And now I'm thinking about my 8th Grade.
Homeroom, for math and science, was Mrs. Bee Dalton. Did not much like her. She did have us create and update notebooks when NASA began launching astronauts into space for rotations around the earth. I had Mrs. Smith for English and history. She was a sweet lady.
However...the 8th grade was when my love of film music and films solidifed and became a lifelong obsession. The catalyst was my best friend Jim Whaley. Early on, we connected with a love of films and talked about Saturday Night at the Movies. What connected us was that we both loved the music scores of the films. Between us, we scoured our city library for information about films, studios and composers. Jim made this his life's passion. His parents relocated to Stone Mountain GA from Greenville SC. While he was in high school, Jim wrangled himself into a public broadcasting radio show featuring film soundtracks. He also made contacts with composers, including Alfred Newman, and conducted on-air interviews via telephone.
After college, Jim broadened his horizons by hosting a PBS TV show (WABE out of Stone Mountain GA) called "Cinema Showcase." Stone Mountain is a suburb of Atlanta, and Atlanta was the hub of the southeast where everyone associated with film came to promote their films. Jim got them on his show. And also touring companies came through and he got to interview some theatrical celebs, as well. Jim also went on press junkets and travelled to MGM for the "That's Entertainment" junket. There is feature on one of the discs in that film set showing media touring the back lot. Jim is visible in these scenes.
The shows are archived at UGA (the University of Georgia) and some may be viewed here:
https://bmac.libs.uga.edu/index.php/Detail/collections/2
