I was just eight when I first caught
the "Chuck bug." My two older brothers were clamoring for permission from our rather strict parents to stay up late
(On a school night!) to watch something on TV that sounded--to my then-innocent ears--like "Play It Without Grapes."
I added my loyal, if little, voice to the brotherly protest. Our parents resisted, as usual, our passionate pleas, but,
they (like some weather-beaten dike) eventually relented to our tidal wave of entreaty.
It was the "Tuesday Night Movie" and I was there, for once.
Wow! (Hey, I was only eight.) As this strange yet utterly fascinating "Play It Without Grapes" began, so too did
my movie-watching life. I was whisked away (most willingly) on a fantastic trip to an upside-down world. When
I heard the opening monologue soken so dramatically and capivatingly by an astronaut with such a unique presence,
I was hooked.
I felt like a fifth (unseen) traveler tagging along with a quartet
of space adventurers on an amazing celestial trek. By the time the (my) hero was down on his knees, beaten
there by a rusting relic of his own distant past, I knew I had discovered an Actor and a Movie. The Actor was Charlton
Heston and the Movie was "Planet of the Apes."
