There are also severe restrictions on the treatment and maintenance of the lanes. There is an episode of Hill Street Blues in which a sergeant bowls a perfect game, but has it disallowed from the record books when it is determined there was too much wax on the floor. Such evaluations actually take place.
The Arcade Bowl in University City, Missouri, is a tiny, rundown eight lane facility upstairs from a hardware store. It has been in operation for about sixty years, and looks like it was last redecorated around 1960. In its heyday the alley reported an extraordinarily high number of perfect games–so many, in fact, that the Congress investigated the alley more than once. It passed inspection every time.
University City is a suburb of St. Louis, one place where bowling is not generally thought of as a primarily working class pursuit. It is the home of the Bowling Hall of Fame, and there is even an alley, The Magdalene Lanes, owned and operated by a Catholic church on the southside.
Of course he is. Who needs the championship? The only ship worth a damn is the friend ship. Here comes the friend ship sailing your way…ooh, let me get that for you…I think I lost a hangnail.
Alley of the Dolls from 1987, in which Peg tries to beat her hated high-school rival and her family in a bowl-off and Steve pretends to be a Bundy to help out.
And there’s plenty of bowling-related subplots-- I remember one where Peg’s circle of friends ran to the bowling alley to try to seduce their men and started a stampede of terrified husbands.
“You’re a Bundy, so I have to belive that somewhere in your chromosomes there lies a bowler” - Steve to Bud
Soes anyone remember a synidacted show from the 1970s called Celebrity Bowling?
I recall watching it once in slack-jawed stupefaction. The show consisted of a contest between two pairs of bowlers, each pair consisting of a member of the studio audience and a nominal TV star. There were also two announcers giving commentary.
In the episode I saw, Jill St. John, her career then in a considerable lull, was one of the bowlers. The only thing was, she had no idea whatever of how to bowl. She rolled a gutter ball everytime, for a score of zero. The announcers were straining to find something new to say in each frame.
Plus there was that great blooper where Roseanne is supposed to distract Dan, causing him to screw up his delivery. In the blooper, John Goodman ends up letting the ball fly behind him to his right, just as Booker (George Clooney) is coming back. Clooney snags it pretty well, probably saving Michael Fishman’s life.