As children, my siblings and I didn’t get to go to the movies that often, which in retrospect made it more of a special occasion, I suppose, but when we did, I waited on pins and needles all day until it was time to go, fearing our mother would cancel for some infraction committed by one of us.  We did our chores without grousing or griping.  We never called them “chores,” by the way.  We just did what we were supposed to without a monetary allowance.

It seemed to me that our mother – an excellent cook — fixed my least favorite thing whenever we were going to the movies — canned peas and potatoes.  It gagged me, but I choked it down without complaint. I’m sure this was done with some malice aforethought.

Sometimes we took our own candy that we had purchased at the dime store, but if we were really lucky and had a little extra money, we were allowed to buy from the glass case inside the theater.  Usually  I would pick a Mountain Bar or Necco Wafers.  The wafers could get you through one whole movie if you let them melt on your tongue, or so I’ve been told.

I  hadn’t seen a Mountain Bar in many, many years, but my brother, Frank, recently found some in a general store in a remote camping area in Likely, California.  I had never heard of Likely before, but you can be sure I know where it is now.

He bought some and mailed a couple to me.  The memories came flooding back.  There I was right back in the Granada Theater or the California Theater, both on Euclid Avenue in Ontario, across the street from one another.  I savored every single bite and then sent him a picture of the discarded wrapper.

If it’s a good movie, it affects me deeply.  In December of 1957, we went to see Raintree County, starring Elizabeth Taylor, Montgomery Clift, and Eva Marie Saint.  The story was so deeply sad that it ruined my Christmas.  I was only thirteen, but for some odd reason I couldn’t shake the feeling.

The time was set at the onset of the Civil War, and Montgomery was leaving to serve in the army.  He really loved Eva Marie Saint but he stuck with Liz, who was mentally ill, because he was an honorable man and had made a promise to Liz when they were children that he would always be there for her.  I think the music was probably haunting, too.

Backstreet – Susan Hayward was the tragic heroine in most of her movies, and especially in this one.  John Gavin, impossibly handsome, was the male lead.  She was his mistress but they could  never be together for religious reasons.  He could not divorce his wife.  Ultimate romantic movie.

Backstreet played along with Imitation of Life, in a double-feature-tragedy matinee.  Lana Turner was the star. Her black maid’s (Juanita Moore; nominated for an Academy Award for the role) daughter (Susan Kohner) was passing for white, thereby deeply  hurting her black mother.  Obviously, a movie about racism, but was I oblivious then?

One of the last scenes shows the daughter with her body draped across her mother’s casket because, of course, they had not reconciled before her mother’s death.  It was TOO much.

Everyone around me in the theater was sobbing.  I was crying, too, but when I noticed everyone else sobbing, it suddenly seemed funny, and I started to laugh.  Mom accused me of being heartless, and I’m sure she worried about my mental health.

I’ve seen Gone with the Wind at least three times, as many times as I read the book.  I did learn what a fairytale it was as far as slavery was concerned, but I was not yet “woke.”  It was such a spectacle; four hours long, Technicolor, and starring Clark Gable and an English actress, Vivien Leigh.  I thought she was gorgeous. Even back then, all the good parts were won by English actors.

This stands out for me and shows how shallow-minded I was: In the story, Scarlett is said to have a 17-inch waist – “the smallest in three counties.”  I strove for that and measured my waist every day for months to see if I could achieve it.

I was close in my early teens, but never quite got there.  We won’t talk about my waist today except to say it’s the smallest in my bedroom, in my house, right now because I’m alone.  Oh wait, my dog is sleeping on the rug beside me.  Never mind.

When we  — Mom, my sister, Karen and I — went to see The Song of Bernadette, it was to celebrate my cousin Sandy’s First Communion.  It was another heartbreaking story.  I wanted Jennifer Jones to end up with the boy, but she had to become a nun because of the message The Virgin Mary gave her, and to top it all off, she died of consumption at a very young age.  Not fair.  I didn’t understand.  “Hey, I was kidding about the Virgin.”  Saints don’t get a break.

During intermission (yes, those are mostly gone, too) I went to the restroom with my cousin.   While I was waiting for Sandy, I smiled at a girl combing her hair while looking in the mirror.  She was Mexican and very pretty – a little older than I.  She had a hairdo popular then with Hispanic girls.  It looked like a lion’s mane, and I thought it was very sexy.

She didn’t appreciate my smile, I guess, and assumed I was mocking her because as I started to walk out the door of the bathroom, she was coming back in with two or three other girls and was wielding a comb in her hand.  She said, in a very menacing way, “You stay here,” and she started to push me back in the bathroom.

Simultaneously, my mother came looking for me.  She said, “I was worried about you.  What’s taking so long.  The movie is about to start.”

Never had I felt such relief.  Of course, I kept thinking I might feel a knife or a comb? go into my back at some point during the movie, but I survived, as you can tell.  Were they scared of Mom?  I know I was.

During that very same movie, we experienced an earthquake.  My Aunt Marc (short for Marcolina) jumped up and grabbed the hands of my cousins, Sandy and Joyce.  Marc was always so calm and collected (and a little mean), so this surprised me.

“Let’s get out of here,” she said, with panic in her voice.

I became very calm and said, “Don’t worry, we’ll be okay.”  I feel differently about earthquakes now, but then I was as cool as a cucumber.  Besides, no way was I going to miss the second feature!

