“Stories From the Balcony”
Interviews about the Grand Theatre in Frankfort, Kentucky
Interview on Video with
Mary Washington
On Location at The Grand Theatre
Tape 1 – 2007OH02.36a
Conducted by Joanna Hay
October 12st, 2010
This project has been supported by the Kentucky Oral History Commission
And Save The Grand Theatre, Inc.
Interview begins with Joanna Hay speaking in front of multicolored wall just inside the front doors of The Grand Theatre.
HAY: Ok. My name is Joanna Hay. Today is October the…12th…2010. We are in The Grand Theatre. And we are awaiting the arrival of Mary Washington who we will be interviewing today. First, we will be showing her around the theatre. Thank you.
WASHINGTON: And um…go up some steps.
HAY: Was it an out…was it an outside door?
WASHINGTON: There was an outside door, yes. Uh huh.
HAY: And then you would go straight?
WASHINGTON: Then you would go straight up…
HAY: From the street.
WASHINGTON: On up stairs. Uh huh. And, like I said, there was a chair for the attendant to sit in. And it was…it wasn’t even a counter. It was like a little glass…nest…
HAY: Ok.
WASHINGTON: It was glass. I remember that, you know.
HAY: Ok.
WASHINGTON: And of course you got your tickets because you came in and gave your money here, and she would give you a ticket, and you would come on in and then you would go upstairs and you would give the attendant your ticket, and then you could go on upstairs and sit down.
HAY: Ok.
WASHINGTON: Yeah. If you wanted to, you could stop and get soft drinks and candy and stuff like that. Popcorn. That was always a big thing. Popcorn was so good then.
HAY: Do you remember how much it cost?
WASHINGTON: Not much. Because I do remember having a dollar some Saturdays, and I could come to the movies, I could get a soft drink, I could get candy, and I still would have change. And I thought that was so fascinating because you can’t buy anything for less than a dollar now. [Laughter]
HAY: That’s true.
WASHINGTON: I thought, “This is really really great.” Then, we were so young we thought we had money. A dollar was money then, you know.
HAY: Right. Right.
WASHINGTON: I would baby sit through the week and make…it was fifty cents an hour to baby sit…and make money. And then my treat for myself would be coming to the movies, you know, and getting popcorn and a Coke. You know.
HAY: That’s pretty fun.
WASHINGTON: That was a lot of fun then. [Laughter]
HAY: Well, should we go upstairs and see?
WASHINGTON: Ok.
HAY: Obviously, this has changed the way the stairs are. But this is the same stairwell other than this turn.
WASHINGTON: Ok.
HAY: It just went straight down to the street.
WASHINGTON: Uh huh. I’m trying to think of the lady…I think her name was Miss Wilson.
HAY: Miss Wilson.
WASHINGTON: The lady that worked here when I was coming to the movies. I’m sure they had a lot of different people.
HAY: What do you remember about her? Anything?
WASHINGTON: Oh, I…[Chuckle] we used to get mad at her because we came to the movies to sneak. Neck. Kiss and carry on. She would walk around with her flashlight and she’d say, “You kids stop that. Part up. Boys and girls get away from each other.” [Laughter] We thought that was so funny.
HAY: So would she…would she be right up here?
WASHINGTON: It was more in this area right here.
HAY: Ok.
WASHINGTON: And she would have a flashlight.
HAY: There’s the door to the theatre. That one over there.
WASHINGTON: Ok. And she would come in with her flashlight and she would shine it around to make sure you weren’t too heavy. [Laughter] And she’d say, “You kids stop that. You stop.” [Laughter] We had so much fun.
HAY: I’m just going to point out…on that far wall…that’s the exit sign, and that was the fire escape.
WASHINGTON: Ok.
HAY: Was right there. And you can still see sort of the…we just left the walls the way they were up there.
WASHINGTON: This is really great.
HAY: So…so, do you remember the two entrances?
WASHINGTON: Uh hum.
