Oscars

Here is our Bobby at the 1953 Oscar Reunion <3  I’m so glad he got this opportunity to come back.

It’s interesting how big of a gap there on stage between him and the woman in front of him!  I’m pretty sure there’s no significance to it, I’m just bound to notice these little things.

It’s adorable how, when we first see him, he’s giving a sort of “token” smile, but while the camera is panning past, his face slightly alters into a more genuine, flattered beam, probably because of the applause he garnered.  

The experience of watching this was a haunting one for me.  The picture quality is pretty darn bad, given the fact that television effects were anyway during the 50′s, but seeing Bobby in his own element – not as playing anyone, but just being himself – for even a few seconds felt so wonderful.  We have so little of him left, just being who he was.  No filmed interviews, no preserved personal appearances (aside from the handful-of-seconds Disneyland stint of 1955).

In this sequence, I can feel the force of his personality pressing to reach out of the old, worn-out film that captures him.