Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: SUNDAY, May 7, 1995                   TAG: 9505090017
SECTION: DISCOVER NRV                    PAGE: DNRV-48   EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY 
SOURCE: PAUL DELLINGER STAFF WRITER
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Long

IN NOSTALGIA COUNTRY, YOU, TOO, CAN RELIVE YESTERYEAR'S THRILLS

Well, in the New River Valley, you can relive those thrilling days of yesteryear.

You can still see "Wild Bill," "Hoot" and the original Randy along with comedies, musicals and dramas from Hollywood's golden age twice a month at showings in Radford and Christiansburg. Or, if your tastes run to old radio shows, out-of-print books, architecture reflecting different eras, or even just antiques in general - all of those are available here, too.

Since late 1980, film collectors have been getting together each month at Radford University and showing a variety of their movies. The Nickelodeon Films group now holds its showings at 7 p.m. on the first Saturday of the month in Russell Hall, Room 108. There is no charge, although donations are accepted to help cover equipment expenses.

John Rutherford, who is on the university faculty, and Eddie Wall, a Radford jeweler, started the showings. "We thought when we started that we'd have enough films to show about six months and quit," Rutherford said.

Instead, there has been a showing every month since the gatherings started, and the same film has rarely been shown twice - ``and most of those were accidents,'' Rutherford said.

Showings have expanded to the Montgomery County Public Library in Christiansburg at 7 p.m. on the third Saturday of every month except December.

Rutherford joked that the Radford gathering represents the main theater and the library gathering is the second-run theater, showing mostly B-movies such as Westerns. Each showing has its own following, although some people attend both, he said.

There also is a way in the New River Valley to listen to shows that no longer come in over your radio.

Are you one of those people who used to wonder, along with The Shadow, what evil lurks in the hearts of men? Or who was behind the Lone Ranger's mask? Why Jack Benny had to think it over when a holdup man demanded "Your money or your life''? Whether Our Miss Brooks would ever land the bashful bachelor who taught biology at Madison High School? What was in Fibber McGee's closet?

Tapes of such half-hour radio comedies and dramas make up a small part of Randy Proffitt's offerings at R.P. Collectibles, at 67 W. Main St. in Pulaski. He also has some hour-long anthology radio shows featuring screen actors such as Humphrey Bogart and Lauren Bacall.

Some of his customers have found that the shows make great time-passers on long trips in vehicles with cassette players.

Or perhaps you want to re-read that Nancy Drew or Hardy Boys book you remember. With the rate at which new books compete for shelf space in regular bookstores, it may be difficult to find much beyond the most recent sellers.

But at Softcovers Book Store at 110 Draper Rd. in Blacksburg, owner Susan Edlund has about 20,000 paperbacks in all categories from years past.

Some authors get sold or traded more regularly than others, she admitted. "Some of these books have been here for years. They're like old friends," she said.

In downtown Pulaski, two used bookstores have opened in the past year: Mountain Peddler at 59 W. Main, and Walker Creek Press at 226 N. Jefferson Ave. They feature hardbacks as well as paperbacks, and usually have a variety of historical and local-interest volumes on hand.

Books and other odds and ends can be found at various "flea market" stores in the area. Things & Stuff along U.S. 11 between Pulaski and Dublin was opened by James Pritchard more than a year ago after his retirement from Lynchburg Foundry. Just west of the Wythe-Pulaski county line off Interstate 81-77, there are 100 dealers in antiques, crafts, collectibles, sport cards, comic books, old magazines, old advertising signs and many other items at Snoopers, accessible by Exit 77 or 80.

Cards and comics also are available at LT's Cards Inc. at 309 N. Washington Ave. in Pulaski.

Old buildings also provide glimpses into the past. The historic Giles County Courthouse in Pearisburg dates back to 1836. It was used as a hospital during the Civil War.

The original Pulaski County Courthouse was built in 1896, gutted by fire in 1989 and recreated in 1992. It features displays, photographs and other memorabilia from the county's history as well as geological specimens lining its stairways. Tours are available.

Also in Pulaski is the former train station, built during the town's founding in 1856 and recently renovated to house the Pulaski County Chamber of Commerce and Raymond F. Ratcliffe Memorial Museum.

There is even an old Coca-Cola advertisement painted across the back of a building in downtown Pulaski dating back to when a bottle of Coke sold for a nickel.