Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Nikki Haley, who can’t acknowledge ‘slavery’, is a pathetic shill.

I conferred with the team and they all agree – still not tired of winning!

Let the trolls come, and then ignore them. that’s the worst thing you can do to a troll.

You are so fucked. Still, I wish you the best of luck.

Days Since JD Vance Insulted Women Across America: Zero

Technically true, but collectively nonsense

Democrats are back in array!

These days, even the boring Republicans are nuts.

Some judge needs to shut this circus down soon.

When do we start airlifting the women and children out of Texas?

One of our two political parties is a cult whose leader admires Vladimir Putin.

If you are still in the gop, you are either an extremist yourself, or in bed with those who are.

We’ve had enough carrots to last a lifetime. break out the sticks.

Putin dreamed of ending NATO, and now it’s Finnish-ed.

Is it negotiation when the other party actually wants to shoot the hostage?

Quote tweet friends, screenshot enemies.

If senate republicans had any shame, they’d die of it.

Roe isn’t about choice, it’s about freedom.

‘Museums aren’t America’s attic for its racist shit.’

Russia bombs Ukraine’s maternity hospitals; Republicans in the House can’t sort out supporting Ukraine.

Balloon Juice has never been a refuge for the linguistically delicate.

The next time the wall street journal editorial board speaks the truth will be the first.

In my day, never was longer.

with the Kraken taking a plea, the Cheese stands alone.

You are here: Home / Medium Cool / Medium Cool – from Worst to First

Medium Cool – from Worst to First

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Medium Cool is a weekly series related to popular culture, mostly film, TV, and books, with some music and games thrown in.  We hope it’s a welcome break from the anger, hate, and idiocy we see almost daily from the other side in the political sphere.

Arguments welcomed, opinions respected, fools un-suffered.  We’re here every Sunday at 7 pm.

So last week, we talked about the worst of everything.   Tonight let’s talk about the first of everything.

What’s the first movie you ever paid to see?

First movies your remember seeing?

The first movie that didn’t meet your expectation?

What’s the first kids’ TV show you remember?

The first grown-up TV show you remember?

First book you remember reading not for school?

First mystery series you read?

First fireworks?

First ballet?

First play?

First play you were in?

First book you remember reading in school?

First teacher?

First concert you attended?

First concert you attended with friends?

First family dinner?

First food craze you remember?

First food craze you got caught up in?

First record you bought?

First album you bought?

First librarian or teacher who was special?

The first of everything!   Have at it.

Reader Interactions

163Comments

  1. 1.

    The Kropenhagen Interpretation

    Let’s have a few:

    First movie in theaters: Land Before Time

    First I remember watching: Mary Poppins

    First rated R: Terminator 2

    Ballet: Catholic School brought us to the Nutcracker every year.

    Stage musical: Pirates.of Penzance

    Book: Not for school, but I got my library card explicitly to read the Chronicles of Narnia

    First kids show: Prob a few as I passed into self-awareness but some of the earliest I remember are Ninja Turtles, Care Bears, Transformers, and Strawberry Shortcake.

    Unless you count my early Nick-At-Nite habit. Mr. Ed was my shit in the earliest days.

  4. 4.

    The Kropenhagen Interpretation

    @H.E.Wolf: One of my early, scattered memories from before I really knew what was going on, silhouetted chimney-sweeps dancing on rooftops on the one color TV in the house.

    It would be years before I really had a context for it.

  5. 5.

    lamh47

    What’s the first movie you ever paid to see?  Hmmm, I actually think it was Dirty Dancing.  I saw it with my mom I’m sure.

    First movies your remember seeing? White Nights.  I have a vivid memory of seeing the film in the theatres back in the 80s.  Started my obession with Misha B.

    The first movie that didn’t meet your expectation? I don’t think I ever got the point of Neverending Story or Princess Bride (I know folks LOVE that film)

    What’s the first kids’ TV show you remember? Kids Incorporated

    The first grown-up TV show you remember? Soap Opera or made for tv movies like Lucky or Thornbirds

    First book you remember reading not for school? Adventures of Sherlock Holmes

    First mystery series you read? Nancy Drew (otherwise not really into mysteries)

    First fireworks? N/A

    First ballet? Never been to live one, but l do remember seeing Baryshnikov in Nutcracker on local PBS

    First play? CATS (traveling cast)

    First play you were in? N/A

    First book you remember reading in school? Roll of Thunder, Here My Cry

    First teacher? Sister Mary Ann & Miss Newman

    First concert you attended? Bryan McKnight & Joe (R&B singers)

    First concert you attended with friends? See above

    First family dinner?  Pizza Hut when they used to have dining rooms!

    First food craze you remember? Pizza (my mom worked at Pizza Hut when I was a kid)

    First food craze you got caught up in? Chinese, Pan-Asian

    First record you bought? Can’t recall, but likey Rap/Hip Hop

    First album you bought? same as above

    First librarian or teacher who was special? Miss Newman

  6. 6.

    Craig

    First Mystery Series. The Hardy Boys. The dudes were cool, the had a convertible, motorcycles, a speedboat- The Sleuth- everything a boy could wish for. I read one during 2020 and, still pretty good. Their dad is a cop. Thinking that I want to see a semi reboot where we see more of Dad. No way they can afford that lifestyle on a cop’s salary. Dad is obviously heavily on the take and involved in The Rackets.

  7. 7.

    hueyplong

    First non-animated movie in person was during month-long cross country family trip at age 8.  Parents couldn’t take it any more and ditched whatever Disney thing was playing in St Louis to see Arabesque (1966).

    Sofia Loren in a shower was a huge step forward from cartoons.

  8. 8.

    The Kropenhagen Interpretation

    @lamh47: Omg, I forgot about Kids Incorporated and my lifelong adoration of Jennifer Love-Hewitt.

    They put a good series of Clue, as in the board-game, books that set up a handful of logical mysteries to solve with answers in the back. These were definitely my introduction to the genre and the highlight of bookmobile day.

  9. 9.

    lamh47

    Oooohhh…can I share this list of questions, cause I love how interesting they are.

    Would love to pick the brains of my friend on twitter.

    I love them cause none of them are my password security questions…LOL

  10. 10.

    Craig

    Not sure about First Ballet. Best Ballet was MADCAP last year, wild story about the death of a clown.

  11. 11.

    BC in Illinois

    First movie I remember seeing on my own (10 years old), buying my own ticket, apart from my parents. Viers Mill Theatre, Wheaton, Maryland.

    The Hound of the Baskervilles (1959), Hammer Studios, Peter Cushing, Christopher Lee.

    I can still remember the snarling  face and teeth  of the hound, filling the screen.

    I pulled up the movie on YouTube a few years ago. It’s really bad.

  12. 12.

    A Ghost to Most

    First time buying weed legally in a store: January 1, 2014, Idaho Springs. Momentous moment in my life.

  13. 13.

    Phylllis

    First book I remember reading on my own was Little Bear. First mystery series was surely Trixie Belden as a pre-teen. I quickly graduated to John D. MacDonald’s Travis McGee books. I think the first movie I saw on TV was the Wizard of Oz, which was, of course, terrifying.

  14. 14.

    Phylllis

    First book I remember was Little Bear. First mystery series was surely Trixie Belden as a pre-teen. I soon graduated to John D. MacDonald’s Travis McGee books. I think the first movie was Wizard of Oz, which of course, terrified me.

  15. 15.

    WaterGirl

    @Craig:

    No way they can afford that lifestyle on a cop’s salary. Dad is obviously heavily on the take and involved in The Rackets.

    You are so right. That’s the kind of deep thinking we love on Balloon Juice. :-)

  16. 16.

    Suzanne

    First mystery series I read was “the Nancy Drew Mysteries”, which was a more modern version of Nancy Drew stories, told in a more contemporary thriller style.

    First book series that I loved was “The Baby-Sitters Club”. It was a treat to see the Netflix series that came out in 2020 and how they updated the characters and the plot lines. It was pretty forward-thinking for the mid-80s, with story lines about racism, disability, parents who passed away or abandoned their kids, tensions with parents, etc. The Netflix series did some further updates, including making Mary Anne biracial and giving her a plot in which she stands up for the dignity of a trans child. It was really great to watch it with Spawn during those pandemic months.

  17. 17.

    Ryan

    First movie I ever paid to see was the Hunt for Red October.  The first I remember seeing was Star Trek: the Motion Picture.  Don’t have specific answers on the rest.

  19. 19.

    FDRLincoln

    First movie I remember: The Sound of Music.

    First Kid TV show I remember: Scooby Doo.

    First adult TV show: Star Trek, specifically a rerun of “Balance of Terror” when I was 3 years old in 1971.

  22. 22.

