Movies and Me

I can remember my very first movie experience. I don't actually remember seeing the movie, but I remember the excitement of going to see it.

I was three. At least that is what my mother would tell me. I was three and it was in the mid 70's. My parents and I still lived in a two bedroom Garden Apartment in Queens. I was sitting at a small dinette table with the newspaper opened before me.

It was the days before internet and you had to actually buy a newspaper to find out where the movie was playing, if it was still playing, and when it was playing. And since the theater had the right to change the showtimes, it was always best to call ahead to double check.

I can still hear my mother's voice as she spoke to some one on the rotary dial wall phone in the kitchen. You actually got a body when you called a place of business. There was no automated computer voice asking you to press numbers. Most phones back then didn't even have buttons to press. And if you didn't speak English, you were out of luck.

I was giddy with excitement. I looked at the ad in the paper. It could have been a small ad, but in my mind I remember it as being a full page ad. I couldn't read, but I knew the big words said "The Jungle Book". The picture had Mowgli, Baloo, and that black panther that never gets the credit he deserves.

And that's pretty much all that I remember. I don't actually remember going. I just know we did. And I know that I loved it. And I've loved going to the movies ever since.

Back then, going to the movies was a grand thing. Theaters only had two to four movies showing. The lobby was large and sweeping. Ushers wore bow ties and jackets. The popcorn was made right in front of you and it was served in a bucket the size of your garbage can. There was only popcorn, candy, and soda. No pizza, Nathan's hot dogs, burgers, nachos, ice cream, and slushees.

The screen was usually draped with rich, luxurious curtains. The seats were velvet. The other theater goers were quiet with respect. No cell phones. No distracting little lights going off as teens text each other. And if you put your feet up you got caught. If you were late, an usher would actually USHER you to your seat with a flashlight.

Some theaters had large, ornate pillars and fancy balconies on the side from the old days of live theater. Some had big balconies in the back that were reserved for the smokers and their families. I watched many movies in a blue haze thanks to my Dad.

Over the years the theaters changed. Gone were the drapes and balconies. The movie houses became multiplexes with stale, overpriced popcorn, and no order to the annoying teens that have to text and giggle and talk. We've been spoiled by the comforts of the VCR, the DVD player, and cable. Today's generation has been programmed to multitask. They can enjoy a movie while talking and texting.

Throughout the years the movie experience has changed. Not just the theaters, but we now welcome movies into our homes. There was once a time that if you loved a Disney movie, you had to wait for it to be re-released in the theater to see it. It wasn't just Disney movies, but E.T. and Star Wars too. They were re-released over and over. And we paid to see them over and over. There was no waiting for it to come out on cable. There was no buying it on DVD so you owned your very own copy.

The invention of cable and VCR was a beautiful thing. My parents didn't have much money, so we were one of the last to jump on the cable/VCR wagon. I remember when we got our first VCR. At the time we were living in a house. We had an old 19 inch color television in the living room and an even older black and white in my bedroom. The color one had rabbit ears. The black and white had a wire hanger and Reynolds Wrap.

The color television didn't get channel four. I don't know why. It was just a blueish-white screen. If I wanted to watch any of the popular NBC sitcoms, I had to watch it upstairs on the old black and white. The problem with that was the black and white needed to warm up. So, if I wanted to watch Facts of Life or Different Strokes I needed to turn the t.v. on hours ahead of time. One year, I had to turn the t.v. on before I went to bed just so I could watch the Thanksgiving Parade in the morning.

Anyway, it must have been a good a year the year we bought a VCR, because when my parents received their tax money they decided it was time for a new t.v. and to join the rest of the modern world and invest in a VCR.

It was amazing! Gone was the old, crappy 19 inch with dials. This television set was beautiful! It sat on the floor, the screen encased in wood. It had buttons! It had a remote! It had NBC! Imagine my surprise to find out that Mrs. Garrett was a redhead!

And the VCR. That VCR made us a very special member of society. We even had a membership card to prove it. We joined a video club that was right behind our house. And we rented our first two movies. My parents picked The Falcon and The Snowman. I picked Footloose. Or Flashdance. I don't really remember. It was the eighties and everyone was dancing in movies back then. But what I do remember was that we had finally arrived! We were part of the modern world. And I now had access to movies right...behind...my house!!!

And movies continued to influence my life. My first real job? A job that didn't involve watching over rug rats? A candy girl in the movies. I am proud to say that I worked in one of the last old theaters in our town. And our popcorn was popped fresh. I guess I should also mention that it was there that I met my husband. I mean, really...how could a girl resist a guy in a bow tie who really knew how to sweep up the popcorn from the floor? A guy who had a respect and awe for the old theater and loved to explore behind the giant screens where there were still old dressing rooms and dressing tables from the days of entertainment's yesteryear.

My first management job? Blockbuster Video. I am proud to say that I was responsible for thousands of titles in this country's first real major, mega video store. The best thing about that job? I was able to rent movies for free! And with that job I really got to meet some Movie Junkies. They would line up before the store even opened every week on new release day just to be guaranteed a copy of EVERY NEW MOVIE THAT CAME OUT THAT DAY! These people were true Movie Junkies. These people were passionate. These people had no jobs and were a bit strange. Okay, and I'm pretty sure some of them were bootleggers. But still, they made my job interesting.

Gone are the grand theaters and the video stores. Now, we have Netflix and Movies on Demand and Pay Per View. Now we have multiplexes. It's not the same. But, we still have movies.