The great day had finally arrive. It was June 1935 and my hometown was celebrating King Georges V's silver jubilee. Most Canadians took rightful pride in the fact that they were part of the great British empire and fully entitled to celebrate their monarch's jubilee. King George had been their king during the dark days of the great was seventeen years earlier and he and his consort, Queen Mary, had captured the deep affection of their people.
It was the custom to celebrate such a national event in a special way and on that occasion all the school children were given a school holiday and a ticket for a free show at the local movie house. Shortly after lunch, my mother sent me off to the school where all the students were being assembled for a walk to the theater. Full of excitement and anticipation, I joined my mates in our classroom. Our teacher, who had been sitting quietly at her desk and whose presence had maintained a degree of order in the room, finally rose and proceeded to hand our the bright red tickets. The bright red indicated that we would be attending the first showing of the movie. My older brother, in a higher grade, would be given a blue ticket for a later showing. After receiving our tickets we were lined up and marched outside the school here we were assembled with the other junior classes for the walk the the theater.
The excited youngsters could barley contain their excitement, but the teachers managed to keep them under good control until they were finally under way. I kept a firm grip on my precious red ticket as trotted off with my classmates. For a small town of barely four thousand people, we presented an impressive line of little people. But, of course, we were the tail end of the first world war's baby boomers and that explains why our little school had so many students. But we didn't compare to the size of the baby boomer crop that would follow World War II several years later.
With the teachers leading the way, we plodded along the sidewalks towards the downtown theater. it wasn't far.. only a mere two blocks, but there were some distractions to occupy the children's interest along the short way. Mrs. Molsey's convalescent home for injured lumber workers had a colourful display that turned every little head in it's direction as they passed. Every pillar of her front veranda was decorated with a pair of crossed Union Jacks or Canadian Ensign flags; wide red, white and blue bunting was festooned from pillar to pillar. Several yards down the street Collins and Matters department store was not to be outdone. They had devoted an entire front showcase to the jubilee celebrations with large framed pictures of King George and Queen Mary. Surrounding these centerpieces were flags, commendations and other paraphernalia designed to encourage a sense of patriotism, or at the very least, to help restrain any tendency to criticize the fervour of the more loyal subjects. Displays of the loyalty to the crown and tot the empire were not at all our of place in 1935. Charles Collins, one of the owners of the store, was a World War 1 veteran and his partner, Fred Matters, was an English immigrant and there as no hesitation on their part in displaying their loyalty.
Our Group of little children pressed on and finally approached the last intersection where the aptly named Regent theatre stood on the far side of the corner. With the teachers leading, we crossed the intersection and moved in behind a swarm of people who were already crowding around the theater building. I could see a lot of heads and backs and only th top half of the theater building and the marquee. Had I been a few feet taller, there would have been no problem. Obviously al the these people were waiting for something to take place, but we dared not push our way past them because our teachers were still all around us. By peeping around and between the people ahead of me, I could see that there was an open area between the front of the crowd and the theater. Obviously it was being kept open for a purpose and the answer came soon because, a few minutes later, we heard the growing sound of marching feet approaching from the right. The crowd in front of us shuffled close together as they tried to see what was coming. My view was almost completely obstructed , but I eventually was able to see the occasional flash of khaki. By looking down at the ground level, I was able to see the puttied legs and polished boots stomp by in perfect unison. By looking up over the crowd's head, I cold see an undulating march past of rifle barrels. "Soldiers! Soldiers!" I thought. But I was wrong. What I had seen was my first view of the high school cadet corps that I would eventually join several years later.
After the cadets had passed, the crowd obstructing our view began to disperse and we were soon able to resume our march into the theatre. Slowly we entered the front doors, crossed the entrance lobby and moved into single file as we entered the foyer doors. I was still tightly clutching my bright red ticket, but had to hand it to a big smiling man who was leaning down collecting all tickets as we entered. The orderly line of students broke up and we followed the teachers directions towards a wide doorway that led down a long aisle between row upon row of seats. There was another teacher in the shadows of the entrance, but I hadn't noticed her at that point. At first glance, it appeared that all the seats were empty, but after a few seconds we realized that other students had moved in ahead of us and occupying all the front rows!
"Hurry, hurry!" we thought. "We must hurry before all the seats are gone!"
But the teachers as always, were holding us back. Miss Kruger, for example, always has a piercing voice and it was never louder or sharper than at that point.
"Don't run! Don't run!" she screeched.
The teachers simply did not understand! My classmate, Emile, did not help matters. He jostled and pushed and finally broke free to start a dash down the aisle. But, as it often happens in such circumstances, he tripped and sprawled on all fours allowing sufficient time for Miss Kroger to catch up to us. Emile had not been prepared for the sloping floor and had lost his balance and control at the most in-opportune time. he was up in a flash, but it was too late. Miss Kruger moved to the front of the group and led us down the rest of the way.
to be continued....