I asked my grandson, age 17, what his all time favorite movie is.  He said he hadn't really thought about it but mentioned a few movies made in the last decade that would be up there on his list.  Unable to fully answer, he asked me what my favorite movie is.  I told him Casablanca, though Citizen Cane is close.  I also mentioned the musical Chicago (I thought the choreographies were great).  He had no idea what the first two movies were about and only had a vague recognition of Chicago. 

 

As for the actors, that drew a complete blank.  He asked me who the actors in Casablanca were.  I told him that Humphrey Bogart, Ingrid Bergman, Clause Rains, Sidney Greenstreet, Peter Lorre, S. Z. Sakall and Dooley Wilson were the tops stars.  As I wrote these names I realized none of them are alive.  An era has ended.

 

I should have known he wouldn't know about Casablanca or Citizen Cane but I never thought about it.  I just assumed he would know.  Yet, how could he?  It was long before he was born; it was made in 1942.  It was of a time that is as foreign to him as the late 1800s is to me.

 

I wondered if he did see Casablanca would he enjoy it.  Would he appreciate the love affair between Rick and Ilsa since it is so different from the relationships in movies that seem to appeal to the youth of today?  I didn't get a chance but one of these days I'm going to pull out my VHS tape of the movie (I suspect he would be amused by that technology) and watch it with him.  I'll be able to tell if he enjoys it or not.  I'll be able to tell by how soon he drifts away from the movie and cranks up Facebook on his PC and begins to text on his cell phone.

 

But in thinking about it I realized how similar to music movies are.  I have written about the passing of older music and others have lamented about it - about the music we grew up with and music that we loved.  A few decades ago, the golden oldies were the music of the 1930s and 1940s.  It was the era of the big bands and crooners; it was the music of our parents, assuming your parents grew up during those decades.  Now the golden oldies are the music of the 1950s and 1960s, the music of our teens that too will be replaced in time. 

 

So it also is with movies.  The golden oldies of movies starring Edward G. Robinson, James Cagney, Dorothy Lamour (nee Slaton), Ginger Rogers, Bette Davis and a host of others are fading away.  In time I suspect those movies will be remembered as much as the Birth of a Nation is today. 

 

It is said that life moves in cycles, that is has its ups and downs, and so it does.  When there are cycles each down is followed by another up.  There also are some things that have but one up and a down, and that singular down is the end of it.  Sadly that applies to music and it applies to movies.  However, before it all fades from view, let me thank those actors and directors when I was young for their efforts.  They made me laugh, they made me cry.  They entertained and they educated.  Most of all, they, in part, made me who I am today.  I wonder what kind of influence movies of today will have on my grandson.

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