Reminiscing: Mid 50’s to Early 60’s

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Photo Credit: Wikimedia Commons

My father was in the Army when I was born; therefore, I lived on Army bases most of my childhood. One of the things I remember about that life is that on Saturday mornings the base theater showed children’s movies. While I remember seeing cartoons, westerns and other types of films, the ones I remember the best were the science fiction thrillers.

I doubt that those movies were shown during the Saturday morning time slots. My friend Vince, who also grew up in the Army, said he thought Friday night at the base theater was known as “Fright Night” and that the scary movies were shown then.

I decided to look for the trailers of my favorite science fiction movies from that time. As I watched the trailers, I marveled at how times have changed. I wonder how many children would be allowed to see this type of movie today since I doubt any of them would receive a G rating! But in those days the theater was full of children and teenagers. And we loved being scared. (During this time frame I would have been 8-15 years of age.)

 

 

 

 

 

 

There were two movies I couldn’t find.  One was about a person who grew bigger and bigger and bigger.  As I recall the man (or was it a woman) was eventually housed in a gigantic circus tent but outgrew even that. The only snippet I remember from the other movie was that objects of some kind were found scattered on a beach.  I think they were shaped like round rocks. Whenever someone picked up one of the objects and held it near their face, it marked them.  I think it was a circular mark of some kind; could have even been a burn.  Do any of you remember either of those films?

I have enjoyed this trip down memory lane. If you lived during that time, did you see these movies?  Did you enjoy them? If you are from a different generation, did you ever watch them?

 

13 thoughts on “Reminiscing: Mid 50’s to Early 60’s

  1. I saw Debbie Reynolds Tammy which was my first movie ever!!and GiGi which I loved with Maurice Chevalier. That was under 10. They were all awesome the movies you listed but on the tele. The only English movies as a teen I saw were To Sir with love and had a crush on Sidney Poitier before I discovered Stevie wonder. In our small town movies were all in French hence dubbed :(. Friday nights my sister and I settled in front of the TV with crackers and blue cheese watching the twilight zone and outer limits.

    Years ago seagulls attached me in front t of City Hall in Toronto. They wanted my fries. I kept thinking of the Birds. That’s a movie I saw many times Just now I realize I saw several movies with my mom but never with my dad

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    1. I have seen all of the movies you mentioned. To Sir With Love was one of my favorite movies. Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner was a major force in my life. I loved anything that Sidney Poitier was in.

      We watched Alfred Hitchcock and Twilight Zone every week. I remembered those but I’d forgotten about Outer Limits. We watched those weekly too!

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      1. Oh yes Guess Who s coming to Dinner…In the Heat of the Night…I must see again this weekend…I love watching old movies and every time there is something I may have been too young too notice or just in a different place.

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  2. We were just talking about “The Birds”. My friend said that to this day she dislikes and distrusts birds because of being traumatized as a child by watching that movie. I, on the other hand, loved those scary movie afternoons. Do you remember all the great Vincent Price movies, and the adaptation of Edgar Allen Poe stories? The House on the Haunted Hill, The Fall Of The House Of Usher, etc.

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  3. I am from a different generation. I believe I have seen the Fly. I enjoy watching earlier films. Movies today rely on their special effects and animation to make it interesting. Back then there was none of that. You really had to know how to act. That’s why it is so much easier to get sucked into older flicks. You feel it more. A you believe it.

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  4. Really brings back memories! Creature Features, The Creature from the Black Lagoon, The Blob, the Sinbad movie with sword-wielding skeleton, walking the 2 miles to the Woodlawn Shopping Center with my brother and sisters to watch matinees in the summer. The one TV show my mother shouldn’t have let us watch was Thriller: spirits in mirrors, disembodied hands creeping across the floor, magical glasses that revealed the evil state of a man’s soul. Too afraid to watch it, too afraid to sit alone in the living room while everyone else was downstairs watching. I don’t remember the movie that you’re describing, Karuna. Interesting how certain images stick in a child’s mind.

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    1. Thriller….. that sounds familiar but I don’t know if we watched it or if the name is reminding me of Michael Jackson’s album.

      I’d forgotten about Outer Limits until someone reminded me of it today.

      It has been fun reading people’s responses and memories.

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