Movies - 52 Weeks of Personal Genealogy & History - Week #12

Week 12: Movies. Did (or do you still) see many movies? Describe your favorites. Where did you see these films? Is the theater still there, or is there something else in its place?

We saw a lot of movies when I was growing up. We didn't have VCRs, movie rentals or cable TV then, so if you didn't see a movie when it came out, it was a long wait for it to be shown on TV. The first movie I remember seeing in the theater was Mary Poppins. This was followed the next year by The Sound of Music which is still a favorite. We used to go to the Saturday matinees a lot and I remember seeing Disney movies, westerns like True Grit and The Wild Bunch and comedies. Butch Cassidy and The Sundance Kid was another favorite. We also watched movies on TV and favorites were The Wizard of Oz and the Alfred Hitchcock movies like Psycho and The Birds.

In my teenage years, we didn't have Twilight, but we had Dark Shadows! We also had disco with Saturday Night Fever and musicals like Grease. The Star Wars and Star Trek movies started in the 70's and we eagerly waited for each installment. For comedies, we really enjoyed the Pink Panther movies and the start of the spoof movies with Airplane!.

When we first moved to the town I grew up in, there was just one theater. They added a second screen and later turned it into a multiplex cinema with 10 screens. The theater is still there, but the small mall that it is attached to hasn't done well and is mostly used for offices now. A second mall opened in the 70's and had a theater with two screens. That one has closed and the mall has fallen on hard times. All that's left in the mall now is a small JCPenney's, a GNC store and a hot dog stand.

I still see a lot of movies, but tend to watch more at home than in the theater. I am really behind on my viewing at the moment and plan to catch up with some of this year's Oscar winners.