Popcorn and Apaches

[LARSSON at VAX1.Mankato.MSUS.EDU]

In reference to Joe's comments:

1. "n page 293 of the Bantam edition, part 2 episode 7, Pynchon refers to 
"doing the penis-in-the-popcorn-box routine" in a movie theater.
 
In the movie "Diner", Mickey Rourke's character (Boogie, if I recall), in
order to get his date to touch his penis, holds their box of popcorn in
his lap, opens his fly and sticks his doodle up through the flap in the
bottom of the box and into the popcorn.  Eventually, as his date reaches
in for some popcorn, she latches on to something other than popcorn.
 
Now as for myself, were I to have not seen "Diner" I'd be clueless as to
what Pynchon was talking about in this passage....that is, assuming
they're the same thing."


It's a generational thing.  Can't say I ever tried it myself, but to one
raised on those cardboard boxes ("Mr. Deelish" brand), it was a natural 
allusion.  When foax these days only know popcorn in tubs big enough to
bathe in or bags that crumple up and save valuable landfill space, it is
likely to be more obscure.  DINER is one way in.


Also, 2.
"Also, while I'm thinking of it, at one point Pynchon refers to Secret
Service agents as looking like "Apaches" and in another passage he refers
to "Apache sideburns".  I'm assuming he's refering to the tribe of native
Americans; if so, what kind of sideburns did they sport?"


"Apache" is also a French slang term for a certain kind of Parisian thug,
often sporting sideburns and a striped shirt.  The "Apache dance," where
the guy flings his partner about in a somewhat brutal fashion, was once
a cultural icon of sorts.  The name itself, of course, was to indicate
the "savagery" of the thugs--"another example of white men's lies."

Don Larsson, Mankato State U (MN)