Taking the Plymouth
When I was little, and yes that was a long time ago, getting a family car was not just an event, but could even be described as a milestone. When I look back at a particular childhood experience I would think, “Oh yeah, that was when we had the ’56 wagon” or “We took the black Galaxy on that vacation!” At that time there were only certain things you would use the automobile for. Dad always walked to work and we would walk to school and to church for Sunday Mass. The car could be used for attending weddings and funerals, going to the doctor, and, of course for going to visit relatives.
As time moved on, the uses for the family car would change, but, for some reason, an upgrade to a better or newer car always left a mark on a young man’s memory. The celebration of a new car did not just last one day either. It could last for a year, maybe more. Dad’s first family car was a 1956 Ford Fairlane two-door station wagon. It was always referred to as “the wagon.” My dad would probably have taken that car to his grave, but my brother wrecked it shortly after his 16th birthday. Dad then bought a ’60 Plymouth Savoy sedan. This car was different-looking from almost any other car in town.
It was robin egg blue. It had tail fins that seemed to be as tall as the roof. The front grill looked like the mouth of a prehistoric fish. The transmission selector consisted of five lighted push buttons located on the dash board to the left of the steering wheel. My friends made fun of it. It was different. I, however, rode tall in it. It was unique, roomy, comfortable, functional, classy in an ugly sort of way, and became part of the family identity. In a small town everyone knew you, but also knew what car you dad and mom drove.
For at least the next year the use of the car was referred to as “Taking the Plymouth”. “Get in the Plymouth, kids, we are going to visit Aunt Kathleen”, dad would say. His way of speeding us up to go to an event was to go outside, start the car, and then come in and announce “the Plymouth is running, let’s go!” I don’t really remember when using that car went from “taking the Plymouth” to “taking the car,” but it eventually did. That Plymouth evolved into simply–the family car. It was dependable. It held six people comfortably. And you could get Quincy, St. Louis, Chicago and Little Rock on that AM radio! It actually became the ‘standard to build from‘ for any future automobile purchases.
I look back now to my early days at Quincy Community Theatre. Even in the business of telling stories and producing live theatre, practices evolve. From the days of hand typed invitations, telephone calls on the rotary phone, and home-made promotion posters to the fast communication of today’s social and digital media, we change.
Thursday, February 26th, 2015 we are launching a new web site! It moves; it connects; it invites; it offers you a virtual tour of our services. AND it now works well with smaller mobile devices. It is an exciting and innovative tool to drive our business. It is our standard from which we want to build.
So even though we sometimes look at change as if we were looking at a robin-egg blue, big tail-finned ’60 Plymouth, we must thankfully remember that the cars of today look nothing like that one. We simply blend change into the fabric of what we do and we improve. This is the way it should be. So let us also not forget:
Season Tickets are still on sale! Auditions for Mama Won’t Fly are coming up soon. Tickets to SPAMALOT are on sale and going fast! Faster than a robin egg blue 1960 Plymouth Savoy can take you. And as always, remember: Let’s be careful out there!
Dan