What Has Hollywood Come To?

It's 1967.

Now you have an idea of how old I am.

My sister Deanne were I are making our way to our seats at our local movie theatre. As I sat and nibbled on my popcorn, I remember very clearly the feeling that Deanne and I were in for something new and extraordinary, as we awaited the start of a film called The Graduate.

I was twelve years old and my sister Deanne was nine. We attended an afternoon showing of the film not far from our home in Warminster, Pennsylvania. I didn't know anything about the film except that all of my friends at school were talking about it... about this Dustin Hoffman guy whom no one had ever heard of and about how beautiful this Katharine Ross was. The only actress I knew in the film was Anne Bancroft, who I had seen as Annie Sullivan in The Miracle Worker just a few years before at the same theatre.

I didn't know what to expect. At that time, movies of real quality were, in my opinion, in a general decline. I felt this way at twelve years old. I remember feeling bad for stars like Cary Grant and Jimmy Stewart, who were reaching the twilight of their careers, stuck in stories that were as predictable as they were hokey. Much like the big blockbusters of today, back in the mid-'60s every film studio was putting out some uber-expensive movie musical to attempt to match the successes of The Sound of Music and My Fair Lady. Many of them failed (Star!, Darling Lili, Finian's Rainbow, Paint Your Wagon and many more).

Audiences, myself especially, were restless for something more; something deeper, something real. So, you can imagine my surprise when the lights went down and The Graduate began. And what is the first thing I hear? "The Sounds of Silence" by Simon & Garfunkel.

Could it be?

This was my music. I loved that song. I loved that group, but I couldn't believe that my music, the music of my generation that is, was being used in a major Hollywood movie. I looked around to see if anyone else was as shocked as I was and they were. Not disappointed, they were hopeful that this was a new beginning.

Article Author: Hannah Marie Ellison

Hannah Marie Ellison is a freelance writer on the subject of jazz, wine and theatre. Her articles and reviews have been published in theatrical publications all over the United States and in Prague.

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