Cool Dad

My father spent a lot of time with me as a child, but it was usually in the confines of doing something he wanted to do. Which is perfectly fine as most children don’t really know what they want to do anyway so they may as well do what Dad wants to do.

A perfect example would be movies. He rarely took me to something unless, he, too wanted to see it.

The one time we almost went to something kid-oriented (The Radio City Music Hall Christmas Show) the line was so long that we bailed and saw a movie. “The Poseidon Adventure.” I was five. I liked it a lot. Except when Stella Stevens died.

When I was in second grade, we saw “Carrie.” I liked that, too, only I did not get the “blood in the shower” scene all that much and asked him about it. He did his best to explain menstruation.

Somewhere in between those two, we saw “Blacula,” multiple Hammer Studios titles (including “Countess Dracula”) and the entire “Dirty Harry” oeuvre. And I can’t say I was ever scared, or scarred for that matter.

One of the best things about my Dad and movies was that he always had his priorities straight and knew what was more important: missing an occasional day of school or seeing an “event” movie.

These are some of the movies my Dad and I skipped school to see:

“Star Wars”
“Superman” & “Invasion of the Body Snatchers” (Same Day!)
“Airplane!”
“The Empire Strikes Back”

There were probably quite a few more, but these were the ones I recall. I will never quite forget “Star Wars.” The audience was filled with kids (so quite a few other parents must have had the same idea) and when the opening credits rolled, people cheered!