Drive-in Screen in need of repair One of the more defining moments I remember from the early 1980s is the death of John Belushi. I was at a yard sale with a nasty hangover, purchasing a child’s potty, for my girlfriend’s nephew's new baby, when I heard the news that Belushi had overdosed. It was a big shock to many people and widely talked about.
He died from a devilish mixture of cocaine and heroin called an eight-ball, the former of which, was really starting to be felt in the town the cinema was in, and the nearby rural countryside, too. At the time, only a select few knew there was a true to life, Dixie mafia-like group of people running a ring of the Big C. In some ways, they weren't a group all that different from the good ol' boys that used to surround Elvis Presley.
This was an eclectic mix of criminals. The ring included a brother of one of the ubiquitous night-club owners in town written about in the 1978 chapter. (One owner I knew fairly well, and liked. He would often bring his family to the cinema.) Others in the group included a European lady who owned a beauty salon in the same strip-mall as the Flick, and a heavily-corrupted and prone-to-partying, DWI lawyer. Later on in the 80s, their profitable enterprise came to a crashing halt when one of the bunch was having their expensive auto serviced and a secret compartment inside the vehicle accidently came open. Out tumbled a kilo of damning evidence.
One was caught, and a few days later, many being were sought. There were some heavy duty prison sentences meted out down the road to a few of these people. It was that big. Several of those involved, that escaped the initial take down, were later arrested and even charged with a murder. The charges were dismissed for some reason or another after they were paraded before the public by a court arraignment that got shown on the TV news. At least their embarrassment and discomfort showed, who knows if any of them were contrite.
That March, the sleeper hit Porky’s came out. In a certain way Porky’s was an Anti-Animal House. Whatever movie innocence was left over from the previous decade was quickly fading, and this somewhat real to life, but exaggerated film is proof of it. The humor was a bit cruel and caustic in some scenes, and it had nowhere near the charm of Belushi’s breakthrough movie in my humble opinion. Still, it struck the funny bone with audiences and went on to be the fifth biggest money-maker of 1982 at $105,000,000.
An interesting result of the film’s success was that the relatively unknown actors demanded, and got, a substantial pay raise for Porky’s II. Nice, considering they were paid a pittance for the first one. The movie had its funny moments, like when the boys find, or make, a hole into the girls’ showers and, one is talked into placing his private parts through it, only to have the ogreish-female gym teacher grab hold and pull with all her might. The theatergoers thought that scene was funny indeed. Ouch!
The fancy country night-club scenes at Porky’s were fairly accurate for the time, too, especially in parts of the Deep South; except for maybe the huge fake pig, with the massive scrotum sac, advertising the place out front. The money-eyed, big exhibitors in town, with their two movie cinemas, had pretty well gotten things down by this time as to what was going to do blockbuster business and what wasn't; and every three months, when the future releases were divvied up between us and them, they were beginning to get more and more of the winners. But, a few sleeper films still slipped through their fingers like this one.
He died from a devilish mixture of cocaine and heroin called an eight-ball, the former of which, was really starting to be felt in the town the cinema was in, and the nearby rural countryside, too. At the time, only a select few knew there was a true to life, Dixie mafia-like group of people running a ring of the Big C. In some ways, they weren't a group all that different from the good ol' boys that used to surround Elvis Presley.
This was an eclectic mix of criminals. The ring included a brother of one of the ubiquitous night-club owners in town written about in the 1978 chapter. (One owner I knew fairly well, and liked. He would often bring his family to the cinema.) Others in the group included a European lady who owned a beauty salon in the same strip-mall as the Flick, and a heavily-corrupted and prone-to-partying, DWI lawyer. Later on in the 80s, their profitable enterprise came to a crashing halt when one of the bunch was having their expensive auto serviced and a secret compartment inside the vehicle accidently came open. Out tumbled a kilo of damning evidence.
One was caught, and a few days later, many being were sought. There were some heavy duty prison sentences meted out down the road to a few of these people. It was that big. Several of those involved, that escaped the initial take down, were later arrested and even charged with a murder. The charges were dismissed for some reason or another after they were paraded before the public by a court arraignment that got shown on the TV news. At least their embarrassment and discomfort showed, who knows if any of them were contrite.