    Phylllis

    First book Ire ally remember is Little Bear. First mystery series were Nancy Drew and Trixie Belden as a pre-teen. I quickly graduated to John D. MacDonald’s Travis McGee books. First movie was Wizard of Oz, which of course, terrified me.

  23. 23.

    eclare

    Wow, it’s amazing how many firsts I don’t remember.  The ones that I do:

    First movie without my parents:  Grease.  I still love it.

    First mystery:  the Encyclopia Brown series

    First concert:  The Police, the Synchronicity tour.  The Fixx opened.

    First adult TV show:  The Love Boat, followed by Fantasy Island on Saturday night.  I remember watching Happy Days and Laverne and Shirley, but I’m not sure those qualify as adult.

    First kids show:  three way tie between Sesame Street, The Electric Company, and Mr. Rogers Neighborhood.

  24. 24.

    Trivia Man

    First movie I remember-pretty sure it was the Seven Voyages of Sinbad. And a special effect terrified me for years. Evil magician looks into a dollhouse through a keyhole, some person inside suddenly grows to very large size. Terrifying.

    First concert was the Banana Splits at the Marin County fair.

    First concert I paid to attend was the Blues Brothers with The original Jake and Elwood.

    First disappointing movie was E.T. I was getting immersed in science fiction reading and I WAS SO STOKED to see a big screen Science Fiction movie!!! Fluff and a giant letdown. Shorty after that was a baseball movie! I love baseball! Pffft. The Natural was a giant disappointment. LIGHTNING HITS THE BALL! THE POWER LINES EXPLODE AS HE WINS THE GAME!

    First album was a used 8 track of the Beatles 1962-1966, part 1. I paid a quarter and my sister paid a quarter for part 2 so we had the set. Life changing elementary school rummage sale.

  25. 25.

    Aziz, light!

    Chico Marx in a courtroom:

    “Chicolini, when were you born?”

    “I don’t remember. I was just a little baby.”

  26. 26.

    Percysowner

    First movies I remember seeing? Sleeping Beauty at the drive in. I ate a lot of popcorn and candy and the witch turned into the dragon and I threw up. It was memorable.

    The first movie that didn’t meet your expectation? Bambi. I was 4 when it came out, but had my tonsils removed and couldn’t go. I’m old enough that Disney was an a 7 year rotation of their classic movies, so I didn’t get to see it until I was 11. It’s still a great movie, but nothing like I built up in my mind as a kid who missed it.

    What’s the first kids’ TV show you remember? I was a Cleveland kid, so an old local kids show, Barnaby. It had the most beautiful intro and outro music

    The first grown-up TV show you remember? The Defenders. My parent’s let me watch with them.

    First book you remember reading not for school? Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm, maybe. I was a reader from way back and I can’t remember which of the many books was actually number 1 especially since I am a re-reader.

    First mystery series you read? Nancy Drew.

    First fireworks? Geauga Lake in the late 50s early 60s. You could see the really high ones from my Grannie’s attic, so I would go over on 4th of July, we would climb up into the attic, lay on our stomachs and watch.

    First concert you attended? On a pay for myself kind Elton John 1972 at Kent State. I was a poor college kid and my best friend and I scraped together the money to get the mid-level seat $4.00. On a school trip level, every year the schools in my city went to a concert of classical music. It was held in Rex Humbard’s huge church, because it had the seating to handle tons of people.

    First family dinner? Every Christmas my family went over to my Dad’s aunt’s house where she entertained the entire family. I did it all my life so I can’t remember when it started.

    First album you bought? The Monkees, their first album

    First librarian or teacher who was special? Mrs Bartels. She was my high school chemistry teacher and she had been a working chemist at one point. She was a great role model that showed me that women could do anything. I didn’t do anything in STEM, but it let me know that I could if I wanted to.

    Basically, a lot of these answers remind me that I’m old.

  27. 27.

    KatKapCC

    What’s the first movie you ever paid to see? Hmm, paid my own money for? Pretty sure it was Back to the Future

    First movies your remember seeing? I think it was Lady and the Tramp.

    The first movie that didn’t meet your expectation? Star Wars, probably, because everyone raved about it but I was a little girl who didn’t care about sci-fi

    What’s the first kids’ TV show you remember? Gotta be either Sesame Street or Mister Rogers

    The first grown-up TV show you remember? My parents loved MASH so I probably started watching it from the womb

    First book you remember reading not for school? Probably a picture book about animals

    First mystery series you read? Mom got me into Nancy Drew at a young age

    First fireworks? In SF in 1981. I got bored quickly, and I still do :P

    First ballet? The Nutcracker…early 80s, must have been

    First play? I’m guessing it was Cats

    First play you were in? I apparently was in some school play where I played a princess, but I have no idea what it was

    First book you remember reading in school? I have a vague memory of reading The Fox and the Hound in kindergarten

    First teacher? Can’t recall my preschool teacher, but kindergarten was Miss Campbell

    First concert you attended? Parents took me to see Joni Mitchell, but I was too young (I think 7?) to have any strong memories, sadly

    First concert you attended with friends? Janet Jackson! Awesome

    First family dinner? Not sure I understand? We ate dinner as a family almost every night

    First food craze you remember? Crystal Light (blech)

    First food craze you got caught up in? Don’t think there were any

    First record you bought? By the time I was old enough to buy my own, it was all about cassettes 

    First album you bought? I believe it was Control by Janet Jackson

    First librarian or teacher who was special? My second grade teacher, Mrs McCurdy, was one of the kindest souls I’ve ever met, and also played guitar, which made her extra cool

  28. 28.

    kalakal

    The first book I read for myself was

    The Cat in the Hat Comes Back – changed my life – I adore Dr. Seuss.

    The first album I bought was actually 2

    Led Zeppelin – Led Zeppelin 

    Deep Purple – Made in Japan

    The first film I can remember seeing in a cinema ( and I know this isn’t the first I saw) was Taste the Blood of Dracula a Hammer Horror Christopher Lee epic

    Apart from that it’s all a bit hazy, I’m going a bit stir crazy, Storm Debby has been going on for 10 hours now

  29. 29.

    HinTN

    I bought the Broadway cast recording of Hair and Jefferson Airplane Takes Off in the same purchase. Life changing, both of them. Those weren’t the first records I bought, Rubber Soul may have been, but I bought them at a time when the turmoil of my teenage existence desperately needed something beyond what my small town existence was providing

    ETA: First book you remember reading not for school? I was reading science fiction under the covers by flashlight in 5th grade.

  31. 31.

    thruppence

    First book I remember buying for myself: In elementary school we had book fairs, where I picked up Babel-17 by Samuel R. Delaney. Interplanetary mystery adventure, also dealing with themes of identity, language, and death (several of the characters are discorporated). Not explicit, but alluded to adult sexuality in a way that I’d never encountered before.

  32. 32.

    Another Scott

    First Concert with Friends – Rush at the University of Dayton arena when i was in high school.  Those 3 Canadian dudes put on a great show.

    Neil Peart’s syncopation/weird rhythms (that I first heard on 2112) were eye opening. DJ Cummerbund’s mashup “YYMilk” (4:24) still makes me unreasonably happy.

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  34. 34.

    TBone

    First author I ever met was in Aronimink Elementary School in Drexel Hill, PA.  Lloyd Alexander lived within walking distance and came to our classroom to read to us.  We all sat cross legged around him and he was wonderful!  What a magical time – Mom gave me a Cricket Magazine subscription later, the magazine which he helped found.  My first subscription! Every month we looked forward to it with great anticipation and I can still remember a story or two…

  35. 35.

    eclare

    @KatKapCC:

    Another who was not impressed by Star Wars!  I went with my parents when it was in the theater, and all of us thought “meh.”  I haven’t seen any of the others.  But like you I was a little girl not interested in sci-fi.

    Control came out my senior year of high school.  It is still an excellent album.  The song itself resonated as I was leaving home for college in a few months.

  37. 37.

    MomSense

    It’s not my first, but Santiago Tijerina just won the Emerging Artist award from the Maine Outdoor Film Festival for his first documentary Courts of Belonging.  He has a second in the works from a trip he and my cousin took to Honduras where they are helping communities to start futsol programs.

    I have mentioned before that I volunteer at the food booth when they have tournaments.  My son’s company buys food to help out.  It’s an amazing community.  They play year round on the outdoor court there.  The city rec dept. saw them out shoveling snow so they could play last winter and the rec dept. now shovels the court and watches the games.  I tell everyone that it is the absolute best thing happening in Maine.  One of the breweries, Rising Tide, just across the street out of view does a lot of fundraising and sponsors events as well.  My oldest son’s band used to play there most weekends as their sax player was a brewer there.

