He Trained “Rosie” and Went to the Movies with Her

by Matilda Butler on February 10, 2014

Post #58 – Rosie’s Daughters: The “First Woman To” Generation Tells Its Story by Matilda Butler and Kendra Bonnett

First Hand Memory of Working with a Rosie the Riveter

You may remember that we recently published a story by Bill Thomas. Bill helped train women in the art of riveting. His employer managed to keep him for a while, but soon Bill and two friends all joined the military together.

In Bill’s last story, he talked about his experiences in training women to become riveters. Today, he has returned with another story that we think you’ll enjoy because it helps to let us know more about what life was like at the home front during World War II. Movies at 9 in the morning? It makes perfect sense because there were round-the-clock shifts to produce what America needed for the war effort. Yet I’d never heard any stories that mentioned this.

Here’s what Bill Thomas remembers:

BILL THOMAS: While working the “midnight shift” from 11:00 p.m. to 7:00 a.m., many of us “riveters” would go out for breakfast (or dinner) after our shift ended. Often, we’d go to a theater to see a movie. In those days, the theaters gave “free gifts” like dishes or teapots. This particular day, it was a free teapot with a cover.

Enola, one of the “Rosie riveters” was a beautiful young lady (about 22), and she agreed to accompany me to the movie house. The theater, at about 9:00 a.m., was nearly empty when Enola and I went to our seats so we sat pretty much in mid-theater, and Enola placed the teapot on the empty seat, to her right,

Gradually, more people came in and eventually a couple wanted to sit next to Enola, so I volunteered to move the teapot to the seat on my left.

Again, more people came in and someone wanted to sit on the seat where I had placed the teapot, so I placed the teapot on the floor beneath my seat. In those days (1940’s) carpeting was laid only in the aisles, so the floor under the seats was bare concrete, and smooth.

After the newsreel, “The Three Stooges” came on. As in all their films, they were outrageously hilarious. I kept laughing so much that I didn’t notice my foot “kicked” the teapot so it slid downward on the smooth concrete floor.

Suddenly, a guy, three rows in front of us, yelled out, “Who lost a teapot?” Enola was embarrassed so she slunk down in her seat, but brave lad that I am, I answered, “Hey, that’s mine.” The guy stood up and said, “Well, come and get it.”

He wouldn’t just pass it back over the seats, so I had to wiggle over a dozen movie-viewers to get to the aisle, walk a dozen steps and watch as a “crew” of people passed the teapot from one person to the next until the teapot reached me. A moment later, I noticed the teapot top was missing, so I tried to whisper to the guy who found the teapot, “Do you have the lid?”

Meanwhile, everyone is either laughing at the “Stooges” funny antics, or at my teapot interruption. Some people threw mean remarks at me. Finally, I had a complete teapot but then I needed to wiggle my way over a dozen patrons to get back to my seat.

Moments later, I told Enola, “You can sit up now,” I handed HER teapot back to her.

A month later, I enlisted in the Army, and never saw Enola again

………………………..
Bill, that’s a terrific story. Thanks for sharing it with us.

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Rosie the Riveter's Bandana With Mug - RosiesDaughters.com