scared & scarred by the silver screen

My daughter bought me some postcards for my collection. The stash included some depicting posters of 1950's science fiction films including the original Godzilla film titled Godzilla, King of the Monsters.

IMDB says that the film was released in 1954. Amazon says 1956. I'm guessing that 1954 was the release date in Japan and 1956 was the release date stateside because I saw that movie at the State Theater when it came out and I was 3 years old in 1954 and 5 years old in 1956, so 1956 is more like it.

I remember asking my Mom to take me to see that movie. She was a fan of horror flicks, so she agreed and took my sister and I downtown to see the film one afternoon.

I remember the long line in front of theater to buy tickets. The line was so long that it went up East Main Street and turned the corner down Brown Street. Mom thought the line was too long and so she decided that we would return to see the film on another day.

Eventually, we did see the film and it scared the crap out of me! I had Godzilla nightmares for years.

Remember that scene when a procession of people are walking up the side of a hill? Godzilla pops up on the other side and everyone in a panic runs back down the side of the hill. Well, many a time, I relived that scene in my nightmares with my family and I in that procession of people going up and down the side of the hill.

Godzilla, King of the Monsters was the first of the many "monster movies" that scared and scarred me in theaters when I was a kid. I will write about the others in the future.