That March, the sleeper hit Porky’s came out. In a certain way Porky’s was an Anti-Animal House. Whatever movie innocence was left over from the previous decade was quickly fading, and this somewhat real to life, but exaggerated film is proof of it. The humor was a bit cruel and caustic in some scenes, and it had nowhere near the charm of Belushi’s breakthrough movie in my humble opinion. Still, it struck the funny bone with audiences and went on to be the fifth biggest money-maker of 1982 at $105,000,000.
An interesting result of the film’s success was that the relatively unknown actors demanded, and got, a substantial pay raise for Porky’s II. Nice, considering they were paid a pittance for the first one. The movie had its funny moments, like when the boys find, or make, a hole into the girls’ showers and, one is talked into placing his private parts through it, only to have the ogreish-female gym teacher grab hold and pull with all her might. The theatergoers thought that scene was funny indeed. Ouch!
The fancy country night-club scenes at Porky’s were fairly accurate for the time, too, especially in parts of the Deep South; except for maybe the huge fake pig, with the massive scrotum sac, advertising the place out front. The money-eyed, big exhibitors in town, with their two movie cinemas, had pretty well gotten things down by this time as to what was going to do blockbuster business and what wasn't; and every three months, when the future releases were divvied up between us and them, they were beginning to get more and more of the winners. But, a few sleeper films still slipped through their fingers like this one.
A camera lense used at The Flick.
Life in the cinema, and a movie ...
| Since I only remember four, or five, movies from 1982, this will be a good time to look again into the life of the Flick’s employees and owner some more. When I started attending a technical college the previous September, Joel ( the other co-manager besides myself) and Angie began taking a newly offered, one-year course in something to do with behind the camera production side of film-making. Down the road, Joel would actually make a career for himself in this profession. I really don’t know what happened to Angie, but do hope she has a happy life. Employee Ricky, who was said to be the biggest Judy Garland fan in the country at one time, had a most remarkable experience with Pop T. around this time. This incident shows the remarkable decency of our boss. A deadly and ubiquitous 70s and 80s drug, making the rounds at the time was the potentially deadly downer Quaaludes, or ludes, as they were often called. Ricky became addicted to them. |  Pop T on left - Mr B on right |
One Saturday afternoon, while thoroughly blitzed, during a children’s matinee, he ousted himself in front of Pop T. by talking gobbledygook about Judy Garland, or maybe it was his new obsession, Pat Benatar, to the mini- moviegoers and their parents at the concession stand. I was there, sitting beside our boss and Mr. Trimble asked me if Ricky was on anything. It was really getting bad with the boy, and I told Pop T. that I thought he was. Ricky got fired right away and Mr. Trimble then drove him home.
Here’s where the beautiful essence of our boss came through.
Pop T. told Ricky that when he straightened himself out, and quit the poison, he could have his job back, which Ricky did. Pop T even offered to pay for any medical or other help Ricky might need. However, Ricky was back at work in a month or two, lude-free on his own hook. Ricky's father wasn't the nicest pap to his son and I believe he looked on Pop T as a kind of surrogate father and truly loved him from then on out.
As a matter of fact, several years later, he was the only one to be with that wonderful man when he passed away. According to Ricky, his last words were to ask if his family was alright. No person is perfect, and no one bats a thousand, but Pop T came pretty close to it; and there wasn't a bad bone in that brave man, believe you me.
Pop T's wife, Mrs. Dot was a colorful lady that did the accounting for her husband's theater and investments. She also had the bad misfortune of growing up in the Great Depression years in the South. Her family ran a county home for the destitute during those times and the sights and sorrows she saw as a young girl must have left a deep impression on her psyche. One thing I believe that came from this was her lifetime devotion to befriending and helping people in need, especially African Americans, who were at the bottom of the totem pole back then.
