Let's All Go To The Lobby

My children were all in school but still fairly young. My husband found an old 8 mm movie projector. No movies just the projector. And it worked.

As luck would have it the local library had a section of old 8 mm movies. The selection was not huge but adequate.

In the summer we would set up outside. There was a body shop on the other side of our neighbors. It had a white wall that was perfect for showing the movies.

Everyone was invited. Blankets were spread on the lawns and popcorn was plentiful. The children loved it.

One of my favorite movies was I Know An Old Lady Who Swallowed A Fly. It was a cartoon of one of my favorite silly songs. It begins with:


I know an old lady who swallowed a fly,
I don't know why she swallowed the fly,
Perhaps she'll die.

A new critter was added to the list.

 I know an old lady who swallowed a spider,
That wriggled and jiggled and tickled inside her.
She swallowed the spider to catch the fly,
I don't know why she swallowed the fly,
Perhaps she'll die.

With each new animal the rest of the song was repeated after. Finally there is a long list of animals and a reason why they were swallowed.

I know an old lady who swallowed a cow,
I wonder how she swallowed a cow?!
She swallowed the cow to catch the goat,
She swallowed the goat to catch the dog,
She swallowed the dog to catch the cat,
She swallowed the cat to catch the bird,
She swallowed the bird to catch the spider,
That wriggled and jiggled and tickled inside her,
She swallowed the spider to catch the fly,
I don't know why she swallowed the fly,
Perhaps she'll die.

The song ends with

I know an old lady who swallowed a horse,
She's dead, of course!!

I think the movie version included a pig in there somewhere but this is the official version. You can find it on YouTube by various artists. My favorite is by Burl Ives. Click on the link if you would like to hear it.

We spent many warm summer nights with our friends and family watching movies on the lawn. It does not take a lot of money to have a good time.