Oshkosh Stories and Snapshots: Those Great Saturday Movies

Those Great Saturday Movies
Early 1950s
Contributed by: Susan

When I was a kid in the fifties, our big day was Saturday. I lived in a neighborhood over by the "teacher's college," and we had a bunch of kids on our block. To get into the movies we used Elba Queen Foods can labels.

Elba Queen labels promotion

Elba Queen labels promotion
Oshkosh Daily Northwestern
April 28, 1955

My Mom would peel them off cans of fruits and vegetables and save them up in packs held with rubber bands. Late on Saturday morning probably eight to ten of us would pile in the back of the neighbor man's truck. He worked for the railroad and carried the mail bags from the post office to the train depot on Washington Ave. The truck was an enclosed delivery truck, pretty large actually. He'd hoist us all up inside and close the back double doors. There were no lights inside and with the doors closed it would get dark. So, like all kids, we'd start squealing and saying boo, stuff like that, laughing and giggling. I wondered later what people thought when they saw a big yellow US mail truck pass and could hear screams and giggles coming from the back. Then he'd drive down to Main Street, either to the Time or Raulf theatre where he'd come around the back, open up the truck and we'd all pile out. What a great time we'd have watching Roy Rogers, Trigger, the Three Stooges or whatever. I had an older brother and he was responsible for me, but I couldn't sit with him because that would ruin his image. After the movies, we'd walk home down Church Street and then Irving. Free movies, what a concept.

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