My Favorite Movie Moment
(Written in 2016)
I just finished watching the documentary, “Life Itself”, about film critic, Roger Ebert. Besides being completely moved by the film, it got me thinking about movies! And for whatever weird reason brought back a very specific memory about a particular film that has special meaning to me. It was as if someone asked me the question, “What was your favorite movie moment?”
Mine took place in August of 2006 at the Stanford Theater on University Avenue in Palo Alto in California where my Mom, Dad, and then 14-year-old son went to see “Casablanca”.
I hadn’t seen Casablanca for years. The first time I saw it was actually just up the street at the famed but now-closed New Varsity Theater. It was 1982 and I was 16. I went with one of my closest male friends from high school. I was so excited to share this moment with him that I actually dressed up for the occasion. And this was a big deal because I’m not someone who really ever dresses up for anything! I remember my outfit clearly: a mishmash of preppy and new wave styles: straight-leg black jeans, Bass penny loafers, long-sleeved white button-down shirt, a maroon V-neck sweater I stole from my dad, a thin black men’s tie (very new wave), topping it off my dad’s early 1960s Bowler hat. I felt so stylishly cool!
The movie of course was amazing. I don’t remember much about the actual evening with Isaac but it became and still is a kind of touchstone for us.
23 years later, my son and I were visiting my folks. I think it was my dad’s idea to go see the movie, to share this experience with his grandson. I don’t know if my son remembers going, but I sure do. I remember my Dad’s exuberance, his excitement about not only seeing this particular movie which is such a classic but having a Stanford Theater experience, as well.
The Stanford Theater was a quintessential 1920’s art deco-style movie palace that had lost its luster and was virtually abandoned for years. I remember taking an acting class there one summer in 1981 when it was still kind of a dive and no longer showed movies. In 1987, the Packard Foundation (created by the co-founder of technology company, HP) bought the movie house and completely refurbished it back to its original glory, including the Wurlitzer organ which now plays music between shows or during intermission, just like in its heyday. Today the theater shows only classic Hollywood films from the 30s and 40s.
I remember us rushing to the theater after dinner to catch the 7:30 showing. I remember the late summer evening sun, filtering thru the trees and buildings, making everything glow. But when we arrived, we were horrified to find a line. And not just any line, but the longest line I had ever seen for a movie! It ran down the block, around the corner, and extended all the way down to the end of the next street! It felt like there were hundreds and hundreds of people there! I remember the tension of worry that we would not get decent seats or possibly not get in at all. But we took our chances and ultimately there was nothing to worry about. The Stanford Theater was huge! We ended up snagging fabulous seats in the lower balcony which were perfect. And we enjoyed listening to the Wurlitzer being played down front, waiting for the show to begin.
What I didn’t remember about Casablanca was how funny it was. One liners were being thrown about right and left the entire time! I hadn’t laughed so hard in a quite a while. Combine that with the beautiful but heart-wrenching nature of the romance as well as capturing the time and place of WWII, and you’ve got one of the greatest movie experiences of all time.
But it was seeing the movie with a capacity crowd at a theater, that already held the perfect energy for a classic Hollywood movie, that really elevated the experience to the status of “most memorable”. The crowd carried the emotions. All the highs and all the lows were heightened and accentuated, not to mention the humor. It was a great ride! I don’t normally enjoy being in crowds but I loved the energy of this experience.
And finally, on a more poignant level, this would be the last summer where my Dad was his full, vital, exuberant self. The next year he wasn’t well and he died almost a year to the date of the Casablanca viewing. In a sense, seeing Casablanca at the Stanford Theater was one of my last full moments of him which I cherish, and what a great, fun moment it was!
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