"for some, 100 times will never be enough."
I saw the Wizard of Oz on the big screen today. We got there at 6:15, in the parking lot I saw a little girl and I said, "Oh my god, is she wearing ruby slippers." She was. She was probably three or four years old, tiny as hell, her little blonde hair in pigtails, wearing a blue dress and ruby slippers. I melted. We went inside and picked up the tickets but they weren't letting people in until 6:30. I heard a mother behind me in line talking to her two little girls - "You're going to really like it. And you know what you're REALLY going to like? The Munchkins, that's what they call them, they're so little!" One of them looked up and said, "I keep thinking it's a play!!!" Nope, it's a movie, the mom assured her. I heard other people talking, saying they came from [this city] and [that city] to see this because the ones closest to them had sold out already. I found myself wondering how the general public found out about this because if not for LJ, I'd not have known. And even then, I may not have, but thank god you guys know this is my favorite film and thought to tell me. Thank god.
They started letting people in, theater 14. We walked all the way to the back end, passing a large picture of Dorothy & Toto that's built into the cinema's wallpaper. We got seats, perfect seats, and my grandma left to go get popcorn, and also find my aunt, who took my mom's ticket. They came back like 15 minutes later, I had no idea what was taking so long but when they got back, my aunt said, "LOL I figured since I was taking your mom's place, I could be late." LMAO. The little girl in the ruby slippers ended up sitting behind us. All of the pre-show entertainment was focused on the Wizard of Oz, which I had not expected. Normally, it's just random movie quotes or random Hollywood trivia, and they play it for the half hour before the film starts. But this was all Wizard of Oz trivia and amazing huge beautiful photos. And whoever the girl was with, I think it was her grandma because I'm pretty sure she said something about her mom at one point, but she was so into this because she was reading the little one all of the trivia questions and answering. "B. I think it's B!" and then when it was B, there was a tiny little "YAY!!" I knew she was a hardcore fan because she got all of them right but one. I didn't even get them all right. Other than that, there were a lot of kids and families there, which I had not anticipated. I figured since the movie was so old, that it'd be kind of an adult thing but that was a really stupid assumption, in retrospect, because this film is timeless. And it made me cry to think that there were little girls in here who were seeing this for the first time. And I got to be there for that. I thought about when it hits its 100 year anniversary - I'll have kids and maybe even grandkids by then, and I hope the world does something to celebrate it because I'm taking them, we're going. I also thought about how many people in the hundreds of theaters across the country were doing the exact same thing at that exact moment, and that was really overwhelming.
The lights dimmed and the film started, except it wasn't the film. It was an introduction by [IDK, the guy who does movie introductions on TCM I think, I don't know his name lol] followed by a behind-the-scenes narrative. They talked about casting and directing and costuming and I don't know if they made it just for this thing, but either way, I'd never seen it before. They showed old pictures and old footage and Judy Garland, I cry just from looking at her fucking face. They showed her singing and dancing in a classroom, and then they showed footage of her and Ray Bolger in costume (minus his hat), she was whispering in his ear, smiling. And then I started crying at the sepia-toned opening credits. It was completely effortless and out of my control, I didn't even want to and my throat hurt but my face was stained with salt all the same.
For nearly forty years this story has given faithful service to the Young in Heart;
and Time has been powerless to put its kindly philosophy out of fashion.
To those of you who have been faithful to it in return... and to the Young in Heart...
we dedicate this picture.
My grandma leaned into me and said, "That's you." Cue me fucking losing it. And it's seventy now. I thought about not only what this film has meant to me, but about what it has undoubtedly meant to others, as well. I thought about how it's timeless and beautiful and a testament to being young at heart. How it's color and spirit, how it's the one thing I go back to again and again, when I'm really really low. You know I'm in a bad or sad place if you come home to find me watching the Wizard of Oz. But that's what it is, that's what I have and it made me cry to think that I, and the world, would have this beautiful gift for life. It's not going anywhere. Then I found my thoughts and emotions drifting to how badly I want that - I want to create something that fucking epic, that immortal, that timeless, that beautiful, that iconic, amazing piece of history that's still being played in cinemas and drawing this big of a crowd even seventy years later. I want that so much, I want to be the giver of what I've felt for the past 20 years. Because it's incomparable.
It was amazing, I cried all through Over the Rainbow and even a little at If I Only Had A Brain (wtf, self?), but probably because the Scarecrow is my favorite of all of those guys. My love for him is extreme - with him it's definitely the most obvious that he's had his desired ~token~ the entire time. He always, always had brains. You can see the Tin Man KIND OF always having a heart, in the couple of moments that he cries, but with the Lion, I never really see displays of courage at all. But the Scarecrow, it's always there. The part where, after the Witch throws the hourglass, he notices the light fixture and in a split second grabs the Tin Man's arm and makes him cut the cord is one of my favorite moments in the entire film. They also, in that documentary, showed footage of Bolger tap dancing. He was amazing, so talented, and he performed with such an air of nonchalance for how well he was doing - it was like it was nothing to him, it was beautiful, his taps were so crisp and clean, and he was so so fluid. I'd never seen that before. So seeing him dance about during his song now having seen that made it so different. It was fun too, to have an audience, just to see what they react to, what they laugh at. I noticed lots of tiny aesthetic shit I've never noticed before just because it was so big. I was able to look, and see. I cried again on "hearts will never be practical until they can be made unbreakable" - "but I still want one", and "I think I'll miss you most of all". It's beautiful in its own right, but it's personally sentimental as well. Then? Dorothy clicked her heels. And I heard clicking behind me. That little girl in the ruby slippers was going along with her and it was so beautiful to me and Jesus Christ I'm going to cry again right this minute. It absolutely made me. There's no place like home, and for me, no matter what, "home" will always be this.
