And me I just got tired of hangin’ in them dusty arcades bangin’ them pleasure machines.Chasin’ the factory girls underneath the boardwalk where they promise to unsnap their jeans. And you know that tilt-a-whirl down on the south beach drag. I got on it last night and my shirt got caught And that Joey kept me spinnin’ I didn’t think I’d ever get off

Bruce Springsteen, 4th of July Asbury Park

In my travels, I purposefully seek out retro experiences hoping it would reinforce my mission to promote the idea of seeing movies collectively. In early September, I have the opportunity to head to the Jersey Shore. From music, television, and literature I wanted to witness first hand the culture of the Boardwalk. I was aware of the issues Atlantic City was having with the decline and failure of the modern casinos that blighted its skyline. Of course me being me, I saw allegory between the rush to misplaced modernity and the exhibition of movies.

My business partners and I pointed our rental in the direction of the famed Boardwalk Town of Wildwood, New Jersey. Images of decline, decay, and a decrepit scene was something that I was prepared to see. Instead, what I saw blew me away and really got me thinking that maybe there was a lesson for theatres in this outpost of the famed Boardwalk culture.

We drove into the town; it was clean, not garish, and very well maintained. This was not what we were expecting. We approached the Boardwalk and the piers, suddenly we were transported back to the 1950’s. Bright lights drew tourists compelling them down the strip, past an array of brightly colored hotels and ornamental palm trees moving seductively against a warm star-filled night. A ballet of taillights as Bel Airs, Thunderbirds, Packards and Fords took to the streets in almost a ritual of Americana. Bright lights flashed legendary names in entertainment: Louis Armstrong, Sammy Davis, Jr., Johnny Mathis, The Drifters, and Fabian. The Boardwalk pulsates as the music seduces. In Wildwood, every night feels like a Saturday Night.

World War II was over, and America was experiencing a huge increase of prosperity. The middles class exploded and wealth was shared. Everything was new and shy, especially the music, and as the Jimmy Dorsey orchestra gave way to the revolutionary sounds of the Fifties and Sixties, Wildwood was there to help it along. The town’s clubs were in many ways a proving ground for the music the world would come to know as rock and roll.

This was the place where Bill Haley And His Comets launched “Rock Around The Clock”. This was the place where Chubby Checker released “ The Twist”. It was a place of innovation, entertainment and fun. In 1964, Diana Ross and the Supremes performed at the Riptide Club receiving $3,500 for a ten-day gig, two shows a day. Their song “Where Did Our Love Go” soared to the top of the charts that year. Bobby Rydell’s top-ten hit, “Kissing Time” contained a tribute to fans who were “wailin’ in Wildwood,” and swooning girls followed the Philadelphia native around town. Teen idol, Frankie Avalon, another local boy, received similar treatment. Sammy Davis, Jr. played drums in his father’s band at the Bolero, and fellow Rat Pack member Joey Bishop would eventually become a fixture at Club Avalon.

Wildwood has a genius about combining family vacations with innovation, creating a singular experience and almost viral germ of creation that would spread up the Jersey shore landing at places like Asbury Park and give rise to folks like Southside Johnny and The Asbury Dukes, Bruce Springsteen and The E-Street band and Jon Bon Jovi.

Wildwood’s boldness spawned the birth of of what we know as rock and roll and in a revolutionary manner changed the musical landscape on our little green marble forever.

My partners and I walked onto the Boardwalk. It was worn with shuffling feet and decades of memories. Even though it was off season the place was still teeming with families and fun. Greasy food and cheaply produced t-shirts dotted the landscape, there was no empty retail space on the Boardwalk. The shops and food vendors did a brisk a business. I was back in a time that really understand free enterprise before junk bonds, Wall Street and megacorps soiled the land. It is a place where the perfumed air of democratic entertainment still hung heavy. As I saw families and young couples walk up and down the board I saw that within America there was there still places for the working and middle class to live out their dreams. It was their dreams that made this country great and prosper. It’s something we must continually remind ourselves of.

I was so deep in thought that I brilliantly managed to lock my keys in the rental and had to wait an hour to have the AAA show up and rescue me. As an atonement I bought my associates an Italian dinner at a local spot, ALFE’s which I highly recommend.

There is within the movie exhibition business, bastions of theatres which have not lost their mission. There are scores of theatres which are independently owned and have found their way by being true to their mission and to their audience. In is in these theatres that ,lies a path forward in this business.

Just so you know Wildwood city officials have just announced a concert deal would include as many as 15 shows in a three-year period. They have not forgotten who they are.