My Favorite Story
LP Miller sent me a terrific story after I posted the "Star Wars Silent Film" link last week.Back when I was nine or so, around 1979, I was in a summer school astronomy class. Well, it was called astronomy, but the teacher was kind of a way out sci fi-nerd, seriously into UFOs and whatever. We actually went on a field trip to a UFO exhibit at one point, and listened to a lot of taped lectures about them.
At any rate, he was also a big Star Wars fan. I had seen the movie exactly once, one year after it came out, because when it first came out, we were in the process of moving from California to Minnesota.
Anyway, my teacher had a friend who had bootleg copies of sci-fi movies. One day, they set up the projector and we watched a bootleg of Star Wars.
Only it was in black and white. And it had no sound.
Instead, it was subtitled. I don't know recall the exact particulars of it - my memory tells me it had special effects, but I could be mistaken. But I distinctly remember the black and white and the subtitles, and I distinctly remember all of us waiting for the bus afterwards, discussing the merits of owning our own Millenium Falcon. I recall one of them was a tiny little girl with crazy hair and green eyes.
Years later, in my twenties, I was mentioning this to my wife. Now, I had dated my wife pretty much from the moment I met her in high school, or so I thought. As I was explaining the movie experience, she jerks upright and exclaimed "Yeah, and it was in subtitles!"
Turns out I had actually met my future wife in fourth grade sumer school. Watching a silent, black and white film called Star Wars.
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