Unfortunately alcoholism ran in her family, too, and later on she was to fall prey to it, not just because of the family situation but other reasons as well. She was an out-going lady and loved taking bags of the Flick's fresh-popped popcorn around to folks and business's to give away free of charge. Mrs. Dot also enjoyed inviting some of us from the theater over to her home for dinner and then spoon-feed us things like buttered crabmeat and garden fresh Romaine lettuce. It was a bit embarrassing but lordy was it tasty stuff, bless her departed heart. A lot of people turned their backs on Mrs. Dot because of her drinking -- which did cause Pop T and his children a great deal of grief and pain, but I saw the real lady underneath the sickness and grew to love her.
As promised previously, here’s the rest of Mr. B.’s stories I can remember about the celebrities he knew, except for the Elvis one, which was told about in the 1980 chapter. On being asked about Golden Age movie producer Sam Goldwyn one time, these were his exact words:
"Oh, he was a fairy." [slang word back in Mr. B's day for homosexual or bi-sexual person. I had read Scott Eyman's excellent bio on Goldwyn, which prompted the question, and there was nothing in it that indicated the man was gay or bi.]
Regarding movie goddess Stella Stevens, he uncharitably said “She ain’t nothin’ but a Memphis whore.” [Could it be Mr. B felt this way because of the many movies Ms. Stevens played prostitutes in?]
On television star and comedian, Redd Foxx, he once remarked “He’s got the foulest mouth I’ve ever heard." [Well, he was a raunchy nightclub entertainer before Sanford and Son.]
He also revealed a brief and torrid affair with Frank Sinatra’s ex and one of Elvis' many girlfriends, dancer and actress Juliet Prowse. According to Mr. B., the woman seemed sexually insatiable, and a bit on the kinky side. This remembrance reminds me of an anecdote he confided in me one time when it was just the two of us driving on an inspection trip:
During his early salesman days - which should have been in the 1930s but may have been later - he and another sales guy were in a big city out West somewhere. As they stopped at an intersection light, suddenly another car pulled up beside them and two attractive ladies then hollered though an open window:
"You two are the lucky ones, follow us!"
The ladies then took them to a hotel room and preceded to make wild monkey love with the two gentlemen. After the session was over, the men begged the women for their phone numbers, but, they refused all entreaties to this request. On being asked why, the women answered that this was a one time thing, and they were now going home to fix their husbands the best meal they'd ever had.
On a better note, he was good friends with comedian- TV star Danny Thomas, and contributed handsomely out of his multiple millions to Mr. Thomas’ many charities. Especially to the St. Jude's Children's Hospital; and I also remember the time he told me about anonymously donating hardwood pews to some big Tennessee church. Mr. B had a big heart underneath the tough-as-nails businessman exterior, or maybe he was just hedging his bets for the hereafter, but I believe it was the former. On second thought, I know it was the former, which will be fully explained about in the last chapter of the Flick story someday.
This would also be a good time to tell about Mr B's advice on becoming successful in owning a small business. One day the three of us, Mr B, Pop T and myself drove to the small mountain town of Brevard, North Carolina. Mr B owned, and wanted to sell, the town's main street movie theater to an eager young married couple who were interested in purchasing it.
After the preliminaries and walk-through were over, he had them sit down to hear his wise suggestions on how to make a profitable go of it. First off, he told the couple not to hire anyone else for the foreseeable future: They should do everything themselves. The couple should fix-up a sleeping and kitchen area in one of the large storage areas upstairs, they should sell the tickets and concessions themselves, sweep the floors after the last show was over themselves, in other words be hands on together in everything they could, just the two of them- which of course would vastly cut down on their overhead.
They took the man's suggestions to heart and purchased the place at a reasonable price. This hard-working couple had bought the movie with their life-savings in fact.. A year or so later I rode back to the town to see how they were doing. They were doing great and were well into the black with the business's finances. And still running things themselves with the now affordable extra employee or two. This couple had single-handedly revitalized that town's run-down and on the rocks movie theater. They had made their endeavor a winner!
