As a youth, one of the best things about lazy Sundays was sitting at home and watching old movies and television shows. There was something soothing about Dagwood and Blondie, Laurel and Hardy, or Abbott and Costello. Sure the antics were silly and a bit far-fetched, but it was always good-natured fun. Whether they were hunting monsters, wandering through Toyland, or tripping out the door or over a dozen dogs, this was the comfort of Sunday viewing.
It was such a cool routine and now that I reflect back on it, an integral part of family time. Some say that music is the soundtrack of your life, and I truly believe that it is, but I think your life also has its own movie reel.
You can often pinpoint certain things in your life based upon a movie or a visual experience. You remember the first movie you ever saw with your best friend, when you were finally able to see “R” rated films, when you got your first giddy kiss in a movie theater, when you finally discovered that as a viewer you knew when something sucked sooo bad, but you didn’t care because it was still fun, and you remember what movies your parents loved, and loved to discuss.
It’s a tradition as old as the moving picture…the youth and movies. It didn’t start with my generation watching John Cusack holding a stereo over his head for the love of a girl. No, my parents remember getting excited to go out to see West Side Story, and the anticipation of that event. It was a big deal. It was infectious and gorgeous, and everyone was caught up in the swell of that cinematic masterpiece. My dad also remembers sitting in the theater watching Elvis double features (Twice!) because not only was Elvis the man, but the theater held all the girls who watched and listened to the crooner do his thing and shake his hips. I have the oddest feeling that my father left the theater and attempted to sing some of the Elvis tunes in the lobby just to put an extra feather in his cap after the show and woo the girls who lingered there. I think if asked he’d say, “no comment“.
My mom, no doubt one of those girls my father would have popped his collar to impress back in those days, was sitting right there in the crowd a whole state away, probably on some of those very days watching Elvis shimmy and “get the girl, kiss the girl.” Because that’s what they were, right? That entire genre of film was about the swoon. Wow, some things just don’t change. It’s almost scary that Justin Bieber now understands exactly what that’s about.
When I saw my parents this weekend, I asked what they loved to watch back in their swoon era, and boy they talked about it with such zeal. They said, “Oh, definitely Elvis, Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis, Annette Funicello and Frankie Avalon Beach Party movies.” Mom added, “Gidget” And I said “with Sally Field?” and she said, “Oh, no, she came later…with Sandra Dee, the original Gidget…yes, Gidget and Moon Doggie.” And she smiled fondly. Dad added, “And of course James Bond movies.” He had to specify, “with the real James Bond…Sean Connery.” I wasn’t going to argue, because I knew that was a losing argument. The way I feel about Christopher Reeve being the one and true Superman is how my father feels about Sean Connery as James Bond. Mention Roger Moore and you get an icy stare. I find this hysterical. Not sure what would happen if I said something like, “Pierce Brosnan. ”
It was fun and cool discussing this movie-related history, and finding out that a double feature, two movies on one ticket, cost $1.50! And that kids would just spend an entire Sunday in the movie theater watching those two movies over and over again. And they would go back the next week to see the same movies and sit in the dark and repeat the same lines right along with the coolest guy in the world. I am so beyond shocked at how cool my parents thought Elvis was, this from two people who never listened to his music or discussed him much in my recollection. But from what they say, Elvis just was. There was none of this “new movie opening every week” thing. Once something came out in the theater you were married to it, there was no, “I’ll pass and wait for it to come out on DVD.” No, you watched it all, the good, the bad, and the Jerry Lewis.
Jerry Lewis is indeed another matter. I know, I know, people just hate Jerry Lewis movies! But this is a spot of mutual affection my father and I share. We adore Jerry Lewis. We can watch the Nutty Professor and Cinderfella with no shame. We find him to be a comedic genius despite what the rest of the world says, and I’ll defend it with honor….MISS LADY!
Of course my movie reel doesn’t stop at these old classics, but this is definitely where they start, and I count my folks as the “cool people” in their own right who started my love of movies.
We’ll talk again about our collective lifelong movie reel, after all we’ve not even touched the John Hughes era.
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