School days – morning shows of Laurel-Hardy movies

Another activity that was kept reserved for Sundays was the special morning cinema shows in the halls – these halls in Shyambazar used to have Bengali movies in the regular 3pm, 6pm and 9pm slots as regular schedules but would have English movies on Sunday mornings.
The attractions were the Laurel and Hardy series, Abbot and Costello, Charlie Chaplin and other such comedies and one of the favorite halls was Talkie Show House.

The morning shows would usually begin from 10am or 10.30 am and, since English movies usually finished within an hour or so, we brothers under the watchful eyes of my father, would return home in time for lunch.
The dose of slapstick comedy would keep us invigorated and would be a talking point during lunch hour among my class friends.
Our visits to the main cinema halls located in the Esplanade area were restricted and I remember a few movies that were wonderful ones – ‘The Greatest show on Earth’, ‘the Ten Commandants’ and ‘20000 Leagues under the Sea’. We enjoyed the movies no end.

Then there were other movies that showed Nature in all her glory and beauty from flowers, gradually blooming in the desert, to animals roaming freely in the wild. These have today been taken over by TV channels like National Geographic. Such exposure to western cultures and the world around us went a long way in shaping my outlook on life. (to be continued …)
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