# 44th Anniversary of the first Straight Dope column **URL:** \ **Category:** Cecil's Columns/Staff Reports\ **Created:** [February 2, 2017, 10:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/44th-anniversary-of-the-first-straight-dope-column/778814 "2017-02-02T10:26:53Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![whitetho](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/whitetho/32/1059_2.png) [@whitetho](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/whitetho)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2017, 10:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/44th-anniversary-of-the-first-straight-dope-column/778814/1 "2017-02-02T10:26:53Z")
Just a short note to note that 44 years ago on January 2, 1973 [The First Straight Dope Column](http://www.straightdope.com/pages/faq/firstcolumn) appeared in the _Chicago Reader_. ---
**Author:** ![JKellyMap](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jkellymap/32/15880_2.png) [@JKellyMap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JKellyMap)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2017, 11:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/44th-anniversary-of-the-first-straight-dope-column/778814/2 "2017-02-02T11:39:11Z")
Thanks for that. The Bryan Mawr Theater location has been a vacant building since the late 80s. Interesting to see a discussion of (local) effects of the 1968 Democratic Convention in Chicago, in January 1973. While a bigger effect may have been the election of Nixon, little did we know then that the seeds of Nixon’s downfall had just recently been planted (IIRC, in Jan '73 Watergate was still thought to have been just a minor crime.) ---
**Author:** ![whitetho](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/whitetho/32/1059_2.png) [@whitetho](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/whitetho)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2017, 2:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/44th-anniversary-of-the-first-straight-dope-column/778814/3 "2017-02-02T14:05:49Z")
> [@whitetho](#): > > Just a short note to note that 44 years ago on January 2, 1973 [The First Straight Dope Column](http://www.straightdope.com/pages/faq/firstcolumn) appeared in the _Chicago Reader_. There is a rule that I cannot make a post without making a dumb error. Please note that the OP should read February, not January. ---
**Author:** ![74westy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/74westy/32/3950_2.png) [@74westy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/74westy)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2017, 2:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/44th-anniversary-of-the-first-straight-dope-column/778814/4 "2017-02-02T14:28:21Z")
It’s taking longer than we thought. ---
**Author:** ![watchwolf49](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e9c0ed/32.png) [@watchwolf49](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/watchwolf49)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2017, 2:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/44th-anniversary-of-the-first-straight-dope-column/778814/5 "2017-02-02T14:55:41Z")
“No, it was not “A Date Which Will Live in Infamy” That was Pearl Harbor day.” Did you mean Groundhog Day? ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2017, 3:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/44th-anniversary-of-the-first-straight-dope-column/778814/6 "2017-02-02T15:52:21Z")
An update on _Whatever happened to Aaron Russo?_: > [@Wiki](#): > > In April 1968, Russo opened the nightclub Kinetic Playground in Chicago, Illinois, originally naming it the Electric Theater. He booked numerous prominent rock groups and musicians at the club such as The Grateful Dead, Iron Butterfly, Jefferson Airplane, Janis Joplin, Led Zeppelin, Rotary Connection, and The Who. > > In addition to owning his own nightclub, Russo managed several musical acts throughout the 1970s including The Manhattan Transfer and Bette Midler. > > Russo then moved into producing and directing movies, six of them receiving Academy Award nominations and two receiving Golden Globe Award nominations. His final film would be America: Freedom to Fascism, a political documentary critical of the Internal Revenue Service and the Federal Reserve System and warning about the coming of the New World Order. He died on August 24th, 2007 after a six year battle with bladder cancer. ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2017, 4:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/44th-anniversary-of-the-first-straight-dope-column/778814/7 "2017-02-02T16:21:55Z")
What? Nobody is ridiculing the answers? We have traditions to uphold! > [@](#): > > The Bryn Mawr, which charges $.60 admission for adults and always seems to be full, is every bit as successful as it seems to be. They went to the low price policy about 12 years ago – if they weren’t making money with it, they wouldn’t be sticking with it. > > The Bryn Mawr shows movies long after their inital release. Therefore, they pay lower film rental and they rarely get stuck with a bomb. Of course, they rarely get a premier socko smash, but they settle for a modest, steady income; meanwhile, the larger theaters, many of which are chain-owned, take their chances and hope for the big buck. The Bryn Mawr is able to pay projectionists less because of their low admission price, and they run a small tight operation. In short, they are not greedy, and they are smart. > > Other neighborhood theater owners don’t follow the Bryn Mawr’s lead because they are greedy and stupid.- Or maybe other owners don’t do this because the Bryn Mawr fills the niche for that audience. True, a second theater might find that they can attract a sufficient audience that doesn’t now go to the Bryn Mawr for whatever reasons. Or it might find that there aren’t enough patrons to fill two theaters and quickly go out of business. Or it might result in both theaters being half-full and both going out of business. “It’s a good idea so everybody should do it” is the kind of business reasoning I would expect to see in a 1973 alternative weekly. That’s why the breed has been so successful over time. Oh, and nobody noticed that “inital” is misspelled? ---
**Author:** ![Balthisar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/balthisar/32/2825_2.png) [@Balthisar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Balthisar)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2017, 2:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/44th-anniversary-of-the-first-straight-dope-column/778814/8 "2017-02-03T02:26:40Z")
> [@Exapno\_Mapcase](#): > > Oh, and nobody noticed that “inital” is misspelled? That’s exactly how you spell “inital”! Unless you mean that “initial” is misspelt. 😃