A to Z Theme 2016

For my 2016 A to Z theme I used a meme that I ran across on the blog of Bridget Straub who first saw it on the blog of Paula Acton. This meme is a natural for me to use on my memoir blog. It's an A to Z concept and it's about me. No research and nothing complicated. I'm given twenty six questions or topics to discuss that are about me.

In April I kept my posts short and uncomplicated. In the midst of it all you might learn a few things about me that you didn't previously know.

Saturday, January 23, 2016

Growing Up with the Movies

Lady and the Tramp
Lady and the Tramp (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

        Some of my earliest memories relate to movies.  When I was a child my parents, my mother especially, were fairly avid movie-goers.  In the faintness of my memory I seem to recall going to the movies nearly once a week.  It was probably not that often considering the tight budget to which our family likely adhered, but still it was probably more often than most of the other kids that I knew.

        Many Saturday mornings my mother would take us to movies that were older films that circulated in the theaters for what were likely budget showings.  We'd see monster movies, comedies, westerns, and other B films that were considered family fare and in some cases maybe not.  My favorites were the comedies of Abbot and Costello and anything scary or science fiction related.

         We always had a television when I was growing up and much of my movie viewing was right in our own living room.  There were no large screen televisions in those days so we were accustomed to watching programming on a 15 to 19 inch screen.  Since I didn't know anything else this was my norm and I never considered that television screens would ever be larger.  Another norm for us was black and white.  I had seen color televisions like the one a wealthy uncle and his family had, but my family never had one until after I was in high school.  And that color television had what I'm guessing was a 25 inch screen.

          Back then a big screen was what they had in the movie theaters.  It was always a special event when my father and mother both took my sister and I to the movies.   Usually as a family we'd go to see whatever major release was showing--typically it would be a Bible epic like The Ten Commandments though sometimes it might be a Disney film like Bambi or Lady and the Tramp.  If there was a circus film or something that might have a juggler in it then that was a guaranteed theater excursion.  It was all fine with me as any movie was something that I wanted to experience.

          After we moved to San Diego when I was eight years old, I probably watched an average of nearly a film a day on television.   That's not to say I didn't spend time outdoors or playing with whatever it was I played with back then.  Time was in abundance so I always seemed to have plenty of time for both play and watching television.

           In those days on the San Diego television station there was a movie every week day afternoon.  I'd often watch those after coming home from school.  Then there was Saturday Night at the Movies on NBC when they would show fairly recent top tier films.  I was in front of our television set for nearly every one of those.  Some of  my favorite viewing was on Friday and Saturday nights when starting at 11:30 PM one of the stations would show films all night.  Apparently my parents were fine with me doing so because many a weekend I'd be up late, sometimes all night, watching two or three movies in a row.

           When I was entering middle school--or junior high as we called it back then--we moved to Northern Indiana.   In nearby Crown Point there was an old theater on the town square.  Nearly every Friday night you could find me there with my sister and a friend or two.  There were the James Bond films, surf movies, and the rock and roll films such as the Beatles' Hard Day's Night and Having a Wild Weekend with the Dave Clark Five.  The candy was cheap and movies were a quarter.  My mother would drop us off and pick us up when it was all over.  Those were great times.

           My childhood of watching movies was not just memorable to me, but it paved the way for a avid enjoyment of films in later years up until now.  I don't watch films like I used to, but I easily could if that were how I wanted to devote my time.   And I'd like to spend a lot of time watching movies, but there are so many other things that I want and need to do.

        The other day my wife said that when she retired we'd watch movies all day.   I'm not sure I'm ready for that much movie watching, but it sounds tempting.

          Did you watch a lot of movies when you were a child?   Did your parents take you to see movies?    What are some films that you saw as a child that had a big influence on you?

22 comments:

  1. I went to the movies as a kid....Disney stuff, or whatever was rated PG when I was a teen. I remember seeing Yellow Submarine on tV when I was about 5. And my mom and grandmother took me to see my first PG movie when I was 9, 'Paper Moon', and it remains my fave movie to this day (with To Kill a Mockingbird). I was so enamored with Tatum O'Neal's performance as Addie Pray that my mom told me afterwards that she would absolutely KILL me if she found me emulating Addie...meaning her smoking of cigarets. So I consoled myself with a cigar box of treasures like she had.

    I liked those network made for TV movies a lot. My parents were lucky to have both a black and white and colour TV in their house. My uncle was a Zenith TV repairman and salesman, so we always had TV and stereo stuff.

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    1. JoJo, we were always a one television family until I was in high school. After we replaced our old b&w TV with a color TV, the B&W got moved to my bedroom where I'd watch it some, but mostly preferred the color TV in the living room.

      Lee

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  2. I remember Sunday nights were The Wonderful World of Disney, and they'd show all their classics. I loved Sunday nights. We'd all gather around the tv, cocoa, popcorn, snuggling under blankets. I love going to the movies and watching movies. The kids asked me what I wanted for Christmas this year and I said, "Movies we can watch together."

