It's difficult to go belowdecks to the comfort women's lair. They've blocked the entry with some mummified urchin bodies. Aside from that, everything's ship shape and doing well. Plenty of fuel, good supply of fresh water, dogs are fed.

Barricaded themselves in? Get axes and unloose the huskies. I'll brook no insubordination. Hog tie them....no, spread-eagle them and await further instructions.

Are we stopping at Madagascar or heading straight to Singapore?

SWORD

Ooooh, violence at sea... How exotic. The urchin bodies crumbled into dust at the slightest push. The comfort women have made a large lanyard out of the collected hair of the bodies. I think they were planning to jump ship or to let pirates aboard.

Put them in irons.

Have you noticed that the CyberGod has removed the approval rating markers from this thread? Some very strange things happen in the cyber world. Posters' fotos appear, disappear, some get brackets, some get dumped.

SWORD

That's why I never posted a picture. I don't look like I used to anyway. I think there's a rusting old photo booth in the lobby of the Paradise, it might be coaxed back into life. You know the type, 4 terrible b/w shots for a buck. We can convert it to husky power.

Yes, I know what you mean. Unfortunately, I still look the way I used to....only older. All the huskies in the world won't help that.


SWORD

I have ruptured more than a few brain cells trying to remember if I was ever at the Paradise. Mary Ellen and I married early, shortly after getting out of school, and did not do a lot of dating. Our tendency was to go to the Ascot to see foreign films (we fancied ourselves to be young intellectuals, but I went for the "t*ts and ass" on the screen). I didn't understand anything I saw in Wild Strawberries or Last Year at Marienbad or most of the other avant garde films of those years). Or to the Thalia on the upper west side or for special occasions Radio City Music Hall or the Roxy or the Paramount.

But somehow I seem to remember the cherubs and the fountain and the celestial ceiling. Some of this might be the power of suggestion, of course. I have seen pictures and had the theatre described to me and perhaps even went to theatres that might have shared some of these features with the Paradise.

Which brings me to a couple of questions about the movie theatre industry, the Paradise and its denizens...

First, having to do with the industry and the theatre. The Paradise was obviously Loew's flagship in the Bronx. The Paramount was its flagship in Manhattan. Can I assume that it had flagship theatres in Brooklyn and Queens, as well? What about other major cities in the US? And, if yes to any of the above, do these other theatres hold the same mystique to people who frequented them as kids or is the Paradise somewhat unique in this respect?

Second, the Bronx was full of young punks when I grew up there (I too had that tendency, to a point). But, if you look at old newspaper pix of crowds at baseball games you are immediately struck by the percentage of men dressed in suits, ties and hats. We were more formal then.
As the Paradise was the most upscale theatre in the Bronx it must have attracted a mature, adult audience. Husbands and wives or mature singles. My question at last... did the experience of going to the Paradise elevate the punks to upgrading from pegged pants and leather jackets or did they go there to be intentionally antagonistic toward those whose upward mobility they might have found irritating? Were they appropriately reverent or was it an occasion to act out? Are there any incidents that stand out particularly in your minds?

Mark, I frequented the establishment often as I lived in the neighborhood. The older folks dressed up as was their practice while the teenagers and other young people wore whatever was "cool" at the time. I cannot recall a single incident other than the occasional noise or smoking which the ushers quickly resolved.

quote:

Originally posted by Mike McWatt:
Mark, I frequented the establishment often as I lived in the neighborhood. The older folks dressed up as was their practice while the teenagers and other young people wore whatever was "cool" at the time. I cannot recall a single incident other than the occasional noise or smoking which the ushers quickly resolved.

Thanx Mike. I remember incidents everywhere. On public transportation, at Orchard Beach, in theatres. I also remember otherwise tough kids on their best behavior in church or in the presence of a strong authority figure (maybe the cop who coordinated the PAL program). What I'm curious about is whether the experience of going to the Paradise brought out the best or the worst in such youngsters.

Would Crotona aka The Bronx Shepherd and Mike mind leaving the theater and barge? We expect rough weather as we approach Singapore. Also we may come into contact with pirates.

Thank you,

SWORD
Site Manager

There will again be a code of conduct and dress for the Manila Paradise, but in the interim, and especially in the Singapore harbour, it's difficult to make any promises.

With regard to CP's question, I believe there were "palace" type theaters in every major city in the US. The Loew's corporation owned MGM, and other major film companies had their own theater chains to show their product in.

Brooklyn and Queens had their palace type theaters, I'm not sure of the names. Manhattan was kind of different, as there were so many different types of theaters and it really doesn't matter because it's still hotsy-totsy.

The humidity and heat in Singapore is going to be a problem for the plaster work in the theater. It's already beginning to get dewy and little bits are crashing to the floor.

To deal with mold, order in a shipment of KITTY LITTER CHRYSTALS. They absorb the moisture, and when they turn blue or green, it's time to revive them by puuting them in a tray in the oven at a low temperature.

Dress code? Please elaborate.

SWORD

quote:

Originally posted by Billy N:

With regard to CP's question, I believe there were "palace" type theaters in every major city in the US. The Loew's corporation owned MGM, and other major film companies had their own theater chains to show their product in.

Brooklyn and Queens had their palace type theaters, I'm not sure of the names. Manhattan was kind of different, as there were so many different types of theaters and it really doesn't matter because it's still hotsy-totsy.

Thanx Billy.

I remember a Loew's Bay Terrace theater and a Loew's Fresh Meadows theater in Queens, there could be others,,, Midway?,,, Crossbay?,,, Kieth? no, the Kieths was a classic movie house but it was an RKO,, Flushing? I only know that Bay Terrace and Fresh Meadows were Loews theaters in Queens.

The dress code will have to be worked on. Ushers and Usherettes and Usheroonies will have to wear a uniform. Red sequined affairs, with pillbox hats like the type the hotel pages used to wear. Saris, mumus, and togas will be permitted at all times.

Pillbox hats? That went out with Jackie-O. Why not tarbouches with matching scimitars and Caucasian jackets similar to what the Georgians wear?

We're running out of boy power. The huskies keep eating them despite my warning to them that they'll pick up pinworms and STDs. Any idea where we get more labor?


SWORD

There have to be scores of available youth in the slums near the port cities. I think we can just cast a net and haul them in. As for the uniform, how's a nice glittering fez? I think that would look smart. The huskies need to switch from urchins to dry dog food. We can get a ton-sized bag at the next Wal-Mart we pass.

1. A Tarbouche is a fez.

2. Just try changing the huskies' diet. It's very difficult playing a mandolin with no fingers (and I'm being an optimist here).

For poverty, we better call into Java. With all the ****es they ingest, the huskies will need more water and yoghurt. I think I have a recipe for Sate Orang Muda or Nasi Goreng Pemuda.

SWORD

The cooks down in the galley are open to suggestions. I think they're getting a bit tired of tinned squid and dried pork rinds. Whenever we cast the nets over to get some fish and come up with some tires or old boots, we try to feed those to the urchins, but they're getting picky. I'd like to see about training some of those lads to deep sea pearl dive. I heard a single strand of South Sea natural pearls can retail for over a million bucks.

The odds of finding pearls are remote. So, I suggest, the sreet kids not eaten by the huskies be sold at the Manila Sex Slave market. This is a sure thing what with Japanese sex tours plus all the world's pedophiles touring Manila.

SWORD