How I Got Here

We got dropped off at the movie theater every saturday afternoon, with 35c each. 2oc for admission, and the rest for candy. People just did that back then, free babysitter. I'm not sure, but I think it was when my parents had sex. Or just wanted to get four girls out of their hair. Anyway, we loved it, and it didn't matter what was playing. There were no ratings! I remember seeing "The Slender Thread", and "Back Street", I knew these were grown-up movies, and there was something dark and voyeuristic about seeing them. I felt a little tawdry. But then there was "Jumbo" and "The Parent Trap"! And all those fabulous Doris Day and Rock Hudson movies! Loved those. And of course, all the Elvis movies! We watched the double feature twice. And then, when we came out of the dark theater, there was Dad in the station wagon waiting for us. We would go home and act out some of the scenes, or pretend we were Doris Day while playing with our Barbies, Elvis is my boyfriend! My boyfriend is Troy Donahue!
Any money I got was spent on movie magazines. I'd cut out the pictures and put them on the bedroom wall. I loved Tony Curtis, and Doris Day! Had big crush on George Chakiris when "West Side Story" came out.
When "Pollyana" came out, my uncle told me I looked like Hayley Mills! So I went around thinking everyone thought I was Hayley Mills. Oh, they're looking at me, I bet they think I look like Hayley Mills. I wrote to her, and told her I looked like her, and was disappointed to get a picture with a printed on signature, and something generic like, "thanks for writing".
I was always a movie crazy kid, and we loved all the tv shows too. I would read the TV Guide, cover to cover, loved the articles, and would circle everything I wanted to watch.
THEN -- The Beatles hit! I became the biggest Beatlemaniac, and our room was covered with Beatle pictures, even a poster on the ceiling, so we could dream about them. Rock and roll was competing for my attention, but I still loved movies and tv too.
I was very upset to learn that we would be moving from Scottsdale, AZ, to Los Angeles, CA. My mother had 2 sisters, and they had both settled in Los Angeles. I was being ripped away from my friends. Between sobs, I thought, Los Angeles, that is where Hollywood is.... So as much as it was a trauma, I was intrigued.
Getting settled in was quite an adjustment, it was a culture shock really. Scottdale was like a small town, Los Angeles was the big city! The kids were fast. Where we were just starting to make out, the kids in LA were light years ahead. I remember hearing of a girl leaving school because she was pg!
The surf craze was in full swing, and I could now actually go to the beach!! The real beach! Not just the public pool! We played on the lawn at Television City, and walked up to Hollywood Blvd, and walked along the stars! Went to Grauman's Chinese Theater! My friends from school were dancers on after school rock and roll shows. Rock singers lived next door to us. We went to see "The Dean Martin Show" In Person!!!
From my homeroom desk, looking out the open door of the third floor, I could see a studio, and a sign, with the name, Glen Glenn sound. Saw it a million times on the credits of tv shows. Just above the studio, a couple miles away, I could see the Hollywood Sign, on the mountain. I remember staring at it and thinking, " Wow, I really am in Hollywood!!!"