Waiting for Patton

I talked about movies in my long awaited (at least by my daughter, Bridget) previous blog. In our early years of marriage in Torrance, California, Pat and I went to occasional movies. I remember our going to The GodFather. Now it is called Part One, but then it was just plain GodFather. It stars Marlon Brando and Al Pachino. It had some very violent moments with gangland killings and drive-shootings from 1930's sedans full of machine gun wielding hoodlums. I remember leaving the theater walking to our car and a car came around the corner going a little too fast. Our first impression was to duck for cover, and we laughed at how "into" the movie we were to have such a reaction after the movie was over. It shows what an effect our media can have on our feelings and opinions.

The big screens of a movie theater are better to immerse us into the story than a 25" TV screen and especially a 9" iPad or especially a 4" cell phone. Some home theaters come close but pale to the big screen in surrounding our senses with full vision width and surround sound. It is interesting to remember our movie theater history. In the thirties the theaters were so popular because they advertised their air conditioning which was one of the few ways places a person could cool off for a few hours in the sweltering summer heat. Did you ever wonder how the term "cool!" became such a popular exclamation of the younger generation. Imagine that it originated in those hot days and cool theaters. Kids still use the term 75 years later. The synonym, "Keen!" which was often used in my childhood in the 40's has not survived over the years in the vernacular of our youth. I remember having old people asking what "cool" meant. I didn't know then about the theaters, but a simple explanation that it means, "keen" was all that was necessary for the translation.

Our early years of marriage had a big shadow over our lives. It is one that greatly affected me because the same issue occurred in my own childhood. My father worked every evening for over ten years on his doctoral thesis. He had microfilmed books he was researching which he read through a small jeweler's type magnifying glass. He became very angry with my sister and I who loved to make noise but were scolded when my father could no longer concentrate on his work. He eventually finished and received his PhD at the University of California in 1955.

Pat didn't have young kids to contend with as she wrote her Masters thesis in theater arts and didn't scold me all that often. Also she spent about seven months in Utah finishing up her thesis, and I ran our printing business in Torrance, California. One of the movies coming out just before she went back to BYU was "Patton" with George C. Scott in the title role. Being a veteran and having lived the tragedy and hardships of World War II in my youth, I was really looking forward to seeing the film with Pat. While she was in Utah, I waited patiently for her to come home, and we could go see Patton together. Not that movie-going was all that was on my mind. I missed her terribly, yet I knew that completing this degree was so important for her to get out of her way.

I surprised her when she completed her degree by flying in, and with the sneaky cooperation of one of her friends I hid in a big gift box on a picnic table a hundred feet from her victory celebration picnic up Provo Canyon from BYU. I waited for about half an hour with only a peep hole to keep me apprised of what was going on. Finally the group walked Pat over for her "big gift." I'm sure she wondered about the fancy wrapped box on the table, but I don't think she knew it was for her. I wish I had a picture of the look of shock on her face when I popped out. Quickly the shock turned to incredulity ("how did you get here?") and then to love and joy. I attended the graduation ceremony, and we came home after a few days.

The time was finally at hand when we could go see Patton which was still in one of the theaters! I announced our date to Pat, but she looked sheepish. Finally she admitted that she had gone to the movie in Provo with her friends. Now it was my turn to be incredulous. I'm sure I finally forgave her, but it wasn't a total forgiveness because I have brought it up a few times in the subsequent 40 years. Don't worry, though, Pat has her own collection of unforgivable things I have done. I finally saw the movie, and it was good, but it wasn't as sweet because we didn't share it together.