They started letting people in, theater 14. We walked all the way to the back end, passing a large picture of Dorothy & Toto that's built into the cinema's wallpaper. We got seats, perfect seats, and my grandma left to go get popcorn, and also find my aunt, who took my mom's ticket. They came back like 15 minutes later, I had no idea what was taking so long but when they got back, my aunt said, "LOL I figured since I was taking your mom's place, I could be late." LMAO. The little girl in the ruby slippers ended up sitting behind us. All of the pre-show entertainment was focused on the Wizard of Oz, which I had not expected. Normally, it's just random movie quotes or random Hollywood trivia, and they play it for the half hour before the film starts. But this was all Wizard of Oz trivia and amazing huge beautiful photos. And whoever the girl was with, I think it was her grandma because I'm pretty sure she said something about her mom at one point, but she was so into this because she was reading the little one all of the trivia questions and answering. "B. I think it's B!" and then when it was B, there was a tiny little "YAY!!" I knew she was a hardcore fan because she got all of them right but one. I didn't even get them all right. Other than that, there were a lot of kids and families there, which I had not anticipated. I figured since the movie was so old, that it'd be kind of an adult thing but that was a really stupid assumption, in retrospect, because this film is timeless. And it made me cry to think that there were little girls in here who were seeing this for the first time. And I got to be there for that. I thought about when it hits its 100 year anniversary - I'll have kids and maybe even grandkids by then, and I hope the world does something to celebrate it because I'm taking them, we're going. I also thought about how many people in the hundreds of theaters across the country were doing the exact same thing at that exact moment, and that was really overwhelming.
The lights dimmed and the film started, except it wasn't the film. It was an introduction by [IDK, the guy who does movie introductions on TCM I think, I don't know his name lol] followed by a behind-the-scenes narrative. They talked about casting and directing and costuming and I don't know if they made it just for this thing, but either way, I'd never seen it before. They showed old pictures and old footage and Judy Garland, I cry just from looking at her fucking face. They showed her singing and dancing in a classroom, and then they showed footage of her and Ray Bolger in costume (minus his hat), she was whispering in his ear, smiling. And then I started crying at the sepia-toned opening credits. It was completely effortless and out of my control, I didn't even want to and my throat hurt but my face was stained with salt all the same.
For nearly forty years this story has given faithful service to the Young in Heart;
and Time has been powerless to put its kindly philosophy out of fashion.
To those of you who have been faithful to it in return... and to the Young in Heart...
we dedicate this picture.
My grandma leaned into me and said, "That's you." Cue me fucking losing it. And it's seventy now. I thought about not only what this film has meant to me, but about what it has undoubtedly meant to others, as well. I thought about how it's timeless and beautiful and a testament to being young at heart. How it's color and spirit, how it's the one thing I go back to again and again, when I'm really really low. You know I'm in a bad or sad place if you come home to find me watching the Wizard of Oz. But that's what it is, that's what I have and it made me cry to think that I, and the world, would have this beautiful gift for life. It's not going anywhere. Then I found my thoughts and emotions drifting to how badly I want that - I want to create something that fucking epic, that immortal, that timeless, that beautiful, that iconic, amazing piece of history that's still being played in cinemas and drawing this big of a crowd even seventy years later. I want that so much, I want to be the giver of what I've felt for the past 20 years. Because it's incomparable.
It was amazing, I cried all through Over the Rainbow and even a little at If I Only Had A Brain (wtf, self?), but probably because the Scarecrow is my favorite of all of those guys. My love for him is extreme - with him it's definitely the most obvious that he's had his desired ~token~ the entire time. He always, always had brains. You can see the Tin Man KIND OF always having a heart, in the couple of moments that he cries, but with the Lion, I never really see displays of courage at all. But the Scarecrow, it's always there. The part where, after the Witch throws the hourglass, he notices the light fixture and in a split second grabs the Tin Man's arm and makes him cut the cord is one of my favorite moments in the entire film. They also, in that documentary, showed footage of Bolger tap dancing. He was amazing, so talented, and he performed with such an air of nonchalance for how well he was doing - it was like it was nothing to him, it was beautiful, his taps were so crisp and clean, and he was so so fluid. I'd never seen that before. So seeing him dance about during his song now having seen that made it so different. It was fun too, to have an audience, just to see what they react to, what they laugh at. I noticed lots of tiny aesthetic shit I've never noticed before just because it was so big. I was able to look, and see. I cried again on "hearts will never be practical until they can be made unbreakable" - "but I still want one", and "I think I'll miss you most of all". It's beautiful in its own right, but it's personally sentimental as well. Then? Dorothy clicked her heels. And I heard clicking behind me. That little girl in the ruby slippers was going along with her and it was so beautiful to me and Jesus Christ I'm going to cry again right this minute. It absolutely made me. There's no place like home, and for me, no matter what, "home" will always be this.