The earliest movie theaters were able to lure customers in just by having moving picture images projected on screen, but since then it’s gotten harder and harder to put rear ends in seats for the biggest blockbusters.  While a big draw for 1940′s audiences was ice-cold air conditioning, once the novelty of AC spread to homes and television grabbed the world’s attention, the movie theaters had to turn to increasingly strange gimmicks to capture ticket dollars.  One of the first of these was 3-D, but 3-D has changed a lot in the past 50 years.

One thing I can safely say is that I’m so very very glad the polarized glasses of the 1950′s are an anachronism.  While I enjoyed watching The Creature from the Black Lagoon with them on, when I took them off to rub my eyes the blurry color bleed effect on screen gave me a massive headache.  Plus, you kind of look like a goof with those Elton John specs on.  However, the increased manufacture cost of modern 3D glasses gets passed along to the consumer in ticket surcharges, which I intensely hate.

So, I’m kind of torn on the issue.  If I’m going to see a movie, I want to get the full effect, so I’ll grudgingly pay for a pair of recyclable plastic sunglasses.  I just wish I could reuse the same pair over and over again and save on the cost of the screening!