“Our family lived in the Vollentine area in the 1930's and '40's, and my best friend, Martha Ann, lived just behind us. We were in the same school all the way from Vollentine Elementary through Snowden and then Central. Every Saturday Martha Ann and I walked over to Jackson Avenue, got on the bus, and went downtown to Gerber’s Department Store on Main. Back then you could go anywhere. It was safe; nobody even locked their doors. Everybody was poor, so there was nothing to steal anyway. Well, Gerber’s had a Tea Room, and Martha Ann and I would order egg salad and olive sandwiches and then go to a movie at Loew’s [Loew’s Palace Theater]. During the week, movies were fifty cents, but on Saturdays, we could watch westerns for a quarter.
“One time this tall blond movie star, Van Johnson, visited Memphis in person, and three of us girls went to the theater. He was going to be on stage there, so we got second-row seats and were just so excited. We found out he was staying at the Peabody, so after the show, we went to the hotel and up to the floor where his room was. Of course, the guards wouldn’t let us get off the elevator. They said, ‘Little girls, you run on home.’ Instead of doing what he told us, I asked, ‘Would you please get us signatures? We need three.’ And they did. We all got Van Johnson's autograph!”
“One time this tall blond movie star, Van Johnson, visited Memphis in person, and three of us girls went to the theater. He was going to be on stage there, so we got second-row seats and were just so excited. We found out he was staying at the Peabody, so after the show, we went to the hotel and up to the floor where his room was. Of course, the guards wouldn’t let us get off the elevator. They said, ‘Little girls, you run on home.’ Instead of doing what he told us, I asked, ‘Would you please get us signatures? We need three.’ And they did. We all got Van Johnson's autograph!”
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