Yesterday's death of Sid Caesar brought back a vivid memory of seeing Stanley Kramer's "It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World" in its Cinerama presentation at Broadway's RKO Cinerama Theatre at a 2 p.m. Sunday matinee on - I'm seriously dating myself here - November 24th, 1963.
Fifty years ago? Oy.
The theatre was packed and teeming with anticipation to see The Biggest Comedy of All Time (despite the dismal reviews). It was electric.
Apart from the hustle and bustle and hum of moviegoers waiting to be easily pleased, there was one corner of RKO's orchestra section that was particularly full of chaos. My college date was overwhelmed with curiosity and had to see exactly what all the noisy commotion was about.
Sid Caesar was in the house!
Signing autographs!
She could care less about Caesar but she wanted his signature. So she grabbed my souvenir program and got a Sid Caesar autograph. I've no idea what happened to my resourceful autograph hound but, as you see, I still have the autograph she so wisely solicited from that comic great.
5 comments:
Joe! That was no ordinary movie matinee!
I love that film despite "the dismal reviews." What a souvenir you have!
I, too, like this movie, although I understand some people's reservations about it (it strains too much, the characters go beyound cartoonish, etc.) I think the cast and the material complement each other wildly.
I admire your ability to hold on to that program, notwithstanding the fact that you yourself didn't snag the autograph.
Hey, it was my program! She snagged it from me. To be honest, I offered it to her after the movie, but she declined. She was a classmate. Janeen. Sigh.
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