HAY: There’s that door there and…
WASHINGTON: She would come in through this way.
HAY: She would come in this way?
WASHINGTON: Uh hum. We would…
HAY: Miss Wilson would…
WASHINGTON: Miss Wilson would come in with her flashlight and she would come through this area right here. And, of course, all of us kids would be sitting side by side…I’ll say that…in this area right here. And she would shine her flashlight and she would say, “Ok. You kids stop that.” Or, “You kids…you know better.” And that meant to part, you know. You were sitting too close. And some were kissing and carrying on. But, that was just part of being a teenager. That was…you know…and she would never come up in this area though. She would stand and shine her flashlight where we were sitting. [Laughter] She wanted to make sure we weren’t doing anything we weren’t supposed to be doing.
HAY: So, would she go across there?
WASHINGTON: Sometimes. Sometimes she would. Yeah. Uh huh. She’d walk down that way and she’d come back and then go back and take her seat.
HAY: So where do you remember sitting the most?
WASHINGTON: Oh, my favorite spot was over there.
HAY: Yeah?
WASHINGTON: Uh huh. It was great. It really was.
HAY: So would you sit in one place if you were coming with your girlfriends and your family, and another place if you were…
WASHINGTON: With your boyfriend.
HAY: …on a date?
WASHINGTON: Right. Right.
HAY: So, I assume the dark corners were…
WASHINGTON: Were well occupied. [Laughter] Yep, they were. They were. But, this is so familiar.
HAY: Does it feel familiar?
WASHINGTON: It does. It really does. I’m so glad you all did this. It’s great.
HAY: The projection booth is still there.
WASHINGTON: Still there.
HAY: Which you can get to from the other side.
WASHINGTON: Uh huh.
HAY: We can walk across this way if you like.
WASHINGTON: Ok. Alright.
HAY: And these three…the three levels here…are exactly the same.
WASHINGTON: Ok.
HAY: They haven’t changed at all. Of course, all the seats are different.
WASHINGTON: Of course. Uh huh.
HAY: And then the level…we had to change the rise in this section a little bit so that the sight lines up with the stage. But that is all exactly as it was. And then this…this pass through here is what you remember.
WASHINGTON: Ok.
HAY: So this was one of your…this was your favorite area?
WASHINGTON: Yes, one of my favorite areas. Yes. [Chuckle] This is really really neat. I really like this. My row is right there.
HAY: Your row…
WASHINGTON: Second row.
HAY: Right here? Second row? So why was that extra good?
WASHINGTON: I don’t know. I don’t know. That was my row if I had a date. [Chuckle]
HAY: Oh…ok.
WASHINGTON: For some reason or another it was just…it was just a favorite row. I think this whole side was a favorite side if you had a date.
HAY: Ok.
WASHINGTON: Uh huh. Yeah. If you were with your sisters and brothers, or your parents or your teachers or anybody, you know, all that area there was students, you know, when you came for an outing. But, if you had a date, you usually sat on this side.
HAY: So you don’t really remember coming as a younger child. You remember coming as a teenager?
WASHINGTON: I remember coming as a younger…a younger child occasionally. Not too often. I’m from a real big family so coming to the movie was a big deal for me, you know. Especially when you got to be eleven or twelve or thirteen, when you could make your own money and come. And you would always come in a bunch. There were always five or six of us girls that would come together, and it was just a lot of fun. Sometimes we would stay here and watch the same movie two or three times.
HAY: So you would be here for hours.
WASHINGTON: Especially if it was cowboys. Roy Rogers and Gene Autry.
HAY: Do you love the cowboy movies?
WASHINGTON: I love…I still love it right today. I really do. I love the old-time Westerns. The black and white movies. Turner Classics is my favorite channel. [Chuckle]
HAY: So you saw them all the first time right here.
WASHINGTON: Right here. [Laughter]
HAY: So when you think of the balcony at The Grand, does it feel like a…does it feel like a place…you know, part of…I mean is it an important part of your growing up?
