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Encore: Discovering movies, and how visions are seldom all they seem

AILSA CHANG, HOST:

With Memorial Day behind us, we are officially in the summer movie season. And there is no shortage of titles to choose from. But, you know, summer is known for a particular kind of movie, right? Think popcorn pictures, escapist films that may have laughs or tears along the way but that end happily. It's a formula that has served Hollywood well, and that has also served to make a lot of people into superfans, including our critic Bob Mondello. He now sees more than 300 movies a year, many of which do not have happy endings. But that suits him just fine. In this encore presentation, Bob remembers the moment it all began - his first trip to a movie theater.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED NPR BROADCAST)

BOB MONDELLO: I was 9.

(SOUNDBITE OF FILM, "SLEEPING BEAUTY")

BARBARA LUDDY: (As Merryweather) Come on, bucket, mop, broom. Flora says, clean up the room.

MONDELLO: A neighborhood theater in Bethesda, Md., in 1959; a matinee crowded with zillions of kids discovering new things about a fairy tale we all thought we knew.

(SOUNDBITE OF FILM, "SLEEPING BEAUTY")

VERNA FELTON: (As Flora) And now to make a lovely dress fit to grace a fair princess.

MONDELLO: The Disney "Sleeping Beauty" was different from the Brothers Grimm version. For one thing, the Disney animators reduced Princess Aurora's seven fairy godmothers to three - Flora, Fauna and Merryweather. And Flora and Merryweather had very specific ideas about colors. Flora liked pink. Merryweather liked blue. And when they were magically creating Aurora's birthday dress...

(SOUNDBITE OF FILM, "SLEEPING BEAUTY")

LUDDY: (As Merryweather) No, not pink - make it blue.

MONDELLO: ...That caused problems.

(SOUNDBITE OF FILM, "SLEEPING BEAUTY")

FELTON: (As Flora) Merryweather, make it pink.

MONDELLO: They kept casting spells and blue and pink bolts of magic...

(SOUNDBITE OF FILM, "SLEEPING BEAUTY")

LUDDY: (As Merryweather) Make it blue.

MONDELLO: ...Some of which started shooting out the chimney like fireworks.

(SOUNDBITE OF FILM, "SLEEPING BEAUTY")

FELTON: (As Flora) Pink.

MONDELLO: I think the reason I remember this part is that at some point, both Flora and Merryweather cast a spell at the same moment, and the dress ended up splotchy and spoiled. If something like that had happened in my house, my brother and I would have gotten spanked. But then Maleficent showed up, and we forgot about colors and splotches for a while and worried about curses and pricked fingers and swords of truth and forests of thorns and a huge dragon and kisses that awaken fairy princesses, only to have the issue crop back up again at the very end when Princess Aurora and her prince were dancing their way to happily ever after, fairy godmothers looking on.

(SOUNDBITE OF FILM, "SLEEPING BEAUTY")

BARBARA JO ALLEN: (As Fauna) Oh, I just love happy endings.

FELTON: (As Flora) Yes, I do, too - blue.

MONDELLO: I was worried that they'd splotch everything up again, but before they did, I turned to my mom and saw she had tears in her eyes. And I said, Mom, it's not sad. And she said, I'm crying because it's so happy, which, to a 9-year-old, is nuts. Later I would realize that mom and dad sometimes yelled at each other in real life, and I wasn't connecting that to the lovers onscreen. Though, I guess mom was. She knew then something I wouldn't till later - that visions are seldom all they seem. But that day, mixed messages were not what she wanted to impart at my first movie ever, so she blinked and said, who wants ice cream? And I did. I'm Bob Mondello. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.

Bob Mondello, who jokes that he was a jinx at the beginning of his critical career — hired to write for every small paper that ever folded in Washington, just as it was about to collapse — saw that jinx broken in 1984 when he came to NPR.

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SOMOS CONNECTICUT is an initiative from Connecticut Public, the state’s local NPR and PBS station, to elevate Latino stories and expand programming that uplifts and informs our Latino communities. Visit CTPublic.org/latino for more stories and resources. For updates, sign up for the SOMOS CONNECTICUT newsletter at ctpublic.org/newsletters.

SOMOS CONNECTICUT es una iniciativa de Connecticut Public, la emisora local de NPR y PBS del estado, que busca elevar nuestras historias latinas y expandir programación que alza y informa nuestras comunidades latinas locales. Visita CTPublic.org/latino para más reportajes y recursos. Para noticias, suscríbase a nuestro boletín informativo en ctpublic.org/newsletters.

The independent journalism and non-commercial programming you rely on every day is in danger.

If you’re reading this, you believe in trusted journalism and in learning without paywalls. You value access to educational content kids love and enriching cultural programming.

Now all of that is at risk.

Federal funding for public media is under threat and if it goes, the impact to our communities will be devastating.

Together, we can defend it. It’s time to protect what matters.

Your voice has protected public media before. Now, it’s needed again. Learn how you can protect the news and programming you depend on.