Lens-Artists Photo Challenge # 262 : Faces in a crowd…
New York City
Proposal in Times Square
Grand Central Station

Junior’s restaurant
Carnegie Hall
My daughter Deb, our friend Dawn and I went to NYC last Saturday to see…tah dah… the funniest, most hysterical musical comedy I think I’ve ever seen… and despite the title… it was not rotten 🙂 Come along and join us on our matinee day in the city.
After getting coffee we headed to Times Square…
You can always count on seeing a lot of characters roaming Times Sq, for example take a look at the characters in the last picture, crazy looking bunch 🙂
You might even see a proposal taking place, although I wonder if the one we saw was a real one or staged since there was a camera crew there ! At any rate it picture worthy.
Next up was lunch.. Junior’s Restaurant & Bar was our choice and it was a good one… we all chose sandwiches which were huge and delicious, the side dishes of pickles and also beets were great…but the icing on the cake, or in this case the blueberries on the cheesecake was oh so good… one piece shared 3 ways was perfect.
and now the main event… I present …’Something Rotten’..
Inside before the magic, and the laughter began…
And of course way too soon the laughter, the music, and the magic ended and it was out into the cold evening with memories of a fantastic, not rotten, matinee day in the city 🙂
Recent articles in Vineyard papers about the possible permanent closing of these three movie theatres has made me think of my movie memories on the Vineyard.
Movies have been a big part of Island entertainment since the early 1900′s.
The Island Theatre (Eagle Theatre) circa 1910.
In 1927 the Island Theatre in Oak Bluffs was showing the talkie ‘Wings’ starring the ‘It girl’, Clara Bow. The price of admission was 50 cents on a Saturday night, 30 cents if you sat in the balcony.

At one time there were as many as 8 theatres down-Island… of those only the Island, The Strand and The Capawock remain.
The Island Theatre – Oak Bluffs
The Strand (2009) – Oak Bluffs
The Capawock (1996) – Vineyard Haven

For me, as a summer kid on the Vineyard in the 1950′s, a night at the movies was a very big deal. The movies I remember the clearest are the musicals, like “Summer Stock” with Judy Garland, and “Showboat” with Howard Keel.
But before even getting to the theatre there was a stop at …

…Darling’s on Circuit Ave for popcorn. A bag would be fine for an afternoon treat but for going to the movies the choice was always a popcorn bar in such flavors as chocolate, strawberry,vanilla, caramel, and butterscotch.
After the ‘show’ a stop at the Frosty Cottage on Circuit Ave for a pistachio ice cream cone finished off the evening.
Many nights on the way home I morphed into a singing, dancing movie star…at least in my head 🙂