The Little Joys of Leaving a Movie Theater

Culture As the credits roll, the ticket-buyers reenter the world. Photo by Stéphane Ouzounoff / Hans Lucas / AFP via Getty Images Last weekend, while I was watching the 1961 version of West Side Story on the big screen at an old theater in my hometown of Columbus, it started to rain outside. The storm caused weird sounds to echo inside the cavernous, ornate building, which was constructed in 1928. The emphatic rumble of rain hitting the rooftop competed, at moments, with the equally forceful music by Leonard Bernstein and words by Stephen Sondheim. But I did not mind. To the contrary, I had learned early in my moviegoing career that there were few things more agreeable than to be inside a movie theater, cocooned in a plush seat and braced by wooden armrests, while the world continues to tu