    My cousin is one of the organizers of the pick up league and he helps run their Insta account kennedyparkpickupsoccer  Such a great follow if you are on Insta.

    Kids who play regularly were the star players in last year’s high school championship.  The teams that made it to the finals were both full of Kennedy Park kids.  Lewiston won and it was a huge boost for the community after the mass shooting.

    Here is the video.

    https://vimeo.com/890509933

  39. 39.

    Phein64

    What’s the first movie you ever paid to see?  Butterflies Are Free (1972), Goldie Hawn and Edward Albert

    First movies your remember seeing?  Sleeping Beauty (German language; why did our parents take us?  The theatre was air conditioned); Wait Until Dark (put me off Audrey Hepburn for years); Mary Poppins; The Dirty Dozen (my dad thought it was appropriate for 8 year olds).

    What’s the first kids’ TV show you remember?  Playtime with Tory Southwick (local programming in KC); The Monkees;  Shindig; Where the Action Is (I was the 5th of 6 children, and I did NOT control the TV at any time).

    The first grown-up TV show you remember?  Reruns of The Honeymooners; Dark Shadows; Mission: Impossible;  Laugh-In

    First book you remember reading not for school?  Reader’s Digest Condensed versions of:  Robin Hood; The Stepford Wives; Jaws

    First mystery series you read?  The Complete Sherlock Holmes

    First fireworks?  Waterworks Park, Kansas City, probably around 1964.

    First ballet?  Does Kabuki count?  Kabuki Medea

    First play?  The King and I (I was a first-grader with the only speaking part:  “Walk on water?!?”)

    First play you were in? see above

    First book you remember reading in school?  Besides Dick and Jane?  Phantom Backfield, a book about the glories of high school football.

    First teacher?  Sister Agatha, a little German nun who wielded a mean ruler.

    First concert you attended with friends?  Paid good money to see Emerson, Lake and Palmer.  My ears still hurt.

    First family dinner?  Spaghetti with garlic bread.   60 years later, my kids still call it Grandma BeBe’s spaghetti.

    First food craze you remember?  Space Sticks!   Food for astronauts and athletes

    First food craze you got caught up in?  see above.  Our swim coach recommended it, so for Junior Olympics my parents got us all a box of Space Sticks.

    First record you bought?  Come Together, 45, got it by calling into WHB in Kansas City.

    First album you bought?  David Bowie, Diamond Dogs

    First librarian or teacher who was special?  Sister Mary Patrick Orlowski.  Let me do all the maths I wanted, even during summer.

    The first of everything!   Have at it.

  40. 40.

    Memory Pallas

    I am procrastinating so I filled in every blank:

    What’s the first movie you ever paid to see? The Monkees “Head”

    First movies you remember seeing? Double Feature From Russia With Love and Dr NO in a drive-in. My parents couldn’t get a babysitter and brought me along. I was supposed to go to sleep in the backseat but I did not.

    The first movie that didn’t meet your expectation? It’s a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World (not mad enough)

    What’s the first kids’ TV show you remember? Mighty Mouse (the original – with opera singing)

    The first grown-up TV show you remember? I Love Lucy

    First book you remember reading not for school? Bartholomew and the Oobleck

    First mystery series you read? First Agatha Christie book I read “And Then there Were None”  in 6th grade. Went on to read some Miss Marples and some Poirots. Does this count as a series? 

    First fireworks? Does it have to be live? If not: opening sequence of Disney’s Wonderful World of Color

    First ballet? Nutcracker I think at the City Center in Manhattan

    First play? Not counting at school: The Prince and the Pauper, Judson Theater

    First play you were in? Priscilla Mullins in Thanksgiving Pageant (I remember this because I was excited about getting to use the same costume on Halloween)

    First book you remember reading in school? Fun with Dick and Jane

    First teacher? My kindergarten teacher was Mrs. Aberlin. (Later her daughter was “Lady Aberlin” on Mr. Rogers Neighborhood.)

    First concert you attended? Pete Seeger (my parents were folkies)

    First concert you attended with friends? The Grateful Dead at Roosevelt Stadium in Jersey City

    First family dinner? Once a month Sundays at Grandma and Grampa’s  from age 2.5 years on

    First food craze you remember? “Oh you need Fluff, Fluff, Fluff to make a Fluffernutter..”

    First food craze you got caught up in? Got my parents give me a home yogurt maker for 12 birthday

    First record you bought? 45 of Venus by the Shocking Blue

    First album you bought? The Monkees Head (right after seeing the movie, above)

    First librarian or teacher who was special? Miss Oberfell, 4th grade (I did kinda let her down by not keeping up my spelling notebook and still getting 100% on every test)

  43. 43.

    FastEdD

    First time I remember shivering: in the back of my Dad’s new 1955 VW Beetle. My teeth started chattering and I didn’t know why.

  45. 45.

    sab

    I might have seen a Disney film or two but no cartoons. My older sister was traumatized by Bambi.

    The first movie I saw that I was really excited about was Beatles’ Hard Days Night. First time we ever bought tickets in advance. Then it was cancelled because of a hurricane.

    When it arrived I couldn’t understand a word of it. I had a Southern drawl and they spoke rapid Scouse, and the entire movie was unintelligible to me.

    Years later I loved it, but my first exposure was “these guys really are foreigners.”

  48. 48.

    zhena gogolia

    Only NotMax is going to appreciate this. The first movie I remember seeing in a theater was Surprise Package with Noel Coward and Mitzi Gaynor. Second: It Started in Naples with Clark Gable and Sophia Loren.

    And as I mentioned on the Thin Black Duke thread, one of the first movies that made a big impact on me was Goldfinger. (Also Bye Bye Birdie, especially the credit sequence with Ann-Margret. She was the most gorgeous woman I ever saw. I was so amused by the Mad Men episode about that.)

  49. 49.

    zhena gogolia

    @WaterGirl: There’s not much to it. He’s the friend of a friend of mine and we shook hands at the man’s birthday party. He was very nice.

  50. 50.

    hueyplong

    @Trivia Man: Yikes. The first album I bought was the White Album. First non-parents concert was the Doobie Bros.

    Because of our memories, we took the first concert seriously for our oldest child: Nirvana. He was a month shy of 4 but knew all the words. I took him into the crowded men’s room where a fight broke out. Someone noticed him and said, “Hey, don’t do this in front of the little Nirvana dude.”

    We will never stop talking about that. He’s about 6-3, but he’s still the little Nirvana dude.

  51. 51.

    lamh47

    @KatKapCC: Oooh I love Janet Jackson.

    I was too young when she was in her Control/Velvet Rope heydey to see her in concert.

    But I’ve seen her 2x this past 5 years!  Just this past July, I saw her at the Essence Festival in NOLA over the 4th of July weekend.

    Almost saw her in SF, but couldn’t make it!

  52. 52.

    japa21

    First movie I paid for?  The Vikings with Kirk Douglas. Cost me 25 cents.

    First tv show:  Probably Howdy Doody.

    First Book not for school:  I was an voracious reader.  Read anything I could.  One that sticks in my mind is The Kid who Hit 1.000.

    First car that I bought:  A 1970 Dodge Dart.

    First ballet: The Joffrey Ballet performing at Michigan State.  The young lady I was dating at the time dragged me to it.  I actually enjoyed it.  She , however, apparently did not enjoy dating me, as a month later she stopped answering my calls.  For some reason that happened to me a lot.

  53. 53.

    sab

    My first classical concert was in Florida. Van Kliburn with the local orchestra. For once in my life my older sister and younger brother stayed home. Younger brother was young, and older sister hated music.

    I loved it. I got his autograph afterwards. He was so sweet. He actually thought my unmusical dad might let me study piano. I was maybe ten.

  56. 56.

    CaseyL

    Hah! Trying to remember the first movie I saw in a theater is impossible. Maybe Fantasia?

    But what did occur to me, as I tried to remember, is that I knew how to behave while watching a movie in a theater. Unless I had been thoroughly drilled beforehand, there must have been some movie(s) in the dim dark past that my parents took me to where I asked questions, made comments, and generally was a PITA.

    First play I went to: A school production of “Carousel.” My father’s side of the family had theatrical ambitions, and looking back I think we went because a cousin was in the cast. I don’t remember how much of it I understood, but I do remember liking the music.

    First live concert: This one at least is easy: Alice Cooper, while I was in high school.

    First teacher who was special: Another easy one: Mr. Churnside, 6th Grade. He was freshly out of the Marine Corps (this was back in 1969), and we were all in a brand new school. He was the first teacher I ever had who wasn’t an older woman. He was young, good-looking, and fun, which no teacher before ever had been. (He was also a good teacher.) I hope he had a long and happy career, and a long and happy life.

