Summer Break is Almost Here

On Parade to the Early Show at Lamar Theater

School is almost over, as evidenced by elementary age youngsters being escorted down South Main Street in Lamar, to an early-morning matinee at the Lamar Theater on Tuesday, May 22. 

As most of the teachers are entering a pre-vacation mode, with all the textbooks being returned and accounted for; all the paste, scissors, glue and colored paper is put away with games and toys, one sure way to keep the students occupied is with a movie.  The Lamar Theater was featuring the cartoon, “Pirates” for entertainment for the small-fry. 

This reporter can remember back to the dark ages of his elementary school days just before summer break, when teachers would roll out a big, reel-to-reel movie projector for such thrilling fare to view as, Bell Laboratories’- “Hemo the Magnificent” or “Our Mr. Sun”, narrated by a nice old bald man wearing spectacles, known as Dr. Research.

These were informational movies that were probably filmed in the early 50s by the time my age group got to watch them.  Not a single thing was in orbit back then, and the equivalent of facebook was a bunch of ‘cootie-catchers’ several girls had made and passed around the room.  A quick review on You Tube shows some of these films still stand the test of time, despite having one of the adults smoking around kids. Summer would seem to last forever, and half-way through it, you were secretly wishing for school to get started again, just for something to do.  Here’s a hint; the library has a great summer reading program, and you’ll find some summer activities planned at the Teen Center.

By Russ Baldwin