Howard Herron Memoir - University of Illinois Springfield

Howard Herron 2 8
Q: Where was the opera house?
A: Well, it was on the left side of the square, back over where, do you
know where that there Kay's place used to be? The upstairs covered two
buildings there, there used to be a stairway going up there, but it is
closed up.
Q: Did they have a stage?
A: Yes, a stage. They would have a band and these shows would come to
town. And there was a Negro, he'd walk out in the street, and he'd spin
that wife around like that and he was just advertising for the show that
night. And a lot of times us kids would come home from school and some
of them drunks and the saloon keepers would get drunk too and they'd
throw money out in the street in the mud and us kids would go out in that
mud and get that money and then we went home and washed our shoes off.
Q: Can you remember some of the plays that you saw there? Some of the
entertainment?
A: Well, by name I don't think I could, but my brother and I used to go
to the shows and we could go home and put the whole show on verbatim for
my mother and dad. They had Uncle om's Cabin and I don't know what all.
Q: You speak of your brother quite a lot but you had two brothers, is
that correct? Were you closer to one than the other?
A: Well, my oldest brother was, he was kind of fleshy, they called him
Fat. They nicknamed him Fat. He was the best-hearted one of the whole
bunch. My youngest brother, he was kind of, I don't know how to describe
him, he was kind of a loner, you might say, and he died, about six years
ago. He was a good boy but he was a little subdued.
Q: So it's your older brother that you went to the movie with or went to
the shows with?
A: Yes. He ran a cafe here on the west side of the square for years
until he died. He died of cancer of the lungs. He smoked cigarettes. I
told him it was going to kill him.
Q: Were there any movies when you were a boy?
A: Yes, they started what they called a Nickelodeon on the east side of
the square. There was a vacant place there and you could see a picture
show for a nickel. Nickelodeon.
Q: Silent movies?
A: Yes.
Q: And someone played---
A: Keystone Cops and the girl played the piano. Louise Hakes played the
piano .