So here we go with “The Book and The Movie,” sometimes referencing the music, the cast; whatever made it memorable to me.
Mythology
To grow up in a very literate family was the greatest gift my parents could give their seven children.
Living so remotely and both parents working long and hard hours, my siblings and I had to make our own entertainment but not so much so that we wouldn’t get our chores done.
Home entertainment was the books my parents read and we eventually read. Both parents were avid readers, Daddy more non-fiction, Mama fiction literature. Both were page to page, cover to cover newspapers and magazine readers. Having books allowed us to explore and pretend that we were somewhere else.
My Dad was a wonderful writer. His children would give him our notebook papers we had used in school so he could write his poetry, essays, and draw his sketches on the back pages. I have his papers of his writings some that have my first grade attempts at spelling one that showed I wasn’t a good speller; horuse for horse… I improved over the years and I also became a writer.
Jason and the Argonauts
One of the biggest entertainment outside of the house was going to the drive-in movies. Our red and wood paneled station wagon with the back seats that could fold into a flat surface was our chariot. We would watch the wide screen while on our knees leaning over the front seat. The speaker was hooked on the driver side, window in a half open position; The King daddy’s seat and mama in The Queen seat, positioned in the enjoy the movie mode. The heavy smell of popcorn, the loudspeaker that played a loop of “Spanish Eyes” before the movie started, the dancing hot dogs with their goofy smiles that came on the screen to entice kids to scream “I want a hot dog!” to parents that pointedly ignored you…pure bliss.
Mr. Ray Harryhausen’s unique movies on the wide screen at the drive-in was something to behold…the artistry of Mr. Harryhausen making everything seem so real…and I mean, come on, this is the stuff that could keep conversations and play acting going on for weeks.
Before CGI, there was Mr. Ray Harryhausen. Watch and explain what stop motion is and teach your kids patience by showing how painstaking it was for Mr. Harryhausen to depict characters and plots, frame by frame, of epic proportions in movies like “Clash of the Titans,” and the Sinbad adventures.
