Comments from fido

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fido
fido commented about Brighton Theatre on Mar 22, 2008 at 11:46 am

My dad worked at the Brighton as a floor man (Manager) from 1955 till 1958. His boss and overseer of the Midwest and Peoples as well was a fellow named George Bishoff, who was also quite politically connected. I attended movies there nearly every Sunday afternoon during that time period eating all the free extra buttered popcorn I desired! During movies, I’ve been behind the screen and in the projection booth (two projectors)above the balcony observing the operation. To my knowledge, I have been the only rock band to have performed live on that stage during a democratic rally, 1966, to a full house of screaming 10 to 16 year olds. My father worked the evening the Grimes girls dissapeared. He was one of the last to see them alive. I’ll never forget the day my mother was cooking dinner when the detectives knocked on our rear door and entered the kitchen with their wide brimmed hats and trenchcoats. They asked my dad if he would come down to 39th and California for some routine questioning. My dad returned home after about 3 hours visably shaken. He said that he told them that he remembered that the girls left the theatre alone. The police also interrogated, more than once, an usher working for my father that night, by the name of Benny. The rest is history. I graduated from Kelly, ‘68, where I met my wife of 38 years. We would go to Gerties (Not same owners as 59th St.) for a Coke after school.