Wednesday, June 24, 1998

" Emo "- Patinkin column ( June 23, 1998 )

I have known the subject of Mark Patinkin's excellent column

    today (  "  Mo  quotes Robert Frost and rescues cats " -June 23 )

    - " Emo " Hovannesian - neighborhood philosopher, rescuer of stray

    cats, down and out lost soul eccentric, heir to an imagined Czarist

    Russia oil fortune, now pathetic victim of  Mayor Cianci's " neighborhood

    improvement " --since 1970. He is a chartered member of Our Gang.

       I can assure Providence Journal readers that he is no " fabrication ".

    He is our answer to New York's Ratso Rizzo of " Midnight Cowboy "

    fame. In fact playing " Emo " would be a perfect role for brilliant

    actor Dustin Hoffman, a sure Academy Award Winner !

        When THEY are demolishing his humble house at 327 Dexter St., I

    want all Rhode Island to hear his plaintive cry : " I'm here! I'm here ! "

       I first met Emo at the former " wild-hippie " Armando's Bar in

    downtown Providence.He was the friend of another " our gang " friend-

    now a math teacher at URI - who now and then -too drunken to go home-

    crashed in my bathtub in a squalid rooming house on North Main Street.

    Those " welfare blues days " !

       " Emo" was the gang's technical advisor on race track gambling. Once

    I made a " grandma bet " and won enough money to treat myself to an ice

    cream sunday at Lincoln Downs.

        He is still one of the few people in Providence with whom I can

    discuss IDEAS- and the OLD DAYS.

       I hope Mark Patinkin's column will help people to see him as I've

    always seen him - a saint without God.

         I thank  Mark again for finding a great - if rather pathetic story.

No comments:

Post a Comment

Comments that are courteous, concise and relevant are always welcome, whether or not they agree with the views expressed here or not. Profanity is not necessary. Thank you for reading “Time Enough At Last!”

Ron