In the 1950s, the 283 compound of the army screened movies on the playground of the courtyard every weekend. The 283 compound, located on the south side of Jiefang Middle Road, was Xu Dinglin's Ganfeng Oil Cake Company in the late Qing Dynasty, and has been a garrison since then. After the 283 command moved to Xugou, it was the seat of the Lianyungang Municipal Government, and later the real estate was developed into Huijin Square.
The 283 compound is separated from the original Jiefang Road Primary School by a wall, and whenever there is a movie, children will climb over the wall to watch a movie. According to the "History of Xinpu", the first open-air film screening in Xinpu was in 1924, on the playground of Dongbu Puai Primary School, that is, on the north side of today's First People's Hospital of the city, when a silent film was screened. (Shiqiao renjia original: Ma Jianyao, reprint please sign the author's name.) ）
The film screening on the South Square was not until the early sixties, which is the stadium on Haichang Road today. Open-air movies were a cultural feast of that era, and whenever there was news of a movie, people were passing on ten, ten to a hundred, without notice, and were household names. Families ate dinner early, the dishes and chopsticks were not shabu, and the whole family, young and old, went out of their homes and walked to the South Square. On the road, people carrying benches, holding small square stools, holding children, bustling and not bustling, like the New Year. South Square open-air movies are so popular because they are free.
The so-called open-air movie is in the south square, with a pole pulled on the curtain, and a 16 mm projector on the center of the venue. It was not yet dark, and the favorable terrain had been taken over by the children, some people put stones on them, some placed bricks, and each of them drew a range. The best position is in front of the projector, where you can see the projectionist's operation, watching him load the film disc, wrap the film between the pulleys, and close the lens.
It was dark, the projectionist was still debugging the projection equipment, and those who came late could only be outside the circle, and the black pressed piece, only a light bulb was lit on the middle projector. Finally the projector lights turned on, that dazzling beam of light, you can see a lot of floating dust, the children are strange, some shake their small hands, swaying in the light, some stretch their heads, do all kinds of strange and strange actions, triumphantly look at the screen, a laugh, the South Square is a sea of joy.
Film is a collection of visual, auditory, literary, scientific and technological and other modern arts of the synthesis, in that era of lack of cultural life, occasionally watching an open-air movie is a rare almost luxurious spiritual feast. In the summer, there are many mosquitoes, adults use fans to drive away mosquitoes for children, men pat mosquitoes on their thighs, and the most excited people are children, crowded, leather noisy, and the south square is full of expectations. When the opening credits of the "news briefing" appeared, the noisy South Plaza suddenly fell silent.
The open-air movies in the South Square screen "Heroic Tiger Courage", "Border Village Beacon", "Yangcheng Dark Sentry", "Xu Qiuying Case", as well as "National Day Ten O'Clock", "Silent Mountain Forest" and "Ancient Temple Bells". The children's favorite is "Yangcheng Dark Sentinel", "Xu Qiuying Case", "Silent Mountain Forest" and other anti-special films.
Open-air movies in south square are not often available, and children will ask each other when to put on movies on weekends. Mischievously teasing: "Ten o'clock on National Day!" "Actually, he doesn't know. Anxious children, sometimes waiting for a show in the south square, the next day to tell their classmates that last night was "Silent Mountain Forest", which caused a laugh in the hall.
Open-air movies are usually old films that are put in local cinemas, and even if they are old films, there is only one film film, and each district takes turns to put it, which needs to be transmitted, which the projectionist calls "running film". If the film is not poured well in other areas, the projectionist should use an empty film shelf, connect the film, and then shake the film to reverse the film. However, sometimes, the projector will also malfunction, appear black screen or jump frame phenomenon.
Because it is an open-air movie, when there is a wind, the screen will shake with the wind, and the people on the screen will also shake and deform. Both sides of the open-air movie screen can be seen, and people who come late can see it clearly in the back, but the back word is reversed, the left hand will be seen as the right hand, and the right leg will be seen as the left leg, but people who want to see the movie do not mind these. If you encounter a thunderstorm, it will be miserable, the crowd is restless, it is chaotic, the projectionists are busy, and what is left on the field is the squeezed shoes and the stones and bricks everywhere.
In 1973, open-air movies were to be watched by ticket, and the Revolutionary Leading Group of the Film theater of the Municipal Bureau of Culture and Education built an open-air cinema diagonally opposite the former Xinhai Middle School on the south side of Jiefang West Road, with a façade room, a ticket office, a projection building, a screen, and a wall, using a 35 mm projector for projection. In 1978, more than 4,000 stone benches were built, and the audience was seated.
In the summer of 1978, An open-air cinema was built in Xinpu Park, which was screened with a 16 mm projector and was open from April to October every year, two times a night. In 1979, the District Cultural Center used the empty field of the Xitianchi civil air defense site to build an open-air film field, which was screened by the screening team of the Municipal Film Company. At the end of 1980, there were stepped seats that could accommodate more than 1,200 people. In the same year, it was screened by the film group of the District Cultural Center with a 35 mm charter aircraft.
Open-air movies are the memories shared by generations, fading from the 1950s to the late 1980s, open-air movies are a brilliant firework in the night sky of childhood, fading into the beautiful memories of generations.
(Shiqiao renjia original: Ma Jianyao, reprint please sign the author's name.) ）
References:
"Xinpu History", Han Shiyong, Shaanxi Tourism Publishing House, 2005.
Xinpu District Xinzhi, Beijing: Fangzhi Publishing House, December 2014.
Images are from the web.