ENTERTAINMENT, BARB AND MOI

Ba Ba Wah Wah, entertainment and moi: When I returned to Emmett as a displaced housewife, I entered BSU to earn an Associate of Science degree in Medical Records. After graduation I was offered the position of manager at the Walter Knox Memorial Hospital. I met Barbara Whelen there who was working in the office. I teased her by calling her Ba Ba Wah Wah and we were instant friends. I worked at WKMH for over twelve years. During that time Barb and I attended as many free events that we could. We went to a tiny theater on the bench in Boise to see Moliere's “The Monk”. I have sheer admiration for the actors who memorized page after page of script. We loved to go to Shakespear In The Park. I loved the comedies. We saw Twelvth Night. The overall theme was set in the Roaring Twenties, spiffy tennis outfits, slinky flapper dresses. In one part a young man is being urged to purchase the wares of a prostitute. The men replies, “Would that I could, my purse is short and I am long”. He gestures to his cock. I did not know Shakespear had sight gags. One time we went to a theater in Boise to see “The Color Purple”. We were packed in the lobby waiting. The previous show let out and a simply beautiful man came out and told us that we would love it. Barb exclaimed, “A sensitive man! Lets follow him!” The film was wonderful. One habit we got into was staying to read the credits. It gave time to clear out the theater and sometimes we watched hilarious things. Sometimes bloopers were included and we were the only ones who saw them. It was a the same theater that we won free tickets to an American Opera. Sung in English. Still could not understand the words. It would have been fabulous if sung in Italian. At any rate we sat way up high in the nose bleed section. There was a lady next to us who was showing us her pearl opera glasses. She explained that she purchased them in Vienna. We simpered as appropriate. We would often take the bus to Jackpot for the day. We got there about noon and left early the next morning. One time we actually rented a room and as we assembled in the hall the next morning, someone from another room exclaimed, “I hardly got any sleep last night from all the snoring” I piped up and said, “Wasn't it awful! Me too!” I knew that we were the guilty snoring partie. One of my favorite machines at Cactus Pete's was a trivia machine. It was only nickels and there were only two side by side. We sat there for most of day and won enough to keep playing. Other methods of entertainment were Pinochle. I had played pinocle with the folks where we traveled to a friends house, several tables were set up and we played for prizes. I was terrible because I did not have a good partner with whom I could chest Rules were much different at Barb's table. I miss her a lot.