Van Johnson, Film Actor, Is Dead at 92 - Obituary (Obit) - NYTimes.com

Van Johnson, Film Actor, Is Dead at 92 - Obituary (Obit) - NYTimes.com

From 1947 until 1953 my family owned the movie theatre in McIntosh, South Dakota, population about 650 and located in the center of the Standing Rock Sioux indian reservation. Even though I was barely 10 I was the ticket taker and the janitor. Kids learned to work at an early age back then. We showed all the Van Johnson films---Van was a big draw even out there where most people would describe the reservation as wilderness. In those days the biggest draws were names like John Wayne, Bing Crosby, Bob Hope, Dorothy Lamour, June Allyson, Humphrey Bogart, Lauren Bacall and a host of other stars. At that time the movie theatre was the social happening in the town. In the winter we ran only Saturday and Sunday and in the summer on Wednesday and Thursday, Saturday and Sunday. Our 265 seat auditorium never had less than a three quarters full crowd and often it was full. My mother sold the tickets and we had a watch dog named Buster. The Catholic League of Decency was active and the local priest would park in front of the theatre when we showed a "bad" film and he would make note of the members of his congregation who attended. The Baptist minister tried to get my Dad fired from the school (he was also school superintendent) because we showed Abbott and Costello in "Abbott and Costello meet Frankenstein". Our theatre gave meaning to the country song, "Small town Saturday night". Maybe someday a film will be made capturing that era. I think it might draw a crowd. Jim