VCRs

We got our first VCR in 1985, about the time that I graduated from college. (We almost got an obsolescent Betamax, but fortunately we ended up getting a VHS.) The first films we rented were The Dresser, a stage adaptation about a doddering Shakespearean actor and his garrulous dresser; and Comfort and Joy, a whimsical comedy about a Glasgow DJ who settles a gang war among ice cream vendors by inventing ice cream fritters.

Having a VCR opened up a whole world of movies for us, especially after moving to Toronto, with its specialty video stores.  I used to rent a lot of videos at places like Hollywood Canteen and Suspect Video.  In 2001, I think, we bought our first DVD player and soon stopped renting videocassettes.

When I was in a London residence twenty years ago, researching my Ph.D. thesis, Philip Chang and I handled the video club.  I found some good rentals at a shop in Notting Hill.  On Saturday afternoons we'd show videos for the children of residents, like Mary Poppins  and The Jungle Book. (Lesley Brooks lent us stuff from her big video collection.) It was pretty fun.