Before Blu-ray, before DVD’s, before videotapes, when even cable TV was in its infancy, there was a new technology – the RCA high density video disk. For those who are old enough to remember, disks were the first to give the opportunity to rent movies and watch them at home. They came on the market in 1980. The players were big and bulky, and so were the disks. They were just like record albums, only heavy and thick. I finally found a picture that shows the player and the stack of disks beside it. To play the disk, you inserted the whole thing, cover and all, into the player. When you pulled the cover out, the record-sized disk stayed in the machine. Each disk could only hold about 90 minutes of movie, so a lot of movies required 2-3 disks. What a thrill that was – to be able to play movies you could pick out yourself any time you wanted. Now it is old hat, but then it was new and exciting.
My favorite store to rent video disks was Leon’s Lectronics, a little TV repair shop in my home town. Leon was one of my favorite people. He was a little guy with a shock of white hair that made him look like a mad scientist. He started renting video disks on the side, and I remember him saying he was very surprised to see the business they were pulling in. My boys and I were at Leon’s at least twice a week to rent movies, and we got to be good friends. After a while, when he realized what a rabid movie fan I was, he let me buy my favorites. I eventually collected about 30 video disks. The first one I bought was
The Red Shoes, then
Moby Dick,
The Adventures of Robin Hood and many more favorites that had been released on disk. There were some modern movies too, and I got a couple that my boys wanted, but mostly classics. The selection was not large, but it was good. The covers, like the classic record album covers, were works of art. I miss that a lot – you just can’t fit that kind of artwork on the little DVD or videotape covers. The one picture of a disk cover I was able to find,
The Adventures of Robin Hood, is unfortunately black and white. However, I owned that particular movie, and the cover was actually beautifully colored and adorned like a medieval manuscript.
Video disks didn’t last very long. Manufacture of the disks and players ceased in 1986. Following closely upon their heels were the videotapes, and they took over the market. The disks went the way of the dinosaurs, and soon there were none to be rented or bought. Leon kept my disk player running as long as possible, but eventually it needed parts that were no longer made, and if there were used players to be bought, I could not afford them. I kept my collection of disks for many years just out of sentiment. When I cleaned out the basement last year, that stack of disks had been collecting dust for a very long time. I knew it was time to let them go. When my now-grown sons were picking them up to throw away, they both remarked how incredibly heavy the stack was. Well, the dinosaurs were big and heavy too!
I wish I had just one more picture to display in this little tribute. I don’t have a picture of Leon, which I would love to have just for myself. Leon died a few years ago, and I remember our time of fun and friendship with great fondness. Leon and his little shop gave a lot of happiness and entertainment to my boys and me. We cherish that memory.
