From the middle to the middle

How funny! Just got a flashback of my dad taking me to see "The Snow Queen" when I was about four. We must have waited until the result of the t.v. baseball game (annouced by Dizzy Dean and PeeWee Reese, of course) was not in doubt, then driven downtown in the '54 pea green Chevy to the State Theater. Walked in as the scary evil Snow Queen was turning everybody to ice, then sat through it, thawing, melting, and back to being frozen again. I know Dad & I saw "Babes in Toyland", "Lady & the Tramp", and "Bambi" by the tag-team middle-to-middle system also. "Bambi" had a nature short about desert animals in the middle (well, it should have been at the beginning, right after the newsreels!), that I remember vividly as it was my introduction to rattlesnakes. Dad & I were probably escaping long weekend afternoons with my colicky baby brother. We also used to drive out to the old Lincoln Air Force Base/muni airport and stand on the outdoor observation deck to watch airplanes take off. One time a pelican was sitting on the railing of the deck. That was a way off course pelican! I think that was the time Dad & I were escaping after my mom slid our chicken potpies off the cookie sheet onto the heating element in the bottom of the oven by accident. One time Dad & I escaped to the city's Pioneer Park, and I rolled down a hill. Got cockleburrs stuck on every inch of my face and body. Dad felt so horrible. He picked me up gently, put me in the car, and rushed me home. Mom sat me on a highchair, and the two of them spent hours pulling the stickers out of me with tweezers.
The first movie I remember seeing was a double feature at the drive-in. I was probably barely three, and my parents must have thought I would sleep in the backseat. The first movie was some sort of Sinbad story with ships, pirates, people hiding in large wicker chests, and other people poking swords into the wicker...The second feature was "Porgy & Bess". Singing black guys with no legs...! "Bess, you is my woman now. You is..." The first movie I can remember seeing in a theater was "Gypsy". My parents were really into Broadway musicals. One time my folks were down here visiting, and the boys were watching Steve Martin & Darryl Hannah in "Roxanne". My folks were freaking because Darryl had no clothes on. It was great fun reminding them about "Gypsy"!

Steven and I had a discussion about Twinkies this week. That set me off recalling how I got the job of riding shotgun with Dad late one night up to the hospital in Norfolk (120 miles in the Chevy) where one of my ancient relatives had been taken. I went along to keep my dad awake. He taught me to whistle. We stopped for gas, and to get vending machine treats to go with the vacuum bottle of coffee. I thought the Hostess "Snowballs", especially the pink ones, were the most tempting things I had ever seen, and finally convinced my dad to buy them. Dang if that coconut didn't stick halfway down my throat. May I never eat another bit of coconut as long as I live! I will always be suspicious of anything pink, fluffy, and too good to be true (probably should pass that suspicion on to the boys!). We arrived at the hospital in the middle of the night. While Dad was doing whatever he had to do, the nuns took me down to the basement kitchen and fed me soup.
I must be dying, since my life is passing before my eyes--but maybe Dad and I are just arriving in the middle of the feature.