Incident Along Fantasy Way 

                         Into the Movies

"Theodore" is a strange name for a restaurant,
Like the owners had wanted a child instead.
But there it is, midway between the dance place
And the all-night magazine stand.

Late at night clouds of conversation
Drift between the tables:
A heaping serving of ideas
With noodles and gravy  
Like the film maker borrowing a pencil
To figure out a deal
And then telling all about it.

"I'm making a movie about the Real World --
Not this world,
But the REAL world."

You know the old fairy tales
About people walking into pictures?
Well, he somehow
Could actually do it.

"The hard part is getting up the nerve
To walk down the aisle
And up on the stage
In front of a whole movie theater
Full of people.  

"But nobody really notices that much
And the ones that do
Tend to think you work there.
The rest is easy:
Just slip into the edge of the screen
And there you are.  

"But there's a danger --
Once you're in, it's not a movie any more:  
It's the whole world,
And to get out again
You have to get past whatever action
Is on camera.

"Go into a spy movie in Paris
And you may only be able to get out 
By way of London
Or Hong Kong
Or Istanbul.
And when you do finally emerge
There's no way of knowing
What theater you'll be in."  

But his problem was more ultimate --
The movie had ended
And it didn't seem likely
There would be a sequel. 

Stuck forever?
Well, maybe.
But maybe not.  

There were no scenes of Hollywood
But in the writer's mind it had been there
Along with the idea
That "getting into movies" should be easy
Even if it wasn't.
So of course it was.  

He had spent years at it,
Making movie after movie,
Working his way up
Until he could write, produce, and direct
The exact movie he wanted.
In another year it would be done.
Then, any time he decided,
He could walk up to the edge of the screen
And be home.  


                                        Thomas G. Digby
                                        written 0240 hr  1/25/75
                                        entered 1145 hr  3/05/92