Monday, June 4, 2012

Fox in 1950

This is from the Reminisce magazine. They are sending me a copy to get me to renew my subscription.
I lived in Hutchinson when this happened but I do not remember the event. I must not have gone to the movie that night! (Noticing that the girl in the white dress appears to be quite thin, that could have been me.)

Here is the text from the article by Joan (Long) Nelson:

    I worked at the Fox Theatre in Hutchinson, KS, and enjoyed some memorable promotions, including my night as a stand-in for Elizabeth Taylor.
When the Fox opened in 1931, it was a big deal. The Hutchinson News called it "one of the finet theaters it is possible to build." The theater marquee was said to be the state's first display of flashing neon lights in Kansas. (It still works today and is a colorful part of the restored theater.) A special bonus was "refrigeration," the term used back then for air conditioning.
   The theater also had live midnight music shows after the movies, bringing in Xavier Cugat, Les Brown and His Band of Renown, and other big names.
   I worked at the Fox 30 hours a week at 40 cents an hour in my last two years of high school. That $12 went a long way toward school needs and spending money.
Employees would wear cowboy and cowgirl outfits when a Western was comng to town, and there'd even be horses outside the theater. In those days, movie-going was truly magical.
   My best memory of working at the theater is from the summer of 1950, when I wore a copy of Elizabeth Taylor's wedding dress from the movie, Father of the Bride.
   The dress was on display for a couple of weeks before the movie came to town. Then, on July 29, the night of the first showing at the Fox, the C.O. Mammel Bakery in Hutchinson conributed a wedding cake. And I was the lucky one who got to wear that fancy dress and serve up pieces of cake to celebrate the premiere!

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