Although this paragraph probably belongs in the unabridged R-rated version, I'd better strike while the iron- oh, you know what I mean, is very hot! On checking into the town's clean, downtown motel again, later on, with Wendy along for the ride this time- something suddenly pierced us on entering the room, like darts from two of the Roman poet Cupid's golden arrows- and right where they counted too. The blinds were only half-open, producing the kind of soft light those great painters of long ago liked when painting their portraits.
In other words, striped, natural-light bodies that were to cover our coming together in this canvas. We immediately unclothed in a gentle-like fashion, with Wendy on her knees, her upper-body straight, and her curly brown-haired source of lovely origin tilted to one side, facing me with her eyes closed in one of those take-me-I'm yours looks. I was behind her in the same way, my hands gently cupping and fondling her beautiful breasts as my lips kissed her creamy, porcelain-colored neck. We'll save the complete recounting of this unforgettable erotic coupling for the full book but it was one of those that can be rightly said to have been an erotic encounter a person may well consider their finest hour...as such things go..
On July 13, the two-year anniversary of our first meeting (we met on Friday 13th, on opening night of the movie Friday 13th, a proper omen as things turned out), my girlfriend attempted to force a reduction in my partying after work by breaking-up with me. She also tried to squelch the having my cake, and eating it too attitude.
The three-month split didn't stop her from using her lunch break to eat in the strip mall's parking lot and watch me at work during the day making up ads for the newspaper and stuff though.
This was also the month a film that no doubt was anticipated to have only modest box-office potential was released. That movie was An Officer and a Gentleman. This flick not only went on to be many critics’ best movie pick of the year, but also the third most profitable film of 1982, at around $129,000,000.
It’s a great love story for one of the couples involved. But, for anyone that’s seen this film, it shouldn't be hard to imagine it wasn't the best one to have playing around you, all the time, during a romantic break-up. For anyone who hasn't seen the movie, I won’t spoil it for you, because it comes highly recommended, so I'll just advise that before watching it you make sure your love life is secure, and/or your self -esteem intact. Although there’s no flying in the movie like Top Gun, it’s a much more true to life and grittier film than similar ones from the 1980s.
As a final anecdote from 1982, it was that year I was working-out in a nearby gym that was in a metropolitan area nearby to the theater's town. The new gym was owned by an heir to a large food manufacturing company. This guy had an expensive car and a lot of capital, but still, was a decent sort of chap. Anyway, one day the scuttlebutt about the place had it that there was going to be a VIP visit in the next couple of hours. Sure enough, before long a limo pulled upfront and who do you think the VIP was but the Austrian Oak himself, Arnold Schwarzenegger!
Most of the guys in the place started following Arnold around like he was some kind of Olympic god, pawing his body and asking him questions. A few of us, really not predisposed to such worship, just stood there where we were and watched. One thing I can say, though, is that when Schwarzenegger walked close by me, his magnetic charisma was palpable. You could actually physically feel the energy emanating off him -- or whatever it was. The cult of personality was certainly alive and well that day way back when.
As to the gym-owning heir, he's probably president of his family's food snack company by now. I still enjoy his fine products to this day and haven't found a single wheat weevil in his tasty crackers yet! Still lots of jobs for local folks and that's a very good thing, in addition to the good snacks.
In December a movie was played that quickly became a classic. That movie was Tootsie starring Dustin Hoffman. Assuming most readers will have seen the film I won't go into its plot too much except to say Dustin, Jessica Lange, Terri Garr, Dabney Coleman, Bill Murray, Sydney Pollack and so many other actors did a bang-up job in this delightful comedy about gender switching. It did superb business for us and the patrons loved it.
Here’s where the beautiful essence of our boss came through.
Pop T. told Ricky that when he straightened himself out, and quit the poison, he could have his job back, which Ricky did. Pop T even offered to pay for any medical or other help Ricky might need. However, Ricky was back at work in a month or two, lude-free on his own hook. Ricky's father wasn't the nicest pap to his son and I believe he looked on Pop T as a kind of surrogate father and truly loved him from then on out.
As a matter of fact, several years later, he was the only one to be with that wonderful man when he passed away. According to Ricky, his last words were to ask if his family was alright. No person is perfect, and no one bats a thousand, but Pop T came pretty close to it; and there wasn't a bad bone in that brave man, believe you me.