WASHINGTON: Yes. Yes.
HAY: What does it feel like to you?
WASHINGTON: Yes. It feels like a very important part of growing up. Because it was such a treat to come to the movies, you know. I don’t know if you know very much about Frankfort, but there wasn’t a lot of things to do when you were small. When you were young. I won’t say small. I will say when you were young. We had parties on weekends. Sock hops and stuff like that. But it was always great to come to the movie. And we always tried to save our monies and come every Saturday. That was such a big deal. Every Saturday we would come. And usually if one came, the whole bunch, you know. If I didn’t have any money, maybe one of my friends would say, you know, “I’ll treat you today,” and I would come. We came every Saturday. We really did.
HAY: So what time would you come?
WASHINGTON: In the evenings. It was such a big deal. We thought we were really grown when we came in the afternoons. And the mornings were for children, we thought. Even though the matinees were cheaper.
HAY: Uh huh. Yeah.
WASHINGTON: But, you know, it only cost fifty cents to get in. So that’s why I said a dollar went a long…a long way then. [Chuckle] You came in. That was your admission: fifty cents. Another quarter for buttered popcorn and a quarter for a soft drink.
HAY: You said the popcorn was extra good in your memory?
WASHINGTON: It was especially good for some reason. I don’t know if it’s because the butter on it. We, you know, didn’t eat a lot of butter then because we knew it wasn’t good for us, but…It’s still not good for you, but it was good then on the popcorn.
HAY: Uh hum.
WASHINGTON: Yeah.
HAY: So do you have any particular memorable dates that you had here?
WASHINGTON: Oh gosh. Not really. I just…of course like I said, I came from a big family. I went to work at a very early age. To baby sit in the neighborhood. Keep other people’s children. And really, having a lot of dates…I didn’t have. But, when I started to have them, it was really exciting, you know. I thought, “Oh great! I have a date tonight.” And I guess I was about sixteen when all that started. And that’s late. That’s really late, you know. Other kids were already dating, but my mom didn’t allow that so…it didn’t happen. [Laughter]
HAY: Yeah. That’s great. [The camera pans down to the stage area] Well, I’ll show you…
WASHINGTON: Ok.
HAY: So this is…so…go back out this way.
WASHINGTON: Ok.
HAY: Of course it was a ramp in those days. And, some of the guys remember telling me how they would let their friends in the fire escape. [Laughter]
WASHINGTON: They probably did. Now, I didn’t. But some of them probably did.
HAY: They said, “They didn’t have any money. We let them in.” They’d time it where Miss Wilson went…
WASHINGTON: Out of sight. [Laughter] I believe that.
HAY: Do you remember what Miss Wilson looked like?
0: 1:00 …-0: 2:00WASHINGTON: Yes I do. Yes I do. She was a very attractive lady. I would say she was about 5’8”, very light complected, mixed gray hair…when I came along. And she wore it…I don’t know if you are familiar with the term Pompadour hairstyle? She wore it like that. She really did. Always well dressed. Very neat in appearance. I remember her well. I remember her flashlight too. [Chuckle]
HAY: She certainly made an impression on people.
WASHINGTON: Did other people remember her?
HAY: Uh huh. Yeah. She was like…it seems like she was such a…just a huge, you know, figure for everyone.
WASHINGTON: But, you know, she was just doing her job, and she did it…she did it well. If my daughter was here, and she was snuggled up with a guy and I didn’t like it, I would hope somebody would say, “You stop that. You move over to this seat, and you move to that seat.” Because, you know, when you are away from your folks, you do things you don’t…you’re not supposed to do. [Laughter]
HAY: She was the supervisor.
WASHINGTON: She was a supervisor. She was.
HAY: And your parents all knew you were safe coming here.
WASHINGTON: Exactly. Exactly.
