We recently lost Mr. Movie

Earlier this month the world lost perhaps the single most knowledgeable motion picture expert, Robert Osborne, who passed away at age 84. Many of you will perhaps not recognize Robert by name but he was the familiar face and lead host for the Turner Classic Movie Channel. While I never personally met or talked to Mr. Osborne, I consider him a close friend due to our shared lifelong love of motion pictures.

The first image that always came to mind for me while watching one of Robert's historical monologues regarding the movie involved a glance back to one of the many evenings I spent at the home of long-time Nevada physician Dr. McCann. One of Dr. McCann's sons, Tom, was a good friend. He and his father were not only lovers of old movies, they like Robert Osborne, were insatiable movie history trivia buffs.

I can still remember watching Dr. McCann get this very satisfied and knowing smile on his face when he would stump Tom and me with some "Jeopardy" style movie trivia question. His movie knowledge was like an encyclopedia, filled with motion picture facts and figures.

We enjoyed watching any old movie for sure but those hours spent bantering questions back and forth about movies made for some of our finest times.

The Turner Classic Movie Channel is just one of a host of available movie options on satellite or cable television these days but it is still the only one that offers almost exclusively older films. The network also spends a lot of its time and resources keeping the history of movies, actors, directors, producers and other movie industry persons alive.

Besides the regular informational sessions such as the ones Osborne provided for years, TCM is very involved in the restoration of old movie film reels. This vital work is ongoing and will take years to restore all the old movies before they deteriorate.

The movie industry and America have been equal partners in the shaping of the modern world. The movies Hollywood produced for years were a window that allowed the rest of the world a glimpse of what America really was. Beyond that, movies gave many of us a view of what it meant to be an American.

Two movies that display unique insights into our country and culture immediately come to mind. The first of these was the 1939 film, "Mr. Smith Goes to Washington." The second classic American film was the 1962 legendary, "To Kill a Mockingbird."

As a former history and government teacher, I can attest to the often apathetic responses that many students in my classrooms held when we studied subject material that emphasized American government. Teaching the Constitution and the history of our country was never very popular with the rank and file students.

Teaching about an actual government action such as a United States Senate "filibuster," rarely excited my student's minds, but when they saw the actual practice in a dramatic movie, it became real to them. When Jimmy Stewart filibusters for hours, to the point where he collapses in exhaustion, all Americans were able to gain firsthand insight into what a filibuster truly was.

Trying to teach American History students about the unique impact race has played in our social history was often just as dull and uninspiring for them. The two-hour and nine-minute motion picture, "To Kill a Mockingbird," effectively managed to educate all Americans about race, in a way that I never could as a teacher.

The character Atticus Finch made us all proud to be Americans, and it also made us ashamed of the racial inequalities, that sometimes still exist in our society. Our community lost a great man this past year, the Honorable Judge Jerry McBeth. After I wrote a story many years ago about this very movie and the book it was based upon, Jerry contacted me. He told me that he had decided to return to college from his job as a teacher, to become an attorney. He also told me that the character Atticus Finch was the main impetus that pointed him towards this career choice.

The movie industry was not just for Americans. Hollywood movies were sent around the world for people to view. For many of those people from other countries and cultures their viewpoint of America and its people were based more upon what they viewed in these movies than from any other source.

There are countless examples of how movies made impressions, but one in particular seems quite appropriate for today's political climate. How many times have you witnessed a scene in a movie where immigrants making their entrance to America, passed by the Statue of Liberty?

That statue was a symbol to Americans and the rest of the world. The Emma Lazarus sonnet quote still rings true, "Give us your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free."

Another 1952 movie, "Stars and Stripes Forever," used the same imagery. As the famous bandleader John Phillips Sousa is returning home from an overseas concert trip, he is enthralled with emotion as his ship passes the Statue of Liberty. He lets this emotional response play out in a new composition named appropriately "The Stars and Stripes Forever."

We have lost more than just Robert Osborne, when it comes to the movie industry. Hollywood is not the center of the movie industry these days. Countries like India and China are now producing many more movies than Hollywood.

I still love to go to the theater and watch movies. There is something about the sights, smells, beverages, and buttered popcorn that will always have meaning for me. Unfortunately, a lot of the new movies don't appeal to me like those from old Hollywood.

Robert Osborne is gone, but the Turner Classic Movie Channel is still going strong. I can watch decades of those familiar old movies and remember a time when America was "just like in the movies!"