Those were the days: The Soares clan, with friends & neighbors

Vintage photographs from the 1930s and beyond from the family of Victor Faria Soares, Sr. and Rose Raymond Soares of Somerset, Mass., my grandparents. These were digitized by my uncle, Arthur Faria Soares, who also provided me with many stories about my family and his experiences growing up. The children of Rose and Victor Sr. were: Victor Jr., Beatrice, Raymond (my father), and Arthur.

My uncle, Arthur Faria Soares (left), with his friends, George Borge and Jimmy Almeida. They are waiting to take the bus to Fall River, circa 1944. Maybe they were going to see a movie at the majestic Durfee Theater. Art described another of the city's theaters, which offered cheap seats, as a scene of bedlam. The Globe "was filled with flying objects, noise and utter chaos. Boys were yelling and screaming at the screen, and tossing the remains of whatever they had finished eating at anyone and everyone, making it impossible to hear the movie." After a second visit, he swore off the place for good.