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Good Old Movies
The paddleball kept moving toward me,
seemingly from directly out of the movie screen, but never reaching me.
It was an astonishing scene from the historic 1953 three-dimensional
motion picture, THE HOUSE OF WAX. The white ball, darting back and
forth, in and out, almost touching me, feeling it and not feeling it,
was a novel experience.
Seeing that film again caused me to think
back to the first time I viewed it. Then like that bewildering
paddleball, scenes from motion pictures I saw while growing up started
racing in and out of my mind.
I cannot recall any movies that made a meaningful or enduring impact on
me. In most instances, I remember people and events associated with my
viewing of them.
I can recollect my grandmother taking my cousin, Joan,
and me to see THE WIZARD OF OZ. It was 1939, and I was four years old.
The character that lingered with me was not the wicked witch, but the
tin man. At five my mother took me to see PINOCCHIO and I was impressed
mostly with the giant whale chasing Pinocchio.
One of several movies that I recall from my pre-teenage years was a 1945
motion picture, THE GREAT JOHN L. A scene whereby an effeminate
danseur/kick boxer pulverizes John L. Sullivan, until the heavyweight
champion finally catches up with him, and smashes the Frenchman into a
grand piano. That segment is firmly embedded in my mind.
THE HOUSE OF FRANKENSTEIN was a 1944 film that I pestered my mother to
take me to see. She finally did, and when we arrived at the theater, the
co-feature had just begun. I had to sit through a Jack Oakie picture,
FROM THE BOWERY TO BROADWAY, and I nervously fidgeted for the duration
of that movie. I actually felt chills as I anticipated the start of the
monster movie.
Along with the Frankenstein monster, the Wolf Man, Dracula and the
Hunchback were also featured. I was enthralled by the movie, and I have
been a fan of horror flicks since that day.
An Abbott and Costello motion picture, LOST IN A HAREM, 1944, stands out
in my mind because I recall remaining in the theater watching it over
and over again. When I finally emerged from the movie house it was dark,
and my mother was waiting for me. LOST IN A HAREM contains that famous
Niagara Falls or “suddenly I turned” routine.
ONE MILLION B.C. was a 1940 movie that I viewed as a re-run. It is a
remarkable pre-historic film and is considered a classic for that genre.
The dinosaur scenes were great, but I especially recall one particular
part of the film where a giant bear like creature encounters a huge
snake and simply starts devouring it. I have seen the movie many times,
and unfortunately sometimes this scene is cut out of it.
While attending grammar school in New York City, my eighth grade
teacher, Brother George, took our class to see HAMLET. It won best
picture for 1948, and Laurence Olivier won the Oscar for best actor. All
that I remembered about the film for many years was the part where
Ophelia is floating down the river. Eighth graders were too young and
immature to appreciate Shakespeare, and poor Brother George spent most
of the time keeping our class in line.
I went to see numerous pictures during my teenage years. My friends and
I would go to one of the neighborhood theaters nearly every Friday
night. There was the RKO 23rd Street and the Loew’s Sheridan, the two
main movie house chains, which showed new movies each week. Once in
awhile we would venture to the Elgin or the Greenwich, the two local
houses that showed second run and foreign films.
There were occasions when our gang was not permitted to enter some of
the theaters because of acts of vandalism committed by other young
people. However, the policeman assigned to the Sheridan used to smuggle
us into the place for a dollar apiece.
Very few films of that time are particularly memorable. The dance
sequence from 1954’s SEVEN BRIDES FOR SEVEN BROTHERS was noteworthy.
Going to see THE MOON IS BLUE, which was a forbidden movie for Catholics
in1953, was a momentous endeavor. It took a lot of nerve on our part to
enter the Greenwich to see it, and the movie was a huge disappointment.
The 1957 picture, SAYONARA, was a poignant movie for my friend, Gerard.
His girl friend had returned to her home in Spain, and he identified
with the film’s similar situation. The heartbroken Gerard saw SAYONARA
over and over again. Of course the HOUSE OF WAX, with its 3-D format,
was an interesting and indelible film that we saw at the RKO.
There were a great many motion pictures that I was present for, but
never saw.
Those were the times I went to the theater with my girl friend,
Virginia. The only significant picture that I remember seeing with her
was, LOVE ME TENDER. It was 1956 and it was
Elvis Presley’s first
appearance in a motion picture. Because she liked him so much, I brought
her to see him at the Paramount Theater in Times Square. It was unusual
to leave one’s neighborhood in those days.
Like that paddleball that never reached me at the RKO, where I
experienced THE HOUSE OF WAX, no particular film really touched me. Many
thoughts, however, did wander in and out of my mind as I reminisced
about them. I enjoyed remembering friends, family and events from my
past.
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