FUN AT THE MOVIES
Fun for who?
When I was a child I would take the bus into town with my friends or my Grandma, to go to the movies. I like movies. I remember seeing “West Side Story”, seven times. I am an only child. It was inexpensive to go. Grandma lived with us and was happy for an excuse to leave the house. We saw all the big musicals. She especially liked Jerry Lewis comedies. I went often, lost in the world of make-believe. This was far ahead of television which now has channels of old movies 24 hours a day. There was no cable, HBO, Max, or Prime.
When I married, and still now, my husband and I liked the movies. He likes broad comedies, and I like sci-fi and Marvel superheroes. We can usually agree somewhere in the middle. We often go with friends. This particular friend was prematurely gray and the cashier would sell him a senior discount. This upset him, I would have loved the discount. When you are conversing with a 17 year old every adult is old. Do you remember, “Don’t trust anyone over 30”?
Ticket prices have increased dramatically over the years. Many of the movie houses have closed or now present live theater instead. They are popular as an alternative to spending the day or night in the Big City. Whether it is the fear of crime, COVID-19, or both, people are staying closer to home. Now they call me Ma’am and I pay the senior cost.
The only place I continued to be young was in Florida when I visited my parents. I was young there because everyone was so much older. I remember a trip in, on Jet Blue Airlines. The young handsome Steward said, “Miss, do you need anything”? I looked around to see who he was talking to. it was me, I wanted to tip him for his compliment. In Florida, my Mother was my new movie partner. We did not invite my Father who was on the porch, watching baseball or M.A.S.H. drinking cold beer, as happy as could be.
We had a choice. We could go to the dollar movie, or go to the movies in her clubhouse. The dollar movie was so loud I brought cotton for my ears. They also offered earphones to make the sound even louder. If we opted for the clubhouse I was told to wear a nice outfit and put on make-up, because we might meet her neighbors. This is the same woman who told me to dress up to throw out the garbage. Her motto, “Cast your bread upon the water”, You never know who you might meet.
On this day, which was the last movie I would see with my mother, the visit was memorable. We were in her fancy clubhouse. We found two seats. On the screen were commercials and advertisements, with no sound. How restful I thought. Not everyone agreed. A loud voice from the rear said, “Where is the volume”? I hope this is not a preview of a disturbing afternoon. A very annoyed woman said, to the man next to her, “Don’t use your call phone in this theater”. The man with the phone answered, “Why not the picture has not started yet”. I did not care. I came to relax. I guess the people had too much caffeine with lunch.
I decided to take a leisurely walk to the ladies' room. I did not have a movie stub, to remember. When I returned to my seat there was still no sound or picture. The lady so concerned, yelled to me, “Did you tell the Manager there is still no sound”. “No”, I yelled back. “Maybe you should go find the Manager, and get this mess straightened out”? “Which mess” I said, “The cell phone or the missing movie”. Now it was time for my Mother to speak up. “My daughter is not working for you, if you are worried go find the manager yourself”. What was the reason we came to the movie? Was it to relax? I had forgotten. My mother had found a neighbor she knew. it was a lucky thing I was wearing my lipstick. The lights dimmed. The picture and sound were on.
Now the ladies in the back of me started unrolling individual-sucking candies, crunching the paper before throwing it on the floor. I gave them my best mean-teacher look. They offered me some candy. It always worked for me when I taught kindergarten, but this was seniors in Florida. My Mother slept through most of the movie, and all of the crunching candy wrappers. I endured it all alone. I tried to leave the theater before my Mother met more neighbors, to discuss the movie she had not seen. When I got back home, my Father was still watching TV he had now moved on to a bowl of fruit. “How were the movies, girls”, he asked. “Very restful”, my Mother said. I said nothing.
