pete had a little trouble finding the strand movie theater. he walked past it twice before finally seeing the little sign that just said - strand theater. it was the smallest theater he had ever seen.
it had no marquee, and the ticket booth did not face the street, but was tucked into the side of the little lobby.
just as mike, the guy from the market, had told pete, a sign above the ticket booth said - all tickets 15 cents before 4 o’clock.
and as mike had predicted, pete had never heard of the movies.
a single poster in the lobby, beside the box office, described the main feature.
it was called “i ask of you the truth”.
the stars were listed as lawrence tierney, dan duryea, robert ryan, gloria grahame and marie windsor. the poster also announced “introducing tony mendoza” and “with orson welles as ‘the general’”.
a smaller poster below the main one said simply - second feature - seven guns from diablo, with kermit maynard.
pete could not tell from the poster if “i ask of you the truth” was a western, a gangster movie, or a war movie, although with “orson welles as the general” he supposed it must be some sort of war movie.
he decided to buy a ticket. a fat faced girl with a pageboy haircut gave him ten cents change for his quarter. she then ripped a ticket herself and gave pete half.
pete looked around. he did not see a concession stand. “any popcorn?” he asked.
“just the machine over there.“
there was a vending machine on the other side of the door into the movie. pete walked over to it. it sold candy bars, gum, and little boxes of crackerjack.
“any cokes or sodas?” he asked the girl.
“no.”
“no?”
“you could have brought your own.”
“why time does the show start?”
the girl looked at a little clock she had in the ticket booth. “seven minutes.”
pete considered this. “any cartoons and stuff?”
“no, just the show - the two movies. and a newsreel.”
pete still had the strawberry turkish taffy he had bought from mike. he decided to forget about getting his own coke. there was a water fountain beside the vending machine and he took a drink from that.
the girl in the ticket booth wrinkled her nose when pete made slurping sounds at the fountain but he didn’t notice.
pete entered the theater.
it was the darkest theater he had ever been in. it was pitch black. pete could not tell if it was full or if he was the only one there.
he waited for three whole minutes but his eyes still could not get accustomed to the dark.
finally the screen lit up - sort of - with the newsreel. with the little bit of light, pete groped his way to a seat.
there didn’t seem to be anybody else in the theater, but he could not really tell.
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