Dad's Library

My father loved movies as a kid so as an adult he took it upon himself to educate his family on some film history. This was a lot harder to do in the late 70’s and early 80’s then it is today. We’re talking about a time when renting video tapes required a $500 deposit, and buying video tapes was just an astronomical expense. So, his pickings consisted of whatever happened to be playing on broadcast television or laying around collecting dust at South Gate’s Weaver Library. And still, through these meager methods he was able to amass quite the film archive. While film heavies like Citizen Cane, Casablanca or Some Like It Hot escaped my early education I was able to get a strong dose of West Side Story, Singing in the Rain, and Gone With the Wind.

It’s this that I remember most about my childhood relationship with my Pops; him telling me I “have to see this” film. When you combine his library with his love for Super 8 and video tape equipment it's no wonder why my career lies in the film industry.

Nowadays I seek out my own movies and every once in a while I see one with my dad, though not as often as I’d like. And I collect too, it’s so much easier to do so these days. I don’t like clutter so I go through my library and every year about three members of my collection are dealt in a garage sale. If ever I don’t know whether I should keep a particular title or sell it I ask myself the simple question, “if I were dad would I tell my kids, ‘you have to see this.'” At that point the decision makes itself.