Downtown.
We lived Uptown.
The Bronx, NYC, New York.
The Bronx is indeed in New York City…
but not necessarily the New York City that people who don’t live in New York City…
think of when they hear “New York City”.
No, that was “Downtown”.
It wasn’t really that far away, just a few subway stops…
but it was another world.
When we went “downtown” it was a big deal.
With my family, it was for a special occasion.
With my friends, it was in search of adventure.
Broadway was there.
I actually was lucky enough…
to go to a number of iconic Broadway shows with my family.
At 6 years old…
I fell asleep in my Mom’s lap…
during the original production of “My Fair Lady”.
As Julie Andrews said…it was “loverly”.
What today’s generation might not know…
is that in the ‘50’s and ‘60’s, when blockbuster films first opened,
they debuted at a single theater, with great fanfare.
And like Broadway shows, advance tickets were required.
I vividly remember going downtown to several of these exclusive openings
at magnificent theaters like The Criterion and The Rivoli.
Usually for some birthday or anniversary, my family,
(often including my grandparents and aunts and uncles),
would get tickets several weeks in advance to see films like…
The Ten Commandments
The Longest Day,
West Side Story,
Ben Hur,
Around the World in 80 Days
and, be still my heart…
This is Cinerama!!!
“You rise right out of your theatre chair! No longer is a movie screen a flat surface in front of you. Cinerama, the film with a new dimension, surrounds you with picture and sound. You’ll gasp as you rise high, then grip your chair as you go plunging downward. Images come alive on a sea of screen 6 times the usual size… and you’re right in the picture. This is your first experience without colored glasses or any viewing gadgets of the most exciting thing that ever happened in a theatre. This is Cinerama!”
To attend any of these cinematic events, one would be expected to “dress up”.
I might wear my ever-so-stylish gold sports jacket and of course, a bow-tie.
Outside the theater…
the crowd would be abuzz with anticipation to see the much-heralded film.
Inside…
you’d buy your requisite “program” and perhaps some movie souvenirs.
Then an usher would show you to your seats.
Not exactly like the multiplexes of today.
Or worse yet, catching the latest film on Netflix.
This was “Downtown”.
What else was “Downtown”?
“Fancy” restaurants.
I remember, on those special days…
when we would dine at one of these palatial dining establishments,
surrounded by those “beautiful people”,
who seemed much more at home in this environment then we were …
my Mom would always tell me…
“You know that this is not how we live… but I want you to see what’s out there.”.
One of my most cherished downtown restaurant remembrances…
was the day I took my parents to dinner!?
It was their wedding anniversary.
I must have been around 12-years old.
I wanted to do something special.
I saved up my allowance,
(and some other “mysterious” money that came my way)…
and declared to my parents’ utter surprise that I would be taking them to…
the iconic…
Mama Leone’s!!!
My Mom and Dad, while touched and appreciative,
tried to talk me out of this “foolish extravagance”…
but I would not be swayed.
On “Anniversary Sunday”…
we headed down to 48th Street and 8th Avenue.
I strutted into Mama Leone’s, with the cocky aplomb of “Diamond Jim Brady”.
The Maitre D, (who looked like he could have come from Central Casting)…
welcomed us in his best authentic Italian and showed us to our table.
I nodded my approval.
We feasted on garlic bread, antipasto, lasagna, veal parmigiana, and spumoni.
And then the check arrived,
filled with self-pride, I couldn’t reach fast enough to grab it.
And then with a (perhaps audible) gasp…
I saw “the damage”…$48!!!
I opened my plastic wallet that contained every cent of my 12-year-old existence
and, with shaking hand…
carefully counted every 5-and 1 dollar bill,
plus some change I had in the “purse”.
I must have counted it 3 or 4 times.
My total assets…$49.56!
(Don’t hold me to it…it was a while ago)
I sighed a huge sigh, regained my cockiness…
and smiled proudly at my Mom and Dad.
Dad covered the tip.
