The Snack Bar Players a meet-the-troupe roster for our four-headed dance revue, with stage cards, signature steps & one (1) lingering grudge per performer

Painted in Eastmancolor, kept in the projection booth between reels, refreshed nightly with elbow grease and Windex.

SING-ALONG

Let's all go to the lobby Let's all go to the lobby Let's all go to the lobby To get ourselves a treat! Delicious things to eat The popcorn can't be beat The sparkling drinks are just dandy The chocolate bars and nut-filled candy So let's all go to the lobby To get ourselves a treat!

★ THE BOXWOOD STAGE ★

1PIPPA

2BOBBY

3HARVEY

4DELIA

Press 1 2 3 4 for a solo turn · SPACE to freeze the whole chorus mid-pose · 0 back to the line

★ Tonight's Roster ★

Pippa (Colander) Popcorn

The Hopping Kernel · Top of the Bill

Hometown: Born in a kettle on the Skyview's east patio, July of '53.
Specialty: The Vertical Hop. Honest air. No wires.
Run length: 00:42 on the printed reel, but she gets a free encore every Saturday.
Signature step: The Triple Kernel — leap, twist, land smiling, ribbons of butter trailing.

The Grudge Pippa will not — will not — share a bill with the so-called "Tubby Tubs" mascot at the Creswell Auto-View. She says the resemblance is "thievery in a striped suit," and as her manager I am inclined to agree.

Bobby (Whisk) Bubbles

The Shimmying Cup · Carbonated Sensation

Hometown: Drafted out of a syrup crate behind the Eugene bottler, spring of '56.
Specialty: The Shoulder Shimmy. Ice cubes optional. A little spillage is part of the act.
Run length: 00:36, plus a four-count fizz at the finish.
Signature step: The Straw-Snap — pops a paper straw on the downbeat, every time, never miss.

The Grudge Bobby holds a years-old grievance against the Skyview's drip-coffee urn for "stealing his timing" during the late show. Won't go near the urn. Will absolutely walk the long way around the prep counter.

Harvey (Ladle) Frank

The Bowing Bun · Master of the Soft Pretzel Twirl

Hometown: Cottage Grove proper — grew up on Main between the laundromat and the rexall.
Specialty: The Deep Bow with Mustard Reveal. Older crowd loves it. Asks for it.
Run length: 00:51, longest of the four, on account of the top-hat tip.
Signature step: The Frankfurter Foxtrot — one-two, bun-and-through, hat off, hat on.

The Grudge Harvey and a stagehand named Dwight (Spatula) Mulligan have not exchanged a civil word since the relish-tray incident of last Memorial Day. We do not discuss the relish-tray incident.

Delia (Sifter) Drops

The Twirling Box · Confectioner's Whirl

Hometown: Came up through the Roseburg revue circuit. Brought the high spin with her.
Specialty: The Full Rotation. 360 degrees, no stagger, lid stays put.
Run length: 00:38, plus a wink for the back row.
Signature step: The Sugarbox Pirouette — three turns, lands on the downbeat with a candy-rattle.

The Grudge Delia will not perform on the same bill as anything described as "novelty licorice." A long story involving a Klamath Falls matinee and a torn ribbon. Don't bring it up.

Friends, neighbors, station-wagon-fillers —

I am Eldon (Tongs) Marlow, concessions manager here at the Skyview, and I want to say a public word about my four little players up on the boxwood stage. Folks ask me, "Eldon, aren't those just painted cardboard standees that kick their legs on a film loop?" To which I say: so was Fred Astaire, in his way.

The truth is the Snack Bar Players have logged more curtain calls than the Cottage Grove community theater has chairs. Pippa alone has done eight-hundred-and-some intermissions this season. She has the lineage — her aunt was a Popping Princess on the Salem circuit, and her uncle did a turn under the marquee at the old Bandon Bijou. That's a touring family. That's show people.

Now — about the Creswell Auto-View and their so-called "Tubby Tubs." I won't name names. I will only say that if a person were to compare the leg-kick on their popcorn fella to the leg-kick on our Pippa, side-by-side, frame-by-frame, even a child could tell which one was choreographed and which one was traced. I'll leave it there. I have a stand to run.

Come early. Bring a nickel for the sparkling cherry. Sing along when the marquee tells you to, and please, please, applaud for the kids on the stage. They can't hear it, but I can, and so can their understudies.

— Eldon Eldon (Tongs) Marlow · Concessions Mgr., Skyview Drive-In, Hwy 99 N. of town

patrons at a snack kiosk, dressed for an evening out — Friday-night patrons at the front rail, '59.

the lit-up snack counter at the back of a theater — The Skyview's counter, lights up, eight-minute pause.