In 1988 two movies were released that I will always associate fondly with my nephew Nick. He was five at the time, and we had been taking him and his sister Katie, 17 months younger, to the show for about a year or so and he loved going to the movies (primarily Disney films)! 
The first 1988 movie was “Beetlejuice” which he really liked and ended up going twice to see it. It was funny and entertaining, and despite being about dead people and ghosts, Nick was quite enamored with this movie. For Christmas that year, we gave him several Beetlejuice toys – there are still a few in a box in my basement to this day. I just don’t have the heart to throw them out.
The second one was “Who Framed Roger Rabbit.” It was pretty radical at the time as it combined live actors with animated characters. It’s about this toon hating detective named Eddie Valiant (played by Bob Hoskins) who ends up being a cartoon rabbit’s only hope to prove his innocence when he is accused of murder. You see Roger Rabbit had suspected his wife Jessica, had been two-timing (playing patty cakes) on him, so he had hired Eddie to snoop around to see if it was true. But then the owner of Toon Town (Marvin Acme played by Stubby Kaye) ends up dead, and Roger Rabbit is accused of the murder since Marvin Acme was the man playing patty cakes with Jessica.
It had many plot twists, colorful characters, memorable lines (Jessica Rabbit: “I’m not bad, I’m just drawn that way…”) and more. The movie won four Oscars and had been nominated for seven, and it was visually stunning to watch all the special effects – at the time, they were truly amazing.
So imagine how much a five-year-old boy with a big imagination would enjoy the movie. And enjoy it Nick did. Over, and over, and over again. In fact, in the span of eight months, he saw that movie six times! I saw it with him three of those times. I believe my poor Mother saw it with him on five occasions.
One of the last times I saw it with him was in 1989 right after the Academy Awards, and it had moved to the dollar theatres. Nick was insistent on going again, and got quite stubborn about not wanting to see anything else. So I bargained with him. He was somewhat of a picky eater at the time and wouldn’t try anything too different, so the places I could take them out to eat were somewhat limited at that age (that would change in another year or two!). So I said, if you go to the Japanese restaurant with us so I could have Sushi, we would go see Roger Rabbitt one more time.
He readily, yet reluctantly agreed. We went to our favorite Japanese neighborhood restaurant and thought that the kids would get a kick out of sitting in the private room with the traditional low-style Japanese table and seating mats. It was about six o’clock and my Mom and I decided to take Nick and Katie to the eight o’clock show on a Saturday night since the kids would be spending the night. So we had enough time to eat and get to the show a couple of blocks away.
Once in the restaurant, the Japanese hostess escorted us to a private dining area, and motioned for us to take off our shoes. Mom, Katie and I slipped out of ours readily but as I was moving to sit down in the low table, Nick was still standing, with his arms crossed tightly around him, and a big (but cute) pout on his face. He didn’t want to take off his shoes – he wouldn’t take off his shoes.
I tried to coax him gently, but he refused; my Mom tried to reason with him and he crossed his arms even tighter around him and backed up. “I don’t want to do that, you’re not supposed to take your shoes off in a restaurant, it’s not proper manners, and I’m not going to eat here either” he said politely.
The Japanese hostess tried to tell him that it was alright to take off his shoes, but he just got more bull-headed. He wasn’t about to take his shoes off. Unfortunately there were no regular tables and chairs available as the restaurant was very crowded. So we asked for a chair that he could sit down in, and we sat him in it just inside the corner of our private room. Mom told Nick to sit there that we were going to eat at this restaurant, that was the bargain he made with us for being able to see Roger Rabbit one more time. So Mom, Katie and I all sat in the low table (shoes off) and had Sushi, Tempura and we ordered Yakitori, thinking the kids would like the grilled skewered chicken. Nick sat quietly in his chair (shoes on) watching us eat (but never unfolding his arms).
“This chicken is really good Nick, don’t you want a bite?” I asked.
“No thank you,” he said ever the polite, but stubborn boy. “I’m not hungry.”
Grandma said sweetly, “don’t you want to come sit down by us? You can leave your shoes on.”
“That’s okay Grandma, I’ll just wait , I’m fine, I’ll just sit right here.”
The Japanese restaurant was very dark and mysterious to Nick
We hurried through our meal and left the restaurant. Nick happily jumped in the car, once again excited about seeing the movie. While we thought this was a lesson about respecting other people’s preferences, he saw it as an exercise in exhibiting polite patience while avoiding something he didn’t want to do. He wasn’t throwing a tantrum or anything, as this wasn’t Nick’s style as he was always, always very well-mannered, polite and sweet.
So we went off to see “Who Framed Roger Rabbit” one last time on the big screen (it would be released later that year on video). As we were driving to the theater about a half a block ahead the Golden Arches were within sight. “I’m hungry,” Nick said. “Can I please have a Happy Meal?”
Well we couldn’t let him not have any dinner (I had planned on getting him something at the show), so we drove thru and picked up a Happy Meal and small soda and he ate it in the parking lot of the show. As we were walking into the theater he hugged both Mom (Grandma) and me, and said “thank you so much for taking me to see Roger Rabbit one more time, it’s the best movie ever!”
And he then said, “by the way, I’m glad you got to eat your Sushi, but that was a really strange place, I don’t ever want to go there again, it was spooky!”
The truth came out – he had been frightened to sit down in the “pit table” as he had called it. It was very dark in that Japanese restaurant, and he didn’t know what was “down there” under the table. And since he didn’t know, he didn’t want to put his feet “down there” without shoes on. He wasn’t afraid of the ghosts, dead people and the eerie stuff in “Beetlejuice,” nor was he afraid of the murder, mayhem and evil antics from “Who Framed Roger Rabbit.” But unknown food, in a dark place, with unusual seating arrangements, with a lady in a kimono asking for his shoes, all that was a little too dark and mysterious for Nick’s 5-year-old imagination!
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