Keeping The Flame Alive

So after reading THIS post the other day on the blog of Joshua M. Reynolds, I got to thinking about my love for 50's horror/scifi cinema and began reminiscing. I was born in 1969 (69, dudes!), thus I was a wee lad in the early and mid 70's. During this time lots of films from earlier decades were aired on TV (not so much anymore, thank god for TCM). One channel featured an Abbott and Costello film every Saturday and I soon grew to love those. However, since I had always adored monsters, it was the horror and scifi films that really drew my attention. I saw so many monster flicks from the 40's and 50's that to this day, watching those films brings back pleasant memories of being a kid.

It saddens me to think that there are people out there that won't even given a black and white film the time of day. Talk about closed minded. That's like saying because The Bard wrote all his stuff centuries ago, it has no meaning for modern folks. Bah! There are times when I'm in the mood to watch something and it must be in black and white in order for me to feel properly relaxed and entertained. Not only can't I imagine those films in any other way, but I'd hate to contemplate a world without B & W movies at all. They are a significant part of our history and I will always love them. These days I feel sad because so many people who worked on those films or starred in them are slowly but surely passing away. I feel like the keeper of some mystic flame and that by maintaining my love for those films, I am ensuring that the memory of them won't fade away. At least, not until I'm gone, too.

On the home front, today I finished my project for the Devil's Food anthology, a little tale I call The Faceless Ones. I really like how it all came together in the end, although at this point, the story is almost 400 words longer than the anthology's limit, so tomorrow will be my time to edit and tighten things up. In conjunction with the earlier part of this post, I played three older movies in the background while I worked today: The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms (1953), The Beginning of the End (1957) and the original The Day the Earth Stood Still (1951).