Wilson and El Patio Theatres and Dracula

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Leep
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Joined: Sat Dec 31, 2005 3:32 am
If Mike has 13 apples, and gives six to Jane, how many does he have left?: 13
Location: Butte, Mt.

Wilson and El Patio Theatres and Dracula

Post by Leep »

There were two movie houses in our town when I was
small, and they stood beside one another. This fateful
night there were two nine year old children, myself
and kate, standing side by side straining towards the
right while the dreaded baby sitter, holding me by the
arm was straining harder to drag us to the movie house
on the left. "Hey, I yelled, Mom said you were
supposed to take us to the Jerry Lewis double feature"
:Shut up before I smack you,. we're going to see this
one." I was a child with a mouth on me and never had
sense enough to know when to shut up. I looked warily
at the other movie house, The Wilson Theatre, And
looked longingly at the other, The El Patio. It even
looked nicer with posters behind the clear glass
showing Jerry Lewis hanging onto a ladder with a
bucket of paint tipping off the top rung. But , it was
not to be. Sue, the hated baby sitter had spoken. With
a strength that of a Hercules, or at least of one
stronger than two little 9 year olds, she dragged our
unwilling bodies inexoribly towards the left. I looked
over at Kate, hating her almost as much as her big
sister, she never complained at whatever Sue decided
to do.

There was an eerie red light seeping from under the
doors at the front of the theatre, and the guy selling
the tickets looked at us with lopsided leer on his
mug. One eye on us and the other on Sue. I could never
understand why all the guys almost fell over them
selves being nice to her, if they knew her like I did
, they would have avoided her like the plague. Of
course, about 5 years later I noticed that something
had changed about her, and definitely for the better.
She was still my babysitter, but I sure didn't mind
anymore. I'm not sure what changed about her, but I
liked it. Ahem, back to the story.

This night though was different, very different, and
was due to change me in a way that I would not recover
from for some time. I noticed that the Marqee read,
"Playing tonight, Dracula" What the h*ll was a
Dracula, I wondered. I was soon to find out, to my
eternal horror, well maybe not horror, but it wasn't
one of my better nights. Sue continued to drag us
towards the doors and then, we were inside. The gaunt
gentleman that took your ticket and tore it in half
had an eerie resemblance to Boris Karloff. Course I
didn't find out who he was till later, but he sure was
spooky looking .But, when you're nine and possessed
with the imagination I was, it didn't take much to set
it in gear. As I said Sue was jerking my unwilling
body along while Kate went along with no trouble, dang
traitor, well what did i expect, she was a dang girl
too, and Sue's little sister. As we neared the
concession stand, Sue slapped me alongside the head
and warned me in no uncertain terms to not move from
this spot till I get back or I'll kill you , you
little red headed son -of a beech. Another trip to the
bathroom, what was it with women? There were a few
guys standing around, some with their own girlfriends,
and all the guys were looking either openly or
covertly at her, depending on whether they had a girl
in tow at the time.

I couldn't resist. I hollered, making sure all could
hear, "Hey, don't go stealing those white things out
of the bathroom and putting them under your arms for
deodorant pads again , either." The glee I felt lasted
only as long as it took for the beam of pure venom to
strike me senseless. I did notice, however that the
girls there found it hilarious, while the guys shot me
the same look and muttered under their breaths
something about drowning them when they were born. I'm
not sure what they were talking about.

All too soon, there she was, looking to see if anyone
was watching, then grabbing my arm and hissing, "I'm
gonna kill you when this is over." Humphh, I hadn't
heard that before, only about a dozen times a day.

Suddenly we were in the movie proper and I looked all
around me at the people who were there. "Hey I said,
there ain't no other kids here, what kind of movie is
this anyhow." The shhss that erupted from both aisles
won me another smack on the head and approving nods
from all within hearing distance. I wanted to sit in
the back, but no- the wicked witch of the east had
other plans. "We'll sit in the middle close to the
front, I'm looking for somebody." "Ah , what the h*ll,
It's where i usually sit anyway" See, I could think
words like that and even say them when no one was
around, but watch out if you forgot and said them in
mixed company, namely parents, adults, or a rotten
babysitter.

Well there we were then, finally in our seats, and it
might not be too bad, there was a cartoon playing,
Bugs Bunny, and I liked Bugs. He was a rabbit after my
own heart.

But all too soon, that ended and next on the screen
was an image of a castle in the night, rain pouring
down relentlessly, and what was this? A carriage ,
being pulled by four black horses. It was kind of
interesting but for the music, ah yes, the music. You
can always tell about a movie by the music, and this
wasn't good, no not at all, .Scary, spooky music. The
driver was whipping the horses and they were running
full out , with nostrils flaring and manes streaming
back in the downpour. Suddenly, they were racing into
a courtyard through huge wooden gates. I looked around
fearfully at the others i could see in the dark. All
were nonchalantly watching, save for a couple who were
leaning forward in breathless anticipation.

