Wednesday 16 January 2008

Die, Monster, Die!

or
The Damage We Do To Our Children

When MrM was young


which was a long time ago


his parents went out for the evening
leaving him in charge of his brother and sister.
They all decided to watch the television.


In those days the television was colour
but there were only three channels.
Imagine!

To their delight there was a horror film on:
starring Boris Karloff.

They watched, agog,
because they were not allowed to see horror films.

And then...


just as Mervin the Butler



dropped



DEAD



their mother came into the room
and switched off the television.

And so they did not see the end.

And
because there were no videos or DVDs
in those far off days
Imagine!


They NEVER DISCOVERED
who killed Mervin the Butler.

It was very damaging for young minds
and MrM has often referred to it
as an example of his deprived upbringing.



Of course, MrsM was much more deprived
BECAUSE SHE HAD NO TELEVISION AT ALL
but she doesn't brag about it.

10 comments:

Anonymous said...

Mr M's mother probably does not even remember the incident. It is amazing that things we find insignificant can stick in our children's minds as pivotal events.

Unknown said...

So damaging to the young psyche. The therapist bills at your house must be horrendous.

Mary said...

Poor MrM.

We didn't have a television for years either and when we did get one we were really only allowed to watch the ABC (our equivalent to the BBC).

I still cannot bear hearing the music to Dr Who.

Ali said...

See, I'm with MrM because if I see so much as 5 mins of a horror film I need to watch right to the end otherwise the monster/ghoul/criminal will come out of the TV and get me. And I HATE horror films.

Anonymous said...

it must have been colour TV as Mervin/Mervyn/Boris Karloff had a green eye. The other was a different colour. We now have the DVD to watch but I have not taken it out of the wrapper yet as this might break the spell. I think that it only has a '12' rating now but seemed fairly scary all those years ago.

It was one of those you had to be there moments.

Anonymous said...

by the way,BMM, I was not a fan of the Dr Who stuff either. Perhaps I can blame my subsequent lack of musical aptitude on this ? It may be more deep seated problem than that I fear. However, the plus side is that I can normally get MasterM and MissM to do what I want by threatening to sing. Always an upside to every problem.

blackbird said...

When I was six and my brother L was 4, my parents LEFT US ALONE at a movie theater. The film that afternoon was Night Of The Living Dead and L didn't do very well through it and I had to be the mother and figure out how to get us home.
We are sure of the date as our brother B was not born at the time and we are somewhat certain he was conceived that afternoon.

Anonymous said...

Hmmm......we only have 4 channels and my children are only allowed to watch one, PBS. I wonder what the future therapy bills will b e?! :)

dragonfly said...

Ha! That reminds me of when my parents got a VCR - Betamax or whatever they were called, a HUGE thing! I think I was about 16 and my sister and I went off to the video shop and got out a zombie film. I can't remember what it was called but I know we were scared stiff!

Unknown said...

So who did kill Mervyn the butler? (Mr. M and I must be the same age because i grew up watching all those horror/ scifi thriller movies of the 50's 60's and 70's - probably explains alot ).