Thursday, February 25, 2010

Before blu-ray, dvd, vhs, laser disc and betamax there was...

My family didn't have a projector, but I often dreamed that we did. Imagine watching Woody Woodpecker cartoons, EXPO '67 or CLEOPATRA on your living room wall? What a thrill to create the movie-going experience in your very own home. I recall neighbors having a 8mm set-up and watching some Betty Boop cartoons in their garage. Now that was living! The closest I ever got to that was when my parents bought me a View-Master projector and I invited friends over to watch stills from THE POSEIDON ADVENTURE and KING KONG (these were both preceded by Disney shorts in the true tradition of the cinema). Nowadays with our big-screen TVs and instant access to all sorts of media, we can watch basically anything we want 24/7 from ALIENS to ZARDOZ, but doesn't it make you long for the days when the movie-watching experience was a special occasion?

1 comment:

Randy said...

I can remember in the late 70s standing in a local K-Mart and staring at the glory of selected scenes from Star Wars on Super8.

At the time (I was 12), I would have given all my worldly possessions for it and a projector.