Early Childhood Influences

Lately, whenever my youngest whines, "Well, what should I eat?????????", I want to belt out, "Have a yogurt, Mr. Goldstone. Is there any little thing that I can do?", in my best Ethel Merman voice. Yes, it's a Gypsy flashback. That's the first indoor movie I can remember seeing. I was four at the most. There I am at the movies with my Broadway musical-loving parents.

I haven't had this prolonged of a flashback since my youngest took up the trumpet for middle school band in the fall of 1998. I refrained from sharing that he should "bump it with a trumpet", but on the other hand, you do have to have a gimmick. And that stands for T, and it rhymes with P, and that stands for pool. And I know all you folks are the right kind of parents... It was probably a forgone conclusion that I would be a librarian if I wasn't a burlesque stripper.

Before Gypsy, I can remember seeing a double-feature at the drive-in. I was probably expected to be asleep in the backseat of the 1954 pea-green Chevy. The first movie must have been something about Sinbad. There were pirates running around in poofy pants, and someone hiding in a rattan chest. The pirates plunged their swords into the chest. I recently viewed a '50's movie of "The Seventh Voyage of Sinbad". It had the feel of that early memory, but not the actual sword scene. I'll have to keep searching for my roots.

The second feature presentation was "Porgy and Bess". While I have golden brown, shadowy memories of that movie and the legless Porgy, I still have a deep fondness for Gershwin music and those scooter/dollies kids race on in Phys. Ed.

My parents were shocked when I let my sons, then aged 10-14, watch Steve Martin in "Roxanne". "Good grief," I muttered, while I secretly sang, "You gotta do it with finesse!"