Saw Oppenheimer. An impressive piece of filmmaking, although I think the fifth hour dragged a bit. At times I felt a bit like watching Lenny Bruce read the Warren Commission report on stage - I get it; perhaps tighten it all up a bit? Was surprised to find that Robert Downey Jr. now looks like my grandfather, in the sense that all men of that era with those glasses and that hair looked alike. So enjoyable to watch him do something other than manic rat-a-tat quips while saving the world.
There was a small problem with our seats.
They designed the last row so it’s handicapped accessible, in part, but there’s a railing. Would you ask for your money back? That’s the subject of my next Sunday column.
We saw it at AMC Southdale. Sunday afternoon, a bit trashed - as if no one could keep the popcorn from falling out of their buckets, and no one could avoid treading on it. I like popcorn, although to be honest I don't miss it that much. Used to have a little bit every night, but sliced it out when I started the diet, and now it's lost of its appeal. So watching people with these huge tubs running them under the Faucet of Topping for half a minute is a bit disconcerting.
And I used to love the Faucet of Topping! I mean, when we were first granted access to the Faucet, it was startling - you trust us with this? What's to keep me from standing here and hitting the spout-button until the bucket is aslosh with Golden Fluid?
It still wasn't as good as the popcorn made by the man who had a stand next to the Fargo Theater. Rumor had it he was secretly rich from that stand! Sent his kid to college with the popcorn proceeds! The Fargo Theater staff never patted us down, or made any effort that I recall to keep you from bringing in an oil-streaked bag from the stand. Who was he? I'm sure there's some Facebook post or bulletin board chat where old people remember it and have little else to say except "I remember it." Googling . . . hah!
I've finally found a reason to go on Facebook!
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155 Comments! |
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I probably sat in a dark room with all of these people at some point in my childhood. |
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Anyway. It's been a long time since I bought popcorn at the theater, because you eat it all during the trailers, and it's pre-fab and bad. No matter how much you drench it.
Southdale was looking more and more like a backwater.
It’s not the decline of the area - there’s a high-dollar uppermost of the toppermost mall across the street. Perhaps the problem is the high-dollar uppermost of the toppermost mall across the street. I’ve seen the mall sink and rise before, but this . . . it feels permanent. A new grocery store is going in where one of the department stores once stood, as opposed to an old grocery store I suppose, but I don’t think it will help, and I can’t imagine why the store is going in. There’s a CUfB, a Target, a Whole Foods, a Lundsenbyerly’s, and a Traders Joe within five minutes. Not exactly a food desert.
Anyway: one of the things about sticking around for a while means you know what things were. This place, for example. This was an Apple Store for years, before they moved to a larger location in Southdale.
It was something else before, of course. It was a B. Dalton. A chain that meant a lot to us around here, because it was our chain bookstore. It was named for a real guy - sort of. Bruce Dayton.
Bruce Bliss Dayton (August 16, 1918 – November 13, 2015) was an American retail executive, businessman, heir to the Dayton's Company fortune, and philanthropist.
Dayton was the last surviving member of the five Dayton brothers – all grandsons of George Dayton, the founder of The Dayton Company – who expanded Dayton's department store founded by their grandfather in downtown Minneapolis from a single location into the national Target Corporation, one of the largest retail store chains in the United States.
At one time, the nation's largest retailers of hardcover books.
I don't suppose it means anything to know it was once there. But that's one of the things about living some place for a while: knowing what was there before, and what was there before that.
It’s 1952.
They’re having a DROUTH
Might be more to this story, perhaps?
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She was angry he’d left his car? She wanted to steal it?
I think I found her on Twitter; “retired real estate agent,” last tweet eight years ago. Could be a different person. |
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Who?
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Wikipedia:
"Betty Cox was born on January 23, 1923 in Beaver City, Nebraska, USA. She was an actress, known for The George Skinner Show (1954), The Lawrence Welk Show (1955) and The Tonight Show Starring Jack Paar (1957). She died on October 5, 2010 in Hemet, California, USA." |
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As for hubby: "George Skinner is a producer, known for The Better Half Hour (1951), Whirligig (1950) and The George Skinner Show (1954).
Seems to have been a local guy who had a brief stint in the big leagues.
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They’re pretty darn up-front about it |
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You do wonder what qualified as Muck in 1952.
Part of a column that was directly below the editorial cartoon:
It ends with the candidate spanking his kid on live TV. A cut about the usual 50s editorials, I’ll tell you that.
I think this is him - Kentucky, journalism school. It fits. Died in 2017.
Another local columnist:
He was the editor of the Favorite.
Finally:
These were big. When the Shriners came to town, it was quite a show, and all the local men in fezes turned out and waved and played in a band and acted like The Strange Secret Army of Dads.
Good solid paper. It’s about 99% local, which is the way a lot of them were, and the way a lot of people liked it.
That'll do. Some 60s Sheraton swank awaits. |
