Children in theatres

[anne_t_squires]

--- In HPFGU-Movie at yahoogroups.com, "Damit Lazarus" <lkotur at ...> wrote:
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> Sheryll:
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> > There was a small child at our screening of HBP last night but the >parents removed the child from the room every time it started to >fuss, for which I was very grateful. Much more considerate than the >woman in front of us who didn't turn off her cell phone!
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> I remember the first Harry Potter movie I went to with my wife and daughter.  We were waiting in the queue about the 20th in line and there was a young boy at the front of the line, dressed in wizard robes with a very tall pointy hat.  I jokingly said to my wife, "I hope he doesn't sit in front of me." Well the mother heard me and got really upset and started berating me and her son started getting really obnoxious and they just would not shut up.  The other people in line were starting to show signs of disgust with the pair. After about 5 minutes or so, I asked a little girl behind us if I could borrow her wand.  With wand in hand, I got the pair's attention and with a flourish of the wand and rapidly pointing it at the pair, I proclaimed, "Avada Kedavra". There was a moment of stunned silence. The people in line cheered and applauded. The young boy screamed and ran out of the theater with his mother in tow. The people in line thanked me and we all watched the movie in peace.  Well, looking back maybe the Killing Curse was a bit much, but it is only fantasy, isn't it.
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> Damit Lazarus
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Anne Squires

I love, love, love that story.  I wish I had the courage to do something like that.  I went to see HBP yesterday.  There was a crying infant in the theater who cried and screamed for most of the first half of the film.  Finally, finally, finally the person who had brought the child left and, thank Merlin, did not return.  When they were walking out I was able to discern that the child, however old, was a tiny bundle wrapped in a blanket---- so I'm thinking the baby was extremely young.  While the baby was crying I kept trying to tell myself to just ignore it; but, it was very hard to do so.  I blame both the parent, or babysitter or whoever that was who brought an infant to a movie and I also blame the theater personnel for allowing someone to bring an infant into the theater.  I am thinking of contacting the theater manager about it.  It's so hard to get lost in a film when there is a baby loudly screaming its head off.  The reason I didn't do anything at the time was because:

1.  I am a coward and extremely non-confrontational.
2.  It was a stadium style theater that was packed full of people.  I was sitting many rows away from the crying infant and kept thinking someone closer to the problem would maybe say something.
3.  I thought about getting up and finding a manager; but I didn't want to miss a second of the movie.  
4.  I kept thinking, "Any moment now that obnoxious person and their baby will surely get up and go away."

Anyway, I liked the film as much as I could considering.  I going to see it again tonight at another theater.

Anne Squires