    First book read for school: One of those Dick & Jane horrors. Mom saw what they were teaching us to read on, decided no way any child would develop a love for reading with that pap, and started getting me books about animals. The first book series I remember reading obsessively was The Black Stallion books.

  61. 61.

    zhena gogolia

    The first play I remember seeing was by Ayn Rand, Night of January 16th, because my brother was in it at the high school.

  62. 62.

    BretH

    What’s the first movie you ever paid to see?

    Ice Station Zebra. 25 cents.

    First movies your remember seeing?

    Wizard of Oz

    The first movie that didn’t meet your expectation?

    The first grown-up TV show you remember?

    Star Trek -parents let me stay up to see it even though it started at 9pm.

    First mystery series you read?

    The Island/Castle/Circus of Adventure by Enid Blyton

    First play?

    Hair, at a too-young age .

    First concert you attended?

    Jethro Tull, at the Capital Centre – Songs from the Wood tour. Amazing.

    First concert you attended with friends?

    Al DiMiola, Paco de Lucia, John McLaughlin at Constitution Hall

    First record you bought?

    Three Dog Night – which one? Don’t know but it had Mama Told Me Not to Come and One is the Loneliest Number

    First librarian or teacher who was special

    3rd Grade, Mrs Hoobler. Everyone said she was a witch but she was awesome if you weren’t an ass

  64. 64.

    Pink Tie

    My first “date” was sixth grade, 1986, seeing Top Gun at the Village Theater in Newport News with Andy Jones and his dad. First concert was The Bangles (free!) in downtown NN. I taught myself to read at 2 and wouldn’t stop… I read all things, including cereal boxes and cheap biographies of people like Helen Keller and Thomas Edison, Edie Sedgwick, Nancy Spungen. My best friend growing up would literally hide any reading material because i’d steal it and stop socializing. I also grew up watching sci-fi movies every weekend on WTVZ and it gave me myrmecophobia that still upsets me. My 70’s parents just let us watch anything regardless of quality or appropriateness. RIP Dad.

  65. 65.

    NotMax

    What’s the first movie you ever paid to see? The Robe.
    First movies your remember seeing? Darby O’Gill and the Little People, 13 Ghosts
    The first movie that didn’t meet your expectation? Trash.
    What’s the first kids’ TV show you remember? Time for Beany.
    The first grown-up TV show you remember? The Defenders, Checkmate, The Twentieth Century with Walter Cronkite .
    First ballet? Nutcracker Suite .
    First book you remember reading not for school? The Cat in the Hat, Freddy the Pig books.
    First play? Could be either Carousel or Finian’s Rainbow or H.M.S. Pinafore or A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum.
    First play you were in? Bye Bye Birdie.
    First food craze you remember? TV dinners, Fizzies.
    First record you bought? They’re Coming to Take Me Away, Ha-Haaa!.
    .

  66. 66.

    HumboldtBlue

    I can remember going to see Bambi, Song of the South and Snow White in the early 70s. I think the first book I checked out of the elementary school library was Sailor Jack, Soldier Joe, or something like that. The first play could have been a dozen different places, the whole family was in theater, band, chorus or all three.

  68. 68.

    Pauline

    First movies your remember seeing? Chitty Chitty Bang Bang

    What’s the first kids’ TV show you remember? Captain Kangaroo

    First book you remember reading not for school? Bobbsey Twins series

    First mystery series you read? Nancy Drew (the local library still had the original 1930’s editions)

    First ballet? Carmen

    First book you remember reading in school? It was a Dick and Jane reader

    First teacher? Mrs. Ledford (1st grade) who, unlike my parents, realized that I was hearing impaired.

    First album you bought? Captain Fantastic and the Dirt Brown Cowboy

    First librarian or teacher who was special? Mrs. Ashby, the librarian, who would sometimes bring her little dog to work with her. She always had a smile for small me when I popped into her office to say hi.

  69. 69.

    eclare

    @zhena gogolia:

    I will take your word for it.  I also have never seen Bambi or Old Yeller.  I bawled enough when I saw E.T., and everything turned out OK for the little dude.

  70. 70.

    Josie

    First movie I remember was Bambi.
    First book outside of school–Black Beauty
    Are we sensing a pattern here?

    As to television–My family had the first television in our small town. There was only one channel, which was beamed from across the border in Matamoros, Mexico. (We lived in South Texas, about 15 miles from the border.) I remember watching cowboy movies (Lash Larue was a favorite) and wrestling–Gorgeous George was big then.

    My first rock concert happened much later. On my 50th birthday, my oldest son and his wife drove me 200 miles to see Kiss and Aerosmith. It was amazing.

  73. 73.

    BretH

    @Phein64:

    Butterflies Are Free (1972), Goldie Hawn and Edward Albert

    Trivia, not-to-be brush with stardom: Goldie Hawn grew up just up the street from me. Sadly she was a couple grades above me in school so I was unaware of her existence until Laugh In.

  76. 76.

    The Kropenhagen Interpretation

    @KatKapCC: Most Star Wars movies will pass some time relatively unobjectionably.

    That’s the best I can say for them.

  78. 78.

    Rachel Bakes

    first movie I remember (at home) : sound of Music or Wizard Oz, on their annual broadcast.

    movie in theater: Annie

    movie didn’t meet expectations: Dumbo or Bambi. Really don’t like animal movies to this day.

    Myster: started with Bobbsey Twins then graduated to Nancy Drew. Outgrew those and most mysteries at the same time.

    Childrens tv-Sesame Street, Mr Rogers, Electric Company. Bloodhound gang for a little while (was that the name?)

    Grown up TV: MASH. Parents loved it and in syndication

    first play: a couple small ones earlier but 6th grade I played Pinocchio which changes my life (even with my nose falling off after it grew). The shy kid came out of hiding a bit.

    First Broadway show-Cats

    first Concert: Gordon Lightfoot

    first with friends-Billy Joel

    Album- Billy Joel Storm Front

    book at school : The Phantom Tollbooth

  79. 79.

    BretH

    @japa21:

    First car that I bought:  A 1970 Dodge Dart.

    Mine was a Plymouth Valiant of similar vintage. Up to then only motorcycles.

  80. 80.

    wonkie

    My parents were too cheap to hire a babysitter, so my first movies include Gentlemen Prefer Blondes, The Misfits, and Moll Flanders. I was genuinely traumatized by the capture of the wild horses.

  81. 81.

    Princess

     

    First movies your remember seeing? Bedknobs and Broomsticks or maybe Peter Pan

    The first movie that didn’t meet your expectation?  Blue Velvet

    What’s the first kids’ TV show you remember? Uncle Bobby Show or Captain Kangaroo

    The first grown-up TV show you remember? Hogan’s Heroes

    First book you remember reading not for school? Charlie and the Chocolate Factory

    First mystery series you read? Enid Blyton’s Famous Five

    First fireworks? Victoria Day at Eglinton Collegiate

    First ballet? Coppelia

    First play? Little Mary Sunshine

    First play you were in? Oliver

    First book you remember reading in school? Ramona the Pest (read to us)

    First teacher? Miss Raymond

    First concert you attended? Phil Collins

    First concert you attended with friends? Same

    First family dinner? My first Xmas but I don’t remember

    First food craze you remember? Lik-m-Aid

    First food craze you got caught up in? Bubble Yum

    First librarian or teacher who was special? Mrs. Goldberg

    Deleted the ones I can’t remember.

  83. 83.

    Yutsano

    I’ll just follow instructions here!
    What’s the first movie you ever paid to see?I think it was Ferngully
    First movies your remember seeing?The original Star Wars!The first movie that didn’t meet your expectation?Spaceballs. I saw it when I was a kid. I appreciate it more now.
    What’s the first kids’ TV show you remember?Schoolhouse Rock
    The first grown-up TV show you remember?This is obscure but I loved the show Angie.
    First book you remember reading not for school?The encyclopedia.
    First mystery series you read?The Bobbsey Twins.
    First fireworks?San Diego when I was 5.
    First ballet?N/A. I do need to fix that.
    First play?Maurice Sendak’s Really Rosie: Starring the Nutshell Kids.
    First play you were in?Maurice Sendak’s Really Rosie: Starring the Nutshell Kids. I was One Was Johnny only because I happened to own a green suit.
    First book you remember reading in school?Moby Dick.
    First teacher?Mrs. McEwen
    First concert you attended?Does a high school band concert count?
    First concert you attended with friends?Same as above.
    First family dinner?Thanksgiving at my grandma’s house where almost no one fit around the table.
    First food craze you remember?Remember Tang everything?
    First food craze you got caught up in?Sushi. No regrets.
    First record you bought?I haven’t bought a physical record as I have never had a player of my own.
    First album you bought?Cuts Both Ways by Gloria Estefan.
    First librarian or teacher who was special?Mrs. Appecelli!
    My first crush I allowed myself to have?His name was Martin. He was also the first guy to let me down easy. Which was remarkable since this was 1992. I came out to my jazz choir on Valentine’s Day not long after.
    If there’s a coding error in here I’m just gonna say FYWP and see if a front pager fixes it.​

    EDIT: nailed the coding! Just some typo clean-up.

