The movies on allowance day.
Queues winding round corners, making the feast inside even more fantastic because access to it was so difficult. I no longer remember everything I saw, but the emotions, the excitement, the smell are still vivid. The sound of a bell, the light slowly dimming. Eyes tight shut, the more so for the hands pressed against them; and when finally you looked again, the miracle was already there on the screen. The pictures, the flight from reality, the world of dreams: experiences and people I believed would become part of my everyday life in the future. Tragedies so great that there was still a lump in the throat many hours later. Wonders so great that my feet did not touch the ground all the way home.
~ Liv Ullman, Changing (Knopf, 1976)
Notes:
- Quote: the distance between two doors
- Photo: Only Old Photography: Hiroshi Sugitomo: Movie Theatre -Trylon Theatre, NYC, 1976.
Oh, yes…and…at our Saturday Matinee I fell in love with Hopalong Cassidy and Roy Rogers over and over again…but not before we sang the Star Spangled Banner. I was too young to read the words to the song projected on the screen, but held my hand over my heart and pretended. Every Saturday. Again. And again.
Smiling. Evocative image, thank you for sharing.
My favorite instant memory was a double feature with Jason and the Argonauts and Gulliver’s Travels.
We all have our fav’s…and like a favorite song, they spring to the forefront of our memories…
I remember. I saw “Grease” at least 12 times. I make no apologies 🙂
Wow. Apologize not for your harmless addictions…
I love going to the movies. In our world of instant gratification and access, it still seems like a slow, indulgent treat.
Yes, now if they can get the Popcorn, right!
i have always loved the moving pictures.
Still my Magic Place.