Bigger Screens, Not Better Times at Today's Movie Theaters

Today, if you live in eastern Baltimore County and you want to take the family to see a movie, your choices are relatively simple.

You can either travel to White Marsh where you can chose from 16 different movies in one building at AMC Theaters, or to Eastpoint where you can pick from 10 different movies at Eastpoint Movies 10 .

For the more adventurous people out there, you can load up the car  and spend the evening watching a triple-feature on the largest screen in Maryland at Bengies Drive-In in Bowleys Quarters.

Today’s Megaplexs, with their digital images, Dolby surround sound, and stadium seating are a great improvement over the are's first megaplex in Golden Ring Mall with the flat floors and hard plastic chairs.

But, the current versions in no way compare to the original movie theaters of the Essex-Middle River Community.

From the 1940s through the 1970s, the movie-going experience in our area was truly a unique and enjoyable feeling. Small individual theaters were spread throughout the region. Each movie house would show a single feature for a week (sometimes two weeks) until the next feature arrived.

If you did not want to see the movie playing at one theater, you had to travel to another section of town to see the movie playing at that particular house.

The names of the theaters are synonymous with Essex. We had the Hiway, the Aero, the New Essex House, the Elektra and the Commodore.

As if those were not enough, one could travel to the close by Strand in Dundalk or Grand in Highlandtown.

The theaters themselves were very ornate and elegant. The ticket office usually protruded outside the exterior wall of the building meaning that one would stand in line outside (even in the rain) to purchase a ticket.

Once you made your ticket purchase, you would enter the lobby. Brightly colored, almost oriental looking plush carpet would greet  you. The majority of the walls had an art deco appearance. The smell of freshly made popcorn almost knocked you over but it was a very welcome aroma.

Directly in front of you would be the brightly lit snack counter where you could buy your favorite confectionary treat. Before entering the screen room, one would grab a copy of the upcoming features brochure.

From the lobby, you would pass through double doors on either side of the snack counter into the theater itself. The floors to your seats would gradually slope downward towards the screen. The room was wide in the back and narrowed toward the front.

The chairs were extremely comfortable with very thick padding on both the seats and backs. The entire theater was designed with the viewer in mind, and that was the way movie-going was meant to be.

On a personal note, I can vividly recall my very first movie-going experience back in the 1950s. My older brother took me to the Hiway Theater to see the Disney classic The Shaggy Dog starring Tommy Kirk and Fred MacMurray.

or a young child used to watching Father Knows Best and "The Donna Reed Show on a small screen black & white TV (without snacks) it was absolutely incredible.

The Hiway was also the venue for a fantastic afternoon shortly before it closed in the 1970s. My last trip there was to see the amazing Sci-Fi adventure The Planet of the Apes starring Charlton Heston and Roddy McDowell. I was enthralled by the visuals and shocked by the ending.

In the intervening years, I made trips to the Aero, Grand, and Strand to view many other Hollywood classics. Unfortunately, I never made it to the Elektra or New Essex House before they were destroyed by fire, but I am sure they provided equally pleasurable evenings.

Today’s movie-goers and megaplexes may have better sound and picture quality, and more choices to select from, but in my humble opinion they just do not compare to the individual movie houses from days gone by.