Pop T's wife, Mrs. Dot was a colorful lady that did the accounting for her husband's theater and investments. She also had the bad misfortune of growing up in the Great Depression years in the South. Her family ran a county home for the destitute during those times and the sights and sorrows she saw as a young girl must have left a deep impression on her psyche. One thing I believe that came from this was her lifetime devotion to befriending and helping people in need, especially African Americans, who were at the bottom of the totem pole back then.
Unfortunately alcoholism ran in her family, too, and later on she was to fall prey to it, not just because of the family situation but other reasons as well. She was an out-going lady and loved taking bags of the Flick's fresh-popped popcorn around to folks and business's to give away free of charge. Mrs. Dot also enjoyed inviting some of us from the theater over to her home for dinner and then spoon-feed us things like buttered crabmeat and garden fresh Romaine lettuce. It was a bit embarrassing but lordy was it tasty stuff, bless her departed heart. A lot of people turned their backs on Mrs. Dot because of her drinking -- which did cause Pop T and his children a great deal of grief and pain, but I saw the real lady underneath the sickness and grew to love her.
As promised previously, here’s the rest of Mr. B.’s stories I can remember about the celebrities he knew, except for the Elvis one, which was told about in the 1980 chapter. On being asked about Golden Age movie producer Sam Goldwyn one time, these were his exact words:
"Oh, he was a fairy." [slang word back in Mr. B's day for homosexual or bi-sexual person. I had read Scott Eyman's excellent bio on Goldwyn, which prompted the question, and there was nothing in it that indicated the man was gay or bi.]
Regarding movie goddess Stella Stevens, he uncharitably said “She ain’t nothin’ but a Memphis whore.” [Could it be Mr. B felt this way because of the many movies Ms. Stevens played prostitutes in?]
On television star and comedian, Redd Foxx, he once remarked “He’s got the foulest mouth I’ve ever heard." [Well, he was a raunchy nightclub entertainer before Sanford and Son.]
He also revealed a brief and torrid affair with Frank Sinatra’s ex and one of Elvis' many girlfriends, dancer and actress Juliet Prowse. According to Mr. B., the woman seemed sexually insatiable, and a bit on the kinky side. This remembrance reminds me of an anecdote he confided in me one time when it was just the two of us driving on an inspection trip:
During his early salesman days - which should have been in the 1930s but may have been later - he and another sales guy were in a big city out West somewhere. As they stopped at an intersection light, suddenly another car pulled up beside them and two attractive ladies then hollered though an open window:
"You two are the lucky ones, follow us!"
The ladies then took them to a hotel room and preceded to make wild monkey love with the two gentlemen. After the session was over, the men begged the women for their phone numbers, but, they refused all entreaties to this request. On being asked why, the women answered that this was a one time thing, and they were now going home to fix their husbands the best meal they'd ever had.
On a better note, he was good friends with comedian- TV star Danny Thomas, and contributed handsomely out of his multiple millions to Mr. Thomas’ many charities. Especially to the St. Jude's Children's Hospital; and I also remember the time he told me about anonymously donating hardwood pews to some big Tennessee church. Mr. B had a big heart underneath the tough-as-nails businessman exterior, or maybe he was just hedging his bets for the hereafter, but I believe it was the former. On second thought, I know it was the former, which will be fully explained about in the last chapter of the Flick story someday.
This would also be a good time to tell about Mr B's advice on becoming successful in owning a small business. One day the three of us, Mr B, Pop T and myself drove to the small mountain town of Brevard, North Carolina. Mr B owned, and wanted to sell, the town's main street movie theater to an eager young married couple who were interested in purchasing it.
After the preliminaries and walk-through were over, he had them sit down to hear his wise suggestions on how to make a profitable go of it. First off, he told the couple not to hire anyone else for the foreseeable future: They should do everything themselves. The couple should fix-up a sleeping and kitchen area in one of the large storage areas upstairs, they should sell the tickets and concessions themselves, sweep the floors after the last show was over themselves, in other words be hands on together in everything they could, just the two of them- which of course would vastly cut down on their overhead.
