11,093. RUDIMENTS, pt. 416

RUDIMENTS, pt. 416

cinema verite : avenel

As a kid, I'd go to the

movies, often enough, and

mostly with Kenny Kaisen, a

kid down the street whose father

would drive us to and from.

His claim to fame was the Droste

Chocolate Company, (Dutch

import chocolate) job in NYC

he had. It was pretty big-time,

in my eyes anyway. He had

a really nice, two-year old

'55 Oldsmobile Holiday, I

think it was, or their other

premium model; two-tone

paint, in the 1950's style. This

one was like a peach color and

cream. Pretty spiff. We'd get

a ride down to that little

Woodbridge Theater place by

Town Hall. Nothing special, 
just a little cinderblock box
of a building. All the features

were continuous play, so when it

ended, and after a few cartoons

and junk, they'd just start it again.

So, with one admission fee, early

enough in the day, you could see

the same movie maybe 3 times.

All you really had to do was buy

some junk, Good & Plenty, or

popcorn, every so often so they

wouldn't get annoyed at you.

We spent many a long afternoon

in there, doing our own little

Siskel and Eber routine  -

critiquing the movie, then

deconstructing scenes, then

going on about the actor or

actress, and how they did this

or that  - wrongly or correctly,

in our eyes. Long shots, vista

shots, suspense. All that junk,

we'd go on about. I had this

thing for Hayley Mills, (she

was about 14) and would

watch her every move and

expression. Invaders From Mars

was another good one, but I felt

the little boy-kid in it was lacking

any skill. Too solid and dull, and

overwrought like a brick. In any
case, that movie always reminded
me of what it was like in school.

-

Anyway, learning to view another

form of reality through 'film' eyes,

I started double-timing myself,

fast-tracking my own ideas, which

usually just crash-landed (story of

my life). One was (this was like

1960, remember, the concept was

new and unheard of, though things

like this do happen now) an idea I

had of a second, smaller image-box

on the big movie screen which

would show, in addition to the

large movie-image, another set

of images representing what the

person was thinking at that time.

It's kind of like life, where you

DO something, but you're thinking

other thoughts, something else,

other angles, or just ahead, or

back. Problems abounded, in

that, for the director and movie

making people, it would have

represented a whole, other, film

having to be made. Two movies

in one, so to speak, and what

continuity they'd have to have

with and for each other, I never

figured out. But, no matter, it

always seemed as if it could

be a breakthrough movie idea

thing; a new step.

-

That brought me smack dab

into the glimmer of dislocation.

I realized, or began realizing,

that (unlike in the Purple Rose

of Cairo) one cannot 'enter' the

movie screen one is viewing.

Hmmm. Wait a minute! Once

I began studying theoretics,

philosophy and physics, (to

use very general names) I

saw that, in fact, that may

all be true! In quantum ways,

this is exactly what Life is.

Of course, any of that would

have gotten me locked up

along Avenel Street, or

trying to bespeak this to

the always-inquistive

Officer Crilly, who was

always trying to bag me

for walking the streets, or

at least Rahway Avenue, as

I'd exit the bus by the white

church corner, (that was

the color of the church, as

it was referred to. Nothing

racial, as the town itself had

recently been desegregated) - 

almost every time, the bus

from New York, Officer Crilly,

and the same barrage of

dumb questions. It was like

Robert Redford in 'This

Property Is Condemned,'

except I wasn't him. The

guy didn't miss a trick, and

I swear he was on 'hippie'

alert or 'freak patrol', or

whatever those jerks

would have called it,

for people entering 'his'

town. Just like a really

bad southern movie. What

made it even funnier, or

weirder maybe, and perhaps

that accounted for his seething

anger at me all the time, was

this his wife, a few years

previous to this, had asked

me to be the Cub Scout

advisor, at her house, to the

Cub Scout pack her boys

were in, Webelos or

something, it was called.

For a period of time that

Winter, 1966, in there

somewhere, I would walk

the next block over and sit

in with her little Cub Scout

thing there, at her house,

and 'advise.' There was

nothing to it really, but it

also didn't last too long.

I wasn't much of an Advisor,

my head was way elsewhere,

and Boy Scouts itself had

never really meant anything

to me.

-

Some days, I did feel as if I

was living in a film. Just like

my cool idea  -  except I was

in the little thought box of

things that weren't really the

main action; just instead, the

leading thoughts, the far more

interesting subtexts and

intentions. They mostly were

silent roles, which was also

cool, because everyone esle

was always concentrating on

the main action. That's how

you can get to people. The

advertising world used to call

that, in its primitive stages,

'subliminal,' but that was far

more advanced than that. I

was stealing souls. 

-

Attention-getting mellophonics

is one thing, but the person who

knows how to use hidden melodies

and harmonic themes within,

buried, can oftentimes slide things

right past people. Totally slick

propaganda ways, not so much the

in your face mass-theatrics of

Hitler and Goebbels. It seemed

to be like that was all over the

place, as I began looking around.

People usually end up loving 

all the spectacle that goes into

convincing them they're not 

being convinced of something.

This whole street was made of

people being getting convinced,

and by the spark and flash of

'Kookie' on 77 Sunset Strip, or

Dr. Kildare or Ben Casey. It was

quite pathetic, but by such was 

our 1950's and early 60's nation

led to slaughter. By 1963, it had

all been worked out, even so that

the chosen sacrificial lamb, one

John F. Kennedy  -  fool though

he be  -  had to go. I think if

they could have done it on the

Ed Sullivan show, the whole

street would have been watching.

After that, for sure, it was off

to the races....The big movie

was playing but I stayed in 

my little side-box. Thanks.