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When bats were part of the show
Trip to new Tappahannock movie complex brings back visions of the old DAW theater in the Northern Neck town.
Date published: 5/1/2001
WHEN temperatures turned wintry during a recent spring-break stay in the Northern Neck, we sought alternatives to basking on the beach or dipping our toes in the Potomac River. One included a visit to the Essex 5, a movie-theater complex in the town of Tappahannock. The movie complex is a nice, bright spot, with roomy theaters and good-sized screens, where we enjoyed the first-run flick "Spy Kids." Waiting in line for popcorn, I scanned the spacious, magenta-colored lobby and smiled. My, how far we've come from the DAW. For those who never experienced it, an evening at the DAW theater in downtown Tappahannock was different. The little movie house, named DAW after the initials of its first owners, had seen better days when I began frequenting it as a youngster in the 1960s and '70s. At least, that's what I decided after the first bat swooped down over me on my initial visit. I'd heard the old movie theater was home to a small population of the radar-guided critters, but it still came as a shock when wings flapped overhead in the middle of "Shaft's Big Score." Somewhat startled by this air assault, I looked to other patrons to see how unusual it was. The woman beside me just shook her head and said it was par for the course. But, with no other theater on the Northern Neck and the next-closest one 70 miles away in Richmond, where else was I going to munch popcorn and see "The Poseidon Adventure"? Though to my teen-age eyes the theater and its lobby were perfectly acceptable, visits elsewhere later showed me that few other movie houses were as dark, dank and cramped as the DAW. The DAW's screen, however, was still in fine shape, and the projector was as well. To be honest, I've had more complaints about some of our modern-day theaters than I ever had about the DAW. Bats weren't the only thing I noticed as different on my first visit to the DAW. All the black patrons sat in the balcony, while whites stayed in the main body of seats below.
Date published: 5/1/2001
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