(no subject)

[greghousesgf]

I had a really nice time at the movies earlier this afternoon, it was at this wonderful old theater which has been around since the silent era and just opened up again very recently after being closed for years because covid. The bizarre thing that really surprised me was I almost didn't get in because they were only using some sort of pay with your cell phone deal at the box office instead of credit cards or cash. I feel like I'm the only person in the world with no desire to ever own a cell phone (largely because 99% of the phone calls I get are scammers and it's annoying enough to have these people bothering me at home, I don't want them bothering me when I'm out too) so they had to confer about letting me in which they finally did for cash on the condition that I give them exact change. Lucky for me I had exact change. Also they had to change movies, it was going to be this Laurel and Hardy movie I'd never seen before but they apparently couldn't get a copy of that so they put on Horse Feathers. Luckily that's one of the Marx bros. funnier movies so I was happy with that, although I never did find out what a college widow is. I'm going back tomorrow, they said by then they should have the machine set up so they can at least take credit cards.

Comments

[daryl_wor]

Wow... cell phone mandatory for pay is strange. Glad to hear you prefer not to have one. Good that the film was agreeable, too. I never figured out what a "college widow" was either. My presumption would be the widow of a professor in the college with a lot of clout and a big pension. Some kind of financial connection that doesn't get explained for being too technical.

[greghousesgf]

There is this Chinese restaurant in my neighborhood that started doing the same thing since covid. It's a shame, I used to love their noodle dishes.
Apparently a college widow was the 1930's version of a cougar; an older woman who liked screwing college boys.

[daryl_wor]

Wow! That is a bummer! Sorry to hear it. And yes, we looked up "college widow" here and discovered it was on the order of "college floosie" instead. (I dig my presumption, though. Perhaps the term was coined in the hopes kids would come up with something similar.) I relayed the bit about why you don't have a cel phone to my chap and he said, "Preach it, brother." Hopefully that is good to hear.

Hours later my sluggish brain recalled the actress playing the college widow: Thelma Todd. Yay, stuff up there still works! ^_^

[greghousesgf]

Sister, not brother, but thanks.
Thelma Todd was the only actress who worked with both the greatest comedy teams of the 30's, the Marx Bros and Laurel and Hardy! She also died under very weird circumstances. Nobody was really sure if it was an accident, murder or suicide.

[daryl_wor]

Oh, pardon. Good to know! Yes, I kind of remember something odd with Thelma Todd's passing. I need to dig into those biography shows again. I used to watch a slew of them.