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Saturday Matinee

By Will "Cherokee Slim" Lacey

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I was about six years old the first time I went.
I think then Harry Truman was the President.
It was a whole lot different than is today.
I'm talking about the Saturday Movie Matinee.

We'd get there early, probably an hour or more,
And eat popcorn and talk before they opened the door.
I heard a lot of good jokes there shootin' the breeze,
And I think that's where I learned about the birds and bees.

But the worst thing I ever heard in that line was
Somebody swore there wasn't any Santa Claus!
Now you coulda hit me with a Babe Ruth's bat,
But don't go and lie about a thing like that.

And we'd argue who's the best cowboy, was it Roy or Gene,
And which rocket man had the best flying machine.
I'd heard Hi-Yo-Silver and Hiel Hitler at the same show one day
And for a while I thought Hitler was a horse and Hiel was hay.

And those serials used to knock me out with blood and guts galore.
And how did that guy get out alive when he blew up the week before?
The Little Rascals and the Three Stooges were my favorites though,
But you could throw in a little Bugs Bunny to make it a perfect show.

Lots of times we'd sit through twice and learn everything they said,
So the next week at school it was you who'd tell everyone who knocked 'em dead.
Sometimes in that second show, when I'd learned the first show text,
I'd really make people mad when I'd tell 'em what was next.

Yes, the Saturday afternoon movie matinee
When I was a kid was a neat time to play.
They chased them outlaws from border to border,
And the whole darn thing only cost a quarter.

By Will "Cherokee Slim" Lacey - November 29, 1994

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