HAY: So, we talked about this a little at the bottom of the stairs, but how long do you think…how many years do you think since you’ve walked up to this…
WASHINGTON: Oh, like I said, it has to be over forty. It had to be. Because my oldest daughter is forty-seven, so…I graduated from high school in 1958, so…it was before that.
HAY: Right.
WASHINGTON: Laura was born in ’62, so it had to have been before ’58, so…
HAY: And, had the theatre…did you ever bring her? You never brought her to the theatre because it was closing by that time.
WASHINGTON: No. She was not born.
HAY: Yeah. Yeah. So she never came to The Grand.
WASHINGTON: She never came. Neither one of my girls. I have two. One is forty-seven…I hate to tell you this because then you know how old I am. [Laughter]
HAY: Well, you’ve got me fooled. I think you’ve got everybody fooled about the year you were born. [Laughter]
WASHINGTON: Oh, I had the nicest compliment today, because my birthday will be Thursday, and I’ll be seventy.
HAY: Oh, really?
WASHINGTON: Uh hum.
HAY: Wow, that’s amazing. I thought we’d go down the elevator.
WASHINGTON: Ok.
HAY: And then back across the hall. You coming? [Question directed to cameraperson] Ok.
WASHINGTON: This is so nice. I really like this. I really really do.
HAY: It’s all modern.
WASHINGTON: It is. It is.
0: 3:00 …-0: 4:00HAY: It is. [Elevator doors close. Audio is still live. Cameraperson walks down stairwell.] And um…I think it’s neat how the architects left bits of the old wall. You’ll see it around. When we get off the elevator, you’ll see what I mean.
WASHINGTON: Yeah.
HAY: See that was left just like it…just like it was.
CAMERPERSON: Shall I get you out of the elevator?
HAY: Oh, ok, sure. You want to get us coming out of the elevator? [Laughter] Alright. Do we have to close it and then…
CAMERPERSON: Yeah.
HAY: Ok. Front door close.
WASHINGTON: How many have you interviewed?
HAY: You know I did about…I did a bunch in 2006.
WASHINGTON: Did you really?
HAY: And that’s when I interviewed Sheila.
WASHINGTON: Ok.
HAY: And then…um…here we are. And then I took a break, and then of course that was before the renovation.
WASHINGTON: Uh huh.
HAY: And then the years of the renovation I didn’t do any. And now we’re doing another series of interviews…
WASHINGTON: This is great.
HAY: …after the renovation.
WASHINGTON: So after you get all of this compiled, what are you going to do with all this information?
HAY: Well, I want to do a combination of things. I’d love to make a documentary about it. And at the moment, it’s called “Stories From The Balcony.” [Laughter] I don’t know if Sheila told you that.
WASHINGTON: You going to put all that down that I say? Ok. [Laughter]
HAY: And also to have it as part of the story of The Grand Theatre. I mean it’s all…
WASHINGTON: Ok. That would be great! Really great.
HAY: Yeah. So this was…this was left then from the 1940’s when it became the bigger Grand Theatre that you remember.
WASHINGTON: Ok. Uh huh.
HAY: And this was all covered up too, so this…we found all this under there. And um…and then I’ll show you the lower level. Did you ever come down here?
WASHINGTON: Never. Never. Now, we did some things we weren’t supposed to do. We threw popcorn down. All the boxes. [Laughter] From the…
HAY: From the top?
WASHINGTON: From the top. [Laughter]
HAY: So that was left from the 1940’s. Does it seem bigger to you or smaller than what you remember?
WASHINGTON: No. It seems bigger to me. I don’t know if it’s the arrangements of the seats; the diagonal position of .the chairs. I’m sure whoever is sitting down here would have a better view, you know, if they came to some event down here. But, upstairs, you know, the first three rows that are close to the railing up there, they always made me nervous so I never sat toward those three rows of seats.
HAY: It’s high up there isn’t it? [Laughter] But, yeah, the view up…the view from there, you know, here you can see close…you can see people’s faces from these front rows a bit better.
