ALL SCI-FI

[orzel-w]

This is something I would like to compare notes on. I had thus far assumed it was typical practice, but now I'm wondering if it was just the way only people in my life behaved.

This harks back to the days before multi-screen indoor theaters, when movies (often double features), cartoons, and sometimes newsreels were shown in continuous cycles; i.e., there were no breaks after one feature or short ended and the next one started or repeated. The auditoriums were not cleared between films.

I remember my parents, and my friends with whom I would often go to the movies, not paying any attention to the starting times of the films (unless it was the Saturday kiddie matinees). We would walk in at any point in the movie and sit through everything that was showing until we reached the point in the original film when we first sat down. The common expression was, "This is where we came in." I'm supposing it must have been a common practice due to the expression having been a cliche.

Does anybody else here have memories of this practice?
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...or not...

WayneO
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[Bud Brewster]

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Yep, my family did that too — and I even remember one specific movie we went to see and did exactly what you described.

The 7th Voyage of Sinbad

We walked in right at the end of the cyclop's first appearance! Furthermore, my buddy who lived across the street was just leaving with his family, (because that's where they came in), and he was all excited about the movie.

Amazing, isn't it? What the hell kinda way is that to watch a movie?
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Is there no man on Earth who has the wisdom and innocence of a child?
~ The Space Children (1958)

[Robert (Butch) Day]

It has to do with marketing styles and their changes over the years.

I will do some research and post an answer.
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Common Sense ISN'T Common

[orzel-w]

Another thought about this crossed my mind today.

Our generation was the first to be conditioned "from the ground up" to television. With TV as it was then and for a long time, you had to be in front of your set "on time" to catch an entire program if you had any hopes of seeing all of it. It wasn't until we were all grown up that TV time shifting became feasible. And by then it was too late. We were an entire generation programmed to be on time for the beginning of a program. This could be what shifted the public's expectations and the way movies were screened in theaters.
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...or not...

WayneO
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[Robert (Butch) Day]

Quite true. To the studios (except Disney) TV was the enemy. Which was strange as many of the early TV series and programs were made by the 'B' units.
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Common Sense ISN'T Common

[Rocky Jones]

[orzel-w]

[Pow]

Grew up in upstate N.Y. & we did go by the start times for the movies & always arrived prior to the feature film starting.

And we used to dress up a little for going to the movies.
No tux or anything of that caliber, but no jeans, shorts, or t-shirts.

Nice shirt, slacks, attire like that.

I recall one time going to the movies as a youngster & my pals stopped at my house since my folks were giving us a ride. I came downstairs in what I thought were okay clothes & saw that my friends were more dressed up than I was, so back upstairs I went to don "nicer clothes."

[orzel-w]

[Bud Brewster]

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In the Old Days of covered wagons, westward expansion, and prop-driven planes flown by airlines — all of which, viewed through the veil of history, now seems to have happened within a few years of each other — people dressed for airline travel in the same clothes they wore to church on Sundays.

Which was perfectly consistent with the fact that they were served a lot more than just canned sodas and peanuts on those flights!






And since my father was a mechanic for Delta Air Lines for 35 years, we flew for free — and we flew a lot. Heck, I spent more time in my church clothes while riding in airplanes than I did in church!



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Is there no man on Earth who has the wisdom and innocence of a child?
~ The Space Children (1958)

[orzel-w]

In terms of today's dollars, I wonder what an airline ticket would have cost back then? Air travel was probably more of an "event" in those days.

Getting back to my original question, I guess the Psycho restriction on late seating would have answered it. If it hadn't been a common practice, there would have been no point in imposing the restriction.

[alltare]

I remember those continuous showings — previews, cartoon, newsreel, main feature, then repeat. I distinctly recall watching TARANTULA twice in one sitting.

[Bud Brewster]

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I saw Jason and the Argonauts at a theater in 1963 with two friends — twice in one day.

It was such an exciting and memorable occasion I actually remember being extremely enthusiastic about the movie and talking to my buddies before the second viewing . . . while we were in the restroom getting rid of the soft drinks we had during the first viewing.
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Is there no man on Earth who has the wisdom and innocence of a child?
~ The Space Children (1958)

[orzel-w]

1963 was also the year Disney re-released 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea. This was the first time I saw it in a theater. That is, it was the first three times I saw it in a theater... consecutively. Unfortunately it was double-billed with Flipper. So I loitered in the lobby during subsequent showings of that movie while waiting for the repeats of 20k.
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...or not...

WayneO
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[Bud Brewster]

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Oh my God, what a coincidence! In 1963 I went to this theater —



— and watched Flipper three times in one day, but I didn't like 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea, so I waited in the lobby whenever it was being shown!

Damn, Wayne . . . we were SOOO close to meeting each other!

(I'm just joshin', of course. )
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Is there no man on Earth who has the wisdom and innocence of a child?
~ The Space Children (1958)