  84. 84.

    danielx

    First concert: parents took us to see Louis Armstrong. I was tremendously impressed.​ First concert I attended with friends: Led Zeppelin on their first US tour. After that, all hope of normalcy was gone, as in I gotta get me some more of THAT.​​

  86. 86.

    Trivia Man

    Just remembered* the first concert I attended. Mt Tamalpais had a rock show called Fantasy Fair and Mountain Festival in 1967. Included the Doors among other stellar acts.

    *Zero memory of any music, I was too young. But my mother was very active in the Red Cross. Before she stopped, she was recognized for teaching at least one Red Cross class in Swimming, life guarding, CPR, or first aid in 70 consecutive years.  She volunteered at the first aid tent and apparently took me along. She has zero memory of the event but clear as day, 100%, I remember riding down the mountain in an ambulance. Huge traffic jam but because she had volunteered they drove us up and down. So maybe I saw the Doors or Canned Heat or something else that imprinted on me unknowingly. Guarantee it was on the Saturday show because Mormons did not do ANYTHING except church on the Sabbath.

  87. 87.

    comrade scotts agenda of rage

    First concert: Does a legendary bar in Georgetown (DC) count?  Anybody here of a certain age from back then in the area will have most likely heard of The Shamrock.  They had live bluegrass 7 nights a week.  My mother worked there in the 60s and early 70s and maybe once a month on a Monday or Tuesday, she’d take me down to see The Country Gentlemen perform (she worked weekends as a rule).

    Totally underage kid (7-9) sitting on a twirling barstool drinking a coke and watching some serious as picking.  Mom didn’t have a musical bone in her body but wanted to expose me to something music and she loved bluegrass from that era.  The DC pohleece didn’t care because the guy at the door was always an off-duty cop.  It’s not like I was gonna pass off as minor trying to score booze.

    Oh, first real concert?  1977, Jethro Tull at the long-gone (and not-at-all lamented) Cap Center.

  88. 88.

    Just look at that parking lot

    I was fortunate that  my parents were more open minded than some of my friend’s were , in that back in the late sixties I was allowed to watch Rowan’s & Martin’s Laugh-In. To young to grasp some of the humor , but for a 10 year old it was a hoot just watching the fast pace and stupid gags.

    Another example of my cultural horizons being nurtured, was that was I was also allowed to read Mad Magazine. I had friends who had to hide it like it a copy of some old issue of Playboy.

  91. 91.

    prostratedragon

    First paid: if allowances count, Lawrence of Arabia.

    First movie remembered (and vividly!, The King And I.

    Kids’ tv: Howdy Doody

    Adult tv: Alfred Hitchcock Presents

    First book: impossible to say, but Donald Duck’s Safety Book goes bac pretty far

  92. 92.

    piratedan

    first Movie: Darby O’Gill and the Little People

    first movie I paid for: Star Wars

    kids show/cartoon: Jonny Quest

    adult TV show: Outer Limits

    first album: Raspberries Fresh

    first car: 1973 Pinto hatchback

    first Concert:  Elvis Costello

    first non school book: A Wrinkle in Time

    first mystery: Encyclopedia Brown series

  94. 94.

    BretH

    First Fireworks

    DC fireworks a long long time ago. Became a yearly event, sometimes by Metro, usually by bicycle riding from MD down the C&O Canal towpath.

    Memorable fireworks were when we saw them from the Potomac River from a canoe with a cooler of beer in the middle. Also a time when my younger sister and friends tried to take a keg of beer down on the DC Metro in shopping cart. When we got to the station a Metro Policeman said “you can’t take that thing on the metro!!”

    So they had to ditch the shopping cart and take the keg down by hand.

    Simpler times.

  95. 95.

    Rusty

    First Concert, my older sister took me with her friends to see Marshall Tucker.  A few years ago I looked up there history, expecting to see some dismal southern band history of the right, and was pleasantly surprised to find out they played and campaigned to get Jimmy Carter elected.  First book I really remember was Go Dog Go! by P.D. Eastman.  First car was a 1942 Ford pickup I bought when I was 17.  It was 1983 so it was really, really old even then.  I still have it about 400 pieces spread between a shed and a basement.  Maybe in retirement I’ll have enough time to restore it.

  96. 96.

    eclare

    @Rachel Bakes:

    Thinking about it, my first album may have been The Stranger by Billy Joel.  I know that I played it endlessly once I got it.  It was released in 1977, I would have been nine, so that fits.  Probably next was Grease, and then unfortunately, Xanadu.

  97. 97.

    mvr

    All of these are hard.

    I was likely reading by age 5 or so.  I know I didn’t read in Dutch before I learned to read in English, so I had to be at least 5 or so when I started to read.  I remember lots of Dr Seuss books and Harold’s Purple Crayon. But my mom read to us a lot and sometimes I finished books so that I remember a book doesn’t mean I read it myself.

    First Concert might be Fuse at the local park bandshell. They later morphed into Cheap Trick.  In high school I saw all sorts of bar shows at a local folk club.  The first there was Jim Post and the 2nd was Steve Goodman and then we were going nearly every week to one show or another.

    First big show was Crosby, Stills & Nash in Chicago in 1977.

    My first movie was likely the Lady and the Tramp in around 1962?  First one I paid for I have no idea. Maybe Young Frankenstein? First R-rated movie was Easy Rider with a friend and his Hungarian Grandmother.

    First record was the Blue two-record Beatles Anthology from around 1974 or 5. Second record was Allman Brothers “Brothers and Sisters” which I feel somewhat proud of since it wasn’t just a greatest hits.

    1st Mystery. Probably Hardy boys – the son of close friends of my parents had them all.  My mom made fun of them partly because of their sort of white bread character. At one point I got hold of a Nancy Drew book and was shocked at the racism, so I think I only read the one. Later (much later as a semi-grownup) I got into Dashiell HAmmett and Raymond Chandler and have since read thousands in the genre’s they inspired.  There was a writer of such books named Kin Platt. The books for grownups were kind of offputting to me when I read them as a teen – IIRC they were kind of misogynistic. But he wrote a great kids mystery called “Sinbad & Me” which I loved as a 12 year old.

    First car was a white 1965 Ford Falcon that I rolled only to be saved by my dad having retrofitted seatbelts into it.

    That’s enough for now.

  98. 98.

    eclare

    @wonkie:

    I remember my parents dragging me to one of The Pink Panther movies when I was around five.  The only thing I remember is the theme song.  My parents loved Peter Sellers.

  99. 99.

    sab

    The BJ demographic is nowhere near  whst Cole thinks. The younger just lurks until they are interested, and nothing much we do does that. Otherwise they lurk.

  100. 100.

    Ceci n est pas mon nym

    Oh lord, a memory test. But nobody is fact-checking my answers, so I guess I can say anything.

    What’s the first movie you ever paid to see?

    Might very well have been “Gone With The Wind”. Not because I’m that old, but because they were showing it in the neighborhood theater that was close enough for us kids to walk to on our own. I’m guessing that might have been 1969, since that would be a logical year for a re-release, being 30 years after original release.

    First movies your remember seeing?

    “Sound of Music” or “Mary Poppins”, whichever came earlier.

    The first movie that didn’t meet your expectation?

    There have been a bunch of movies that people really talked up that I couldn’t understand the reputation once I saw them. “The Big Lebowski” and “Star Wars” come to mind. But the first? Drawing a blank. Guessing it would have been in the 70s. Maybe it was “Star Wars” come to think of it.

    What’s the first kids’ TV show you remember?

    I was a huge fan of “Mr. Ed” and “Captain Kangaroo”. Whichever of those was first.

    The first grown-up TV show you remember?

    “Dragnet”? Maybe an episode of “Outer Limits”. I watched both of those occasionally when my parents were watching and I wasn’t supposed to. My memory also is that I sneaked down to watch “Star Trek” in its original run, which I think would have been in its last season. But I’m not sure of the reliability of that memory.

    First book you remember reading not for school?

    Read a lot of Dr. Doolittle and Black Stallion. “Black Beauty” too around that time. Also “Wrinkle in Time” and “Phantom Tollboth” from the elementary school library. Again, not sure which of these were first.

    First mystery series you read?

    Big time Hardy Boys fan. Even though I found them occasionally silly.

    First fireworks?

    Family trip to Disneyland, 1965.

    First ballet?