WASHINGTON: Uh huh. Were you here when they had…was it The Temptations that was here not long ago?
HAY: Yeah.
WASHINGTON: Were they really good?
HAY: Awesome. They were incredible.
WASHINGTON: I’ll bet.
HAY: Jarret was backstage. He runs…runs the…does the backstage [..] And those guys were so much fun.
WASHINGTON: Oh, I bet. I bet.
HAY: They were really fun.
WASHNGTON: Oh, I had something else going on at that time. I wanted to come so bad. I really did. I just wanted to see how they aged for one thing.
HAY: Yeah?
WASHINGTON: And I wanted to see if they could perform as well as they used to.
HAY: They did great.
WASHINGTON: Did they?
HAY: Well, Otis was the original and he…he said he…he was just about to finish his fiftieth year.
WASHINGTON: Ok.
HAY: Of doing the…of being the…
WASHINGTON: Of being The Temptations.
HAY: Being The Temptations.
WASHINGTON: Ok.
HAY: And then the other guys weren’t the original Temptations.
WASHINGTON: Ok.
HAY: And one of them was much younger. He must have been in his thirties or forties. So he obviously wasn’t an original Temptation.
WASHINGTON: Right.
HAY: But, they did the dancing, and they were really great. They got the audience members up also.
WASHINGTON: I saw them in Louisville about two years ago, and they were good then. But, they did have younger people with them. And they had somebody’s granddaughter singing with them at that time.
HAY: Really? That’s neat.
WASHINGTON: She was just doing it for that one show. So evidently she is not singing with them now?
HAY: We didn’t…they didn’t have a woman with them. No. They just had the five guys…
WASHINGTON: Ok.
HAY: …and the backup band…
WASHINGTON: Ok.
HAY: …and horns. They had horns and saxophones they picked out from…
WASHINGTON: Ok. It was great then too. It really was.
HAY: Yeah. Well, let’s walk down this way.
WASHINGTON: I would love for my girls to come and see this. I really would.
HAY: Ohhhh! Do they live here in Frankfort?
WASHINGTON: One lives in Dayton, Ohio and the other one lives here in Frankfort.
HAY: Ok. And you’ve got grandkids now?
WASHINGTON: Uh huh. Yeah.
HAY: Yeah?
WASHINGTON: I’ve got a great-grandson.
HAY: Oh, a great-grandson too?
WASHINGTON: Yes. [Laughter]
HAY: That’s fabulous. So, yeah, now you can see how high it was. That’s why you were nervous…
WASHINGTON: Uh huh.
HAY: …going near the…near the front row.
WASHINGTON: Yeah. Uh huh. And, see, at the time I was coming, that railing wasn’t up there. It really wasn’t.
HAY: So you would be right…you would be just right…
WASHINGTON: You would be just right on the…if you weren’t paying attention, you could just flip right on over, you know.
HAY: Yeah.
WASHINGTON: There was no safety mechanism like that is now back then.
HAY: Right. But you could get those boxes of popcorn over, I hear. [Laughter]
WASHINGTON: I shouldn’t have told you that. [Laughter]
HAY: Well, what I thought we could do is…I’ve set this up where we could all sit down…
WASHINGTON: Ok.
HAY: …and I’ll ask you questions.
WASHINGTON: Alright.
HAY: And I might ask you some of the same stuff we’ve talked about so far, but…
WASHINGTON: Ok.
HAY: We’ll just kind of see how it goes, and so if you want to sit…
WASHINGTON: Right here? Ok.
HAY: And get settled there. And I thought while I…while we get everything reorganized…this is the…this is the release to The Kentucky Historical Society that’s it’s ok to use your video.
WASHINGTON: Ok.
HAY: And basically, it will be archived at The Historical Society. The whole thing. [Laughter] For reference and for future.
WASHINGTON: Ok. And you’re just showing waist up? [Laughter]
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