sick...
feeling...
and all I could think was "WHY?"
Of course, we know the answer is M-O-N-E-Y (which is, if you haven't heard, a great song by Lyle Lovett). And of course, I bet old Walt is rolling in his grave thinking "Why the flippin' hell didn't I think of this when I was alive?"
Anyway, as I watched that commercial for the 30th time, I suddenly remembered when the first time I saw the original Bambi, which I'll get back to in a moment. I just remembered one other thing I want to mention before I go on to that.
My friend, Kerry, is one of the two most anti-Disney people I know. The first is my mother-in-law who hated the company because of the old Ellen DeGeneres show, ya know, being that Ellen is a lesbian and all. I doubt my m-i-l ever even watched the show; "we just don't need those people on the t.v." Kerry, though, has a pretty good reason why he doesn't have a lot respect for the Mouse people. "They anthropomorphize animals, making hunters and fishermen evil. Oh, please don't hurt the poor little bunny! He looks like Thumper!" There are a lot of other reasons he's not big into Disney, but that's the one I always like to tweak him with from time to time.
Okay, so back to my other story...
I didn't see Bambi until I was 19 and in the Marines. One Saturday, my buddy Mike and I were walking by the base theater on the 29 Palms Marine Corps Air-Ground Combat Center. Now that's a mouthful, isn't it? As we were walking by, we noticed that the Saturday matinee was Bambi. I chuckled, fessed up to having never seen it, and Mike laughed. "Let's go!"
So, we went.
As did about 100 other young Marines...
And...about 100 young wives and children.
Can ya see where I'm going here? Good, I knew you did.
Mike and I got our seats in a section with a bunch of other Jarheads, and we watched, laughing at the parts we were to laugh at, cheering where we were supposed to cheer, doing just what we were supposed to do. Yup, nothing like watching a bunch of America's finest watching a kid's movie on a Saturday afternoon...
But, you know, there's that classic part. The part Kerry gets all up in arms about (*ahem* no pun intended). The part where kids scream in terror...
The part where the hunters shoot...
Bambi's mother.
See, someone wasn't thinking very clearly. They should not have let 100 young Leathernecks into a matinee with 100 young wives and their children.
Because while they were all crying about Bambi's mother being shoot...
We were...
Well...
Cheering the hunter's well placed shot.
There were loud, thunderous "Ooo-RAH's" and "Get SOME!" and "Yeah, BABY!" cheers echoing off the walls...
The following Wednesday, every unit at the 29 Palms MCAGCC had a meeting with the troops where the CO came out and read a message from the base Commanding General. The message said, in short, that from that day forward and until further notice, the early matinees at the base theater would be for families only. The second matinee would be open to anyone.
It seems that as soon as the movie was over, the Commanding General's phone started ringing. And it rang all day Saturday. And Sunday. And Monday...hell, the incident even made it into the base newspaper.
After our major read the order, he folded it up and placed it in his pocket, and looked around the Company A of the School Battalion (I was going to Electronic Tech 1 school at the time), and he grinned at us. "Yup. My wife and sons were there Saturday. Knew I shoulda went...but...if I woulda cheered with you.
"Of course, I wouldn'a got any sugar from the wife for a while, but, dammit, it woulda been worth it."
Alrighty, then, I'm going back to grading...
1 comment:
A theater full of Marines laughed when Bambi's mommy was shot and killed?????!!!!! sniffffffffffffle How cruel and heartless! How can I ever think of Marines as my protectors again? :-[ *dramatic sigh with the back of my hand to my forehead*
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