At Montclair High School - 35 miles due east of Los Angeles - everyone KNEW I was going to have a career as an actor. After all, I'd been the only actor to receive applause at the end of my soliloquies in both "Up the Down Staircase," as well as "Spoon River Anthology."
By the time I was 19, I'd worked at 2 movie theaters and one of them - General Cinema Corporation's Cinema I & II - I worked at twice.
The first time was at age 16 and as a "doorman," I'd wear my black tuxedo pants with the satin stripe down each pantleg, a white shirt, black bow tie and the standard issue cadium blue blazer with golden GCC logo above the breast.
The "candy girls" and cashiers' uniform consisted of a white blouse and short black skirt they all hated because it would twist on them.
The films I was able to see and study during 1972 were such classics as "The French Connection, The Godfather," and "The Last Picture Show." There were also some very obscure films like the very stylish "Four Flies on Grey Velvet" by Dario Argento. I thought I might be able to hone my acting skills by studying actors and director's work as frequently as I could. Besides, I had a blast at the job.
The GCC Cinema's I & II were the very first multiple movie theaters on the West Coast. The large auditorium held just over 900 people and the smaller one, about 550. The complex sat at the edge of Montclair Plaza, just off Interstate 10. Ivy creeped up the walls and it had a
quasi-fortress look to it. It was a sprawling structure with giant north-facing windows opening up into the lobby. When the smog cleared, you could actually see Mt. Baldy, at 10,000 ft. the highest peak in
Southern California and a mere 15 miles away.
I befriended a cashier, Lindy Warner, who one weekend was traveling with her family to her sister's graduation from BYU.
Monday evening I arrived for my shift and came across a cashier, Sari (pronounced "Shar-ee") Gacsaly, a beautiful dark-haired young woman of Hungarian descent that had an uncanny resemblance to Elizabeth Taylor. As I walked up to her, I could tell she was deeply upset.
"What's wrong?" I asked.
"You don't know?" she answered.
"What?"
"Lindy's plane crashed on the way to Utah. She and her parents and the pilot were all killed."
I was stupified. I walked into the back staircase, sat on the stairs and bawled my eyes out.
Upon exiting, I walked past the manager's wife saying to the other employees, "Well, I guess we'll have to get another cashier."
Of course I was outraged by such a callous comment and quit the following day.
Posted by: Adrian / 8:51 AM
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