Saturday, November 28, 2009

The Des Moines, 1943

Crowds line up for the war feature "Bataan", which places this photo in 1943. You'll notice the marquee is of the same style seen 2 years later--and 2 weeks prior to the war ending--during the world premiere of "State Fair" at this theatre and the Paramount.

This photo comes courtesy of Lost Cines reader Craig McCue, who is currently authoring an Arcadia book for the West Des Moines Historical Society. (Let us know when that hits print, Craig!)

Hmmm, are those sailors standing in line? And if so...are they real, or for publicity?

1 comment:

Dean Schuler ,Naples,Fl. said...

Those are actual real live sailors in line at the theater .A couple days before catching the train for training 1951 ,either San Diego,Ca.,or the Great Lakes Naval Station just north of Chicago ,we were sworn in and housed in a downtown hotel .We were buses from all over Iowa .I happened to be bused from Waterloo,to the big city .That evening either went to a movie,or taxied to Riverview Park,suggested by the driver,"I can get you anything you want.even Girls???" LOL .3 days to SD on mom's hard boiled eggs .