70s-child: Saturday Afternoon Movies

Wednesday, March 22, 2006

Saturday Afternoon Movies

This was probably one of THE most frequent Saturday afternoon movies back ca 76/77. I've seen it about 6 times. It has to be one of my favorite movies, although I haven't seen it since then. They aired this movie on either ch. 56(wlvi) or ch. 38 (wsbk). It was pre-cable (in our house). I don't rent or own dvd movies and I have no tv, so I don't see these movies anymore. It was extremely funny back then, but I can't say how it's held up, and I don't really want to know. I just want to remember those movies the way they were.

Don't expect much out of me for a quarter:

As a kid, I never got an allowance. That's something my folks weren't into. They were very generous with me, I never lacked anything, and usually when I asked for something they'd get it for me, but an allowance just wasn't going to happen. In '76, just before my folks split up, dad decided to give me a "job". It was sometime in January and the weather was pretty brutal, so he told me he'd pay me a quarter if I'd open the garage door for him when he got home so he wouldn't have to get out of the car and open it himself. We lived in a split level house (a raised-ranch), and the garage was in the lower level. The very first night, I was watching TV and I heard him pull in and stop at the garage door. I didn't want to leave my show, and it was pretty cold down there in the garage, and I was rather warm and cozy and comfortable sitting in front of the tv, so I basically ignored him. He honked. He honked again. And again. And again. Finally I heard him open the car door, open the garage himself, pull into the garage and slam the door shut. The way he slammed the door, I could tell he was angry and that I was in trouble. He came upstairs and just looked at me. Let's just say I lost my job that night, which didn't really bother me. A QUARTER??? I didn't get out of BED for that kind of money...