B Movies
Author: Bill Roberts
We used to sneak in
to see movies
that weren’t worth
sneaking in to see.
The usher wouldn’t bother
to turn his head
because his eyes were closed,
having seen the movie before.
Those dull strips of celluloid
were turned out overnight
by industrious people
in far-off Hollywood.
They depicted the lives
of those of us
with so little sense
we’d sneak in to see ourselves.
Note: We’re talking 1940′s here. We’d pay to see the cowboy double-feature Friday nights at The Savoy on 14th Street near Columbia Road, often packing our six-shooters. When the cowboys started firing at the bad guys, we’d unholster, fire our cap guns along with them, creating such a din inside the moviehouse, we’d have to scramble along the sticky floors to another seat, with the huffing, puffing ushers in futile pursuit. Those episodes usually eclipsed the predictable events in the movies starring old-time favorites, Hopalong Cassidy, Gene Autry, Roy and Dale, the Cisco Kid, the Durango Kid, Bob Steele, and especially all the good guys who didn’t sing those yippy-ki-yoo-ki-yea tunes. But all those B movies – so dreadful. Why pay to go see ourselves? But the movies….a release from boredom, and so very important in my early life.