Lightning flashed and thunder roared and clashed all
around us. The horses came to a stop finally and a man
all in black opened the door of the carriage and,
carrying a black valise, strode purposely toward the
entrance to the castle. The lightning flashed
continuously , showing his figure as a flickering
strobe as he finally entered the castle. Candles
burned brightly from the chandeleirs that hung from
the cavernous room. The man took off his wet slicker
and walked quietly, but quickly up the winding
stairway, to what? I knew not, but it couldn't be
good.
Then, the picture changed suddenly to a young,
beautiful woman rocking in her chair before a
fireplace. A large fireplace that held a bright,
crackling fire. But , i instinctively knew that
whatever heat was pouring out of that fireplace would
never be enough to warm that room. The rocker made
quiet creaking sounds as she rocked back and forth,
back and forth.

I sat stiff as a board, almost frozen with dread and ,
yes, not a little anticipation. "What was happening",
I thought, but perhaps a better question was, "what
was going to happen?" Suddenly, the doorknob on the
outside of the room turned slowly, as a hand enclosed
in a black leather glove twisted the brass knob. But ,
wait, the knob turned only slightly and then met stiff
resisteence. Aha, I thought, you won't get in there ,
you d*mn vampire. I forgot to say that I was pretty
sure what Dracula was, because his Dang picture was
pasted all over the dang movie house, inside and
outside. With pretty women standing around with blood
running down their throats.
I glanced over at Kate to see if she was in mortal
dread at this latest discovery. No, she was sitting
there eating juicy fruits and looking around with
interest at the balcony behind her. Dumb ol' girl.

Well, back to the story: The beautiful girl stiffened
for a second and the rocker stopped as she bent
forward listening for the sound that had risen over
the soothing sounds the rocker was making. The hand
was still trying to turn the doorknob, now giving it a
little shake too. "Keep Quiet, I thought, maybe he'll
go away." Nope: She looked at the door and with fear
dripping from her voice, asked shakily, "Who's out
there?" The music took a sudden turn in pitch and
volume: Suddenly, a black shape came hurtling out of
the fire in the fireplace. What the h*ll is it, I
thought, my mind unable to keep up with all that was
happening. Then , I realized it was a huge black Bat.
It swooped around the room for a second , then , oh
no, it turned into Dracula, black cape, big teeth and
all. The woman screamed , the vampire grabbed her, the
door came crashing in, and there stood the man with
the black valise, who had just recently been in the
carriage. I only saw the next few seconds.

Now, I am sure when interviewing the shaken patrons of
the movie later, they were asked this question. "What
the h*ll happened in here?" And, I heard later, from
friends of my parents and that stupid babysitter, what
just did transpire. My recollection is a little shaky.
Several of the movie goers testified that all they can
remember is this keening , wailing sound, that grew
louder and louder till they were forced to cover their
ears in fear that permanent damage might occur. Others
swore that they saw this red streak that flashed by
them so quickly , that when they did hear that noise,
they were unable to corroborate that It came from the
same source.

All I know is, I was gone man, gone. I raced back the
aisle at such speed that as I passed each row, popcorn
was sucked out of all the buckets and went flying up
the aisle at breathtaking speed. With remarkable
results. Pop was drawn out of paper cups mingling with
the popcorn, causing a strange mixture, and the sound
it made is still talked about today. But, the most
interesting phenomenon was the multi colored juicy
fruits that were streaming along behind me , reds,
yellows, green, and don't forget the dreaded black.
These missiles of destruction made the most
interesting sounds as they caromed off everyone who
had the bad judgement to stand and crane their heads
for a glimpse of the maker of the noise. I could
faintly hear them cursing and yelling in fear and pain
as i raced by them. I was in the clutches of such fear
that I could not, would not be stopped. As I raced
into the lobby , I saw the popcorn guy take one right
in the kisser, I believe it was a red one. I never
liked him much anyway. The hollering he engaged in was
music to my ears as I flew out of the lobby into the
outer lobby and , barely hesitating, tore open the
door and raced onto the sidewalk. . The followers I
had been carrying along with me, no longer able to
defy gravity, made little plopping sounds as they
wearily came to rest on the floor, the walls, and on
the unfortunate patrons. Good for them, I thought
later, they shoulda knew better that to let a little
kid like me in a movie like that.

But, back to me: I had hit the door at full speed,
raced onto the sidewalk and like a streak of red fire,
literally flew down the walk, until something, fear,
exhaustion, something stopped me. I stood there ,
alone gasping for air, desperately trying to breathe.
But when I finally was able to catch my breath , I
finally took a quick look around at my surroundings.
On no, you idiot. I had run so fast, in so short a
time that I had outrun the arc lights, and now stood
engulfed in darkness. And every kid knew that was
where the monsters lived. Statues would have been
proud of me. I stood frozen in fear, a condition I was
already too familiar with. Looking back, I saw
glimmering faintly in the distance, The last arc
light. A beacon of safety, calling me back to it's
loving embrace. With a little wail of fear to spur me
on, I shot back towards that light.

