Breaking Into the Movies

Abstract

My memories of Hollywood films cannot be separated from the attractions that such films had for me as a young boy growing up in Smith Hill, a working-class neighborhood of Providence, Rhode Island, in the 1950s. While we had access to the small screen of black and white television, it held none of the mystery, fascination, and pleasure that we found in the five or six grand movie theaters that populated the downtown section of Providence. Every Saturday afternoon, my friends and I would walk several miles to the business district, all the while making plans to get into the theaters without having to pay. None of us could afford to buy a ticket so we had to be inventive about ways to sneak into the theaters without being caught. Sometimes we would simply wait next to the exit doors, and as soon as somebody left the theater we would rush in and bury ourselves in the plush seats, hoping that none of the ushers spotted us. We were not always so lucky. At other times, we would pool our money and have one person buy a ticket, and at the most strategic moment he would open the exit door from the inside and let us in. Generally, we would sit in the balcony so as to avoid being asked for a ticket if the ushers came along and spotted us.

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