Lee High School - Huntsville Alabama Alumni

Our 3-D Movies

by Tommy Towery

Class of '64

On our trip to Iowa we took the grand daughters to the movie to see the new Disney 3-D movie, G-Force. After laying down $46.35 for three adult and two kid tickets, I expected a lot from this show. And, in many ways I was not disappointed. The 3-D effects are really good and the glasses were top-notch, compared to the ones we got back in the Fifties.The glasses were needed for the whole movie, and I suspect that you would get a big headache if you tried to watch it without them.

I got to thinking about the early 3-D movies we went to back in the early Fifties in Huntsville. I don't know how much it cost to get in, but it was a technique that we all had to go see.

I got the following from Wikipedia:

What aficionados consider the "golden era" of 3-D began in 1952 with the release of the first color stereoscopic feature, Bwana Devil. April 1953 saw two groundbreaking features in 3-D: Columbia's Man in the Dark and Warner Bros. House of Wax, the first 3-D feature with stereophonic sound. House of Wax, outside of Cinerama, was the first time many American audiences heard recorded stereophonic sound. Universal-International released their first 3-D feature on May 27, 1953, It Came from Outer Space, with stereophonic sound.

There were two early 3-D ape films: Phantom of the Rue Morgue, featuring Karl Malden and Patricia Medina, and produced by Warner Bros. and based on Edgar Allan Poe's "The Murders in the Rue Morgue," and Gorilla At Large, a Panoramic Production starring Cameron Mitchell, distributed through Fox.

Another famous one was Creature from the Black Lagoon, starring Richard Carlson and Julie Adams, directed by Jack Arnold. Arguably the most famous 3-D movie, and the only 3-D feature that spawned a sequel, Revenge of the Creature in 3-D (followed by another sequel, The Creature Walks Among Us, shot flat).

The first decline in the theatrical 3-D craze started in the late summer/early fall of 1953. The factors causing this decline were:

Two prints had to be projected simultaneously.

The prints had to remain exactly alike after repair, or synchronization would be lost.

It sometimes required two projectionists to keep sync working properly.

When either prints or shutters became out of sync, the picture became virtually unwatchable and accounted for headaches and eyestrain.

The necessary silver projection screen was very directional and caused sideline seating to be unusable with both 3-D and regular films, due to the angular darkening of these screens.

My favorite of all of them was Creature from the Black Lagoon. I guess I like scary monsters more than I do cute little guinea pigs. I remember in House of Wax that in one scene a barker was standing out in front of a theater with one of those paddle balls with the ball on a rubber band and he would bounce it out into the audience with great effect.

I'm going to leave this topic open for some of you to comment on either early 3-D or current ones. I need some audience participation here.

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Jeff Fussell, Class of '66 - The band is Applehood & Mother Pie. I know all the guys in the band, but since George and Eddie are regular contributors, they’ll fill in the details along with a good story or two.

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Eddie Burton, Class of '66 - Tommy, it isn't fair for me to play but I know this band pretty well because I was a member. The band was called Applehood and Mother Pie. In the picture from left to right are Donnie Huber on bass, George Vail on drums, Gary Trust on trumpet, Jimmy Farr on sax and Eddie Burton on guitar. George, Gary, Jimmy and I were all Class of '66 at Lee. The bass player was from Germany and I'm not sure where he went to school. George Vail could tell you. He has kept up with Donnie. To the left of the bass, out of the frame is Jerry Smith on keyboard, This was a great if short lived band. We played everything from Otis Redding to the Beatles and everything in between. This was taken at the Madison County Fair and I'm not sure of the year it could have been fall of '67 because of the longsleeve shirts. We later played at the old HiFi Club six nights a week for a few months. I never knew any photos were taken of this band untill I saw this on Jimmy Farr's Facebook page. I was shocked and pleased.

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Age and treachery

A wealthy old lady decided to go on a photo safari in Africa and take her faithful but aging poodle along for the company.

One day the poodle was chasing butterflies and soon discovered he was lost. Wandering about, he noticed a leopard heading rapidly in his direction, intent on having lunch.

Thinking "oh, oh! I'm in deep doo-doo now," he noticed some bones on the ground. He settled down to chew with his back to the approaching cat.

Just as the leopard was about to leap, the old poodle exclaimed loudly, "Boy, that was one delicious leopard! I wonder if there are any more around here?"

The young leopard halted his attack in mid-strike, a look of terror on his face, and turned away into nearby trees. "Whew," he said. "That was close! That old poodle nearly had me!"

Meanwhile, a monkey who had been watching from a nearby tree, decided to trade his knowledge for protection from the leopard. So off he went.

The poodle watched the monkey catch up with the leopard, spill the beans and make a deal for himself.

Furious at being made a fool of, the leopard said, "Here, monkey, hop on my back and see what's going to happen to that conniving canine!

Seeing the leopard approaching with the monkey on his back, the poodle thinks, "What am I going to do now?"

Instead of running, the dog sat down with his back to his attackers, pretending he hasn't seen them. When they get close enough to hear, the old poodle says, "Where's that damn monkey? I sent him off an hour ago to bring me another leopard!”

Moral of this story: Don't mess with old farts. Age and treachery overcome youth and skill! Bullcrap and brilliance come only with age and experience.

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