Personal Reflection | Writing Prompt

That’s A Wrap

A nostalgic look at the glam and sham of cinema | GiaB prompt #13 — cinema

C ✫ Chocolat (2000) ✫ I ✫ Independence Day (1996) ✫ N ✫ Nightstalker (2014) ✫ E ✫ Edward Scissorhands (1990) ✫ M ✫ Moulin Rouge (2001) ✫ A ✫ Amadeus (1984) ✫

I remember the days when going to the cinema was a big event. The babysitter would turn up at our door to look after my twin sister and me while Mum and Dad had a date night at the movies. Mum would come into the lounge-room to kiss us goodnight, wafting perfume and decked out in her Sunday-best dress. I liked the polka dot one the best. Hat, gloves and handbag completed the glam. We rarely saw Mum look so good.

The notion that a cinema was an enormous colour television screen in a huge dark room was too much for our unsophisticated five year-old brains to grasp. We had a modest HMV black’n’white television parked in our dining room, but it was there for the news and the occasional sneak peek of Dr Kildare. I think I was in love with Richard Chamberlain — damn, he was one spunky dude!!

We’re off to the movies!

As it turned out, it wasn’t our parents who had the honour of introducing us to the big screen. It was Jonathan and Susan, twins from school, who invited us to their seventh birthday party. At the movies!!

I can remember being excited and apprehensive all at the same time. A birthday party where we dressed up in our Sunday-best and sat in the dark! Part of me was terrified of toppling out of my seat and into the people seated in the row in front. Another part of me was horrified by the sword-slashing pirates running amok on the screen. A pirate movie!! WTF!! My innocence was not ready for such barbarism.

To be honest, it was not the introduction to movies I’d been expecting. The only saving grace was that I was sitting a snug few seats away from Jonathan. He wasn’t Richard Chamberlain but there were undeniable similarities and he was at least in my age range and available!

Fast forward

Roll the film forward and my sister and I (and later, our brother too) found ourselves donning our Sunday-best and jumping into the back of the family sedan for a trip into town to attend the matinée showings of splendid family-friendly favourites — Mary Poppins, The Pink Panther, Those Magnificent Men in Their Flying Machines, My Fair Lady, Doctor Dolittle to name a few.

Everything was going well for me and movies until the wheels fell off with Paint Your Wagon. As far as I was concerned, the best thing about that movie was the choc-top icecream at intermission and impersonating Lee Marvin’s drawling bass, “I was born under a wondering star”. I didn’t mind watching Gunsmoke and The Rifleman on television but Western movies just didn’t cut it with me. Still don’t. Gun-toting terra-pirates!

Teenage years came along. We ditched our parents and organised movie excursions with our friends. It was as much about making fashion statements as it was joining in the collective swooning over Ryan O’Neal (Love Story, 1970) and Robert Redford (The Great Gatsby, 1974) — don’t tell anyone, but I faked it with RR! We also deceived ourselves into believing that Papillon (1973) would be a romantic escapade with pretty butterflies and smatterings of French to test our très sophistiqué schoolgirl translation skills. How wrong we were!

The Red Carpet

The closest I’ve come to the red carpet was Melbourne’s charity pre-première viewing of The Omen in 1977. How I came to be invited to such an event is tortuous in itself, but I duly dolled myself up in a full-length gown, tottered along on my heels and pretended to be impressed. A glass of bubbly at the post-viewing soirée was never more welcome!

With the advent of suburban cinema complexes and the smorgasbord of monthly new releases, the afternoon matinée died a quick death and a night out at the movies is now trés ordinaire. No need to dress up. Jeans and a tee are just fine. Somehow, I think we’ve been shammed.

That’s a wrap.

Thank you to Victor Sarkin at Genius in a Bottle for setting the ‘Cinema’ writing prompt. You can read more about the guidelines for the prompt here —

I realise time is precious but hope these fellow writers can ‘do a Harry Potter’ and ‘Dumbledore’ some words on the topic — Dr. Preeti Singh | Jenine Bsharah Baines | David Rudder | K. Barrett| Katie Michaelson