    My mom made us watch “The Nutcracker” on TV every Christmas. I hated it. Love the music, but ballet in general… meh.

    First play?

    Heh. My cousin’s starring role in a 6th grade production of “The King and I”. As a first grader, I was mightily impressed

    First play you were in?

    I was in the school drama club in 4th grade. I had a good memory, so I got cast as characters with long speeches. We did a “Reluctant Dragon” story, and I was an evil wizard with some sort of obscure scheme involving onions and making everybody cry.

    It took a couple of awful tryouts in high school to realize that I actually had no acting talent.

    First book you remember reading in school?

    Couldn’t put a title to it. I was an advanced reader and was bored to tears by the grade-level reading. Finally by 5th grade there was a reading program where we read actual stories. I loved that book.

    First teacher?

    Miss Summer, kindergarten. But I can’t remember what she looked like. I also had a crush on a girl with blond pigtails, but I think it was the blond hair that fascinated me. I’d never seen blond hair before.

    First concert you attended? First concert you attended with friends?

    That hasn’t been a big part of my life. I guess for both I’d say the “Orleans” concert on the quad at my university during the first week of some year of school.

    First record you bought? First album you bought?

    Again, never got into buying records. Dunno why. Cheap I guess.

    First librarian or teacher who was special?

    4th grade teacher Miss Del Nero who also ran the drama club.

  103. 103.

    BretH

    @comrade scotts agenda of rage:

    Oh, first real concert?  1977, Jethro Tull at the long-gone (and not-at-all lamented) Cap Center.

    I was there! Mind-opening. Did you ever get to see Danny Gatton? I was privileged (or rabid) enough to see him many times.

  105. 105.

    Martin

    The first movie that didn’t meet your expectation?

    A week after my 10th birthday watching Star Wars Holiday Special

    <drops mic, strolls out of the thread>

  107. 107.

    Yutsano

    @zhena gogolia: ​I think it was cancelled way too soon. The romance angle between a successful doctor and a waitress (with a very disapproving mother) was brilliant. Plus a very young Robert Hays!

    I also need to change my first adult show. It was in fact Doctor Who. My dad would watch it when he was home from being out to sea and he let me watch it with him on PBS. I was the only one of my brothers who was interested. You would think Tom Baker would be my Doctor but I actually loved Peter Davison as the Fifth. Sarah Jane Smith is still best companion and don’t even at me about it.

  109. 109.

    Omnes Omnibus

    First movie in a theater was either Bedknobs and Broomsticks or Willie Wonka and the Chocolate Factory.

    First album with my own money not a requested or otherwise gift was Parallel Lines by Blondie.

    I never bought 45s or cassette singles.

    First grown up TV show was probably Laugh In.

    Fireworks and family dinners and all that were just normal stuff.

    First helicopter ride was 1968 at Wisconsin Dells.

    First airplane ride was the seaplane back from Isle Royale in 1972.

    First bike was a gold huffy one speed with high rise handle bars and a white banana seat. It was the Christmas after I turned 4 (1968).

  110. 110.

    Chris

    First movie I remember: The Land Before Time. 

    First movie I remember seeing in theaters: The Lion King. 

    First grown up movie I remember or at least remember latching onto: The Great Escape. 

    First movie I remember disappointing: I’m sure there were plenty before, but honestly the first one that comes to mind is Iron Man. I mean, it wasn’t bad. But this was 2008; the modern superhero movie fad had been going strong all decade, we’d has some real prizewinners by then, the bar for the genre had been raised quite a bit, and Iron Man just felt… okay? Like a twentieth century superhero movie with 2000s production values.

    First TV show I watched: reruns of Star Trek TOS on the Sci-Fi Channel. I’d just discovered Trek via the eighties movies and wanted more.

    First current TV show I watched: Stargate SG-1. It aired on the Sci-Fi Channel during the same time slot that carried Trek a year or two before.

    First book I remember reading: illustrated kids’ version of The Animals of Farthing Wood. 

    First mystery series I remember reading: French translations of the Famous Five and Secret Seven books inherited that came from Mom’s childhood.

  112. 112.

    KatKapCC

    @piratedan: Oh man, we had a Pinto very briefly when I was very young. I think maybe a year before my mother said “I cannot drive this thing anymore”. Might have been the worries about it, you know, going kaboom. After that, she got a Volvo station wagon that felt like a dang tank.

  113. 113.

    WaterGirl

    @Omnes Omnibus: Our first, and only, family vacation was at the Wisconsin Dells.

    My parents owned a small business, so there were no days, weeks, or weekends off.

    But somehow, just once, my parents managed it.  That was a BFD for us.

  114. 114.

    Citizen Alan

    What’s the first movie you ever paid to see?
    When I was a child, I pitched a fit to see a horror move called Day of the Animals. And because it was, as they say, a different era, my mom just dropped me off in front of the theater with $10 to see a PG horror movie and said “Ask the manager to let you call home when it’s over.” I was 8 or 9.

    First movies your remember seeing?

    I have definite memories of being taken to see Disney’s The World’s Greatest Athlete in 1973 when I was 3 or 4 years old. I am certain I was taken to see The Man With the Golden Gun in 1974.

    The first movie that didn’t meet your expectation?

    Probably Return of the Jedi.

    What’s the first kids’ TV show you remember?

    Captain Kangaroo.

    The first grown-up TV show you remember?

    Grown-up is  relative term. In the sense of “definitely not for children,” it was probably SOAP, which I watched in defiance of my mother’s instructions when I was in 3rd grade.

    First book you remember reading not for school?

    Probably Encyclopedia Brown books.

    First mystery series you read?

    I read the complete works of Agatha Christie as a high school sophomore.

    First fireworks?

    Fourth of July when I was 3 or 4.

    First ballet?

    I have never seen live ballet. First ballet I watched in its entirety was a Bolshoi production of Rite of Spring on PBS when I was in college.

    First play?

    If we count high school productions (and completely ignore Christmas pageants), Guys & Dolls, the senior musical when I was a freshman.  If we mean professional actors only, The Play That Goes Wrong in 2022.

    First play you were in?

    Oklahoma, the senior musical during my senior year. A miserable experience. I hated the senior English teacher in charge of it and she hated me. I was in exactly two scenes as background characters without any lines, one in each act, and she decided arbitrarily that I should play a different background character without any lines in each act so that my parents had to pay for two costumes instead of one.

    First book you remember reading in school?

    Probably Tom Sawyer.

    First teacher?

    Mrs. Gray, my first grade teacher

    First concert you attended?

    I assume this was a real concert in a venue instead of school performances, so it was Tower of Power in 1991.

    First concert you attended with friends?

    Same. We were band nerds.

    First family dinner?

    Family dinners were not a big thing in our household. I remember teaching myself to cook TV dinners around 6 or so because we had steaks every Saturday night that my father insisted should be well-done,

    First food craze you remember?

    I don’t know if this counts, but I remember my mother purchasing various idiotic Ronco cooking aids. The most ridiculous was a “hotdog cooker” that had two rows of metal prongs and you would impale each end of the weenie on a prong. The end result was always a hotdog that smelled like burnt metal on each end but was still uncooked in the middle.

    First food craze you got caught up in?

    I genuinely don’t know of any “food crazes” that I got caught up in. Maybe abortive attempts to duplicate something from Great British Bake-Off.

    First record you bought?

    It would have been a cassette tape, and it was Rio by Duran Duran, which I played until it wore out.

    First album you bought?

    Same.

    First librarian or teacher who was special?

    Mr. Posey was my band director and the only teacher who ever “got” me when I was in school. A lot of my HS teachers were openly mad at me when I named him STAR teacher after I won STAR student (basically, a dumb “who got the highest ACT score” award). He was the reason I went into music education, and I always felt like I let him down by quitting to go to law school.

  117. 117.

    TBone

    @eclare: ☺️ it’s nice to see someone else knows them!  The series went out of print, but a fan group got together and the publisher relented.  The real life homes of the author and her bestie were also bought by said fan group and are now restored museums.

  118. 118.

    Omnes Omnibus

    @WaterGirl: My grandfather’s best friend from childhood bought a hotel on the water not long after WWII.  You basically got front row seats to the Tommy Bartlett water ski show that was becoming big around the same time.

  120. 120.

    WaterGirl

    @Citizen Alan:

    What’s the first movie you ever paid to see?
    When I was a child, I pitched a fit to see a horror move called Day of the Animals. And because it was, as they say, a different era, my mom just dropped me off in front of the theater with $10 to see a PG horror movie and said “Ask the manager to let you call home when it’s over.” I was 8 or 9.

    Holy cow-ski!

  126. 126.

    Ceci n est pas mon nym

    @zhena gogolia: It happens off-screen, if that helps.

