My Cinderella Memory

Author: Donna C. Braymer

I was born in the mid 50's so I was not old enough to be wearing poodle skirts or white bobby socks with jeans. But I was into television and remember when color TV was brand new.

At the time, my father worked as a television repair man for a furniture and appliance store named Parker Chatham in Tyler, Texas. We had a huge black and white RCA stuffed dog that was great to lounge on the floor and watch TV with. We would often watch the Rose Bowl Parade or the Thanksgiving Day Parade at the ˜shop" to see them in color. Color sets had just came out for the ˜above average income" around 1960.

I still remember when the original 1965 Rogers and Hammerstein production of Cinderella with Lesley Ann Warren was coming to television. Everyone from the business was invited to watch the production in the showroom after the store had closed.

The beautiful songs and costumes are still in my memory all these years later! I was fascinated by the colorful scenery and elegant ball gowns. Of course the drab brown house dress Cinderella had to wear looked even worse in color and the black smudges on her beautiful face from working with the ashes of the fireplace really made me mad at the ugly step sisters and their mother. How could anyone treat the sweet and kind Cinderella like that? It was beyond my childhood imagination and even as an adult-hard to believe situations would make people so evil and desperate. But when I was 10, it was just on Television and not real.

Stuart Damon played the handsome prince with the task of finding a wife somewhere in the kingdom. Not only was he gorgeous to look at, but his voice coupled with Lesley's made magical moments of harmony and enjoyment.

I still remember singing and twirling around the room wearing a long night gown, pretending I was Cinderella dancing with my handsome prince.

This movie was full of elegant ladies. Ginger Rogers played the elegant queen and the Fairy Godmother, Celeste Holm was my second favorite star from the movie. As a young girl, I think we all wanted to grow up to be a beautiful and confident princess like Lesley. She was so perfect. Her prince was so in love with her, he searched for over a year to find her again.

The Fairy Godmother was so kind and patient with Cinderella. I still love the thoughts of the ordinary and unlikely objects being used to turn the evening into an enchanted one for Cinderella. The pumpkin turned into a beautiful sparkling coach with mice dressed as honorable footmen to escort the perfect Cinderella to the ball.

In thinking about this memory from the past, I did some searching on the Internet and was able to watch the preview of this 1965 version of Cinderella and I even ordered the DVD. Wow. From watching it as a child, leaning on the RCA dog, when color television was brand new to someday hopefully watching it on DVD with a granddaughter. Now that is a wonderful memory and hope for the future wrapped into one!