This is where I came in.

I fell in love when I was five years old.

With the movies.

My love affair began when I saw my first ever “real” movie, (besides like Dumbo or Snow White or black & white Laurel & Hardy shorts). My Aunt Iris took me “downtown” to see “Seven Brides for Seven Brothers”.

I loved it so much…that the very next week, after much whining... it also became the second movie I ever saw in my life.

Besides being totally blown away by the giant faces on the screen, the Technicolor scenery, the singing, the dancing, the action … I was totally into the whole idea of sitting in the dark, in a theater, with lots of other people all reacting at the same time.

I still love that.

As I got a bit older, my movie experiences fell into two categories: “Friend movies” and “Parent Movies”.

“Friend movies” happened just about every Saturday. My school gave us free tickets to go to a movie theater on Saturday mornings to see some “educational” films. One I remember was Julius Caesar. All I learned was that “Ides” meant 15th. And Marlon Brando was kind of scary.

BUT…after the “school movies”, we were allowed to stick around for that week’s feature film. And, I swear, it seemed that every one of the Saturday “afternoon” films (they changed the program at night)… was some offering of what we called “monster movies”…

"Bride of Frankenstein"…

The Wolfman’s Brother"…

"Dracula’s Second Cousin Twice-Removed".

Lots of blood…and coffins…and... (I noticed even then)… cleavage😏.

But what was ON the screen... was somehow secondary to what went on IN the theater... packed with a bunch of wild 8-12 year olds!

My go-to theater was the magnificent Loew’s Paradise (or as Bronx peeps have always pronounced it, ‘Lo-wees Paradise’).

Originally a venue for live Big Band performances... and entertainers like Ol’ Blue Eyes himself… it was indeed a “paradise”.

A two-tiered palace with a huge spiral staircase, chandeliers, marble statues… and most memorably… a “ceiling”, designed to look like a star-lit night sky (with “stars” that really twinkled”!) It was known to be the best “make out spot” in The Bronx. (Not that I even knew what “making out” meant!?)

For me, it was a fantastic playground… to run up and down the staircases… throwing popcorn at the girls… eating whole boxes of “Bon Bons” (dreamy chocolate-covered ice cream balls).

All the while avoiding… the dreaded MATRON!!!

For those of you somewhat younger than I… the Matron was an older woman… (Seemed like she was 90…but probably 40) …whose impossible task was to try to control hundreds of hyper pre-teens.

I seem to recall a “uniform” of some sort… Black skirt, white blouse. And, while not “armed”, she did have… THAT HUGE MEGA FLASHLIGHT!! …which was terrifyingly shone in the face of every misbehaver… …and often foreshadowed one’s being thrown out of the theater. NOTE: A daring friend could later open the Exit Door and get one back in!

And then there were “Parent Movies”. We were a movie family. We went a lot. And my parents, being rather progressive, took me to “grown up” movies. I remember they once took me to the (notoriously risqué) Ascot Theater… for a French "art film” titled "And God Created Woman". The opening scene was a long, slow shot panning across... the naked body of Brigitte Bardot.

Movies (and life) would never be the same for me.

Then, there were those instances when my worlds would collide. My parents took me to the movies at the Lo-wees Paradise and as we were entering… The Matron was leaving. Our eyes would meet… she clearly recognized me and my rap sheet of movie theater misdeeds.

Nothing was said.

My life went on.

One final thing about my kid memories of the movies... and the title of this post….

Back in the day, people would show up at the movie theater… whenever they were ready!? The scheduled times were secondary. What ever time you arrived at the theater, you went in and found your seat in the dark. Could be the beginning of the movie…the middle…or the (surprise) ending!? You’d watch the movie, then the shorts, newsreels, cartoons, then the second feature. And then… you’d stay and watch the first movie until it got to the point when you entered… Thus uttering the immortal phrase…

“This is where I came in”.

NOTE: Sometimes upon entering, you might whisper to the person next to you… ”What happened so far?”

I can’t believe we actually did that…but we did! Now, I can’t go into a movie 2 minutes after it started!

Would love to hear your early Movie memories.