savannah smiles
somewhere in my childhood there was a summer where you could watch a movie at the local theater (or was it the elementary school?) and it was only a dollar for a little cardboard box that had a pocket for popcorn and another for a piece of candy (or was it a soft drink?). and i remember it being hot and walking to that school or theater with my dollar and walking into the dark dark of the auditorium and sidling into a seat with my cardboard box and settling down and being ready to be Amazed. because at that age, movies were Amazing. they were larger than life. they were summer: moving from the heat of the sun into the cool dark, the skin on the back of my legs sticking to plastic seats. and i watched savannah smiles over and over that summer. because something about that movie really meant something to my much too introspective pre-pubescent self.
and i don’t know why i’m thinking about this today except that it’s cold and dark and my toes are cold and there’s this cramp in my back and i was just imagining what it would be like to unzip 100 pounds and step out of this skin into my fourth grade self during summer and watch the transformation again: the one that never ceased to surprise me. savannah doesn’t smile. and then she does. and isn’t that Amazing?
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This was one of my favorite movies as a kid! Just a few more months and you can unzip some of those pounds. It’s cold here too, but just be glad it will warm up!
My grandma owned two movies: An Affair to Remember and Savannah Smiles. We usually spent a week in summer at her house in Idaho. Those movies always remind me of summer vacation.
My sister and I rented this movie all the time from our Public Library when we were kids. I was so shocked and saddened when I recently learned that Bridgette Andersen (Savannah) passed away years ago. It was almost like finding out an old friend had died. I always loved this song, but it is sad to watch now.