HILO THEATER in the 1940s

The war in the Pacific was on and the Hilo Theater on the Big Island of Hawaii was open to provide people a way to get the war off their minds. As you can see there are several servicemen  at the box office buying tickets to see Errol Flynn in Gentleman Jim. This movie came out in 1942.


Click on image to see it larger.

You can see another photo of the theater here at Kamaaina56. He provides the following information:

The old Hilo Theater opened 1940 and survived the 1946 Alaskan tsunami but sadly closed after being engulfed in the 1960 Chilean tsunami. (SOURCE: Kamaaina56)

I remember when the 1960 tusnami hit and the beautiful park in Hilo was destroyed. I'd been visiting it just a few months before it happened.

Just so the thought of the war wasn't too far away, the theater was also an air raid shelter.


Click on image to see it larger.

So let's get a feeling for what these guys were going to see.



And if you don't have time to wait around until the next movie, I Married a Witch, arrives on Wednesday, you can view it now.

Deconstructing SCHOOL CHILDREN: The End

Within this class photo there is a mystery, a photo of a woman being held by the last little boy in the top row. I'm guessing it's of the teacher. I wonder who decided to do this? Another teacher, a student, the principal? Was the teacher just out sick the day the shot was taken? Had she passed on? Left town in a hurry? I don't think I've ever seen a class photo with a photo in it.

This is the end of the class of Pala 1942.

I don't know about you, but I'm thinking this little girl never took any guff from anybody.

Click on image to see it larger.

Deconstructing SCHOOL CHILDREN: Part 5

Somewhere there are people related to these little girls; children, grandchildren, perhaps even great-grandchildren. I'm always fascinated to look at photos of children and wonder what became of their lives.

Perhaps someday someone will do a search for Pala 1942. Unlikely, but possible.

Deconstructing SCHOOL CHILDREN: Part 4

Though I do not have any definitive information about this school photo I do think they went to a school in San Jose, California. Judging by their age, it's quite possible some of the boys served in the Korean War, often called America's forgotten war. The war that to this day sees troops stationed along the DMZ.

Now after hearing the report of how woefully ignorant high school seniors are in American history I don't expect very many to have the slightest idea about what these young boys faced. With only 12% of seniors having an understanding of their own country I imagine most will believe DMZ is simply a typo and I meant to type in TMZ. If ignorance is bliss, there have to be a lot of blissful teenagers.

These boys, from Pala class of 1942, understood their country was at war. War was not something far removed from their lives. It wasn't a hidden class of people fighting the war. It touched all lives. Not so today. Again, ignorance is apparently bliss.

These are the forgotten children of this country who fought the wars, built the highways, constructed the homes, invented technology to take us into space, worked in factories building products to be exported around the world, etc. What will the future bring for the kids in school today who aren't even being asked to learn cursive handwriting? Where will their creativity come from if machines constantly guide their every thought? I'd like to say I'm hopeful, but I'm starting to believe maybe it is easier to be ignorant.

Deconstructing SCHOOL CHILDREN: Part 3

Back to deconstructing the Pala class of 1942.

Letting each child shine away from the group.

Which little girl had an exceptional life?

Which little girl always knew sorrow?

Which little girl died young?

Which little girl lost her true love to war?

Which little girl, now an old woman, has no memory of the little girl?

Deconstructing SCHOOL CHILDREN: Part 2

More individual portraits taken from the whole of the Pala School class photo from 1942.

School photos are so interesting because of the details, not the whole. So many stories to be told. So many lives to wonder about. How many are still alive today? How many died young, lives incomplete? There are no names, just faces from a day at school 69 years ago.

Deconstructing SCHOOL CHILDREN

I have done this before and will probably do it again until someone comes along screaming, "STOP THE MADNESS!" which will most likely just encourage me to do it even more.

I'm talking about taking a photo apart and putting it back together, deconstructing. This time I may prove more annoying than usual because I have four...I said FOUR class photos dating from 1942 to '46; 1943 is missing. In some photos the same children appear, but I have yet to spend any time really looking at their little faces to determine exactly how many made it to all four photos. Mind you, each photo has over 30 faces from which I can annoy you.

My computer dictionary defines deconstruct as:

analyze (a text or a linguistic or conceptual system) by deconstruction, typically in order to expose its hidden internal assumptions and contradictions and subvert its apparent significance or unity.

Doesn't that fit an elementary school photo? Am I not exposing its hidden internal assumptions and contradictions?

Oh I may be headed down a path no blogger should go...readers running in the opposite direction, unable to bear another shot of a smiling or confused kid. If you are brave, scroll down and continue.

I give you a few boys from the 1942 Pala School photo. These kids would now be in their late 70s; a story to be told in each face. I'm thinking boy number three grew up saying, "I see dead people." Maybe it's just me and I'm betting a whole slew of folks have no idea what I'm talking about.

Kids are just kids no matter the decade (or if they're time traveling celebrities).