“Hadn’t really thought about it.”
“Good. I got a brother-in-law who does good work cheap . . . fast, too. How about a restaurant? All those folks gotta eat.”
Now that was one that had slipped by both Vic and me.
“A restaurant?”
“. . .’Cause if you don’t, I know a guy who’s been looking to move his deli since they raised the rent on the place he’s got.”
I had a feelin’ my problems with the storefronts was solved.
“This is the pits, you know?”
“How about that? The Pitts?”
“No. How about the Funny Farm?”
“Uh-uh. The Snake Pit?”
“Will you get off pits?”
“Well, then, how about …”
What we finally settled on was The Fun House. Our judgment was influenced a bit by the fact that I managed to locate a down-at-the-heels carnival. We let ‘em set up on our grounds, and they gave us our pick of their displays for decorations.
The best of the lot was the outsized figures they had on top of their rides . . . and particularly The Fun House. These figures were of bein’s from all over the dimensions and were animated to move their arms and heads while hidden speakers went “Ho Ho Ho” at passersby. I thought they were terrific and had them installed all over the outside of the hotel. . . except for the Fat Lady. Her I had installed in the men’s John off the lobby.
Once we had that, the rest of the decorations fell into place. There wasn’t much we could do to make the shape of the building excitin’, so I had it painted with wide stripes … like a circus tent, only with more colors.
Vic did the disco, and it was a beaut. He did the whole place in black: floors, walls, ceiling, furniture, everything. He also attached chairs and tables to the walls and ceiling at different angles with life-sized dummies in evening attire. The overall effect was one of disorientation, so that when the band was goin’ and the lights flashin’, you weren’t really sure which way was up. To add to the effect, the dance floor was slanted a bit and rotated slowly. It was like bein’ suspended in space and bein’ buffeted by cosmic winds and gravity at the same time. He even named the club “The Pit” in appreciation of me and to apologize for comin’ down so hard on the name when I suggested it for the hotel.