ebert's retelling of his catching Night of the Living Dead (1968) as a kiddie matiness is legendary but I had the same reaction to the western Chuka (1967) with Rod Taylor (which I've long suspected to be a partial inspiration for Night); the film concludes with a protrated Indian massacre that goes into the dawn… and no one gets out alive! (Well, maybe Luciana Paluzzi.) Robert Aldrich's Ulzana's Raid (1972) is even more unsparing. And if you were a John Wayne fan, you ran to catch The Cowboys (1972)… and see the Duke take a slug right in the back! Good times.

Posted By SaxNoir : January 27, 2007 8:52 pm

I had one crazy experience that fits this discussion. Our tiny local theater had Saturday triple feature matinees geared to the ten-18 year-olds. One of the very first weekends I got to meet some buddies there for the show was the most memorable movie experience I had until I was in college. My Dad always watched the marquee to see what was coming up each week. This particular weekend I looked forward to whetting my horror film appetite (I was a Famous Monsters of Filmland collector from the age of six) and seeing my first Hammer horror triple feature. I thought. The first film is still one of my favorites – Oliver Reed in Curse of the Werewolf. That turned out to be the only Hammer film. The third flick is still also a favorite, only of the cheezy variety – Eric Fleming in Curse of the Undead. The middle film and the name of its creator would be forever burned in my mind. It was, believe it or not, Herscehell Gordon Lewis’ Blood Feast! Poor Mr. Nichols, the owner, ran himself silly going up and down the aisles shushing us as we chattered between every bloody scene. I don’t know if he ever realized what he was showing, but I can’t remember another film like it up until the place closed when I was in high school in the mid- seventies. My friends and I made a pact to keep silent or we knew our parents would never let us go back alone again if they knew what we had watched. The theater did manage to show every Hammer film made up to the time it closed, some of which could push the envelope with blood and bare flesh, but nothing like that memorable Saturday. One of my other favorite weekends was spent watching Walking Tall, Legend of Boggy Creek, and Charlie Varrick. How’s that for a combination? By that time buddies had been replaced by girlfriends anyway.

Posted By Richard A. Ekstedt : January 28, 2007 1:13 pm

Boy Oh Boy! Do I ever recall Kiddie Matinees of a hard edge varity.Before being sold to television (and those screened were usually edited), the HAMMER FILM package was a steady staple at the old Lane Theatre in New Dorp, Staten Island NY. Blood-Gore-cute woman-parents had no idea what they were letting their kids see and in the case of being a horror film buff with a chance to see a Hammer Film on the big screen-uncut- "Hey! Ignorance Is Bliss!"

Posted By Medusa : January 28, 2007 4:11 pm

Wow! I wish I had experienced a terrifying matinee like that one with the Mau Maus! I think the movie that scared/creeped me out the most was when I saw The Incredible Mr. Limpet at a matinee. The otherwise adorable and entertaining film contained a fairly squirmy animated romantic song sequence with the title character getting ready to spawn with the voluptuous and more than a little horny Ladyfish, with lyrics that hinted (though I probably didn't really totally understand it at the time) at climax and afterglow and all the icky stuff that no kid wants to contemplate. I just wanted Mr. Limpet to get back to arguing with Crusty the Crab and forget that mushy stuff. I think I would have preferred the slaughter!

Posted By bob pounders : January 28, 2007 11:58 pm

time machine is one of my favorite films…looking for a movie called an act of murder…i can't seem to find it on any media i.e. vhs dvd lazer…can someone help and can turner classics get the print or is the print even still good…thx bob

Posted By wallylou : February 2, 2007 10:33 am

The old serials were the best reason to go to the "show."Wish TCM would purchse some to show. e.g.: "Fighting Devil dogs""Mysterious Dr. Satan" and "Spy Smasher"Come on, you can get them!

MovieMorlocks.com is the official blog for TCM. No topic is too obscure or niche to be excluded from our film discussions. And we welcome your comments on our blogs and bloggers.