[Mb-hair] "When Runyon's Shadows, Shadow"

[Jim Burns]

Some of you, in the area, might want to check out a few Broadway
"joints," that are shuttering, over the next few weeks... (A couple of
these, will be gone, after Sunday.) They've been a lynchpin of the
Broadway community for years, and a couple of the locales go back to the
HAIR days, and DECADES before....

Here's a short piece I wrote, that also woundup being paraphrased,
during a guest shot, last week, on WOR.... 

Jim Burns 


"When Runyon's Shadows, Shadow"
The Loss of a Few Great Broadway Joints 

Perhaps it was being at the sensational, record-breaking performance of
PHANTOM OF THE OPERA, that has put me in a nostalgic mood, but I don't
think there's ever anything foolish about celebrating the past,
particularly if 
it has a pleasant foothold, on the future. 

Last week saw the closing of McHales, on 46th at 8th, a tavern famous
for food that was as plentiful, and good, as it was inexpensive--and a
haven for actors and stagehands. 

By the end of the month, we will have lost several other Broadway
institutions, to the vagaries of "redevelopment." 

Barrymore's on 45th, is the only place I can think of where actors are
still known to be-- consciously--partying at 3 AM, while doubling for
the rest of the day as a meeting place for the neigborhood's endless
stream of theatre folk, tourists, and "locals." 

The loss of that street's Frankie and Johnny's (part of which goes back
to Damon Runyon's speakeasy days), Sam's, and Puleo's, is no less sad,
for their patrons. 

Progress, generally, isn't supposed to mean the end of something that
already works. And I can't help but think that at some point in the
future, a theme park entrepeneur will decide to construct a "Broadway
block," of themed bars, and eateries. 

It's fascinating that for the not too many-remaining moments, such a
magic corridor, already exists. 

And secret labyrinths beneath our city's streets aside, I will miss
these oases, of the night. 

James H. Burns
January, 2006