How did you get into classic films? (and my story)
Feb 9, 2021 21:26:01 GMT
vegalyra, spiderwort, and 1 more like this
Post by marianne48 on Feb 9, 2021 21:26:01 GMT
My older siblings used to watch movies all the time on (pre-cable)TV, and I used to watch along with them. I remember watching Hitchcock's The Birds for the first time when I was about five, when it premiered on NBC's Night at the Movies, and being enthralled by it. Yeah, they showed that scene with the guy with his eyes pecked out--was I traumatized by that? No, because I was used to seeing footage of the Vietnam War on the nightly news every night.
The stations back then used to "present" movies as part of a program, so it seemed like a special event to watch a movie on TV. One local station aired "The Million Dollar Movie," a daily movie slot which showed the same movie every day for an entire week; you could watch the same movie over and over and pick up on its nuances, so it was kind of like a do-it-yourself film study course. Another station had a "Foreign Film Festival" on weekends; another had "The 4:30 Movie," which featured theme weeks (beach movies, Biblical movies, Martin and Lewis movies, Middle-aged actress horror movies, etc.). The PBS station had a program hosted by Lillian Gish which featured silent classics; a UHF station had a Charlie Chaplin film festival every Friday night. Other local stations had "Creature Features," "Chiller Theater," and a "Dr. Shock" show, all featuring horror and monster movies; the last had a vampirish host presenting the movies, like today's "Svengoolie" character on MeTV. Daytime TV included a guy named Joe Franklin, a hardcore nostalgia fan with a local TV show who often showed old comedy shorts such as Ben Turpin silents, Laurel and Hardy shorts, and some even more obscure comedy team shorts (Clark and McCullough, anyone?). Another daytime kiddie show presented Our Gang shorts from the 1930s. Then there were the "Late Show" programs on local stations. Often they had theme weeks, too, such as Marx Brothers week, and James Cagney week, which resulted in my lifelong crush on Mr. Cagney. I think there was a greater variety of movies back then, with only twelve channels, than there are today in the cable era. For a kid who didn't get to go to the movies very often, this was a lot of fun (if not more). As a latchkey kid with both parents working, I learned to love watching these movies when I was alone in the house; they were more enjoyable than most of the TV shows of the time. That's still true today; I rarely watch TV shows and prefer classic movies instead.
The stations back then used to "present" movies as part of a program, so it seemed like a special event to watch a movie on TV. One local station aired "The Million Dollar Movie," a daily movie slot which showed the same movie every day for an entire week; you could watch the same movie over and over and pick up on its nuances, so it was kind of like a do-it-yourself film study course. Another station had a "Foreign Film Festival" on weekends; another had "The 4:30 Movie," which featured theme weeks (beach movies, Biblical movies, Martin and Lewis movies, Middle-aged actress horror movies, etc.). The PBS station had a program hosted by Lillian Gish which featured silent classics; a UHF station had a Charlie Chaplin film festival every Friday night. Other local stations had "Creature Features," "Chiller Theater," and a "Dr. Shock" show, all featuring horror and monster movies; the last had a vampirish host presenting the movies, like today's "Svengoolie" character on MeTV. Daytime TV included a guy named Joe Franklin, a hardcore nostalgia fan with a local TV show who often showed old comedy shorts such as Ben Turpin silents, Laurel and Hardy shorts, and some even more obscure comedy team shorts (Clark and McCullough, anyone?). Another daytime kiddie show presented Our Gang shorts from the 1930s. Then there were the "Late Show" programs on local stations. Often they had theme weeks, too, such as Marx Brothers week, and James Cagney week, which resulted in my lifelong crush on Mr. Cagney. I think there was a greater variety of movies back then, with only twelve channels, than there are today in the cable era. For a kid who didn't get to go to the movies very often, this was a lot of fun (if not more). As a latchkey kid with both parents working, I learned to love watching these movies when I was alone in the house; they were more enjoyable than most of the TV shows of the time. That's still true today; I rarely watch TV shows and prefer classic movies instead.