Well, My Brief Career in the "Entertainment Industry" may be near its end...


I found out yesterday that the Second-Run theater at which I've been Assistant Managing since May will be closing October 24. The Mall we're in, which is practically empty, and fondly referred to by myself as "Mall Of The Dead" is slated to be torn down and redeveloped, and the new plans don't include a theater. Shame.

This theater, which opened in January of 1974 as a United Artists tri-plex, and became a five-plex by December of the same year was one of my favorite places to hang out as a kid. I was really enjoying showing 2-dollar movies in the place where I saw Gumball Rally, 1941, The Jerk, Sgt Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, Rocky Horror, Young Frankenstein, and The Great Scout and Cathouse Thursday. The Latter film, with Lee Marvin, was my first R film. My cousin took me to it when I was 12. My first tits on film were in that picture.

United Artists closed down there in 1998, and the place reopened shortly thereafter as a second-run house. My company took it over in 2002.

As I come to think of it, this was the last of the places I used to hang out in before I left for College that was still standing. Four of the town's old malls have died and been redeveloped into new, different retail sites. Four of the old 70s bowling alleys are gone. All three of our Drive-ins (four, if you count the X-rated Drive-In) are gone, turned into Housing developments or shopping centers. The Old ice Rink is now the Roller Rink, and of the old roller rinks, one burnt down, and the other, now vacant, will be demolished with my mall. The old community swimming pool no longer has a deep end, for fear of lawsuits. Even most of the bars I frequented in the 1980s are gone.

About all that's left are the graveyards we used to whistle past.

Well anyway, the owner of my Theater says she wants to open a new location somewhere in York, but I don't know of an existing venue, and if she finds one, I don't see her having it open before January. She's keeping her theater in Harrisburg, 30 miles away, open. My boss is moving up there to take charge of that one. He says he might have to "clean house" up there, and could have a spot for me (I mentioned a corresponding raise to make up for the $4 a day more I'd have to spend on gas alone,) but otherwise I'm eligible for unemployment. I guess the upside is that I should get more per week than when I got canned from Papa John's because the UC folks didn't calculate tips into my earnings.

Still, I'd rather not have to look for work again.

I felt like going out tonight to happy hour at the tittybar, to lift my spirits, but instead, I drove over to Lancaster County, and searched the record bins at their Goodwill outlets. I found about 27 albums on vinyl ranging between 25 and 75 cents each, and even a CD of Lou Reed's Transformer for just a quarter! So I'm not feeling too bad.

Some of the albums I found today are strange enough that they'll end up on my other blog. You can check it out here:

http://bentrecords.blogspot.com