I’ve loved TVs, movies, and films almost forever. In the early 1950s my parents had the first television on the block. I shared the adventures and humor with my buddies from next door. My parents and I went to films and again back home I would share the stories with my buddies. As old films began being broadcast on TV, I watched the old time movies. If they caught my eye and entertained me, I would watch the films again and again. A good film is like a good stage performance. The actor has taken the story and the character and you become absorbed in the tale and you follow down the path of the action.
In the sixth grade at Clover Park’s Navy Base I stayed home sick when I wasn’t, just to watch old black and white movies. Both of my parents worked. I signed my own doctor’s slips.
I loved TV, drive-in movies, and local theaters with whatever storylines they were showing. I absorbed many of the lines from my favorite movies. Many of the films had comments that have stuck to my mind. I have been game for them all. I began sharing lines and eventually, my wife, Peg, and I created our own book of movie quotations: “Reel Comments – Quotable Lines from the Movies.” When I became president for The Rotary Club of Tacoma, each speaker was awarded their own autographed copy of the book. People loved them.
As a money raiser for Tacoma Rotary, Peg and I would write actual actors who had recited their quotable lines. We had a number of famous people autograph the page where their famous line was given. We would then donate the books to Rotary, so they could turn-around and make money with the latest fund-raiser.
There were a number of Tables: actors/actresses, Index of subjects, and even a Quotation Submittal Form. My favorite signature piece was Bob Hope, who autographed a line from the movie “The Cat and the Canary” from 1939.
Question #298: “Do you believe people come back from the dead?”
Answer #298: “You mean like Republicans?”
Another famous money raiser for the club was Eddie Albert (Real name: Eddie Albert Heimberger) who appeared in “Oklahoma” – Line #765: “I wanted to marry her when I saw the moonlight shining on the barrel of her father’s shotgun.” What I liked about Albert was not about his character in the TV sitcom Green Acres, it was the fact that he was a hero at the island of Tarawa during WWII. He disobeyed his orders to collect reusable supplies from the initial landing. Instead he rescued over 40 marines who were trapped offshore under heavy machine gun fire.
I still flip through the list of movies almost every night in bed. Peg and I choose the old films and watch and enjoy. If we don’t like a show, we choose a different one. Favorite shows can be viewed time after time.
My favorite quotation is my Peg (standing at five-foot two) quotation from “I Married a Witch” staring Veronica Lake. The line is “I’m not so little. I’m just as high as your heart.” When I share this story at a meeting the women usually get a big kick out of it with a chuckle and a sigh. It’s a great movie for Halloween.
Throughout my year as Rotary president I enjoyed Rotary every chance I got. I became friends with the new president at Clover Park Rotary. For a little fun we traded the office of Rotary President. My buddy struck the gavel and ran my meeting one afternoon. Everything went smoothly. A couple of weeks later I attended Clover Park Rotary and ran their meeting. I had a problem, however. The person that was supposed to be the program for the meeting couldn’t make it, so I launched into recounting a film that Peg and I loved and it fit right in. It was a 1988 film entitled “Things Change” and stared Don Ameche and Joe Mantegna. I even sang a little bit. It was kind of a comedy and gangster film combined with a great switch at the end. The Rotary members enjoyed the story and the meeting.
It’s amazing, but quite often a good film can be used to both pep up a viewer or explain various needs and a great comedy piece can relax and put people in the right feel or concern. Movies can be used to relieve stress, entertain, explain needs, or just to relax and get you in a great mood.
