Thick And Thin

 The first foreign film I remember? Skinny and Fatty, a 1958 Japanese movie that I saw many years after its release. I didn't watch it because it was a foreign film, I watched it because of the title. It was speaking to me. In that model, I was Fatty. The film tells the story of the new kid in school, Oyama who is the round one, and Komatsu the thin one who tries to build his self esteem. This is especially the case when it comes to the rope climb in gym. 

I was miserable at the rope climb in gym. I was miserable in gym. Even more to the point, I performed poorly, and I felt poorly while I was there. I really could have used a Komatsu. As I sat in front of the television, transfixed by this offering from The CBS Children's Film Festival. Normally, I was tuned in to watch the comic interplay between Kukla, Fran and Ollie, the hosts of the show. Two puppets and a comedian rehashing bits from their glory days and introducing children such as myself to cinema from around the globe. If I told you that I had a memory of any other film in the series, I would be lying. This was the one that fed my inner stirrings. 

Wouldn't it be great to have a little friend who would show up and be my support even when everyone else is shunning me? And even if the other kids started to hun him, he would stick by my side and keep encouraging me until one day I could climb all the way to the top of that rope?

The puppets didn't diminish the pathos for me. They were the hosts of the show that was bringing me this peek into my own private struggles. They had seen into my soul, and instead of piling on and making jokes at the expense of the protagonists. It really would not have made me feel any better to have a clown and a dragon getting yuks out of the predicaments presented in Skinny and Fatty. My memory is that they were every bit as compassionate as the Muppets who would eventually inhabit Sesame Street. Perfectly capable of unhinged lunacy, but the clown, the dragon and all those urban fuzzy monsters knew when to tone it down for the sake of the material. 

So I still remember watching that movie, alone. I was clever enough at the time not to broadcast my insecurities to those around me. Not that this kept anyone from picking up on them. I didn't share them in the traditional sense. I embodied them. And even though my mother is mother enough to gently remind me that I wasn't a fat kid, I knew that I was the round one. The one that couldn't climb that stupid rope. 

So I started watching movies. Lots of them. Some of them were from Japan. Some of them were introduced by a clown and a dragon. I don't remember all of them, but I do remember Skinny and Fatty. And for the record, I did finally get to the top of the rope. Even if I didn't have a skinny friend to cheer me on.