I woke up this morning after having dreamt about the Holiday Theatre. I lived in Park Forest from 1954 to 1967. In 1966 and 1967 I worked as an usher at the Holiday Theatre in Park Forest. This was before the era of multiple screen theatres. I have to be honest I miss those theatres. I know they can not be profitable in today’s market, but all the same there was something majestic about those theatres, even the ones that were not opulent. We could seat somewhere are 1000 to 1200 people, I believe. And we did have sell out nights. Lots of them. Friday and Saturday nights usually were full for the first two shows. The theatre opened at 5:30 during the week and Saturday had a matinee movie for the kids then opened for the regular show again at 5:30 or 6:00. Sundays we opened around 12:30 or 1:00 PM. Big difference than today’s movie business.
When I first started the ushers, all males at that time, wore a uniform consisting of a red coat, dark blue pants with a stripe down the outside seam, white shirt and a dark blue bow tie. In 1967 we went to a green paisley jacket, black slacks, white shirt and, I believe, a paisley matching bow tie. This was the time of old style service and we seated people. We stood at the back of the auditorium at the head of the aisles to assist people. I saw Battle of the Bulge 32 times this way. I still remember many of the lines from the scenes to this day. I saw Mary Poppins 25 times.
The owner I believe was a Mr. Williams. He also owned a theatre in Fort Wayne Indiana. The Assistant Manager at the time was a Mr. Parker, who later became manager of the Lans theatre in Lansing, Illinois.
I woke up this morning after having dreamt about the Holiday Theatre. I lived in Park Forest from 1954 to 1967. In 1966 and 1967 I worked as an usher at the Holiday Theatre in Park Forest. This was before the era of multiple screen theatres. I have to be honest I miss those theatres. I know they can not be profitable in today’s market, but all the same there was something majestic about those theatres, even the ones that were not opulent. We could seat somewhere are 1000 to 1200 people, I believe. And we did have sell out nights. Lots of them. Friday and Saturday nights usually were full for the first two shows. The theatre opened at 5:30 during the week and Saturday had a matinee movie for the kids then opened for the regular show again at 5:30 or 6:00. Sundays we opened around 12:30 or 1:00 PM. Big difference than today’s movie business.
When I first started the ushers, all males at that time, wore a uniform consisting of a red coat, dark blue pants with a stripe down the outside seam, white shirt and a dark blue bow tie. In 1967 we went to a green paisley jacket, black slacks, white shirt and, I believe, a paisley matching bow tie. This was the time of old style service and we seated people. We stood at the back of the auditorium at the head of the aisles to assist people. I saw Battle of the Bulge 32 times this way. I still remember many of the lines from the scenes to this day. I saw Mary Poppins 25 times.
The owner I believe was a Mr. Williams. He also owned a theatre in Fort Wayne Indiana. The Assistant Manager at the time was a Mr. Parker, who later became manager of the Lans theatre in Lansing, Illinois.