Fiona Found a Mic

Due to Taylor being down with a case of the sludge and Fiona being only nominally above the states definition of retarded there will be no show this week.  We will leave you with a story from Fiona though!

Fiona's First Movie!

Do you remember your first movie experience? I'm not talking about the first movie you ever saw, I'm talking about your first experience at a movie theater (or as my grandma would say: picture show). I'll share my experience with you (it's a very vivid memory).

The year was sometime in the seventies, I was probably five or six and I remember not having a clue what a 'picture show' was or what you did at one of these things but I was ready and eager to go! My grandma took my cousin and me to go see Bambi. My sister was just a toddler and when I learnt that she would not be able to go because she was too little, I
became very intrigued to say the least. My cousin was about ten at the time and she had spent all summer at my grandma's house and had read the story Bambi to all of us younger kids, so I was very familiar with the story.

Now remember, this was in the seventies. We didn't have cable t.v., we had four stations, ABC, NBC, CBS and PBS. Our morning programs consisted of Sesame Street, Mr. Roger's Neighborhood and Captain Kangaroo. We watched Rocky and Bullwinkle and Looney Tunes on the weekends. We didn't have a Disney channel to sit and watch all day long
either...our dose of Disney came on Sunday evenings with the "Wonderful World of Disney".

The road to the city was long and the butterflies in my stomach were doing summersaults. I was highly anxious and couldn't wait to go to this picture show. Going to the city was a big enough thrill in and of itself but add a picture show to it and it became an adventure!

We arrived at the theater and scurried out of the little bright yellow Vega wagon. Saturday afternoon matinees were very popular at the time especially in the summer when the weather was hot and muggy. The line for the show was not too long yet since my grandma believed in being extremely early for any function and thank goodness for that since we
had to stand outside in the hot sun! I stood and watched the people lining up behind us as we inched closer to the ticket booth.

My grandma got her pocketbook out and gave the guy behind the window some money and in return she got these little pieces of paper. That didn't seem like a very good deal to me, I mean I could go buy several packs of Bazooka bubble gum and even a push-up for less than what I saw her give him. Then my cousin opened the door to the lobby of the theater.

My eyes widened in pure amazement at all the bright lights. The aroma of the buttery popcorn filled the air and my nostrils. It was the best smell I'd ever smelt! People were standing in lines getting their snacks before the movie started. Grandma lead us to one of the lines and we waited (again...I just didn't know how much more standing around I could possibly do!). We got our small sodas and a medium popcorn (my grandma was very frugal!) and headed to our theater.

There was a long hallway that was dimly lit and there were several closed doors along the hallway but you could hear loud noises coming from behind each door. One movie must have been a gangster movie because as we passed the closed door machine guns were blasting. The noise was loud enough to scare me and I jumped and stumbled over my own feet and almost dropped my soda! That would have been dreadful since my grandma was a no-nonsense kind of granny and I would not have received another soda.

When we arrived at our theater, we entered the room and it was one of the most beautiful rooms I'd ever seen. The ceiling was so high I thought for sure it was touching the sun! The walls were covered with a beautiful dark red fabric and the shiny gold sconces illuminated with light. In the front of the room was a stage and one of the biggest curtains I'd ever scene. Since I was totally mesmerized by such beauty, I stumbled again and almost fell and drug my cousin down with me.

We picked out our seats and got ready for the show. I just couldn't understand why all these other people were there too. Maybe everyone liked picture shows? I nibbled on some of the delicious buttery popcorn (no salt, granny couldn't have salt) and sipped at my cold soda and then the lights went dim. The curtain started slowly moving up and my heart about leapt out of my chest! I moved to the edge of the seat with my eyes fixed on the blank screen. After the curtain lifted, I was expecting to see pictures of Bambi, not a blank screen. I slowly sank back into my seat, slightly disappointed. I mean, this was a 'picture show' and I wanted to see some pictures!

And then it happened....the screen lit up like nobody's business and my eyes widened in amazement! There were candy bar, popcorn and soda 'people' dancing around the screen, the whole screen! It took up the entire wall! I was back on the edge of my seat, my eyes as wide as they could be and I don't think I blinked for ten minutes and my mouth was gaping wide open. The tasty buttery popcorn and ice cold soda were long forgotten at this point and my total concentration was fixed on the giant t.v. screen in front of me. After a few previews of upcoming movies (yes, I was making a list already!), the movie started.

Now, I knew the story of Bambi. Having the book read to me several times, I knew exactly what was going to happen but it felt so awesome seeing it played out right in front of my bewildered eyes.

Spoiler alert: If you don't know the story of Bambi, you may want to stop reading now!

Then, the moment I had been dreading ever since the movie started. I knew Bambi's mother got shot and when listening to someone read this, it's very different. On the screen, there was commotion, deer were running in every direction and the hunter was on the loose. My knuckles gripped the chair in front of me and I was now standing. My heart was pounding and my thoughts were racing...run Bambi's mom, run! There's just no way she could get shot during this glorious movie, they wouldn't do that to her..they just wouldn't. But alas, they did.

A shot rang out loudly and a silence fell over the crowd until a certain tender hearted little boy cried out "NO!" Tears ran down my cheeks, my hands were balled up into little fists and I wailed. I could not control it. Yes, I know, you don't actually see the mother get shot but you know it happens and its so real up on that screen and my little heart broke in half for Bambi's mother. I was making such a scene that we had to leave. I cried all the way home (well, til I fell asleep in the backseat). It was several years until I wanted to go back to the theater and, yes, I have since watched Bambi all the way through.