By CC THE TRAINED MONKEY
Don’t you just love movies? I do. I love all movies, except ones that don’t have happy endings and Armageddon. That movie blew.
I’ve seen a ton of movies. It helped that when I was in high school I worked at a movie theater called The Fox.
Built in 1949, The Fox Theater was a 1050 red velvet seated dream factory that I’m sure inspired countless young teens like myself to come to Hollywood and create cinematic masterpieces that would one day play on that very screen – only to find themselves decades later working a cruddy day job with one crappy B movie under their belt and a few unproduced projects sitting on a shelf at Disney. Oh my god that theater ruined so many lives!
Anyhoo, back then it was the best place in town to work. It had everything a person needed: movies, candy and a bathroom with a huge mirror.
Plus, you got to see everyone, because everyone came to the movies, including the boy you were majorly in love with … and his new girlfriend. You waited on her at the candy counter and made sure she got the dregs of the popcorn and the box of Junior Mints that you’d already half eaten.
Oh, you didn’t suspect that the reason your chocolate almonds and Junior Mints felt a little light was because we’d already sampled them? Yeah, the boxes weren’t sealed, you see, so when we’d get hungry, we’d open one, eat two or three and then put it back in the candy counter. Then we’d sell it to you.
We did a lot of things we probably weren’t supposed to. Remember all those times you’d stalk into the lobby to complain about the noise – not from inside the theater but from outside in the lobby? That was us. You probably wondered what we were doing out there to cause such a raucous.
Possibly you heard Danny, the Assistant Manager, and me chasing each other around the lobby, armed with squirt bottles of ketchup and mustard. Or maybe you heard us reenacting the entire Muppet Movie for our co-workers.
Were you there when we were attempting to perform the final routine from Roller Boogie? Yeah, I said Roller Boogie. Don’t act like you don’t know what I’m talking about, I saw you there. I sold you your popcorn and partially eaten box of candy.
Remember that move where the guy throws the girl into the air and she spins around and then lands on one foot? We tried that move a thousand times. What you heard was a thousand failed attempts of me being thrown into a chair, or the wall, or the candy counter. Man, I was glad when that movie left.
Oh, and the people who confiscated your beer at the door, then told you that you couldn’t have it back because it had been dumped down the drain, that was us too. But guess what? We didn’t dump your beer. We drank it after closing.
We were the ones who messed with the marquee so, when you drove by to get a look at what was playing, you read messages to our friends instead, like “Don’t call me Shirley,” or “Geno, where are my curly fries?”
I could go on for pages, because I have so many incredible memories from The Fox Theater and I’m sure all of you who grew up watching movies in it do too. I wish it was still there to inspire the next generation of film lovers and filmmakers, but it’s not. They tore it down because, in the end, The Fox Theater was just too awesome to exist.
You’ll no longer find it on the corner of Orange and Broadway, but it’s still around. At least a little piece of it is. It’s laying just off the road on Highway 93 at the bottom of Evaro Hill. It’s the big, Fox neon tower.
A few years ago my friend and I stopped by to pay it a visit. Part of me was really excited to see an old friend and the other part of me was super depressed that my old friend was lying in the dirt on the side of the road, rusting, rotting, disintegrating. It made me feel old and I said as much to my friend.
She threw a sympathetic arm around me. “You are old,” she said, “and those pants make you look really fat. Go stand up there so I can get a picture to document it.’
So, I did. And afterwards I actually had a hard time walking away. I thought “What if I come back next year and it’s gone?” That’s how movies start, you know, with a what if? What if a shark ate a swimmer? What if toys came to life when we left the room?
Hmm, maybe I’m onto something here. Quick, someone get me Spielberg on the phone!
Missing Missoula ~ CC The Trained Monkey
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BIO: Carol Chrest is a bitter old spinster living in Los Angeles. When she’s not working ridiculous hours at her cruddy day job, she writes screenplays. She drinks.
Great post. Sounds like working there was a blast. I’m sad I never got to see a film there.
Where I grew up, we had a pretty amazing theater. it’s still there. The closest thing to it in Missoula is the Wilma, but it doesn’t even come close to The Civic. (http://cinematreasures.org/theater/330/)
I’m fascinated with terrain vague. The Fox sign falls into that category. The idea that something has worth just by existing, like the sign, or an abandoned building, like the Milltown Mill site out in Milltown, MT.
