Every once and a while I get to thinking about some thoughts that occur at odd moments. For instance – all that time between taking your seats in a movie theater and when the actual movie begins.  It is all wasted time for me.  I find the commercial aspects of advertisements from local merchants to the huckstering of films yet to come, NOT entertainment.  I came to the theater to be entertained by the movie of my choice but the directors of such decisions think that I must become part of the market for products. They have decided that it is my duty to listen and look obediently and, of course, then buy the product. In the old days your money bought you TWO feature films. Today the money is in advertisements.

Now, I remember silent films.  I am that old.  They were great and for the time such a revolution in how we viewed things – “moving” pictures, that we couldn’t get enough of them.  The industry was in its infancy and it catered to what decision makers then thought the public would buy or stand for.  A middle of the road kind of compromise slumped into place and the moving picture show was for family audiences.  Avant garde films were those with no, no’s and, of course they were for adults only. Then “they” came up with initials to identify pictures and these were duly ignored. Kids got to see the no, no’s as well as unadulterated junk.

Now cartoons were definitely for children and I could never get enough of them. They became loved by all ages, particularly when color came in and the characters spoke and sang.  Thank you, Mr. Disney. You always were ready to cheer when there was more than one that filled the screen before the MAJOR ATTRACTION!  And then, there were the Short Subjects, Travelogues and before Television there were the News Programs that were really exciting because you got to see (after the fact) far off places where really interesting things were going on.  You didn’t get to see the “talking head” who narrated the news you were seeing and this was all to the good because it was the news and just the news (except for visiting Bora Bora and then departing into the descending sun) that you were seeing.  We got a lot of information about the world before - DOUBLE FEATURES.         

This is just a thought on my part, remember.  I am offended by the lost innocence of the youth of my generation who now in their dotage are manipulated by theater owners to buy food, buy the cars that a salesman assures you are the best anywhere and the interminable previews of new shows that flash the best shots that will make you want to see them and seem not to end up in the picture.

I am offended by the loss of the cartoons, short subjects and the newsreels.  Perhaps if we all got together and made some noise, just maybe they will bring back the good old days and respect our intelligence instead of extracting our money