Everything I learned, I learned from the movies.
~Audrey Hepburn
When I was a child, I got my summer tan from the glow of the movie screen.
A self-labeled latchkey kid, the movie theater was my babysitter while my mother worked extra shifts at the hospital. While many children went off to summer camp or to visit relatives in far, interesting places, I found peace and shelter under the big screen.
I have always found my place among the twists and turns of a movie plot, the faces of Hollywood, the glamour of film. My husband Jason even jokes on the movie lines I reference in daily conversations. Some folks have music or art. My love is film.
I was reminded of that love this week when I heard the Plaza Twin Cinema, a local icon for many generations, will be celebrating 48 years. I interviewed Mr. George Twiner in 2014 when his family were making the transition to digital movies at the local theater. There were challenges then, and those challenges remain.
But the foundation that has remained despite those challenges is Twiner’s love for the movies and operating one of the few remaining independent theaters in the state.
Back during that 2014 interview, I was mesmerized by the old movie posters in Twiner’s office. I was sucked into the conversation of how films were no longer really “films” as the neon lights of a newfangled computer system hit my face. My eyes scanned over the popcorn machine as I made my exit.
Being inside a movie theater, behind the scenes, has always fascinated me.
It’s movies. And it’s awesome.
I can remember when my love for movies began as a youngster. My mother and I just purchased our very first VCR. This new, high-tech machine was popping up in houses all over the country. And Momma and I had to jump on the bandwagon.
The box of the VCR shined up towards me from the shopping buggy as Momma and I scanned over the endless selection of VCR tapes. At the time, the tapes were pretty expensive, and we were already spending a lot of money on the machine itself. So, we were limited to two movie purchases that day.
Our choices? I picked 1937’s Heidi with Shirley Temple. And Momma selected something a little more “grown-up” with Francis Ford Coppola’s The Godfather.
Momma had to work the graveyard shift that night, so I was at home behind locked doors with my new VCR...in the box. It was at that moment that I became “an entertainment engineer.” Drowning in a sea of wires and plugs, I climbed over the television set and set up shop behind it. I eventually figured it out, with no help from the instruction manual. (To this day, I assemble all our entertainment systems in my home).
Within seconds, the television glow hit my face. The production company’s icon flashed before my eyes as a storybook unfolded with its cast of characters. For the next 80 minutes, I was in another world alongside Miss Shirley Temple.
I was hooked.
But although it was certainly convenient to watch these movies at my home entertainment center, I still wanted the big screens. There was just something special to me about going to a movie theater. I think we all need to remember that feeling as the streaming options make viewing movies at home so much more accessible. Let’s not forget the big screen and the big deal it was to head over to one.
And I loved it when local theaters would show some of the classics during a special one-run event. I would literally take change with me to get a ticket at the theater down the road from my house while my Momma worked a double shift. Leaving my bike leaning against the outside building, the theater became my babysitter.
When the theaters showed those classics again, I watched E.T. three times in a row. I wanted a best friend like the scarecrow in The Wizard of Oz. I wanted to marry Humphrey Bogart in Casablanca. I was scared to death of Darth Vader from Star Wars. I cried my eyes out watching Old Yeller. And then I wanted to divorce Bogart and remarry when I first laid eyes on James Cagney in The Public Enemy.
Movies allowed me to travel to other worlds. I made friends and enemies with its stars. I was able to laugh when I felt blue. I shed a few tears.
Movies did and continue to make me happy. Even today with my own children, there is just something about a bucket of popcorn and a good movie.
I encourage you to pay George Twiner a visit at the local theater. He appreciates good movies like anybody else.
Go escape in the glow of the movie screen for a few hours. Laugh, cry and share a bucket of popcorn.
Make a memory.
See you at the movies.
