"Memories are made of this," a mid-century pop song proclaimed. For you and for me, those memories likely
include the latest technological advances in science and in human civilization. Keeping with my recent trend of thought about movies, I decided to explore another avenue of Hollywood theatrics - The 3-D movies.
"Gimmicks" were the key to this new technology, some being good while
others were bad. Some were just plain fun, and others were just hype. Most were designed to lure people away from their new fangled TV sets.
Many of us stood in long lines at the Fox in the 50's in order to watch the scenes come right off the screen at us.
Sometimes there would be a three dimensional display and poster outside the theater for us to get ready for the
show we would see. They would send our senses reeling, wondering what wonders lie ahead. When we bought our ticket, we were issued a pair of really "cool" 3-D glasses, one lens covered in red and the other in green (or, blue). This is what happened, I think. The projectors (two)
had to be synchronized, as each camera (two) shot the same scene from  about the same distance apart as the human eyes. The red lens filtered out red lines, the green lines filtered out green lines. Somehow, the pictures resulted in things jumping off the screen.
I remember, vividly, a mountain of rocks coming down a steep hill and right out on us in the audience. Screams filled the theater as this was the most graphic sensation of a near-death experience that we had ever encountered. "It Came From Outer Space" was among the first of its type shown, the rock slide was terrifying and at the same time exhilarating. We had survived.
Many people collect strange things like frogs, thimbles or pottery. There are many more who collect nostalgic
memories of their "happier days" such as family photos, souvenirs and things they did long ago. Some actually collect 3-D movie memorabilia. To a small extent, I am one of those.
The 1950's had most of the greatest
Science-Fiction/Fantasy/Horror genre films of all time, with equally appealing
artwork. The art posters far outclassed the film, usually, but they were only "still" pictures.
Who remembers Vincent Price in "The House of Wax?"
You've never seen the re-run on TV in 3-D, but the original film version must still be out there in  some archival collection. Oh, to see it again in its original 3-D format!
Some movies have been transferred to video in 3-D. And, we can view them with the same glasses we used at the theaters.
Among those that I watch at home are "The Maze", Gorilla At Large", "Robot Monster" and "Cat Women of the Moon." These were so bad that the only redeeming feature was it's 3-D gimmicks. For example, a "Michelin-Man" type creature (Robot Monster) had bubbles blowing off the screen into the audience. If there was anything else, I failed to see it. Nowadays we can get 3-D videos of
roller coasters, airplane rides or almost any other subject - not for theater viewing but for home and travel
enjoyment. And, they are just as exciting - except for the size of the silver screen - as the ones we saw downtown. I
actually got sick to my stomach watching and being a part of a roller coaster ride. No more Worlds of Fun rides for me.
The "Creature features," were filmed in 3-D, starting with the famous "Creature from the Black Lagoon." The sequel, "Revenge of the Creature," followed in the same 3-D format.
I don't believe the "Creature Walks Among Us" was in 3-D, but it might have been. Or, might it have been in the new curved screen format called "Cinemascope" which replaced 3-D at the theaters.
Do you remember old Channel 41 showing some 3-D and issuing glasses through fast food outlets. Was it the
'elegant' Elvira, Mistress of the Night, who introduced those flicks. The big ape tore up the Carney in "Gorilla At Large."

It was the 'Cinemascope' type panoramic screens that ushered in a new type of three dimensional features, although the effects were minimal. No longer would you want to scoot over one direction or another to see what was behind the tree in the foreground. Cinerama and Todd-AO would also occupy the big wide screen.
Remember when "Stereo Sound" was the thing? Or, perhaps you attended a big city showing of a "Smell-O-Vision" production.  William Castle gave us Emergo, Percepto, Illusion-O and other innovative effects. (Castle home films.)
They had visions of the next gimmicks to hit the big screens, including Vista-Vision. But, none could surpass the
unique original 3-D process. The first to go, however, was 3-D.

The posters of movies were done so as to look likeeverything in the artwork was coming out of a big movie screen. Inside theater lobbies, usually on the candy counter, were beautiful 11" X 14" lenticular 3-D glass transparencies, in back-lit shadow boxes, of stars and
scenes of upcoming films. You could 'preview' the movie without 3-D glasses.