MY BECKETT ARTICLE FROM THE NEW YORK TIMES

Nov. 27, 1988

FIRST ORIGINAL CINO PLAY: ROWLAND SCHERMAN’S PHOTOS OF REHEARSAL OF JAMES HOWARD’S “FLYSPRAY,” 1960.

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Author JAMES HOWARD (mustached), JOE DAVIES (bearded), and JEREMY JOHNSON (in the nightgown), probably directed by EARL SENNETT, in rehearsal for Howard’s “Flyspray,” generally regarded as the Cino’s first original play. Photographer Scherman says it was “..an anti war, anti-arms buildup play, inspired I suppose, by Eisenhower’s speech. …It was brilliantly directed. Produced on a shoestring but who cared? It was very funny in a horrific kind of way.. a satire of the arms race…Russia and America…one had flyspray and the other didn’t.”

                                      Wendell Stone in his Caffe Cino book says:
“Howard satirized Capitalism and military proliferation: ‘The play is set in a desolate bombed out area of the world; James Howard played a man who sold fly spray after the devastation….He gave a pep talk…encouraging them to buy this fly spray and everything would be all right.’ The production ended with the detonation of an atomic bomb so realistic that passresby sometimes would file a report of the explosion with the police. After Flyspray‘s run at the Cino, it played at different socialist events and radical rallies around New York City. Despite the play’s success, however, Howard left New York to enter graduate school.”

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Could this be the first time someone used that gesture on an American stage?

 

The above shot of the front of the room shows the giant coffee-grinder smack in the doorway, as it is in the  1961 BEN MARTIN photo below. The “Caffe Cino” sign by the grinder seems to be in KENNY BURGESS’ handwriting.

CHARLES’ LOUBIER’S CINO MEMORIES

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OTHER VILLAGE ENTERTAINMENTS – by BEN MARTIN

BACK TO BEN MARTIN’s 1961 Caffe Cino Photos.

“Time” Magazine photographer BEN MARTIN wonders if anyone can identify these five venues,
photographed the same night as the Caffe Cino “Camino Real” photos.
If you can, e-mail rbrtptrck@aol.com.

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BACK TO BEN MARTIN’s 1961 Caffe Cino Photos.

Cino Plaque Unveiling, N.Y.C., April 28, 2008

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SEE VIDEO of unveiling and after-speeches at [ELEVEN] >>>HERE<<<.

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A crowd for the unveiling of a plaque to JOE CINO. Photo by MARSHALL W. MASON.

Christine Karatnytsky in pink opens the event among Cinoites BOB HEIDE, PAUL FOSTER, and MARI-CLAIRE CHARBA (who shares this photo). Click HERE for Text of Proclamation, plus Ms. Karatnytsky’s story of the event.

Left: MAGIE DOMINIC unveils the plaque. Photo by MARSHALL W. MASON. Right: MARI-CLAIRE CHARBA reads a poem. Photo by Meg Patterson/Dramatic Risks.

What a line-up! From left, half the face of DORIC WILSON, four Unidentified Persons, JOHN GUARE reading proclamation, BOB HEIDE, LARRY LOONIN, PAUL FOSTER, MARI-CLAIRE CHARBA. Photo by Meg Patterson/Dramatic Risks.

PAUL FOSTER, JOHN GUARE, MARI-CLAIRE CHARBA, Peter Craig, BOB DAHDAH, MAGIE DOMINIC, BOB HEIDE, LARRY LOONIN. photo by Meg Patterson/Dramatic Risks.

JOHN GUARE seems to be declaring this Proclamation “Open!” photo by MARSHALL W. MASON

The one, the only H.M. KOUTOUKAS, photo by MARSHALL W. MASON.

Speakers at the event. Clockwise from upper left: ROBERT HEIDE, DORIC WILSON, JOHN GUARE, Christine Karatnytsky wth MAGIE DOMINIC in foreground, MARSHALL W. MASON. Men’s photos by Shay Gines. Ms. Karatnytsky by Meg Patteron/Dramatic Risks.

The reason for it all, image by International Bronze.

More event photos, shared by Christine Karatnytsky

Above left: Cino Reunion September 2008. 26 Cino People and a few stragglers from La Mama, The Old Reliable Theatre Tavern, etcetera, hold up photos of absent friends. Photo by Steve Ladner. See videos of this shoot at HERE and HERE. Right: Proud and happy, I finally see the plaque of JOE CINO I arranged to have installed on the building’s facade. Photo by Terry Talley. Return to first Cino Pictures PAGE.

Mass Card from Joe Cino’s funeral, shared by Joe’s nephew, Steve Cino.

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