    We just watched Disney’s 1999 “Tarzan” (for obscure reasons — much of our choices of entertainment are driven by obscure reasons).

    Surprising amount of death. Tarzan’s parents are killed by a leopard when he’s a baby. The ape couple who adopt him lost their only baby to the same leopard. As an adult, Tarzan kills the leopard. An evil white hunter kills his adoptive ape dad, who is also the head of the ape tribe.  Tarzan kills the evil white hunter.

    I kept thinking, “Man, Bambi’s mother was nothing compared to all this!”

  129. 129.

    eclare

    @Ceci n est pas mon nym:

    That brought up a memory, the first book that I remember reading on my own was James and the Giant Peach, as James’ parents were killed early on by a rhino that escaped from the London zoo.  I still read it occasionally.

    The deaths weren’t really sad as we never met the parents, more of a plot point, as opposed to others that we’ve discussed.

  130. 130.

    blackmtn

    First concert – my dad took me to see Louis Armstrong, must have been around the time of his “Hello Dolly” hit. Later, to see the Dave Brubeck quartet. First Rock “concert” must have been a live band at Jr High graduation – that long walk across the gym floor to ask a girl to dance “Well, my heart went boom, when I crossed that room”

    I was lucky enough to be 13 when “I want to Hold Your Hand” came out, and 19 for “Why don’t we do it in the Road”

  131. 131.

    Ceci n est pas mon nym

    @WaterGirl:

    @eclare:

    After posting that I googled “Disney Tarzan death” and turned up a number of articles commenting on the various death scenes, which were all suggested actually, not shown directly.

    Then I started thinking that death of parents as a plot point is not that uncommon in kids movies. Most recently (as far as I know) in Frozen, but lots of other examples too. And don’t villains in Disney movies often meet a bad end?

  132. 132.

    Trivia Man

    @Rusty: Go dog,Go! is one of the most perfect literary masterpieces ever written. If I win the lottery I plan to translate into 50 languages and give away copies world wide.

  134. 134.

    p.a.

    First concert: Yes (yeesh🫣) at 15.  Parents had to drop us off.  Our floor seats weren’t there: the whole row of all those ticket-holders had been replaced by the sound & light board.  The stadium crew stuck us in assorted locations as close to the floor as possible.  My seat was ok.

    First club: Lupo’s Heartbreak Hotel, early 1976.  I was 16.  Lupo’s had opened in Sept ’75 and the Providence club scene was so lame it was already an institution by winter.  First thing I saw inside after paying the cover was a prolly 60 year old guy in a straw cowboy hat, chest length gray beard, no shirt, string tie, black patent leather vest, jeans & cowboy boots.  I’ll never forget.  No recall on the band(s).  Cool place.

     

    First book read, not for school (that I remember):  The Trojan War, Olivia E Coolidge, from my elementary school library, but not for a class.  Have loved Homer & the Trojan Cycle, other pre-classical writers & classical era plays ever since (once I matured; but that kid’s book was the hook.)  The socio-political philosophies, Aristotle, Plato etc not so much.  Above my head I’ll admit.

    First movie I remember: Mary Poppins or Sound of Music.  Which was released first?

    First movie I paid for: Mark of the Devil 2, at the Fairlawn.  Remember neighborhood theaters?

    First records I bought were 45’s.  End-era Beatles; Let it Be/You Know My Name (Look Up My Number), The Long and Winding Road/For You Blue.  And an oddball: 45rpm of two theme songs from the show Dark Shadows.  I remember Quentin’s Theme was maybe the B-side.  Fun fact: my GF’s father was a bit of a jack-of-all-trades, and his probably most successful gig was as an antiques dealer.  Some of the stuff on the DS set was actual antiques, not prop-furniture, that he provided.

  135. 135.

    Rusty

    @Trivia Man: I just got t-shirts for everyone in my family (spouse, 4 kids and 3 +1’s of the older kids) with the Go Dog Go picture from the book cover.  We are going to take a group photo.  All my kids loved it and they were enthusiastic for my goofy plan.

  136. 136.

    eclare

    @Ceci n est pas mon nym:

    What was amazing to me, when I was a stepmother, was how many fairy tales and Disney movies had wicked stepmothers.  I was reading some book to my four year old stepchild, maybe Cinderella, and it involved a wicked stepmother, and I started thinking “how can I end this now?”

  139. 139.

    pajaro

    @WaterGirl:

    And my first car was a 1969 Dodge Dart, yellow body, black top.

    First “real” (not kids cartoon)  move I remember was Hondo, which starred John wayne.  My mom dropped off some of us for the saturday matinee, and didn’t realize what was playing.

    First record I remember (45 RPM) buying (with my allowance, I’m sure) book of love.

  140. 140.

    comrade scotts agenda of rage

    @BretH:

    Oh man, so great you could see him.

    Tried to see him many times after college and we moved back to the DC area.  He would simply not show up to gigs and it always seemed to be ones we went to.

    Really tortured artist and one of the greatest guitarists nobody’s heard of.

  142. 142.

    Citizen Alan

    @WaterGirl: That is pretty much how I watched every movie I saw in a theater from then until I was old enough to drive. I was the definition of a latch key child. And I credit it with why I am so independent that I did not think twice about moving to queens for my LLM or moving to fresno, where I did not know a single soul within a two thousand mile radius, for a new job.

  144. 144.

    DesertFriar

    First movies your remember seeing? Flipper

    The first movie that didn’t meet your expectation? The Babe Ruth Story w/ William Bendix

    What’s the first kids’ TV show you remember? Learn To Draw with John Gnagy

    The first grown-up TV show you remember? Perry Mason w/ Raymond Burr

    First book you remember reading not for school? Highpockets by John Tunis

    First mystery series you read? Ellery Queen

    First fireworks? At Pierce Memorial Field in East Providence

    First ballet? Die Fledermaus

    First play?

    (TV – kid) Peter Pan w/Mary Martin and Cyril Richard

    (TV PBS – Middle School) HEIMSKRINGLA! OR THE STONED ANGELS

    (tv CBS High School – Midsummers Night Dream w/ Diana Rigg and Helen Miren

    Live – Brown Summer Theater – 7 Keys To Baldplate

    First play you were in? Don’t know the name. 1st Grade and I played a bunny rabbit that was a sheriff

    My 1st line was (after a piece of paper was thrown across the stage) “Well, I guess Old West Wind is up to his tricks again”

    First book you remember reading in school? Fun with Dick and Jane

    First teacher? Miss Damiano

    First concert you attended? Eddie Zack Jamboree with neighbors & family

    First concert you attended with friends? Tower Of Power/Santana with a girl who later became my wife (45 year anniversary tomorrow)

    First family dinner? Thanksgiving Dinner at my Aunt’s house

    First food craze you remember? Fizzy Tablets. Supposedly had flavor but tasted like Alka Seltzer

    First food craze you got caught up in? Doughboys

    First record you bought? If You Gotta GO, GO Now – Manfred Mann

    First album you bought? 5 Faces of Manfred Mann

    First librarian or teacher who was special? Miss Damiano 1st Grade

  145. 145.

    Juju

    First movie I saw was “Mary Poppins”. I hid under the movie seat during the scene where the children were crossing the scary bridge.

    The first movie I paid for was Woody Allen’s “Sleeper”.  So much of that was beyond  my 13 year old brain.

    The first tv show I watched was probably “Captain Kangaroo “ or “Romper Room”. I used to wait for the Romper Room lady to say hello to me  through the magic mirror, but she never did say hello to me

    The first adult level movie I saw was “The Birds”. My sister was babysitting and I was seven. I had nightmares and a fear of walking by swing sets for years after. It didn’t help that my sister said it was all true.

    The first concert I went to was a concert at the Eastman Theater in Rochester NY to hear the symphony, something the theater did almost every year for the students in the local school districts.  The chandelier overhead was beautiful.

    The first popular music concert I went to was to see  the Jackson Five when they were  in their final year as a group.  A little boy in the seat next to me barfed on my leg, which was the first of three times out of four concerts I attended where someone  barfed on me or near me. I got the nickname Barf Magnet for a few years after the last  concert barf experience.  A James Taylor concert I attended In Chapel Hill was the first concert I attended that didn’t involve barf.

    My first car, and I still have it, was a 1969 VW Bug convertible. I still have  the car. It’s still cute, but needs work.

    The first dog who was truly my dog and we had such a special connection was Roxanne my first golden retriever.  She was a red golden and we had the same color hair.  She was the best first golden.

  146. 146.

    Jennifer Altmiller

    This is where I need to be right now.

