Barry began his look at films about newspapers with a few paragraphs on what life was like at the ProJo a few decades ago. He waxed nostalgic about Hope's, the late, great newspaper bar on Washington Street, where ink-stained wretches, cops, and a wide assortment of bohemians, academics, and other downtown types would sit elbow-to-elbow at the bar and discuss the great issues of the day.
Hope's was owned by newspaper people (the main proprietor being the great police reporter Lee Dykas) and was a must-hangout spot for anyone who wanted to know what was really going on in the Biggest Little. Often, your superior correspondents would leave our cherished seats at Leo's on Chestnut Street to walk across the city and see what was up at Hope's. One thing we appreciated about the bar was that it didn't seem to have a fixed closing time. (We believe that the statute of limitations has elapsed, so we reveal that fact here.)
Barry tells us about a contest among the reporters to sneak a certain "nonsensical phrase" past the overworked editors. The phrase was "As if by the wave of an occult hand," and while we can't remember ever seeing it in an Other Paper story, we're pretty certain that it must have appeared at least once.
Reading Barry's piece, we could actually smell the aroma of a John Hackett (late chief editorial writer at the old paper) cigar. A great read.
THE INEVITABLE PLUG
A reminder: this Saturday at 8 pm at the Sidebar Bistro on Dorrance Street, the magnificent guitarist Gray Sargent will make a rare local appearance with vocalist Kim Marcoux and Paul Del Nero (bass) and Gary Johnson (drums). Special guest is Rudy Cheeks (aka Jorge); if you've never heard him sing Cole Porter it will be, ummm, something completely different.
Topics:
Phillipe And Jorge
, Politics, Michael Bloomberg, David Beckham, More 
, Politics, Michael Bloomberg, David Beckham, Dan Barry, Tommy Brent, Angel Taveras, Less 
