1961 Bronx, New York

Tim Lee

Born 1950

Movie memories from New York City/Bronx

Interviewed on September 18, 2019

By Tirthraj Patel

The first movie I remember seeing was West Side Story way back in 1961. Obviously I was very young, probably only about ten or eleven years old. What I recall specifically about that afternoon was how cold it was: the late October breeze had hit New York so we had to bundle up before heading out. Our destination was the close by Valentine theater, right near the Bronx Zoo. The chilly weather was probably why the movie house was nearly empty at the time of screening, which is surprising considering the fact that the film was a huge hit at the time of release. 

I think it was an early matinee and I probably skipped school or was off for the day. In the theater, I sat close to the front row and squarely in the center with the screen looming over my head as I looked up from my seat. One thing I must mention is that the seats of old were nothing like those of today. We did not have reclining seats with enough leg room for two people to stretch out; it was closer to your average high school auditorium with somewhat cushioned crevasses for you to settle into. The audio systems were not as impressive either— “surround sound” had not been invented yet! Unfortunately, that movie house no longer exists today and has gone the way of many other theaters in the Bronx.

The film was an original story about two characters, Tony and Maria, from entirely different cultural backgrounds who fall in love and then are tragically doomed because of their competing families and respective gang affiliations. Essentially, it was a modern Romeo and Juliet story set against the backdrop of a New York experiencing major shifts in ethnic and cultural paradigms. Looking back at it, the movie was extremely culturally relevant as we were in the Bronx during the ‘60s in the midst of white flight when racial tensions were at an all time high. But as an adolescent boy, this went completely over my head; I was just happy to miss school and eat some popcorn.

At the time, the story of gangs like the Jets, made up of white Americans, and the Sharks, made up of mostly Puerto Ricans, was a foreign idea to me. As a Chinese American kid, my world at ten years old revolved around family and education. I grew up more or less as what is known as a latchkey child, only I was never given a key to the house, so I had to stay out until Mom came home. Unfortunately for me, she usually came home late, after closing up from work. This meant many a late afternoon was spent at the local library reading or hanging out with friends. Despite living in the Bronx, I would not say I was a very “street smart” kid. So, it was only many years later that I learned of the various ethnic gangs in New York. The Jets and Sharks were two located on the West Side of Manhattan, thus the title of the film—West Side Story. However, despite my age and lack of contextual knowledge, the story and especially the contagiously catchy songs made an everlasting impression on me. 

Watching the rival gangs face off on the dance floor over a turf dispute was definitely the most thrilling part of the movie. I recall the intensity in the room as the duels on the dance floor were followed prompting by the audiences’ anxious Oohs and Aahs. Overall, it was an exciting film whose music, choreography, and lyrics gave me an immense sense of the greatness and passion that can exist between two people, something that is immutable, something they call “love”.

The movie is without question a monumental work of art. It is a movie I always go back to to revisit its electric score and fabulous acting. For me it is a place where I can always go back and visit my childhood as I listen to Tony and Maria sing: “There’s a place for us, / A time and place for us. / Hold my hand and we’re halfway there. / Hold my hand and I’ll take you there / Somehow, / Someday, / Somewhere!”

Nowadays we have all this fancy equipment: surround sound audio, 3D video, heated, reclining seats, digital cameras that film in crystal clear quality, and a massive cinema industry that outputs to the world. But they don’t make films like that anymore; for all the advancements in technology, what today’s films lack is heart and rhythm. Hell, I still have the “libretto” that was sold at the theater. Don’t ask me where it is, for I don’t know, but somehow I know it is there in a secure place, in my heart and mind and eventually I’ll find it—somewhere!