War of the Worlds (1953)
My Real Memoir
Horror! Devastation! Pee! It was late summer, shortly before second grade began, and Dad wanted to see a movie. Imagine that — Dad wanted to see a movie! It was normally Mom who initiated trips to the big screen, and me who cheered her on. But there were two categories that whetted Dad’s thirst for celluloid: war movies and science-fiction. The year before, he’d taken us to see Disney’s 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea, and it had instantly become my favorite film. Yes, I’d inherited the sci-fi gene. But this movie, this movie was different. It was pee-your-pants-scary sci-fi!
War of the Worlds…
…had originally been released a few years before, and Dad had loved it. So, when he spotted it on the bill at a cheap re-run theatre in L.A. (“cheap” often being the deciding factor in those days), he said, “Let’s go!”
To which Mom replied, “Honey, Mitch is only six. Do you really think he’s ready?”
“Sure!” Dad willed me to be.
When I was five, I’d seen Dracula. Alone. In a tiny den, lit only by the glow of a black-and-white TV, behind which were sliding glass doors revealing the evil darkness beyond. I knew that hideous vampire would immediately descend upon me and suck my blood if I left the couch. So I’d had no choice but to pee in my jammies while my parents played pee-nuckle (pinochle) with their friends in the next room. Revenge is sweet.
And now, here we were, on a smoggy late-summer night in Los Angeles, watching War of the Worlds, a movie considered the most frightening science-fiction movie ever made. I was utterly terrified. And I was also in love! With being scared, that is. It was a big-budget sci-fi thriller (rare for that time) with state-of-the-art special effects–especially the Martian spaceships with their creepy, snakelike grabber-thingies that reached down into buildings, nabbing unsuspecting humans!
Horror!
Devastation!
Pee!
Mom Often Talked About Jimmy…
…a skinny, high-strung guy who’d previously worked with her at the crumbling old Litchenberger building in L.A. One morning after seeing War of the Worlds, Jimmy was ranting about those creepy grabber-thingies! “I almost peed my pants!” he admitted. And then, as he raved (this actually happened), a plumber’s snake, controlled by a workman two floors above, suddenly broke through an ancient drain pipe and burst out of the wall in front of Jimmy, its menacing rooter-claws still awhirl!
Jimmy screamed in a key hitherto unknown to man and clocked the nine floors to the street below, setting a new land speed record, peeing all the way. Mom said she felt guilty about laughing. Uncontrollably. For half an hour. But she couldn’t help herself.
Sure the Movie Scared Me
But I didn’t pee. As it neared it’s dramatic conclusion there in muggy Los Angeles, the alien spaceships began dying, crashing one by one to the ground. “What happened?” I wondered aloud. And just as the star Gene Barry was about to explain, some guy in the row behind us shouted, “The smog got ’em!” The audience roared.
And then I peed.
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😆👍
This reminds me of my son. He liked that movie, too. He was 7 . His dad was the culprit, too. He still has a spirit of adventure, with no inhibitions😂. I can’t complain. It was that same spirit which has led him into Biblical archeology. That job has given him several “pee” moments.
Never a dull moment, Beth!
LOL My dad loved sci-fi, but he was also into horror and he liked drive-in movies. So, with vampires on the screen, do you really think we wanted to go to the bathroom alone? Mom always brought along a potty, but, yeah, I know exactly what movies like that do to a kid.
;>)
When I was around 8 my dad took me to see The Andromeda Strain. Afterwards was certain we’d all die of some unforeseen space disease. Imagine my surprise when 52 years later there was a worldwide pandemic. Not from space but scary all the same.
It certainly was, Dede.
First thriller that made me lose sleep was Psycho! We lived in a house built in early 1900’s with claw feet on the bathtubs and shower curtains. No more showers from age 10 on.
I relate, Barbara! I continued to shower, but that film has crossed my mind more than once… Is it me, or do most hotels not even offer tubs anymore? :/
!!
You 🙂 Lol. The name of the move mentioned in one of my books. Have a fun day.
;>)
When I was 11 (1981), I saw “Clash of the Titans”. I was both fascinated and thrilled by the suspense. It was full with mythological creatures and I loved it and was scared at the same time. I still remember, how I was shaking because of the thrill I felt. Decades later, I saw that movie again on TV. I was so dissapointed by how bad it was made compared to today’s special effects 😂
Yeah, the Clash of the Titan effects were done with old-school stop-motion animation that was already starting to look creaky by the early 80s.
Oh, yes, totally creaky 😂
Poor jimmy but I regret to say that I snickered a little!
I remember taking the 5-year-old boy next door to see Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea, but have no recollection of the movie itself or how either of us reacted to it. It couldn’t have been too bad. 🙂 The only movies I recall my father taking me and my mom to were Auntie Mama and Oklahoma. Pretty tame compared to your horror movies. I have never been interested in horror movies. Some SciFi is OK. I wish someone would make a movie of C.S. Lewis’s Space Trilogy. I would probably go to see that–or wait for it to come out on DVD and buy it!
Oh, I SO wanted to film Lewis’s Space Trilogy! I tried several times some years ago to get the movie rights, but couldn’t make it happen.
Imagine the panic (and peed pants) in 1938 when countless listeners heard Orson Welles’ broadcast of The War of the Worlds and believed it was a real news report. 🙂
Indeed, Nancy. I wonder what uncle H.G. thought about it.
as for ’36
First movie with my Dad was THE STUDENT PRINCE in technicolor .. I was only 3 and still remember it
Wow! Good on you, Dad!
And now…… what scares me most…… the price of a cinema ticket!
Great memory even though scary. I don’t watch horror movies.
It was quite inovative for its time. It won an Academy Award for advancing special effects technology.
That is wonderful
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I can’t stand horror movies, Mitch
I understand, Vicky, I’m not a big horror movie fan either, really. Technically, War of the Worlds is a sci-fi movie, but it was shot in a way that kept the audience constantly on edge.
I see
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5 stars–yay! ;>)
Poor Jimmy, I hate reptiles too and anything horror 😆. But I read those Dracula books when I was quite young.