A Movie Premier Comes to Thomasville

Who says nothing exciting happens in little towns in rural Southwest Alabama? We are going to have a movie premier coming up at the end of July in downtown Thomasville.
How did this happen? Well, synchronicity is everything. I went, as you know to Kathryn Tucker Windham’s birthday party last week in Selma. I ran into a childhood friend of mine – Ron Harris. He used to be Ronald in his youth until he moved to Huntsville, got sophisticated and became Ron. He also became a playwright. He wrote a play “Like Mice, Like Rats” that was made into a movie called “Twenty Years After”. It is a Science Fiction Fairy Tale. Ron says it’s science fiction, but it’s a fairy tale because it has a happy ending. His sister, Lena Carol has never fully understood Ron’s fanciful nature. She said about the movie “Well, you know Ronald…it’s going to be weird”. I look forward to finding out when we host the Deep South Premier on July 28th at the Thomasville Theater.
We chose this location because as a child, Ron went to the picture show, as we called it in those days, every Saturday. He lived in Putnam, a little community near the Tombigbee River in Marengo County. He would come into town with his Aunt Sister, who was coming in to town to shop and get her hair done at Bedsole’s Department Store Beauty Parlor. He said he was a very impressionable child who was much affected by what he saw on the silver screen. One Saturday during the 1950s, he saw a news reel about the polio epidemic. There were children in iron lungs on the screen. He immediately came down with polio. He could no longer walk. His legs would not move. In a little while, the usher called “Ronald, your aunt is here”. He didn’t move. Again came the call, “Your aunt is here and she’s getting mad!” He stayed in his seat. Finally, the usher and his aunt came after him. His legs would not move, so they had to drag him up the isle with his legs flopping. This is only one of the good stories that Ron will share with the audience who comes for his premier. His good friend, Kathryn Tucker Windham, will be there. He’s going to ask her to share her stories, too. At the age of twelve, she was the movie critic for the Thomasville Times which was owned by her cousin Earl.

This is going to be the most fun! I can’t wait until somebody says “What’s been going on with you?” and I can say “I’m working on a movie premier project here in downtown Thomasville”. Everybody is excited about the project. The local Theater owners, Linda and Jerry Edwards, have graciously consented to let us use the theater for the event. They have a real community spirit. The Mayor has said we can block off the street in front of the theater for the event. ALA TOM RC&D has offered their office across the street to host a reception following the showing. The Southwest Alabama Tourism Office and the Southwest Alabama Chamber of Commerce are involved as are the University of Alabama Center for Economic Development and the Auburn Extension Service. The Clarke County Arts Council is involved. When a good idea comes along, we all embrace it and work together. Plus the fact, that we in rural Southwest Alabama love an occasion.