“Why is it that sooner or later no matter what we talk about … we wind up talking about Addie Ross?”

For several days now i’ve been feeling somewhat unsettled and melancholic without knowing quite why. Until last night. I was added wrapping paper to this week’s shopping list, when it struck me. Aha! Christmas. Also … my birthday. Yikes! Already? When you’re young, an hour can last forever. But when you get old, my loves, decades go by in a blink. You see, it’s neither aging nor the maladies holding its hand that bothers me so. It’s time.

The year I was born: aspiring actress Elizabeth Short, aka the Black Dahlia, was found brutally murdered in a vacant lot in Los Angeles; a supposedly downed extraterrestrial spacecraft was reportedly found near Roswell, New Mexico; and ‘Miracle on 34th Street’ was first shown in theaters. Movies have always been a large part of my life. The images above represent one of my favorite films of all time, running second only to ‘A Christmas Story’ in terms of most-watched. Storylines aside, the appeal for both are the cultural references: women’s shoulder pads, hairstyles, radio programs, running boards, toys, school, snow, santa and so on. Memories. Home. How i’ll miss it all.

So now. Without benefit of help, do you know the title of the film? Or am I a lone dinosaur with a blog, wishing for a time machine?