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Dean's Little Red Book

1/20/2015

2 Comments

 
Picture
The Cultural Revolution in China is memorialized by Chairman Mao’s Little Red Book (Quotations of Chairman Mao Tse-tung), first issued in 1964. Published in 117 countries, Mao’s primer stayed officially in print until 1976, when the aforesaid revolution ended. That was, coincidentally, the year a group of us tried very hard to foment our own small and very local revolution in St. George, Staten Island, by running the St. George Theatre, not just as the movie palace it had always been, but also as a kind of cultural center, with roots in the local community, roots that would reach as far as Manhattan.

We failed, of course. This cultural center idea, successful in many communities now, was more than a generation ahead of its time. Leap forward almost forty years to last Saturday afternoon, and, in a box of junk at the top of a closet, I’ve found the “Fire Book!” It really is the Little Red Book of the St. George Theatre in that hapless year, 1976: a red four-subject notebook which served as a kind of unofficial log and manual.

It pays to clean out your closets every now and then!

Why a Fire Book? Originally intended as a record of fire inspections, with a bright red cover that seems to advertise that fact, the very first page of the book addresses fire inspectors specifically. “Fire Warden, please sign and date,” it says, in hopeful block print letters. The rest of that page is blank. The FDNY had its own forms of documentation, with which to write us up, for fire buckets more than 12 inches off the floor and other infractions.

The next few pages are blank, but on page three, an undated and incomplete inventory of candy available at the concession stand follows, written in the adolescent hand of an unnamed high school student: Baby Ruth, Good & Plenty, M&M Plain, Nestle’s Crunch (Large), Hershey Chocolate (large), Spearmint Leaves (box), Raisinets, Goobers, Chocolate Almonds, Sno-Caps, Charleston Chew, and so on. The list follows for several pages, ending in a chart with prices, in alphabetical order. Four more blank pages, then something in Dean’s own hand:

        TRAINER PKG
        COMING: +
        GONE WITH THE WIND +
        COMING +
        EXORCIST +
        GODZILLA VS. MEGALON +
        STARTS WEDNESDAY +
        DEATH MACHINES +
        EXORCIST TEASER

Deeper into the book are SCREEN SKEDS, each dated for the period we ran the movie. From May 12 to 18, for example, we ran Jaws on Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Monday and Tuesday, at 7 and 9:10, alternating with trailer packages at 6:49 and 8:59. On Saturday and Sunday, Jaws started at 1 PM, and we were off-screen just before midnight (11:48), avoiding the expensive overtime the Projectionist’s Union (Local 306) would have charged after midnight.

What is the meaning of all this, the blank fire log, the incomplete candy inventory, the more-than-complete log of movie times and trailer packages? I remembered the Red Book, though Dean has entirely forgotten it.

"You kept it at the concession stand, where you liked to do business, in the middle of things,” I reminded him, “You took a shift at selling candy and saved a few bucks, while you were at it.”

Mao had his Little Red Book, and we had ours, so important once, and these days a research trove for me. Pain is written in those pages, but only I can see it. Although the theater never burned (no thanks to the fire inspectors), the business we were running was, in a very different sense, on fire — it ran in the red, losing money day after day after day.

Oh, I almost forgot to mention an item in the middle of the book, a list of the candy and soda and hot dogs most of us took from Concession. Each staff member wrote down the item taken, plus his or her name, expecting the candy to be deducted from a paycheck, but Management (as we styled ourselves), didn’t have to reimburse the meal of hot dog and popcorn and coffee--and whatever else--we took to keep us going. We never paid ourselves. Someday we would — or so we thought.


MANY THANKS TO CLIFFORD BROWDER FOR A BRILLIANT BLOG POST ON MOVIE THEATERS
(Think you know everything about movie theaters?  Check out French provincial theaters of the fifties, tales from the wild side, off Times Square in the xxx-rated Sixties, and art houses where the film got yanked). I guarantee you'll learn something at No Place for Normal: New York!



2 Comments
michael carman
1/21/2015 06:15:37 am

I love the graphic of the young Chinese man hawking Mao and movie candy. Great
visuals! Which is what movies are all about, of course, except that they poke
you in more ways than a silent image does--or at least, in more instant-bodily
ways. Like the popcorn scent and the sound of fireworks on New Year's Eve.

I've always loved movies too, just as you do. The first time I went to the
movies was as a four-or-five-year-old who lived on Staten Island with my
parents. It was "Wartime," as my mother always called that period. My parents
took me to Radio City Music Hall to see Bambi--a bad choice, although they
didn't realize it. We saw the movie on the giant screen that RCMH had, in that
beautiful Art Deco palace. I loved the palace, and the Disney-sweet animals and
flowers, too. But the heartbreak i suffered when the baby deer lost his mother
was more than I could bear. I sobbed and sobbed.

The next movie I saw was when I was five, just before we were getting read to
move to Ohio, where I'd spend my growing-up years. Again we came into the City
on the Staten Island Ferry, and again my parents took me to Radio City Music
Hall, and again I loved the size and space and the huge screen with the magic
story on it. Those were pre-television days--no one had ever heard of
television--at least, I hadn't--so the movies were magic, indeed.

This time the movie was "I Remember Mama," a beautiful, deeply felt movie about
an immigrant family and their love for their children and each other, and their
struggles to make a new life in New York City. When the little girl got sick and
had to go to the hospital, and her mother wasn't allowed to see her, Irene
Dunne, the mama, actually went to the hospital and got a job washing floors, so
that she would have a reason and permission to see her daughter. The sight of
Mama on her hands and knees, scrubbing the floor, moving anxiously along the
hallway to find her daughter's bed--that was a sight I will never forget. But
again, it wrenched me beyond bearing. I sobbed and sobbed.

This time, though, something had changed inside me. I found that not only could
I bear the tears, I might need them. I was wedded to storytelling on the big
screen--in love with movies.

Reply
vicki
1/21/2015 06:18:18 am

I remember I Remember Mama too. It's the beginning of art, isn't it?--when you realize you need the tears...

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    Victoria Hallerman

    Author

    Victoria Hallerman is a poet and writer, the author of the upcoming memoir, Starts Wednesday: A Day in the Life of a Movie Palace, based on her experience as a movie palace manager of the St. George Theatre, Staten Island, 1976. As she prepares her book manuscript for publication, she shares early aspects of theater management, including the pleasures and pain of entrepreneurship. This blog is for anyone who enjoys old movie theaters, especially for those who love the palaces as they once were. And a salute to those passionate activists who continue to save and revive the old houses, including the St. George Theatre itself. This blog is updated every Wednesday, the day film always arrived to start the movie theater week.

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