By Joseph M. Morgan
joseph@southerntorch.com
Dr. John Morgan contributed to this article, photos by Dr. John Morgan
COLLINSVILLE, Ala.— The Collinsville Historical Association (CHA) held their 2016 Annual Meeting, last weekend at Cricket Theatre at 2 p.m. CHA holds an annual meeting open to the public each year to bring the community up to date on current and recent projects and give those in attendance an opportunity to view the museum and hear from a guest speaker.
The CHA 2016 Annual Meeting guest speaker this year was Stan Bradley from Birmingham. Bradley’s mother was a member of the Weaver family, and sister to the builder of Collinsville’s Cricket Theatre. Stan grew up in Collinsville. He worked lots of jobs at the Cricket as his family, the Weavers and the Overstreets, were the founders and owners for the theatre as well as establishing the telephone company which had offices in the theater building with operators on duty 24/7, 3 during the day and one overnight. The Weavers also dammed Big Wills Creek to bring electricity to Collinsville.
Bradley spoke about the Cricket building as it was in the 40's, 50's and 60's. He said his Uncle Paul Overstreet went to Atlanta once every three months to order the movies for the next quarter. The films would be shipped over one at a time. The cost to get into the movie was 10 cents at first. Bradley said most parents gave their children a quarter, and that the kids would get 3 nickels back that they would spend on snacks, all of which were a nickel. When the night was over, there was a phone on the wall in the lobby with a sign above it saying, "Call Mamma Phone" to get their ride back home.
The movies sometimes would send a star to tour local towns to promote their movie while it was showing. Blakely said that Lash Larue ate lunch at his house and that Robert Blake had his seventeenth birthday at his house when he stayed overnight promoting Red Ryder films.
The theatre had separate sections and separate box offices for Blacks and Whites. The Blacks sat in the balcony.
Bradley said that as a child he fell asleep on the floor and stayed in the theater where he stayed for a good while until his parents realized he was not at home. As a worker, he went in every corner of the building including all the way up into the top of the clock tower.
Local musician and Collinsville Baptist Minister of Music Gloria Morgan sang two songs at the meeting, "Zip-a-Dee-Doo-Dah," which won the oscar for best song in a movie in 1946, the year that the Cricket opened. Morgan accompanied herself on the auto harp during her first song. Morgan also sang "You'll Never Walk Along" from the musical Carousel in a cappella (no accompaniment) to great applause.
President Jerry Smith talked about the progress of the last year, especially the continuing work on the Cricket that was being used for a meeting for the first time since it reopened. The new marquee is to be put on in the next couple of weeks. He hoped heat and AC could be added soon after so that the building could be used for events all year long.
Former mayor Jimmy Carter led the pledge. Refreshments after the meeting were prepared by Jane Peek. Both before and after the meeting the new Collinsville Museum was open for everyone to look at the new exhibits.