I heard later the Flash had been in our town: It was
told that he ran home and walked slowly into the house
with a slightly bewildered expression on his face. His
wife looked at him from her rocker and said with
concern, "What is it honey, what's the matter." He
walked over to the couch and sat down and looked at
his wife for a second, with a bemused look upon his
face, and said, "Honey, I used to think I was fast, I
used to think I could run. but I saw this little
red-headed kid tonight , and, ah well never mind."

well, back to me: I later learned that my aunt Ruth
was at the same movie that night. Luckily she had been
sitting on the far aisle, out of the way of the
speeding projectiles that were knocking off the local
townspeople left and right. But, she was close enough
to recognize her favorite nephew as he raced by her at
warp speed. She immediately ran out the aisle and
rushed into the snight after me. When she emerged onto
the sidewalk, I was no longer in sight. Worried for me
then, she made her way slowly down the sidewalk in my
direction. I was already enroute back to the safety of
the flickering , glimmering arc lights. I later
learned my Aunt always wore this long, sweeping, black
coat. She had coal black hair and dark flashing eyes.
As i raced frantically back towards safety and
salvation, she suddenly appeared and recognizing me,
threw open her voluminious black coat and engulfed me
in it. All I remember is this Black , ominous figure
with a big black cape and as I felt myself being
crushed in it's dark embrace , I simply died. I heard
that it was a wonderful service, everyone was there.
But, no, the next thing I remember, upon regaining
consciousness was her soothing voice saying, " it's ok
honey, Aunt Ruth has you."

Looking back, it was a hot, hot summer. And, it's hard
to get any rest or sleep when you are under the sheet
and balnket, with only the smallest airway looking
out. The lights were left on all the time, which
delighted the local co-op. But, everything passes with
time.


One night , years later, I was twelve , accompanied by
my two younger brothers, ten and nine, I stood again
in front of that theatre. With a hand in each of mine,
my trusting brothers followed me blindly into another
episode from h*ll. Now, I don't know why it took the
movie industry twenty years to install a rating
system, I only know it came much too late to be of any
service to me and my little brothers. No one said,
"Little boys, ah, maybe you shouldn't go and see this
movie." No, and the same creep was in the ticket
window, looking around for the babysitter, I would
guess. And , not seeing her, gave us the full benefit
of his vacant, vacuous stare. Walking into the inner
sanctum I espied the same Boris look alike, with the
same evil grin. He took our tickets, tore them in half
and with a sibilant whisper said, "Enjoy the movie .
boys."

We walked hesitantly down the middle aisle. About
halfway down, I felt sudden resistance from my little
brothers. I stopped and looked down at them with an
inquiring look. The music, that damnable music. What
had we walked into this time? We never did sit down
that night. What was the name of that movie again, I
asked my one brother. "I don't know , he whispered ,
Psycho, whatever that means?"

we looked up at the giant screen at another horrific
sight, There, twenty feet high was a beautiful woman,
in the shower. Suddenly, then , the curtain was ripped
back and a hand holding aknife was flashing, up and
down, water turning red. That music! And a wailing,
keening sound, this coming from my two brothers.

Dropping our hastily purchased juicy fruits, we turned
as one and, this time with three breaking the sound
barrier, raced back up the aisle.

The people in our town had long memories, good
,resiliant people, and I learned later there were no
casualties from our combined efforts. Save for one old
gentleman., who although hard of hearing, insisted on
sitting in the balcony. I guess the combined speed and
force of three of us lifted some of the propellents up
to the nethersphere. His cries of surprised pain
followed us out into the street. I had learned my
lesson also, and after all I was now twelve and had to
set an example to my younger brothers. So, we stopped
right outside the theatre.

" Wow, what the h*ll was that", my one brother asked
in a shaky voice. "Yeah, the youngest one opined, That
scared the crap outa me?" "Now what are we gonna do"
"That movie sucks and we are broke." I stuck a hand in
my pocket and glumly surveyed the results. "How much
ya got, " Dave asked. " Yeah", said Jim, how much you
got?" "Bout a dollar," I said. "Hey, thats enough for
us all to get in the El Patio, It only costes a
quarter." He kinda talked funny, sometimes, but he was
a pretty good brother, as brothers go: they both were.

We walked slowly to the front of the theatre: Music,
real music was seeping out from under the doors. And,
laughter. yeah , that was real laughing, and the light
that showed under the bottom of the doors was ,
yellow, and bright. And look, the guy at the ticket
window was almost normal looking, with a real smile.
My brothers looked at me in askance. After all, I was
the only one with any money. And, I was the oldest.
" Ok guys, I said- Lets go in and watch it." With
smiles that lit up the darkness, we walked into the
movie house. I stopped and looked at the posters
behind the glass on the walls. "Hey look guys, look at
what is playing." With three grins the three brothers
walked into the movie and sat down, up front, middle
row. I walked back the aisle, They whispered, "Where
ya' goin?" "To get us some juicy fruits." "Well hurry
up the movies starting soon." "Ok. I will." As I
walked slowly back down the aisle towards our seats I
looked up at the screen. A Jerry Lewis double feature,
Finally:

Leep Out
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