Coupled with the idea of terrain vague is “collective memory” – the thought that an abandoned site is important to a town because of the collective memory the town has for that site and what it once was.
The concept originally was evoked in photography, but is more and more being incorporated into architecture and city planning.
Anyway, thanks for the post.
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I’m a big fan of terrain vague. I feel like one day everything in my life is going to be terrain vague, because I have a hard time letting go of things from the past and also because new stuff sucks. It’s ugly and stark and “functional.” I’m kind of toying with the idea of human terrain vague. Like my mummified corpse is worth keeping around in a chair in the corner somewhere because I represent the collective memory of … I don’t know, something. Also, mummies are cool and I bet people would pay to come and get a look.
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I’ll no longer wonder why the Fox didn’t make it
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What a CRACK-UP Mark! I always thought it had something to do with the quality of their viewings–or lack there of–ROLLER BOOGIE? Seriously?!
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How dare you! Roller Boogie ROCKED!
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Pretty sure I was on the short-end of a few of those boxes of junior mints Carol! Who knew!
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So many memories from that theater: My dad and I standing in the back watching “20,000 Leagues Beneath the Sea” because the place was sold out and there was only SRO; going to every Saturday matinee ever shown there especially if they had Roy Rogers in them……I planned to marry him some day so I could ride Trigger; in Jr. High, meeting up with girlfriends and boyfriends from different parts of town and causing the ushers to have to come and “shush” us several times during the movie. Can one sue a defunct place for short-changed boxes of candy after the fact???? LOL
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Yes, you can sue, but first you have to prove that you were one of our unwitting victims. Good luck on that.
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Fox-y!
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Thanks for the laughs! I am sad the old FOX isn’t around, but happy that Missoula has kept the Wilma and the Roxy around.
Shame on you for taking the beer. When I was in high school, I at least traded with my friends who came through the drive through of the taco place I worked. Beer for tacos, what a deal. Oh, yes, I was the shift manager. I never got caught, but had years of Catholic guilt afterwards.
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In the late 90′s the local paper made available a goodly sum of money and locals were invited to a meeting to submit their ideas as to how it should be spent to enhance our hometown.
I presented the idea of restoring the FOX sign and installing it along the riverfront as a piece of public art.
The idea went over like a pregnant pole vaulter. Instead the money was spent on another one of Missoula’s never ending “studies”
Hell, I tried.
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Chuck, you are my hero. I feel like maybe the reason it didn’t go through was because the Fox sign is destined to be restored by me and placed in my backyard. And I will shoot the first damn busy-body neighbor who complains about it.
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Your article was really enjoyable, and thank you. When we drive past the Fox sign up on Evaro Hill, I wax very nostalgic about how the Fox differed so much from the Wilma in those days. My older sister and her friend June wanted to go to a matinee of a double feature: “Written on the Wind” and “An Affair to Remember”. In those days, once a ticket was purchased, no matter what the time of day, were allowed to stay and see the beginning of films. I was about 8 years old. Mom said they could go to the double feature but they had to take me along. When we got there, my sister kept the money for my seat, and spent it on candy. Honesty ruled, so I sat on her lap throughout these films. I hope she got one of those Jr. Mints boxes with the wax paper lining-half full.
The Wilma, on the other hand, was still the luxury theater. The “Loge Seats” the back four or five rows were very velvety and they rocked. Those cost an adult about $2.00 for the seat. Both theater adventures would include a trip to Riley’s Cafe next door to the Fox and next to the Wilma was the Palace Candy Shop where the best coney island was served….no question. The differences to a kid growing up was that the Fox catered to the younger set, with the Saturday matinees, the neon lights with ushers in cool outfits. The maroon velvet curtains and sloped walkway was just so much more fun than the stodgy Wilma, though both held fascination to the avid movie fan. The Rialto was also a small theater located on Front Street or Main Street. It was famous for matinees and a way cool balcony for kids who were bored to run around during a boring movie.
