"The Wizard Of Oz" on the big screen.

[fuzzybuddy]

I'm not sure how old I was when I saw "The Wizard Of Oz" on a big screen. I do remember being freaked out when it went into color. I was a kid, and I walked to the theater, by myself. My Mom might have seen that it was playing, knew the movie, and gave me the money to go see it. Today, she'd be locked up for doing that. Back then it was normal, it's what you did.

 

[Cap'nSacto]

Me and my brothers used to go every other Saturday...walked to "downtown" to the Tower Theater indoor cinema. I agree, I wouldn't send my kids walking to downtown anywhere. But we did then, and never had a problem. Tickets were .35 cents, and you saw two movies, at least one cartoon, and a short; usually a 10 or 15 minute film article about a new kind of car or some news headline. And as long as you kept your ticket you could sit through those movies all day. We used to sneak snacks in so all we had to buy at the concession stand was drinks if we wanted. When the tickets went up to .50 cents, our parents stopped letting us go to the movies, but it was great times while it lasted.

 

[jujube]

At the theaters in my town, you could eat at your seat but you could only drink in the lobby. I can't say for certain that it was like that at all the movies but it was at the ones I attended (about six).

Remember the drink machines that you put your money into, a cup dropped down, some crushed ice dropped in and then a stream of syrup and a stream of soda water squirted into the cup? If you were particularly unlucky that day, it didn't happen in the right order. The ice would drop, the syrup and soda water would squirt and THEN your cup would drop. You'd have to take the cup up to the concession stand and hope the guy behind the counter believed you. They always looked at you like you were trying to pull something on them......as if it didn't happen on a regular basis.

When my parents took us to the movies, my mom would sneak in everything but a five-course meal in her purse. She wasn't about to pay for treats.

 

[GypsyRoadLady]

Wizard of Oz, may all time favorite story movie. SO many of the lines ring true to me for so many reasons. I have seen it more times than I can count.

Funny story about beginning of movie that is black and white while on farm. Dad told me they did not have enough color film for the entire movie. I believed him forever.

 

[SifuPhil]

Unfortunately I never saw TWOO until it came on TV, but after that it was a yearly tradition to watch it with the family.

When I had my own kids watch it for the first time, I made sure that after I put them to bed I'd scream "FLY, MONKEYS, FLY!" (a part of the movie that terrified them).

... I don't think they (or my wife) ever forgave me ...