It all started at the Pioneers of Alaska, Igloo #17
Friday night was movie night, in Nenana, Alaska, when I was a boy, mid 1950s. (This is a shot from Alaska Digital Archives, ca 1920. Notice the POA Hall, first building on the left.)
Nenana of those days was a dusty railroad and riverboat town with a disproportionate number of churches and saloons, two stores—Coghill's (still there) and the NCCo, a post office, lodge and the Coffee Cup Cafe.
Right ... no theater! So we watched movies at the Pioneers of Alaska Hall. The Pioneers were an early Alaska social club, started in Nome, that still exists in some Alaska towns today. Appropriate to Alaska, the meeting halls were called "igloos."
Story structure in "B" movies
I think I learned everything I know about story structure at the Pioneers of Alaska.
The staple in those days was Hollywood grade "B" movies, usually westerns. I no longer know why, but my favorites starred Anthony Quinn. Of course we saw John Wayne and the whole bunch, but somehow Quinn and I bonded. Not so I could tell you the name of a single movie, however.
But at the end I'd go home and recount the whole thing. Absolutely the whole thing in detail, with all its characterizations, plot twists and plot arcs—plus acting out the climactic moments—for my long-suffering parents.
It's a wonder they'd let me go at all.
Now I'm writing my 8th book!
What it is ... is rhythm, and it's stayed with me. For a long time I didn't know how I knew what I knew, just that I did. And I know that, even after all these years, it still works for me. The other thing that has stayed with me is Nenana.
Those of you that have read my Cheechako series, or the first book in my Father Hardy series, can spot bits of that old Nenana peeking out around the corners.
Here's the scene as it plays from "Indecent Exposure," featuring Orie Williams, the only real character I've ever written into one of these. (With his permission.)
"But on a Friday
night, a bright-eyed, bespectacled boy named Orie, gets there early enough to
light a fire in the big barrel stove up front, to pop the popcorn, and get the
first movie reel threaded into an antique projector. He’s the only one who can
keep it running. I’ve heard rumors of a pact with the devil.
Much of the town
files in, kids to the hard benches near the screen where their front sides get
roasted by proximity to the barrel stove at the same time as their backsides
are still freezing. Adults sit on the hard chairs behind. The room starts out
so cold that most of us leave our parkas on until about halfway through the
movie when we all simultaneously realize we’re sweltering and can’t possibly wait
for the reel change."
In a world where every single other thing has changed, that old Nenana remains a place I can find my way back to.
