Movie memories

The first movie I ever saw in a theatre was “Tom Thumb”.  I remember my Dad and a pal of his taking my brother and I to a movie theatre on 149th St in the Bronx. I was mesmerized by the movie on a giant screen.

Then there were the hot summer nights when Dad and Mom would get us in our PJ’s and take us to the drive-in.  We would play in the playground until the movie was ready to start.  Then back to the car where they had set up pillows and blankets for us.  We kids always fell asleep before the second feature.  My parents brought snacks from home.  I always wished just one time Dad would take us to the snack bar to get something to eat.  Clearly it was not part of the budget.

Funny for me as a kid to think you had to be rich to go to the snack bar.

A few weeks ago I watched “The Sound of Music” for the first time in many years.

I traveled back in time to 1965 when my fourth grade class made a trip to the Rivoli Theatre in the city to see the movie. 

What a class trip!

The summer I was first married, my Dad told me he had seen two great movies we had to see, “E.T.”  and “An Officer and a Gentleman”.

We went to see them both at a drive-in. 

Great movies and great memories. 

Yesterday, the was a question about what was your favorite movie soundtrack on FB. 

The answers varied from “Saturday Night Fever” to “Dirty Dancing”.

My brother’s answer was “A Hard Days Night”.

Seeing his answer transported me back to 1964.  We were 9 and 11 years old. Mom was  not letting us go to the movies by ourselves at that point.  So Mom got a babysitter for my sister (sorry Cheryl) and took us to the movies.

There Mom stood all of 28 years old with her two children in a line of screaming teenagers waiting to give George and I a major treat.

I don’t think she hated the experience because as was common practice back then, she said we could stay and watch it again. Even through the screams  of the teenage girls. Hard to imagine you could just stay and watch a movie again without paying again to see it.

Another summer six years later, I was the one doing the treating.  I took my younger brother, Greg to see “Wille Wonka and the Chocolate Factory” probably 4-5 times within  a few weeks. 

It was not so much that he was enamored with the movie…..truth be told….I was enamored with the movie.

During my “Disco Days” , “Saturday Night Fever” was the movie to see with it’s great soundtrack.

The dancing, dresses and music was so much a part of my life during that time.

Before you know it, I am sitting through “Beauty and the Beast” with some Moms and Jenn’s friends as a birthday treat.  I remember one scene scared Jenn and a friend and they ended up sitting on my lap until the scary part was over.

Then along came Blockbuster and there was less reason to go to a movie when you could wait a few months and rent it for a lot less and keep it for 48 hours or a week depending on the newness or popularity of the movie.  I would stand guard at the return bin hoping for a recent release to be dropped in the return box. The phrase “be kind rewind” became part of our daily language.

We still occasionally went out to the movies like the evening I went with 15-20 coworkers to see one of the Twilight movies.

And recent releases like “Top Gun Maverick” are said to be must see’s in a theatre.

But for me, going out to a movie theatre might not happen anymore post COVID.

From my childhood, through adolescence, teenage years, newlywed, parent and adulthood the movies show what was popular at the time and in some ways the pattern of my life.

The last movie I went to see in a theatre was “It’s A Wonderful Life”.  Jenn and I made it a Christmas tradition to see it each year at the Nickelodeon Theatre in Columbia a week before Christmas.  Seeing it on the big screen was such a treat and a great holiday event.

At the end of the movie, the audience always clapped, Jenn and I did too.

But now thanks to a certain Progressive commercial, I can hear the older man who is in all their commercials saying “No reason to clap.  No one involved in the movie is here” .  Too funny….

Happy 4th of July!!

God bless America!

See you next week!