With classic feature films and television shows dating back to the late 1950s, Ellis Hogue is always showing them to senior citizens and others who remember them and can identify with them.
One of his favorite movie dialogues comes from the vintage 1967 classic and Hogue’s all-time favorite movie, “Arabesque,” with Gregory Peck and Sophia Loren.
Hogue said in one scene, Peck’s character is talking to another character in the film.
“Peck’s character says, ‘Those stairs must lead somewhere,’ to which the other character replies, ‘Are you sure?’” Hogue said.
“Then Peck responds, ‘If they don’t, watch out for the last step,’” Hogue said, a smile drawing across his face.
A Hapeville resident for 28 years, he has a collection of 16 mm. films and TV series, and a vintage 16 mm. movie projector, that he takes to nursing homes and assisted living facilities to show to the residents.
“What really gets my goat is that, in many cases, once these seniors are in the nursing homes or assisted living facilities, they are, for the most part, pretty well forgotten,” he said.
“I don’t charge to show these classic films to the seniors because I get a real kick out of watching them laugh, clap and have a great time looking at these classic television series and movies,” he said.
Hogue believes one of the reasons is the senior citizens can remember and identify with these stars of yesteryear, and the memories they spark in them.
“When these seniors see the likes of Red Skelton and the duo of George Burns and Gracie Allen doing some of their famous skits again, as well as some of these vintage movies, they remember and can identify with them and it triggers happy memories,” he added.
In addition to the TV shows and series, the seniors also enjoy watching the old classic movies, like “That’s Entertainment,” vintage 1974, with Gene Kelley, Debbie Reynolds, Donald O’Connor and Mickey Rooney plus a host of other stars.
Another of Hogue’s favorite movies is also a favorite among the seniors, the 1961 classic, “Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea,” with Walter Pidgeon and Peter Lorre.
A 1968 graduate of Walter F. George High School, Hogue, an Atlanta native who is a member of the Hapeville Historical Society and Hapeville Masonic Lodge, also collects these classic films because he viewed some of them when he was a youngster.
He has also personally met a number of past stars of television and feature films, such as Phyllis Diller, Jack Benny and Sophia Loren, who signed Hogue’s movie post of “Arabesque,” in which she starred, as well as the movie’s composer Henry Mancini.
“Those films and television shows of yesteryear didn’t use bad language or have any violence or anything that would be considered offensive to anyone,” Hogue said.
“These are classics in the truest sense of the word,” he added.
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