Late 1985, the lighting of the city Christmas decorations, the illuminated box containing the scale model replica of the nativity positioned before the city Christmas tree, with hand painted figurines and scale straw for the donkey, all to the sound of "We're Walking In the Air", Aled Jones immortalised piece from the animation 'The Snowman'. To a three year old going Four, guided by my Mother through an endless warmth of collective seasonal gathering, the city at Christmas could only be compared to the type of rare dream one gets when hibernating in a warm bed after a rich hot chocolate in front of a log fire. My Mother asked me if later that evening I would like to go to what she described as 'The Pictures'. Being nearly Four, I had actually forgetten what 'The Pictures' were, and began to build an image of a quaint art gallery into my head. Out of a curiousity that I couldn't escape, I told my Mother that I'd wish to go to the 'Pictures' very much.

On arrival at the ABC cinema (Superman fans may want to note that in the coming year this theatre would be purchased by the infamous Cannon Group) the first part of the experience is of course to que for the tickets. From my low angle point of view I was surrounded by giants hurriedly walking past to the films of their choice. The excitement was quite something, and the magical Christmas atmosphere provided further enhancement. Like a predestrian in Times Square, I looked up to view the gallery of posters labelled 'COMING SOON' . There were three poster spaces, two of which were empty. The third however was the face of that very familiar Yuletide icon, and the enthusiasm and happy warmth in his face looked at me offering the full amount of attention that a young child desires full time. Although just a two dimensional image, Santa Claus was making full eye contact with me, and I could only feel special. Infact, I could not keep my wide eyes off it, and as I exclaimed to my mother and made her aware of the news, she looked over to it and told me that we would be seeing more of that later.

Later on in December I had I returned to 'The Pictures', but my child attention span had reset itself, I was unaware of what was going to happen. the beauty of being so young is that you sit and enjoy the ride. And once the cinema was packed, the trailers were over, a sign appeared reading "BBFC British Board of Film Classification: This is to certify that 'Santa Claus: The Movie' is a U Universal". The lights dimmed to a complete pitch black as the audience became democratically mute. This moment lasted for at least five seconds, and in that time you could hear the sound of lumps in the throat. The audience was waiting for something. As the dark silence continued, the sound of a music box started to emerge, gentle and soft against the pitch black of the cinema screen. After this comforting introduction there was the subtle touch of a delicate harp. At that point, a horizontal line of sparkle appeared from the darkness, and these revealed the famous words 'Alexander Salkind Presents'. Once the harp had faded off, a verse recited by Welsh Choir boy Aled Jones (talk about attention to detail, this was the boy who sang the Christmas themed runaway hit '"We're Walking In The Air"!) joined the music box tune in perfect harmony:

"Every Christmas Eve, You''ll be part of a miracle...."

After establishing this magical Christmas tone, the black screen faded into a starscape, camera tilting down towards the clouds below. If any sound could be heard in the audience, it was only that of lumps in the throat.

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