    First TV: Mr Rogers was my neighbor, literally. And also my best friend as I grew up with his show. My sister was even in a brochure he made about talking with children about death. Nobody talked to children like he did. Like they are people. Equal footing for Sesame Street, but so many people and episodes. WQED Pittsburgh fucking rocked and still does. Donate.

    First concert: Journey, Civic Arena

    First Dead show: Buckeye Lake

    First movie I walked out of:  Room with a View

    Last movie I walked out of: Solaris – um WTF?

    First movie I snuck into: The House on Sorority Row (MURDER!, so much murder)

    First job: Delivered the Green Tab (classifieds, for sale, misc, et al) to every house in the neighborhood with my sister every Wednesday and split the monthly check of $18. Like bosses, we were!

    First blog love: I think the only ones I’ve been at that “are familiar with all internet traditions” or some shit like that was DK, TPM and BJ. All still alive! And I can assure you absolutely nothing, but that I hope to be here tomorrow.

    First identification as a viscious, snarling, something-else jackal – no fucking idea, but priceless! Thanks JC and Co.

  147. 147.

    Juju

    @eclare: The first time I saw a pink panther movie I was disappointed when the cartoon credits ended and the movie started. I thought the whole thing was a cartoon. I was 10, and boy was I disappointed.

  149. 149.

    hueyplong

    @DesertFriar: Tower of Power/Santana must have been great. What year?

    Trivia you probably know but others may not: A member of Tower of Power was Barry Bonds’ source for certain substances alleged to have been of performance assistance in playing baseball.

  153. 153.

    prostratedragon

    @CaseyL:  “First play I went to: A school production of “Carousel.” ‘

    Me, too, or at least the first I remember that wasn’t a skit. They were good.

    ETA it goes withojt saying thst the first ballet I attended was The Nutcracker.

  154. 154.

    DesertFriar

    @hueyplong: The Tower of Power/Santana concert was in 1972 at the newly constructed Providence Civic Center.  I actually found a bootleg of the concert which I put on CD for my wife for our 40th anniversary.  Tower of  Power were great.

  155. 155.

    hueyplong

    You caught ToP pretty early, pre-What Is Hip and So Very Hard to Go.

    Good time to see Carlos, but when wasn’t?

  156. 156.

    prostratedragon

    @prostratedragon:
    On further reflection, I saw a play of The Wizard of Oz and maybe somwthing else at the Goodman earlier, and before theNC there might have been a Spanish troupe with folkloric and flamenco, and a classical Balinese troupe; don’t know how I could have forgotten the monkey dance. Gamelans are very cool.

  157. 157.

    RevRick

    Paid for movie: It’s a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World

    First movies: Dumbo, Pinnochio, Lady and the Tramp

    Children’s show: Miss Francis’ Ding Dong School

    Adult TV: Saturday morning Westerns with my grandfather

    First books: All About Dinosaurs

    First fireworks: our house was right next to the cove from which the city of Stamford shot their displays

    First play: the school district made annual bus trips to the Shakespeare Theater in Stratford CT

    I was in the chorus of a youth performance of Brigadoon

    Book in School: A Tale of Two Cities

    Kindergarten teacher: Miss Conte

    First Concert: Jefferson Airplane

    First Broadway play: Boeing, Boeing

    First off Broadway: Rosenkranz andGuildenstern  are Dead

    Library books: The Bookmobile would come to our public housing every week, so Curious George, Dr. Seuss

  158. 158.

    BQuimby

    What’s the first movie you ever paid to see?  Fantasia
    First movies your remember seeing? Sound of Music
    The first movie that didn’t meet your expectation?  Apocalypse Now
    What’s the first kids’ TV show you remember? Romper Room
    The first grown-up TV show you remember? Twilight Zone
    First book you remember reading not for school? Nancy Drew – The Clue in the Leaning Chimney
    First mystery series you read? Nancy Drew (have full vintage collection now)
    First ballet? Swan Lake
    First play? The Drunkard
    First play you were in? As a Thingamajig in a Dr. Seuss play (I fell off the stage-oops)
    First book you remember reading in school? To Kill a Mockingbird
    First teacher? Mrs. Strawn
    First concert you attended? John Denver
    First concert you attended with friends? John Denver (I loved him but the concert was AWFUL)
    First pet?  Cat – “Flower”
    First food craze you remember? Cinnamon toothpicks
    First food craze you got caught up in? Jolly Rancher’s Fire Stix
    First record you bought?  a 45 Blackwater/Doobie Brothers
    First album you bought? America
    First librarian or teacher who was special?  Mr. Daily and Mr. M RIP to them both 

  159. 159.

    OlFroth

    Thinking back over half a century on some of these is hard, but I’ll give it a whack:

    What’s the first movie you ever paid to see? I’m not sure, but I’m a huge Monty Python fan, and I had just gotten my driver’s license late in 1978, so I’m pretty sure it was “Life of Brian,” which came out in 1979.

    First movies your remember seeing?  Pretty sure it was Chitty Chitty Bang Bang.

    The first movie that didn’t meet your expectation?  Star Trek, The Motion Picture.  Meh

    What’s the first kids’ TV show you remember? Romper Room and Captain Kangaroo

    The first grown-up TV show you remember? Get Smart

    First book you remember reading not for school? Down the Mississippi.  It was about a young boy hired as the cook’s assistant taking a raft to New Orleans.

    First mystery series you read? I’m not a fan of mystery series, but I did read Ten Little Soldiers in middle school.

    First fireworks? The annual 4th of July fireworks put on by the Fox Chapel Golf Club.  We weren’t members, by my father taught at the school across the street, and we lived on campus.  The Club didn’t seem to mind us coming onto the grounds for the show.

    First ballet?  The Nutcracker

    First play? The Miracle Worker

    First play you were in? Once Upon A Mattress

    First book you remember reading in school? Huckleberry Finn

    First teacher? No idea.  First teacher I can remember was Mrs. Blades from 3rd grade

    First concert you attended?  Crosby, Stills, and Nash.  Civic Arena in Pittsburgh

    First concert you attended with friends? Crosby, Stills, and Nash

    First family dinner? Pretty sure it was shortly after my parents brought me home from the hospital as an infant.

    First food craze you remember?  Frozen Yogurt

    First food craze you got caught up in?  I don’t think I’ve ever been caught up in one.

    First record you bought?  Lynyrd Skynyrd’s Second Helping

    First album you bought?  See above

    First librarian or teacher who was special? There were lots of special teachers, I don’t think its possible to name them all, but my college history professor, Dr. Ross, was a big influence.

  160. 160.

    Kosh III

    Too many that my ancient self doesn’t remember but here goes:

    First kids show:  Howdy Doody

    First adult show:  I didn’t realize it at the time cause I was so young, but Bonanza because I had the hots for Pernell Roberts.

    First book not for school: Tom Corbett Space Cadet

    First ballet in person, maybe 20 years ago.  Until then it was just something on TV.

    First teacher: First Grade Mary Williams

    First Concert: I paid $3.50 to see Ike and Tina Turner

  161. 161.

    Ruckus

    I’m getting to the point that big events have remained burned in but medium or small events, not so much. Things have to be burned in or rather recent . On the reading front I started learning to read before school thought we were capable. Parents and siblings assisted in the learning. Had an adult library card, parents had to sign for it, at I believe 11 or 12. I’d already read everything past See Spot Run in the kiddy section well before that. The city librarians did not actually approve of children reading such advanced literature beyond See Spot Run for anyone under 21. Thought mom was going to go over the counter and beat old biddy librarian to a pulp. I believe old biddy librarian thought so as well. Got my adult card.

    Just in case it wasn’t obvious, many in the education/information end of society had the concept that humans under possibly 18 but more likely 21, could not handle much more than See Spot Run. First it was and is bullshit. Sure there is the occasional kid that can’t handle more but they are rare and TV has given exposure to much more than what folks my age saw. It’s on the same level of woman are weak. I’d like to have one man offer to squeeze anything the size of an infant out of anywhere. Yeah I didn’t think so. Being a living being of any species has it’s issues, likely for the same or similar reasons.

  162. 162.

    Ruckus

    @OlFroth:

    I must be one of the actually old olds on here. I got my DL in 1965. Enlisted in the USN in 1969, actually went to boot camp Jan 1970. I was one of the oldest, possibly the oldest in my boot camp company. I spent January 73 in a USN hospital and then on shore duty for 4 1/2 months, and my last 2 weeks on a troop landing ship. Good times….. Most of the time line things you’ve remembered I couldn’t give you a year let alone the level that you’ve given. I do however have a lot of January 70 – July 73 burned into my brain, like it or not.

  163. 163.

    Nancy

    @thruppence: wow

    That book in an elementary school book fair. Apparently someone hadn’t read much sci fi.

    I still love that book and his others.

    But I definitely did not read it as a child. College student, probably.

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