|
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
|