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    1. Mary, in our house Sunday nights were reserved for the Ed Sullivan Show. I wanted to watch the Disney program, but I was conflicted. In the end there wasn't much choice as my father made the Sullivan decision and I was okay with that.

      When my kids were young we always got a bunch of movies on video at Christmas time. We also when to the movie theater regularly. We were a movie watching family and those were some fine times.

      Lee

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  3. Kinda miss the days of seeing movies on regular Tv, although my age group was more Duel, The Warriors, and the NBC Mystery Movie.

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    1. CW, I still regularly watch movies on TCM--old movies--but other watching is on DVD. I guess that's why the networks rarely show movies anymore since they have so much competition.

      Lee

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  4. I still love sitting in a theatre with a big screen. I've always preferred movies to any other programming. So many of your experiences were similar to mine growing up in Georgia.

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    1. Ann, I also enjoy being in a darkened theater with a movie on a big screen. It's just so expensive now on my budget and easier at home. On our big screen TV the experience is almost as good, but with greater convenience.

      Lee

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  5. I don't really remember going to the theaters much as a young kid. I do remember watching the Star Wars at home with my dad, which I guess prompted my lifetime interest in the fantastical.
    It wasn't until middle school that my mom started taking us to see movies almost every weekend. In hindsight, it was likely to win our favor with their impending divorce, but whatever. It was cool seeing all those new movies and I have some pretty fond memories of those days.
    Now a days, Netflix is my go-to movie watching venue. The theaters are just, unfortunately, too expensive now days. Though, I do try to see a few every year. This year, definitely Deadpool will be one of those a few a year movie theater trips.

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    1. Madilyn, access to movies via video and later mediums really changed how we view movies to a great extent. Especially for families it's so much more economical to stay home and watch movies. I haven't been to a movie theater since 2005--seems crazy, but it's true.

      Lee

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  6. NBC used to do just about every night at the movies for a while. Both NBC and ABC used to show good movies, I remember. That was when movies were movies, as WGN used to call their 10:30 movie.

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    1. John, I guess the networks avoid movies for the most part because they have too much competition. I saw some great movies on NBC's Saturday night showings. Now many of those are shown on TCM.

      Lee

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  7. I saw a lot of movies when I was a kid, even some I would never have chosen for myself. My dad loved the drive-in, and that's where my brother and I tried hard to sleep through very scary monster movies. I personally preferred cowboy movies, and then the musicals I saw with my grandmother. I still love movies today!

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    1. Patricia, after we moved to San Diego my parents started taking us to the drive-in theater. I'd stay awake for both features no matter what the genre. We'd go to a wide variety of movies back then.

      Lee

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  8. I think I was ten or eleven before I ever entered a theater. But westerns played daily on the black & white and Saturday nights I was allowed to stay up late as I wanted; watching Twilight Zone and the like. Popcorn and peanut butter cups - good times! Course, there was also the requisite "Wild Kingdom" every Sunday when we all got to eat in the living room:-)

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    1. Diedre, I remember watching Wild Kingdom on Sunday afternoons as well. I had a whole Sunday schedule laid out as it seemed to be one of my main TV watching days.

      Lee

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  9. I really wasn't that much of a movie goer as a kid or as a teenager. More often than not, I was dumped at a movie theater with my brother or by myself 'cause my mother wanted to do something with her friends.

    I used to go the weekly Saturday town matinee when I was a kid a lot. Got to see an unhealthy amount of Disney flicks. Probably why I have such an intense dislike of them.

    Almost all of the cult movies that were popular when I was a teenager ('78-'84), I never saw as a teenager, but did see as an adult.

    Father Nature's Corner

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    1. GB, I'm not big on Disney anymore either, but I don't know that it's because I saw too many in my younger days. I specialized in cult films in the 70's after I had my license and could drive on my own. If no one would go with me, I'd go by myself if it was something I really wanted to see. Some of my film tastes were out of the norm of my friends interests.

      Lee

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  10. Loved this post! I work in film and spent 23 years running cinemas, so I totally understand how you feel about going to the movies and the memories they hold. I still love going and it's my go-to night out, even after a week at work helping other people make them.

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    1. Kate, thank you for dropping in to leave your comment. I'm sure I'd still enjoy going to the theater when it's not so crowded. Matinees were usually great--good price and lots of empty seating. So often I've found many movie goers to be kind of rude which detracts from my enjoyment of the film. On the other hand it can be exciting when the film captivates an audience and the energy electrifies everyone.

      Lee

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  11. I didn't go to the cinema often as a child but we used to have movie nights with the BetaMax (what's that again?)at home. Me and my two brothers would lie on our stomachs in front of the TV, chins propped on hands and a box of Maltesers to munch on. My favourite child hood movies were the Wizard of Oz with Judy Garland and Calamity Jane with Doris Day. Fabulous! Thanks for reminding me of those good times. Great post Arlee.

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    1. Nicola, I used to watch Wizard of Oz every year when it would come on TV. My daughter used to watch it every day on video. The advent of video and DVD along with cable TV really changed the way our society has access to movies.

      Lee

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Arlee Bird