Monday, April 20, 2009

At the Movies . . .


I owe a photo credit to someone for the image at right. Thank you. I want to meet everyone in this photo. When was the last time you saw a man in a suit and tie at the movies??

And why does this photo reminds me of my mom? I have no idea. I don't remember seeing any 3-D movies with her.

My most recent experience with 3-D -- "Journey to the Center of the Earth" -- with that George of the Jungle guy, well, it was nowhere near as fun as when we had the paper 3-D "glasses" like the ones you see here.

My movie story goes like this: Mom and I were looking forward to seeing Sophia Loren or maybe Marilyn Monroe in How To Marry a Millionaire. Or at least that's what we thought we bought tickets for. I was in 5th or 6th grade so I was not the one buying.

As it turns out, we watched 3 hours of a "Von Trapp Family" documentary, supposedly the real story behind the "Sound of Music."

But no music, no singing, no Julie Andrews, no children in the meadow. Nada. But mom and I sat through the entire thing sure that the next feature was "Millionaire."

A whole different context to that word these days . . . yikes! Game show or location India. Either one is missing the movie stardust that sprinkles down from the white shoulders of Loren or Monroe.

But did I learned my lesson about the dwindling possibilities of double features? No.

A decade later when I was a freshman at GWU, I rode the bus to Capitol Hill to see a 3-hour Warhol film. Sat there glued to my seat (literally and figuratively). Because I was sure as soon as I got up to pee or buy popcorn all hell would break loose.

This after watching Warhol's actress clip her bangs one bang at a time for 90 minutes! Ah! The idea of "knowing better" is a lost art, at least in my family. I stayed in the theater for almost 4 hours, still sure I would see "Spartacus" the very next second.