At the time the story was written and the play appeared on Broadway, Las Vegas was just a dot on a map. Casinos in the United States basically did not exist, but illegal places to play were always cropping up.
Nathan Detroit is an afflicted gambler who is engaged to Adelaide, a chorus line dancer at the Hot Box club. Nathan has commitment problems since he and Adelaide have been seeing each other for well over a decade, with no movement on Nathan's part to take Adelaide as his dearly beloved--to get married.
Like any afflicted gambler of that era, Nathan is also an inveterate horse player. In NYC at that time this is easy. There are several thoroughbred tracks. There is no off-track betting or computer betting, but if one needs to get a bet down while not at the track there are always bookmakers roaming around who will take your bet.
And then as now, the summer racing season was always moved to Saratoga in the month of August. The swells have been taking their horses to Saratoga since the mid-19th century to escape the summer hear of the cities. No air conditioning then either.
Train service was the most prevalent form of travel. There were of course cars, but no thruways. No Northway. The train that left NYC for Saratoga continued on to Niagara Falls, then the honeymoon capital of the nation. The just-marrieds from anywhere headed to Niagara Falls.
Adelaide's been waiting for Nathan a long time to finally make good on a commitment. In fact, she's been writing her mother they are married, and have children. An unmarried woman of Adelaide's age is not a good thing. She's embarrassed.
There is a song in the 'Guys and Dolls' show that is called 'Adelaide's Lament,' where she describes a psychosomatic cold that comes on over her because she is still not married. She remarks about the August train ride they take that is headed to Niagara Falls, but where they get off at Saratoga, now for the 14th time.
I'm sure it is pure coincidence that the exit on New York's Northway for Saratoga Springs is Exit 14. There are things you can't make up. I think the car drives itself to our destination at this point.
This year's annual pilgrimage to the finish line was not especially financially rewarding. That is code for losing. However, upon arriving at home and watching the Travers whatever aura of luck that might have been missing while at the track was restored, and I hit with West Coast to win, at 6-1. While this didn't completely reverse the ink from red to black, it did provide the boost any horseplayer enjoys: picking a winner that most others didn't.
The happy feeling was made even better by telling the waitress at our breakfast place, Poopie's in East Glen Falls on Lawrence Street, that we were favoring West Coast in the Travers. It is always nice to leave a tip, and then also leave another tip that comes in. My wonder is if a year from now she will remember we gave her the winner at breakfast.
Poopie's was mentioned for the first time as part of a blog entry in 2012 when we first took the motel owner's recommendation and sought the place out. It is the most local of places. On any given day the place is so filled with regulars it would be no surprise to learn they all have yearbooks from the same high school.
As for the same waitress being there next year, we have no doubt she will be, along with her sister, another waitress and mother and father who own the place. The father Jerry is the grill man, who singularly completes everyone's breakfast order. Jerry is somewhere in his early 60s, taking over the business his father started in 1954. Jerry loves rock music, and pipes a good volume of it through the eatery's sound system. Autographed crossed hockey sticks get a pride of place placing. Glens Falls is the AHL home of the Detroit Red Wing farm team. Through connections, the Stanley Cup generally makes its way to Poopie's every summer, no matter who won it.
Red Smith once commented that it took him a long time to find his way to the press box at Yankee Stadium. Once getting there, he felt is would be a real waste if he didn't put all that went into that to good use.
We've been getting off at Exit 14 way more times than Adelaide got off the train single at Saratoga.
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