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MY MOVIE MEMORIES PAGE

   Schooled On The Movies

by
S. Rizzuto

    During my childhood and teen years my father worked for three motion picture companies--Republic, Universal, and 20th Century Fox.  From earliest childhood I remember my parents taking me to the movies a few times a week.  I attended private screenings of films several months or weeks before they were released.  I was able to watch movies that were considered for adults only.  During the 1950s, despite the fairly strict moral climate, society generally left it up to the parents to make decisions about what movies their children were allowed to see or what other activities that children were permitted to do.  Society did not see a need to always enforce laws prohibiting children from various activities, etc. Children were frequently sent by a parent to buy cigarettes for them and they were allowed in some bars accompanied by a parent.  I remember taking my first sip of beer as a young child.  It was given to me by my great-grandmother while sitting on a high stool at a neighborhood Norwegian bar.  (Incidentally, I have never smoked and I only rarely drink a beer or some wine.  It makes one wonder about the validity of claims by sociologists or psychologists that such habits in a society trigger a large segment of society to develop habits of smoking or drinking.  I would like to think that they are basically wrong in their assessments than to think I am just a heck of a lot smarter than the majority of people than to take up bad habits.  Go figure . . . But I digress . . . During the fifties things were not half as bad as many people claim they were or that the current youth generation seems to think.  Besides the screenings my parents and I were allowed at all the local theaters free-of-charge. In those days there were frequently double features (sometimes called a double bill) showing at many of the theaters on a regular basis.  There were frequent sneak previews held (that is when a movie is premiered for one showing several weeks in advance--not done much nowadays).  Sometimes it was by invitation only and other times it was open to the public. Movie-going was still a big thing in those days.  People got dressed up to go to the show.  Sometimes movie stars would put in a stage appearance before a movie was shown the first night.  I was able to see a variety of stars in person.  I remember seeing several character actors such as Forrest Tucker, Vera Ralston, Mary Murphy, and Beverly Garland.  I also saw Robert Mitchum, Van Heflin, Danny Kaye, and others I cannot remember offhand.

    Now all this movie-going did not leave much time for school.  In those days, generally children also could stay out of school at the discretion of the parents.  I spent much time reading books, watching television, shopping, etc. besides attending the movies.  My education consisted of mainly movies and all the books I could read.  I selected good books as I was not one for the comics.  I considered them too foolish.  At the age of fifteen, I received special permission to leave school from the school board.  You will not see many students nowadays allowed to do that.  Fortunately, today's children have the option of home schooling if their parents are willing.  There was no such thing in the fifties.  I spend most of my time educating myself. I managed at twenty-three to take a placement test and I did well enough to bypass having to attend night school before being allowed to take a GED (equivalent of a high school diploma).  I later went on to college and majored in two subjects.  I managed to acquire more than 250 credits simply because I wanted to take the courses.  I have always had a great desire for knowledge.

      I developed an appreciation for foreign films during my childhood as many of them were shown at some of the local theaters.  There were always a few theaters that showed exclusively what were called "art films" (that's your current equivalent of those intellectual independent films).  Unfortunately, today there are fewer local theaters dedicated to showing such films.  When I was in New York City there were all kinds of movies available at the theaters and in the video stores. Unfortunately, New Orleans is not New York nor will it ever be.  This is the BIG EASY or shall I say the BIG SLEAZY.  It's not "the city that care forgot" but rather it is "the city that forgot to care."  While there are more than fifty established writers living here, there is a fair number of bookstores considering the population is less than a million, and there is the annual Tennessee Williams Writers Festival (but the majority of the local population do not care about intellectual pursuits).  And, the writers keep to themselves in their own little clique.  Everything here is made up of various cliques (Mardi Gras cliques, Uptown crowd, whatever).  It is status, it is racial, it is cultural.  I am sure many places are like that but here it takes on a specialness all its own--it is called provincialism and it is of the worst order.  It was not nearly as bad while I was growing up.  One had more opportunity to mix with people from various walks of life.  That simply does not seem to be the case anymore.  Oh, you might see some people talking to each other who would not normally do so during Mardi Gras, but that does not count since most of them are drunk anyway.

    I consider myself lucky to have grown up in the time frame that I did when laws were more leniently enforced (what laws we had) and life was much easier because of it.  It was also easier since groups of people were not so divided.  I find that instead of there being less racial division and less tension that the division is worst in many ways.  Classes divisions are more obvious too.  Men and women, for the most part, still do not understand each other.  People are more generally mean-spirited.  They are always ready to sue someone over next to nothing.  One needs to be careful about what is said to anyone on the job, in school, or elsewhere.  And, no one knows when one might be hit during a sudden shootout at some location because a nutcase decides that is what he wants to do that particular day.  Those kinds of things just did not happen in the fifties.  It would not have crossed the minds of most people then to commit such a crazy act.  I grew up on all those shoot ‘em up westerns considered so violent by today's standards. Well, I do not go around shooting things up.  In fact, it is apparent that many of the current rash of shootings are committed by the youth.  While it is true many of them have probably played too many violent video games and seen too many slasher thrillers, how can society be sure that those things trigger such violent acts considering the 1950s westerns did not create the same problem?  It is difficult to understand exactly what is happening in society nowadays, but one thing is obvious and that's the simple fact that we are experiencing some kind of major breakdown in society at large. And if some brainy people do not figure out what the hell has gone wrong and find a positive way to fix it, we are in serious trouble.

    I, for one, am not in a position to fix the problems in America.  I will leave that to the ones in those important positions to fix them.  As for me, I frankly rather take a time machine and go back to those simpler days (and believe me they were simpler) and enjoy the movies.

                                           MY MOVIE MEMORABILIA

                                                                       by
                                                                S. Rizzuto

    While I was a child my father started scrapbooks devoted to the movie industry.  Later when I was a teen I started one for the film "Lawrence of Arabia."  I collected everything I could get my hands on regarding the film:  magazine articles about the film--the actors--the filming of it; clippings from the newspapers, ads for the film, ticket stubs ( I watched it 55 times!); photos from the film and the actors; and much more.  I started it in 1962 and worked on it until the late 1970s.  I still have it.  

    Besides the scrapbook, I collected the record album for the film plus a few other versions of the music.  I also bought two copies of the souvenir book sold at the theater during the film's first run (duing the 1950s & 60s such items were commonly sold at theaters) and the 30th Anniversary book.  I also bought a poster. During the 1960s I do not think scripts of films were commonly available.  Since the 1980s they are readily available.  Normally, I would have purchased one for the film but after I viewed the film 10 times I was able to write out the entire script.  It took 67 pages.  Recently I discovered one could download a copy of the script (for free) on the Internet (what an invention!).

    I also created a Beatles scrapbook during the 1960s.  It was a foot high!  Unfortunately, it was lost when my mother sold our bookshop.  I forgot it there.  I sometimes wonder who has it now??

    I collected endless movie magazines, scifi & fantasy/horror/mystery mags & small press zines, comics, posters, stills, gum cards, buttons, videos, etc.   My best items are part of a Sherlock Holmes collection which includes books, zines, my own "SH" zine, comics, stills, buttons, etc. and my most prized item, Basil Rathbone's autobiography, In And Out Of Character.  
 
    My neverending interest in movie nostalgia inspired me to start this publication in the early 1990s (in print).   I put the publication on hold until I relocated and then I decided to learn how to create a zine online.