"Mummy Dearest"

This Story has "The JAFA Seal of Approval"

obtained prior to publication.

The cast of characters are, Joey Conlon 10,

Janet Conlon, 7 (aka JAFA) and me, 7.

Supporting cast includes Kate Conlon and Liz Cianciaruso.

One afternoon, the three of us went to the movies. The name of the movie house was "The 4th Street Dumps"...I honestly don't know what the real name of it was, we always called it "The "Dumps. It was a very small theatre, no balcony and in front of the theatre to the left of the screen was the candy counter. During the movie the man operating the candy counter would walk around with a tray held by a strap around his neck selling Ice cream cones, melting as he walked up and down the aisle.

There was a matron, and old woman ( we thought she was old, thinking back now see may have been about 40) dressed in a white dress and white shoes and her hair in a bun, her name was Mrs Sapienzza. She carried a flashlight and watched all the kids to make sure there was no fooling around. If you talked too loud, she would shine the light on you and give you a loud SHUSHHH.

If you were really being mischievous, she would walk into the row and warn you that she would tell your mother....so, by and large most kids were well behaved. Oh yes, the price of a ticket was ten cents and on Wednesday afternoons it was five cents. For that large amount of money ( and at the time it was) you saw, 2 full length films, 10 cartons, a serial feature ( a weekly movie that brought you back each week to see what happens ) and on Tuesday nights the adults got a free dish. I know a lot of families built their china collection with those plates, but I digress.

One of the two movies we saw that afternoon was "The Mummy" staring Boris Karloff. Although the movie was made in 1932, we saw it for the first time in 1946. I loved that movie, (I actually bought the DVD last year)...at that time it was very scary, but fun. Every time the Mummy appeared on screen, Janet would cover her face and moan a bit...Joey and I would laugh at her and pull her hands away from her face. Walking home after the movie, it had to be winter, it was already dark, we teased her and said the Mummy was going to come to her house and take her away, ( a scene in the movie, where he took the girl and hid her in a cave)...she cried almost all the way home.

At that time my mother's clothes line ran her our kitchen window to my aunt Kate's kitchen window, and my mother had sheets hanging on the line. Being winter it took many, many hours, sometimes days for large things to dry. That night Janet looked out the window and seeing the sheets flapping in the wind, in her mind, the Mummy was coming to get her. She became hysterical and screamed, he's coming, he's coming....when they finally got her calmed down, she told my aunt that we told her the Mummy would come and take her away......so needless to say that night Joey got a beating and the next day when my aunt told my mother, I got mine. When Joey and I were finally allowed to go outside to play, we laughed like hell...it was worth every whack we got. and till today, Janet gets nervous just making a bed....