I remember
the first motion picture I ever saw. It was around 1941 when I was at the
impressionable age of 6. The movie was Pinocchio. There were 2 movie theaters
in Southie at the time, the Broadway on West Broadway and the Strand on East
Broadway. The movie was not shown at either theater. To see it you had to go
downtown Boston which was an adventure by itself.
It was the
golden age of Movie theaters and the lobbies to a 6 year old were a marvel to
see. I entered a world previously
unknown to me. The Paramount (which was recently renovated by Emerson
College) was where I saw the movie.
Unfortunately
at my age I thought what I was about to see was real. The scene where Pinocchio
was changing into a donkey was an earth shattering moment and for years I tried
to live an exemplary life because I thought that could happen to me. As I said
at the beginning I was at impressionable age.