Mom and my Uncle Jack both loved the movies and often went together.  How my dad let this happen I’ll never know, but he HATED going to the movies, or for that matter, anywhere.

They took me with them to see Sadie Thompson, starring Rita Hayworth.  It was based on a short story by Somerset Maughm.

Boy was that movie a steamer.  When Rita Hayworth and the male star – Jose Ferrer, as I recall, went into the bedroom, behind gauzy curtains, I couldn’t figure out what was happening behind those curtains.

So, I asked Uncle Jack and Mom, “What are they doing in there?”

I thought Jack and Mom would fall out of their seats laughing.  That was the extent of my sex education, I guess.  I’m still wondering what they were doing.

I have many favorite movies, almost too numerous to mention, but here are a few:

Jaws – Most exciting in a long while and SO different.  I waited for that shark to come down my hallway that night and many nights after.  I still don’t go in the water.

The tickets in 1974 were $2.75 per person – an exorbitant amount for that time.  My husband dropped off my brother, Craig, and I so that we could get a good place in line while he went to park the car.   I begged Craig to not tell Larry how much the tickets were because I thought he’d freak at such an enormous ticket price.

I went to see it again and took my daughter, Janet, when she was around five years old (really?).  She begged me, so I caved.  It was my job to to warn her when something really scary was coming (like when the head rolled out from under the boat) so she could close her eyes and hang on to me.

The Godfather.  It continues to hold up. The opening scene at the Italian wedding? That was my experience to a tee, when I was young.  We were Spanish, but we had tons of Italian friends, and they threw BIG weddings — always a full mass — and BIG receptions.  There were piles of food and gallons of wine and liquor at an Italian wedding, along with a full orchestra, and it was one of the only times I was allowed to stay up until midnight.

Little Women – I think I love Greta Gerwin’s version the most, but all versions are good, and  I still want Jo to marry Laurie, and for sure Beth should not die.

Schindler’s List.  There was someone German willing to help the Jews.  A small light in the context of man’s inhumanity to man.  I’m drawn to holocaust movies and WWII. Incomprehensible, and I know that will never change for me.

The Devil Wears Prada.  I had to bring a little lighted-heartedness into the list.  It’s just a delicious movie, and Anne Hathaway’s transformation is fascinating – not just her clothes, but her persona.  Meryl Is phenomenal as usual – contrary to what Mr. Orangehead said.*

Goodfellas.  True story that gives us a peek into the real world of organized crime in such a brilliant and entertaining way.  Ray Liotta is fantastic, and Joe Pesci makes me cringe with his cruelty, but then I feel sorry for him at the end. He’s so excited to become “made,” but we could feel what was coming.

The Color Purple.  I watch it every time I see it on the channel listing, which, by the way I have not seen in a while.  Beautiful, moving story.  Beautifully written book, too.  Alice Walker.  I had to watch it a couple of times to really understand all the nuances. What a unique look at the time into the reality of black lives.  I don’t think it got any awards.  Shameful.

The Exorcist.  Wonderfully scary, and you believed every minute of it.  I didn’t use my Ouija Board for ages afterwards.  Something else was coming down my hallway now, and “it” was followed by that damned shark.

Shawshank Redemption.  It was originally written as a novella — part of a 4-part book (The Four Seasons) written by Stephen King.  Stephen King at his best.   One of the best endings ever.  When you see Morgan Freeman walking in the sand on that beach in Mexico, and Tim Robbins finally sees him coming?  It doesn’t get any better than that.

The movie Stand by Me was one of the four novellas (The Body) – another favorite movie.  River Phoenix just broke my heart.

Parenthood.  Steve Martin.  Lovely movie.  When his father, played by Jason Robards, tells Steve that parenthood is like a football game; you’re always headed for the goalposts, but you rarely make a touchdown.  That was so profound for me and made me feel so much better about my parenting.  It was one of the first movies I saw that portrayed family dynamics as they truly are and not like “Father Knows Best.”

Tootsie  Hilarious and poignant in so many ways.  Dustin Hoffman so convincing as Dorothy that we forget he’s really a man.  Bill Murray, as always funny and understated.  And I love, love, Charles Durning as Jessica Lange’s father and Teri Garr as his hapless girlfriend.

Now for two of my favorite scary movies:

Silence of the Lambs was a wower.  One of my favorite characters is Hannibal, played by the great Anthony Hopkins, of course, but also Ted Levine as Buffalo Bill.  I see him in tons of movies, and he’s always stellar.  Recently, I watched The Alienist series on television, and he plays the evil police chief in it, redeemed in the end, however.  Wonderful and underappreciated?  He might not care because he’s so cool.

The Shining.  Another Stephen King special.  I’ll never feel safe in a hotel corridor again, and I can’t stand waiting for an elevator in a long hallway either if no one else is around.  Those bloody twins!

They just don’t make ‘em like they used to.  I think that statement dates me, but I don’t care.

This pandemic** has me searching and floundering for something good on television, Netflix, Hulu, Apple, Prime Video, and Disney.  I miss going to the theater so much.  It’s always a treat – especially if I don’t have to eat peas and potatoes beforehand and I have a little extra money for theater candy and popcorn, which is surprising because the price of a ticket has risen dramatically from that $2.75 we paid for those Jaws tickets so long ago.

 

The End.  Credits rolling.  (There may be a sequel.)

*Only political comment

**Only Pandemic reference