They took the man's suggestions to heart and purchased the place at a reasonable price. This hard-working couple had bought the movie with their life-savings in fact.. A year or so later I rode back to the town to see how they were doing. They were doing great and were well into the black with the business's finances. And still running things themselves with the now affordable extra employee or two. This couple had single-handedly revitalized that town's run-down and on the rocks movie theater. They had made their endeavor a winner!
Although this paragraph probably belongs in the unabridged R-rated version, I'd better strike while the iron- oh, you know what I mean, is very hot! On checking into the town's clean, downtown motel again, later on, with Wendy along for the ride this time- something suddenly pierced us on entering the room, like darts from two of the Roman poet Cupid's golden arrows- and right where they counted too. The blinds were only half-open, producing the kind of soft light those great painters of long ago liked when painting their portraits.
In other words, striped, natural-light bodies that were to cover our coming together in this canvas. We immediately unclothed in a gentle-like fashion, with Wendy on her knees, her upper-body straight, and her curly brown-haired source of lovely origin tilted to one side, facing me with her eyes closed in one of those take-me-I'm yours looks. I was behind her in the same way, my hands gently cupping and fondling her beautiful breasts as my lips kissed her creamy, porcelain-colored neck. We'll save the complete recounting of this unforgettable erotic coupling for the full book but it was one of those that can be rightly said to have been an erotic encounter a person may well consider their finest hour...as such things go..
On July 13, the two-year anniversary of our first meeting (we met on Friday 13th, on opening night of the movie Friday 13th, a proper omen as things turned out), my girlfriend attempted to force a reduction in my partying after work by breaking-up with me. She also tried to squelch the having my cake, and eating it too attitude.
The three-month split didn't stop her from using her lunch break to eat in the strip mall's parking lot and watch me at work during the day making up ads for the newspaper and stuff though.
This was also the month a film that no doubt was anticipated to have only modest box-office potential was released. That movie was An Officer and a Gentleman. This flick not only went on to be many critics’ best movie pick of the year, but also the third most profitable film of 1982, at around $129,000,000.
It’s a great love story for one of the couples involved. But, for anyone that’s seen this film, it shouldn't be hard to imagine it wasn't the best one to have playing around you, all the time, during a romantic break-up. For anyone who hasn't seen the movie, I won’t spoil it for you, because it comes highly recommended, so I'll just advise that before watching it you make sure your love life is secure, and/or your self -esteem intact. Although there’s no flying in the movie like Top Gun, it’s a much more true to life and grittier film than similar ones from the 1980s.
As a final anecdote from 1982, it was that year I was working-out in a nearby gym that was in a metropolitan area nearby to the theater's town. The new gym was owned by an heir to a large food manufacturing company. This guy had an expensive car and a lot of capital, but still, was a decent sort of chap. Anyway, one day the scuttlebutt about the place had it that there was going to be a VIP visit in the next couple of hours. Sure enough, before long a limo pulled upfront and who do you think the VIP was but the Austrian Oak himself, Arnold Schwarzenegger!
Most of the guys in the place started following Arnold around like he was some kind of Olympic god, pawing his body and asking him questions. A few of us, really not predisposed to such worship, just stood there where we were and watched. One thing I can say, though, is that when Schwarzenegger walked close by me, his magnetic charisma was palpable. You could actually physically feel the energy emanating off him -- or whatever it was. The cult of personality was certainly alive and well that day way back when.
As to the gym-owning heir, he's probably president of his family's food snack company by now. I still enjoy his fine products to this day and haven't found a single wheat weevil in his tasty crackers yet! Still lots of jobs for local folks and that's a very good thing, in addition to the good snacks.
In December a movie was played that quickly became a classic. That movie was Tootsie starring Dustin Hoffman. Assuming most readers will have seen the film I won't go into its plot too much except to say Dustin, Jessica Lange, Terri Garr, Dabney Coleman, Bill Murray, Sydney Pollack and so many other actors did a bang-up job in this delightful comedy about gender switching. It did superb business for us and the patrons loved it.
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