I saw that Meadowlark Lemon of the Harlem Globetrotters passed away. It reminded me of when I was about 13-years old and they came to Lethbridge. The game was at the Exhibition Pavilion where everything of note took place in those days. (We had not yet had the successful Arena fire that helped to speed up the building of The Sportsplex.) It was after Christmas and I had just gotten a Kodak Instamatic Camera. It had the flash cubes that had four sides so you could take four photos with one cube. It was one of the coolest gifts I had ever gotten. Somehow I got court-side seats. I was right there where the action was. I had my trusty Kodak and I was ready to become the next Annie Leibovitz. (Although her career hadn’t started at that time, but you get the point.) I took shots of the warm-ups and as many action shots as I could while the teams were running past my elite seat. I was like Jack Nicholson at a Laker Game…although this was before Nicholson made a name for himself…but again, you get the idea.
Suddenly during the game, one of the Globetrotters noticed I was taking a lot of photos and he decided to plop down beside me. First impression: “Wow, did he ever smell.” This was ¾ of the way through the game so he had been sweating for some time. He grabbed my camera and in what may have been Lethbridge’s first ever selfie he pointed my Instamatic at himself and took a picture. It was pretty cool. And by the way, I absolutely loved the show. I thought they were highly entertaining.
Of course back in those days you had to take your film in to be processed. It usually took about a week. (I know, unbelievable.) As I recall, I had 24 shots on that particular roll. I couldn’t wait to see my work.
Finally, the prints were ready to be picked up. I went to the drug store, got my package, opened it up….and no!!!!! To my utter shock and disappointment there was only one photo that turned out. And I hadn’t taken it. Yup, it was the one that the Globetrotter had taken of himself. It was perfect. As for the other shots apparently you need more room light for shots taken from a distance. That didn’t come with the directions. Lesson learned.
Mark Boogieman 