Tuesday free movie

Many of my fellow senior friends tell me how much they enjoy the memories of our youthful days from Nevada’s past. In a recent discussion I was asked if I could remember the free summertime movies at the Fox Theater. These are the recollections I have from that time.

The movies were made available by the Maxwell family. They owned two grocery stores in Nevada. The original store was located on Atlantic Street, just west of the intersection with Washington Street. Besides groceries, that store provided meat butchering, packaging and locker rental service. In the days before our family had our own deep freeze I remember my parents stopping there to pickup meat from our locker.

The larger newer store was the one located at the southeast corner of Hickory and Osage. The building is still there but it now hosts an auto parts business. When it was initially opened it was the very first supermarket of its kind in Nevada. By today’s standards it was not a huge facility but in that era, it was by far the largest grocery store in the area.

One note about that building and the Maxwell family. During the mid 70s, when I was daily commuting to Missouri Southern, I worked several nights and weekends there. It had changed hands from Maxwell’s to new ownership by a chain of stores known as “Thriftway.” My bosses there were Jerry Brendlinger and Dave Miller.

During the transition from Maxwell’s to Thriftway, Mr. Cecil Maxwell and his wife both worked part time during the changeover period. Mrs. Maxwell once told me that try as she might to get her husband to enjoy retirement he still missed working at the store. It was a testament to all the Maxwells. Their legacy in the grocery business was a family affair.

I am unsure who came up with the idea of a free movie but in the early 60s it was a regular Tuesday afternoon event. The process began with grocery purchases from either Maxwell store. On this subject, my memory is a bit vague. I think that you were allowed to enter the free movie by presenting grocery register tapes that totaled $20. That figure may not be correct but I am sure some of my readers will be able to confirm.

I am also uncertain if any kid was denied entrance to the Tuesday movie for not having a register tape. In those days, $20 could easily fill a grocery basket. If families had more than one kid it might be difficult to have secured enough purchases that week. It is my suspicion that no kid was ever turned away from the movie.

I am going to guess that the Fox Theater probably held about 500 people. The seats were big enough that some of the little ones could easily share a seat if need be. In the middle of the summer it was a welcome respite in the air-conditioned theater.

Some kids were dropped off by their mothers but the majority either walked or rode bikes to the theater. Numerous bike racks were located nearby the theater. A note here about those bikes: I wrote about the bike racks of Nevada from that period many years ago in a column. While there was crime even in that era of our town, bike theft was not often an issue. All our friends knew each other’s bicycles by sight and a stolen bicycle was easily identified.

Once all the kids were inside the theater, Mr. (Fryer or Frier — I am not sure of the spelling) the theater owner would come out and welcome all the kids. He would remind us that we needed to behave ourselves and this was certainly a possible issue, since there were no parents around. On a few occasions he would actually stop the movie and come out to tell us that if we didn’t settle down the movie would end and we would all be sent home. By and large his brand of discipline worked.

Most of us had enough change with us to buy some popcorn and a drink. Some kids preferred the different candy selections but families just didn’t have the extra cash for many extras beyond the basics.

The movies in those days always began with a cartoon. I wish it were still that way at the theaters today. I really don’t enjoy sitting through 15 minutes of previews and advertisements. Give me Bugs Bunny, Porky the Pig, Foghorn Leghorn or the Roadrunner, please!

I doubt that the Maxwell’s had to pay a huge price for the movie. They were mostly older movies, not current releases. The theater made a lot of its profit off the sale of the refreshments, as they still do today.

Watching a movie with nearly 500 other kids was quite an experience. As with so many of the youth activities of that time we really enjoyed spending time together without the hovering of our parents. That is something that has really changed over the years.

In today’s world, kids are rarely left to their own devices. Everything is organized and controlled by the parents, coaches and teachers. If you ask me that is a practice we truly miss. Just being a kid, hanging out with your friends, doing all those simple things that only adolescents do, was a tremendous way to grow up in a small town.

One final note about the free movie. Most of the kids sat in segregated boy/girl sections. This was not a requirement, it just happened. In a few years that would all change. Once we grew to be teens, gong to a movie with your date was the “in thing!”

In your teenage years it was no longer a Maxwell Supermarket free movie but was there ever a better way to enjoy a date, than at the theater? Holding hands buttery from popcorn or maybe even getting your first kiss that made those date movies something to remember.