When Dr. Urbano Bañez brought electricity to Bangued, I was then in grade seven. Everybody got excited with the new plant for generating electricity and making ice.
Prior to this, only the Catholic Church had electricity in town.
Then the Tuazon family erected a movie house building. It was made entirely of galvanized iron roofing sheets, with bamboo benches for the front seats and wooden benches for the rear seats.
It had no restrooms. As the show was going on, the boys and men urinated right into the ground in front of them, and so did the women. It was full of flies!
Being relatives and friends of the Tuazon family, my
brother and I, for free entry to the show, were allowed by Ham Tuazon to parade around town with placards. Sometimes
as my brother and I would be blown down by strong winds as we tried to hold up the placard, framed in a wooden frame, against the north wind.
At that time no road in town was paved with asphalt or cement. They were all paved with Abra River stones and sand and clay. Hence, parading placards around the town was not an easy thing for small kids like my brother and me, at the same time yelling at the top of our voice the title of the show in order to attract the attention of people.
The most memorable show I saw was entitled SOMEBODY’S MOTHER. It was the story of a girl who left a child and became a nun. Later on, the child was seen giving drink with her cupped hands to her mother, neither knowing the other.
Mg. Trining, who took me as her chaperon, was crying, along with other women, during the show.
Elix and I loved to see TARZAN AND THE APES.
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