Some of my favorite memories from the forties and early fifties are tied to  the  old
Lyric Theater in Newburg, Missouri.


I loved going to the movies or the picture show as we called it back  then.  I  still
enjoy going.

The Lyric was just across the street from the Frisco Depot.

In the steam engine days the trains would make so much noise you would miss  some  of
the dialogue from the movie.

In the winter time the theater was heated by two wood stoves up  toward  the  screen.
You could always count on a couple of times during the movie, someone would walk down
the aisle with a load of wood and throw it in the stoves.

Sometimes the fire would be so hot the sides of the stoves would glow. It is a wonder
the place didn't burn down.

We always had to go on the weekend to see the next chapter of  the  serial  that  the
theater would be showing. They would always leave you hanging and wondering how  they
would get out of the latest situation or adventure. Usually a stagecoach going off  a
cliff, or the posse about to catch someone. Somehow they always managed  to  survive,
but it was exciting.

On the weekend there would be a double-feature most of the  time.  Usually  westerns,
and most of the time a cartoon, and a newsreel.

I don't remember how much it cost, but it was not very much, maybe a quarter  at  the
most.

The Cowboy movies were very popular back then. Gene Autry,  Roy  Rogers  or  Hopalong
Cassidy. The boys would always argue over who was really the  King  of  the  Cowboys,
either Roy Rogers or Gene Autry. I liked Gene Autry the best.

I guess I was a little different, but I liked the Gangster type movies the best. They
were always in black and white (my favorite) and it still is.  They  now  call  those
films, "film noir" french for dark.

I liked Humphrey Bogart, James Cagney and Robert Mitchum.

One of the best (in my opinion) of this type of film is "This Gun for Hire"  made  in
1942 with Alan Ladd and Veronica Lake. I have a copy of it that I  get  out  once  in
awhile to watch. I am still in love with Veronica Lake. She has been dead for  around
forty years. O'well, I guess Audrey (my wife) doesn't have to worry.

They show a lot of these old films on TCM, so I am always checking the TV listing  to
see what is on.

They don't make em like they use to.

 

                                                      Cordell Webb

                                              Newburg Class of 1956

                                                 Newburg, Missouri