Dining at Mama Leone’s would NOT be a regular occurrence.
While Broadway shows, movie premieres and $48 dinners
certainly made “Downtown” a thrilling experience….
perhaps my favorite Downtown venue was the Playland Arcade in Times Square!
On every one of our rare trips Downtown, I would beg my parents,
(or my favorite Aunt,Iris),
to take me to Playland.
It was a paradise of flashing lights, loud music, pinball,
every imaginable game, prizes…
I mean, who could ask for more?
Now, this was long before the advent of…
the over-techy, overly-stimulating video games
or Dance Dance Revolution!
This was old school.
I had my three favorites:
There was Fascination.
A combination of Skee-ball, Bingo and Poker.
Fascinating indeed.
Competing players would sit down at the end
of one of several long wooden tables.
At the other end was a series of 25 “holes”,
arranged in a five-by-five square matrix.
As a crowd of onlookers watched…
players would frantically race against each other,
rolling a black rubber ball, toward the holes.
As the ball fell through one of the holes…
a light on a backboard behind the holes would light up
in a pattern corresponding to the hole the ball fell through.
The ball would then roll back to the player.
This process would be repeated until a player lit up five lights in a row,
either across, down or diagonal, (much like bingo).
The first player to complete a row of five being the winner.
What made it really cool was…
a live “announcer”, seated on an elevated platform, presiding over the activities…
started each game by pressing a button to ring a bell that activated all machines
…then when the bell rang again, signaling a win…
the “announcer” (in a bored-to-death voice) would announce the winner
The reward (other than self-pride and the adulation of the arcade masses)…
PRIZES!!!!!
Ranging from cheap trinkets for one or two wins…
to toys, appliances, radios, televisions and more expensive items
for large numbers of winning tokens,
often numbering into the thousands for the best prizes.
I myself, was the celebrated winner of several “backscratchers “,
(with an ominous plastic extended hand),
and some “Chinese torture finger puzzles”.
Another favorite…
the elegantly simplistic…
“Pitch & Bat” Deluxe Baseball Game!
I absolutely loved it!
For a dime-an-inning…
I could challenge my reflexes on a mechanical baseball field.
Grasping a mini-bat-like handle,I could activate a “swing”,
trying to time the pitch of a silver ball,
that emerged magically from beneath a mysterious green rubber flap. If, timed right…
the ball would be projected onto the field, its fate to be determined.
Would it fall into an out “hole”?
Or a hole that produced a single, double or triple?
OR…
to my utmost thrill and delight…
shoot up a ramp launching the ball into one of three HOME RUN decks!!!
Who needs X-Box!!!!?
And finally there was…
The Voice-O-Graph…
My chance to be a star!
The Voice-O-Graph was a recording system about the size of a telephone booth,
that allowed people to record their voices directly onto a phonograph disc.
Inside the booth…
after inserting 5 quarters, you had 65 seconds to “perform”…
recording your witty message or popular song.
The “produced” discs were made of laminated cardboard, 6-inches in diameter.
They came with envelopes to be mailed to friends or relatives,
as a kind of talking telegram, to be played on their home record player.
Unfortunately they withstood just a few playbacks.
One of my “greatest Voice-O-Graph hits”…
was my review of a show my Aunt Iris took me to at Radio City Music Hall.
The show’s highlight for me was a sexy puppet that sang in the voice of…
Ertha Kitt.
This was an unusual name for a 7-year-old to comprehend.
I was so excited and eager to get everything out in 65 seconds…
that I spat out a different unusual name…
“And there was a puppet that sang like Humphrey Bogart!!!”
Today, I no longer live in the Bronx.
I live on the Upper East Side Manhattan…
which for a Bronx boy…
I guess is…
“Downtown”.
“The lights are much brighter there
You can forget all your troubles, forget all your cares
So go downtown, things'll be great when you're
Downtown, no finer place for sure
Downtown everything's waiting for you”
Have any stories about going “Downtown”. Would love to hear them.
