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Ben Marcus, Holyoke

1930s and 40s

Victory Theatre Memory – Gene Autry and all the cowboy movies

“My brother, Bootie and I would go either the Victory or the Suffolk theater with my bubbie, Leah Marcus. We’d sit in the very front of the theater, she’d bring a brown paper bag of things to eat. She loved the westerns. She was only about 4’6” so most of the kids around us were bigger than her, Bootie and I were about 7 or 8 years old. There were usually 2 movies every Saturday with newsreels and serials. I can’t remember the names of the movies, but I remember some of the characters…. Gene Autry, Tom Mix, the Lone Ranger and Tonto. 80 years later I can almost taste treats in the brown bag and I can almost see me and Bootie and our bubbie.”

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