Chuck, I was at one of those meetings, a “Charette” to decide what Missoula would do with the Fox site. Yes, you are right, more meetings. I see they really made use of that site, and every time I see that sign and the vacant lot, I think there might be hope yet for pulling that sign out, getting people like us to donate and volunteer to paint it again. Those of us who were born here, left for 20 years and heard the call for this place to live, moved back to still enjoy a sense of hope coming from that nostalgic populus speaking out. The classes of ’66 from Sentinel and Hellgate will have a 45 year reunion this year. I’ll bet this class and those before us and after us would pass the hat for such a project. But, who knows, St. Pat’s wants to keep their options open for that property, as you can see what they did with the Safeway location. I ramble on.
Thanks trained monkey, we natives just love to hear about this place. It is one great place to live.
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Nancy, seriously, I think I just figured out why God put you on Earth … to save the Fox sign. There must be some place in town where it can be erected as a monument or a piece of modern art. If you spearheaded the campaign, you would probably get your name and picture in the paper. And, if they won’t put it in the paper, I’ll put it in my blog because I’m sure more people read my blog than The Missoulian anyway. How much money would it take? Because I’ve got 20 bucks and there’s more where that came from. Also, I know how to paint.
Coincidentally, I’m also having a high school reunion this year. Maybe I could hit my classmates up for some cash as well. But the real question is, will the guy who owns the sign sell it, or does he love leaving it there on the side of the road to torture us as we drive by?
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Nothing would make me happier than to be the one to spearhead that. My younger brother is an artist and will be moving back to MSO soon. I have 20 bucks too, and I could give no hoot about getting my photo in any paper, as I’ve had enough ink in my life to satisfy me. What I want to see is a place for that sign, to commemorate a time in our town and in our lives. That sign was soooo sophisiticated! I am going to get some of my missoula native friends in on this blog. I am like Chuck Kaprich, people just find small grants to pay for these “planning” sessions and we just sit there and talk and talk and talk. Here is an idea that I just pulled out of you know where:
What if we set up a site-hook it up with I Remember Missoula When. We make a challenge to every class from Missoula County High, Loyola, Sacred Heart in it’s day and then Hellgate, Sentinel and maybe Big Sky. The poor Fox had bitten the dust by the time that school opened. We challenge each class to a bunch of money. The Fox Theater sign must find a home back in the downtown. I laughed to myself. Boomers are changing the face of aging, I say somebody (I’d be qualified to do this, but it is a WILD idea)…to open a housing development, for aging in place. I’d name it “Fiftiesville”. We could take a lot of old landmarks that lay around. Like Cipalato’s Broadway Market, a mini Stop and Shop, and a little general store called ‘The Merc”. This community would have small patio homes, duplexes, and even some pod-like “Golden Girl” homes. The guys’ pod home for singles could be called “The Kingsfords” or “Moron’s Market”. It would be a mini Missoula ….a small outdoor “drive in theater” but with chairs (in an ampitheater, covered and can be used for other things.). The big theater screen could have a little mini train like they used to have at the State Drive In and instead of a snack bar, we’d hire teens or even some of us more able to walk around…selling soft drinks, popcorn and candies to each person, like in a baseball park. Talk about a vision …. this place would be a microcosm of all of the old favorite neighborhoods like the rattlesnake or orchard homes or target range or the University area, the only difference would be (in my opinon is that the homes are on one level, energy efficient with backyard bbq’s). Neighborhood bbq’s and Friday night “fish frys” would make up the usual bill of fare, and winter time we could have safe walking tracks for our doggies and animals to take out to walk. We’d hire high school kids who would be screened well so they’d know how to find joy in doing a good job. (Kinda like you were trained to work at the Fox Theater!!!! Ha…a joke.). It would be called appropriately….”The Fox Farm Family Living Center”-grandchildren welcome.” A matinee every afternoon. Golf cart transportation available in summer. Aaahhhhhhh. I want to do something with that sign. I loved your comment. Keep them coming. This old Missoula is one great place to live and to be fron. Thanks for your great article.
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If you ever decide to organize something, let me know. I am in, in, in!
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[...] Chances are you’ll LOVE her post on Drill Bits, Memories of Being a Sentinel Orchette, or What the Fox? or In a Roundabout Way. You also may want to check out all of Make it Missoula’s [...]
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[...] Chances are you’ll LOVE her post on Drill Bits, Memories of Being a Sentinel Orchette, or What the Fox? or In a Roundabout Way. You also may want to check out all of Make it Missoula’s [...]
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0