This has been the week for movies. Of course, Edwardsburg has never had a movie theater as such but that doesn’t mean that you can’t see movies in Edwardsburg.
First-run movies? No. Older movies, yes.  If you want to see a first-run movie, the closest movie theater is in Elkhart, Niles or South Bend.
But today all you need is an iPhone, iPad or a  computer, and I guess you can watch most anything.
Even though I can run my computer and my iPad, sort of, I certainly don’t know all there is to know about all of this electronic stuff — just enough to be dangerous. I know that I am very proficient in messing them up. Luckily, I have grandchildren who can bail me out most of the time.
Back to the movies. Movies were the date night activity when I was growing up. I have always been a movie buff. My first recollection of attending a movie was with my dad. He loved the movies and when I was around 5 years old, I remember going to the movies with him.
In those days movies didn’t usually stop unless they had a short intermission. The movies were double features and they ran continuously. There would be two feature length films, a cartoon or two and a newsreel. Since there was no television, (yes it was before TV, but we did have electric, running water and cars), we had to get our news from the radio, newspapers or magazines.
The films ran all day and you only paid one price but you could stay all day and watch them over again.
Back to my dad and me. My first recollection was with my dad; don’t remember the movie but I do remember that it was drawing night. The movie stopped and they had a drawing for prizes. I remember getting out of my seat walking down the aisle and up to the stage and drawing a ticket with numbers out of a wire cage. I loved to sit on the edge of the stage and watch the movies up close.
Here in the E-burg, the movies were shown on a screen in the library park or at Five Points. Seats were on the ground on a blanket and it was free. I have no idea who was responsible for the movies. Maybe some of the readers remember who was in charge of showing the movies and where they came from.
The showing of the movie was dictated by the weather. When the theater in the upper part of the hardware store was usable, movies were shown there. That was before my time.
Now movies are sometimes shown at the library and at one time there was an attempt to show movies in the school on Saturday mornings. But with the ease of electronics, you really don’t have to leave home.
Now you can see movies from a Redbox or Netflix. These just became popular recently and have probably caused the demise of the video rental stores. You can even pay to see a movie on your home television.
What is Redbox? Redbox is an American company that specializes in the rental of DVDs, video games via automated retail kiosks. Kiosks feature the company’s signature red color and arched top surface and are located across the United States at grocery stores, pharmacies, mass retailers, convenience stores and fast food restaurants. Redbox was started by McDonald’s in 2002.
Netflix is a subscription-based movie and television show rental service that offers media to subscribers via internet streaming or U.S. mail and was started in 1999.
Fifty years from now when someone is reading old copies of this newspaper, what will they think ? How will they be watching movies?
What would my dad think if he knew he could watch movies from his telephone or on his television? I bet he would be disappointed that there was no drawing at intermission.