12,970. RUDIMENTS, pt. 1,113

RUDIMENTS, pt. 1,113

(lord have mercy)

Another aspect of Perth Amboy

was the discrete busyness of the

business district. Oddly enough

at that time, there were still 'ladies'

shops, fine clothing, hats and furs.

Shoes and lingerie as specialties.

Long-gloves and fancy lady-stuff,

as well as regular, successful-men,

haberdashery items  - all those

gracious ties and socks and leather

shoes and suits and jackets. No,

nothing was scanted then  -  even

hats and fedoras. Toys? Fishkin's,

it was, that acted as a magnet-draw

to that old heart of downtown.

Looking back now, with Fishkin's

long gone, it's difficult to realize

how well that once anchored the

street it was on  -  not exactly the

main drag, but an equally important

cross street. The storefront itself

was stunningly yellow; a deep

yellow, with flagrantly bold blue

letters, as I recall, spelling out

'Fishkin's' with a strangely shaped

capital 'F' -   as if in some handwritten

bold sweep. Odd how it is that the

memory latches onto certain things

and not others: I can recall the glass

window-display front, but not the

displays. In addition, it was a more

serious store than most  -  the entry

was a bit recessed, and the store

itself was double or triple size to

other things  - three-wide. Lots

of display-case area. I'd guess

there were, always on display,

much of the usual  -  bicycles,

binoculars and telescopes, dolls,

balsa-wood airplanes and kites.

As I remember, there was a boy

scout section, and a girl scout

section too  -  compasses, knives

and equipment, and those necklace

things Boy Scout people had, for

their sash-tie or whatever it was

they had around their neck. I was

never much into plastic model

cars and stuff, but a friend or two

were, and we were often there for

Revel models, the real, full-sized

deal, 1950's style. Modeling glue,

the kind back then you could still

sniff. '55 Mercury and '57 Chevy

models, and all that crazy extra

stuff too  -  whenever they had

model-car competitions, there'd

be really fancy and perfectly-done

cares, with paint and no glue marks,

and everything just right, and they

were presented on like fluffed-up

cotton, sometimes with glitter. That

was crazy stuff, but Fishkin's had

all those trimmings. Model planes

and battleships too. There were a

lot of guys  -  in much the same

way as we have Civil War re-enactors

and such, now, there were then the

same sorts (maybe even the same

people) who were so into the model

car thing. It was incredible to watch,

and I had a friend my age who was

right there with all that stuff, so I

got to see the meticulous attention

to crazy detail up close. There was

a place on Avenel Street called 

'Cameo's' and they did their own

yearly window thing, a competition

with these models  -  all sorts of

really good lowered Mercurys and

'49 Fords  -  all sorts of stuff. And, as

headquarters of all this, Fishkin's

was like Fort Knox.

-

Right next to it was a big-time

movie house too, Majestic? maybe

was the name. It had a big marquee

and a bunch of lights, first-run

movies and all that. I went a few

times; can't remember what for.

Or even why; movies back then,

at kid-age, were just pastimes,

something stupid to do. I never

detail-watched films back then.

Couldn't have cared less, but I

watched everything that was

going on. Saw some weird stuff

too, usually up balcony way, when

the freaky little cap-dude with the

flashlight was way out on the

other side of the theater. That was

time enough again, I noted, for

girls and guys to straighten up

and start to look relaxed and 

interested in the dumb-ass movie.

Dumbo does Darlene, anyone?

I guess that's what those places

were always about; as bad as

drive-ins, and Amboy had a big

one of those too. They had one

once, for a long time, that you

could see the screen of, from the

highway nearby as you were passing.

15-20 seconds anyway. My father

used to be on that road often, and

I'd look forward to the glimpse. It

was weird for me to realize those

200 people, in the movie lot, in

their cars, watching the movie 

while all around them others,

like us, were just going about

our own, other business. Driving

past. It made me wonder how

separated all the different parts

of life were  -  different brains

doing all sorts of different things, 

in the same world. movies like that

were sure strange. Funnier yet,

that Majestic Theater place is now,

and has been for a long time, one

of those Christian-Mission Outreach

Centers, with big preachings and

crusades and everything all going

on. I always wonder, when I see all

those crazy back folk in their fancy

suits and white ties and big floppy

hats and dresses doing their 'The Lord

Commands' thing, how much of the

old, lecherous, past they're aware of,

in their bountiful church-mission

house. Like they say, 'if walls could

talk,' or in this case, sing. Lord

have mercy!

-
Like those mission people, I'd often
feel agape and struck by light just
by exiting the theater. But t wasn't 
Jesus or anything like that. Two hour's
of darkness pounded into your head,
with the brightly-drawn flickering of
some other world and time and place,
and then you'd stumble back out into
the ordinary light, thought very bright,
and all the places and events of the real
world again. It was stunning, yet
always something of a weird let-down
too, as it seemed more and more like
some strange, almost Twilight Zone
still-life suddenly coming into all
movement and focus' I walk out
stunned and mesmerized! It
felt akin to my coma come-back.
-

The old high school was right down

the street too. Sort of as a visual-arts

or audio-visual adjunct, but I'm not

sure they ever made use of it; not do

I know if that theater ever went porno

before the Christian-era stuff. Or maybe

it was just vacant for a while. They

always say 'Nature abhors a vacuum,'

and in most every case, each hole

eventually gets filled. By something.

-

I actually know a lady who graduated

from that Perth Amboy High School,

that very one, in, I think, 1968 or 1969.

It's kind of sorry to talk to here about it

because all she ends up saying ever is

how it all used to be 'so beautiful.' And

then she describes the lawn, the trees,

the shaded spots and the wonderful

ways and respect the whole downtown

area had right there. It was sort of

the ideal, in the manner of some old

movie or something when the town

spirit in inhabited by its kids and their

high school. The Drama Department

throwing out some hokey play about

old haystack America and lazy farm 

days and girls and boys romancing  -

in the old way, not like now  -  gown 

by the stream or the wagon-shed or

the small wooden, footbridge.No

parking lots or plazas or malls, or

any of that crap. That's all now, 

and it's all flat and planar, haggard

and dead. The other way had some

real dimension and depth; gave live,

anyway, some meaning. And Lord

have mercy once again!