Cinemas, Noir and otherwise

My first movie was “Song of the South”. I saw it at Radio City Music Hall with my grandparents. I was four. I loved it. “Zippedee-doo-dah, zippedee-aaaa. My oh my what a wonderful day” became my favorite song for a long time.

My second movie was “The Wizard of Oz”. I saw it at a big theatre in Brooklyn with my best friend Bonnie and her older cousin Barbara. Bonnie and I were five. From the moment those monkeys flew out I hit the floor and stayed there. Everyone tried to coax me out, and I would peek my head up every once in a while and take a look. But still I really hated it. I don’t like being scared. Call me crazy. Never cottoned too much to Judy Garland or “Over the Rainbow” until a few years ago when a very large Hawaiian man sang it while playing the ukulele in the soundtrack of a movie that wasn’t “The Wizard of Oz.”. THAT I liked. Call me crazy.

I also remember “Bambi” from this period, although I saw it a second time when I took Nancy and Michael to see it at the Strand Theatre in Plainfield when I was 16 and they were 11 and 7. I cried and got scared both times.

I saw South Pacific at the Lambertville Music Circus for my 10th birthday. Loved it. I wanted to play Bali H’ai on the piano after that but my teacher said I had to play Czerny, Chopin, Beethoven et al, which was fine, but why couldn’t I also play Bali H’ai?

Saw “Carmen” at the Met with my class in the 5th grade. And again a few years later with Daddy. It’s still the only opera (aside from a few exquisite arias from others) that I really like. Perhaps it was the Daddy factor that made me love it. And, as already stated, it was my first. Those are generally – one way or another – memorable.