1958 Bronxville, New York

Name: Diana Webster-Biehl

Birth Year: 1949

First Movie Memory: Bronxville, New York

Interviewed on September 21, 2019

The first time I went to the movie theatre was probably with Mother, but I don’t remember what movie we saw.  It was an unusual mother-daughter experience because Mother didn’t take us to the movies much growing up. We didn’t have a television until we moved in with Mr. L [her stepfather] when I was older, so I was not inundated with the TV or movie culture growing up. Usually Geoff or Wendy [her older siblings] would take me to the movies if I ever went.

The first movies I really remember seeing out were with Wendy. We saw two horror movies at a horror double feature showing. The first film we saw was called The Fly. The Fly was about a man who got transformed into a fly. The Fly would get trapped underneath a glass dome, and he would try to yell at people and say he was a man, not a fly, and it was all very silly. It was not too much fun, but not a problem.

The one that was a problem was called The Blob. It was a classic that took place in Japan. This blob stuff was green and would creep up on people and leave just their clothing behind, and they would disappear. It was a horrible way to go, and you could only hope that you were at least wearing fashionable clothing to leave behind if it were to happen to you because that was all that would remain of you. If I still think about the Blob in the dark, I can still get a fright on. I was terrified that night. I was probably 7 [editorial note: she later realizes she must have been 9]. I have never forgiven my sister for taking me to see it. The Blob showed how fantasy can feel very real. The Fly was clearly fantasy, but The Blob was really good, and it was really disturbing. I could rewatch The Fly today, but I still would not see The Blob again.

I could almost think about The Blob as black and white except for the green Blob [editorial note: the film is a colored movie with a maroon blob]. And maybe it wasn’t black and white, but I could think about it as so. The Blob was semi-liquid but it had substance and solidity. It would just creep up the wall then drop down, or it would creep up your leg and there was nothing you could do. I have no idea how the movie ended. I just remember the Blob is there, and it could get you still. I remember the squeaky man’s voice of the half fly half man, and then I remember ominous music as the Blob was about to run up somebody’s leg and kill them.

This was in Bronxville in–hold up, I can pull up the year right now (*pauses speaking as she searches on her phone for a second*) –1958. So, I would have been 9 when I saw it. I don’t remember the exact name of the theatre, but it was the local Bronxville theatre, so let’s just call it the Bronxville Theatre. I would have walked there. There was a concession stand, and if I would have ordered candy, I would have gotten Raisinets, my favorite candy. Luckily, they still sell Raisinets today!

I remember the theatre was a big building, and it was dark inside. What I really remember was the parking lot out front. This parking lot was the location of a repeating nightmare I had for much of my childhood because it was where I got my brother in trouble. In this nightmare, I saw a dead man in a car, and I realized he had been shot. Then, the man who must have shot him shot me. And I took a psych class and they said you couldn’t die in a dream and I said “baloney.”

The parking lot traumatized me, as they kicked me and my brother out of the theatre because of me, and he was very mad at me. He shouldn’t have left me alone at the side of the theatre. I didn’t like doing that. We didn’t get allowances as kids, so we were always trying to do things for free. He told me he was going in to get tickets and told me to go through the fire exit and meet him at the side of the theatre. I didn’t want to be alone, so I followed him in and kept talking. He was shushing me, he kept going “shush, shush, shush!” so an usher came over, and I told him we had snuck in. I don’t think Geoff ever forgave me for that.