Pinball

Amid neighborhood concern, a Mount Holly delicatessen owner has withdrawn his application for an additional pinball machine. Before nearby residents could urge the Township Council to reject the application Monday, Alfred Ireland, who owns Aldee's Deli at Cherry and Garden Streets, said he would withdraw his request. He also offered to remove two video games and a pinball machine already in his store. Council members told Ireland that he didn't have to take such a step - that he could negotiate with the neighbors - but on Wednesday he decided to close the game room.

A bar that a number of city lawyers don't seem to mind not passing - and entering - is Frank Clements Tavern, a Center City institution that, much like the Energizer Bunny, just keeps on going and going. Clements has been around more than 50 years. Its clientele includes, along with the judicial set, stockbrockers and an assortment of business people. And while the restaurant community in the vicinity keeps changing, Clements has given no ground. Its strong suit? Probably that it has never paid much attention to fads or trends.

From those first thunderous chords, the Who's Tommy has an exhilarating familiarity. Guitars, bass, drums, keyboards, signature French horn: "You know you're in Tommy-land," says Joseph Church, music director of the rock opera that opens on Broadway tonight. "The music is extremely carefully structured to be a really amazing journey, to take the listener on a trip," Church explains. Tommy's amazing journey to Broadway began in 1969 when British rocker Pete Townshend's band, the Who, released his tour de force, a double album about a boy struck deaf, dumb and blind, who becomes a pinball wizard ("sure plays a mean pinball")

The 49th Street Galleria, promoted as America's premier indoor entertainment mall, opened its doors at the back of the Franklin Mills Mall on Friday. Among the attractions are arcades, a bowling alley, a roller rink, miniature golf and pinball machines. For science fiction buffs, there's a Photon game in which players suit up in helmets and fire "phasers" at members of the opposing team. The "hits" are recorded by computers as the teams roam the mazes in the hazy battlefield, trying to outgun their opponents through strategy and teamwork.

Sidney Bechet was at the pinball machine in the hotel lobby. "Hey kid," said the jazz great, "wanna play?" Between sets, Bechet had come into the lobby of the Hotel Senator from the Rendezvous nightclub next door, on the 900 block of Walnut Street. I was hardly a pinball virtuoso, but a Living Legend was inviting me to join him. Awestruck, I accepted the invitation. "Five bucks," he suggested. "OK?" Five dollars went much further than it does now. I wasn't even sure I had that much in my wallet.

Martin "Buddy" Sheldon Himmelstein, 79, a hard-working businessman who installed and serviced pinball machines and jukeboxes in restaurants and bars, died Tuesday of lung cancer at his son's home in West Chester. He was a longtime resident of the Northeast until moving to Atlantic City in 2005. In the summer of 1937, when Mr. Himmelstein was 9, he and his best friend were heroes. His friend, Gilbert Sokolow, rescued Mr. Himmelstein when he impaled his hand on an iron fence. On another occasion, Mr. Himmelstein saved Sokolow when he fell off his bike, hit his head on a rock, and fell into a pond.

Collecting and dealing in antique slot machines and coin-operated gum and candy dispensers, old jukeboxes, advertising signs, diner paraphernalia, wooden carousel animals, pinball machines and video games have become very profitable. That's why the Fourth Annual Philadelphia Antique Juke Box, Slot Machine and Advertising Show and Sale this weekend is almost twice as big as last year's show, and is being held in a new location - the Sheraton Valley Forge Convention Center. Serious collectors who go after the rarities pay $50 and get into the show during setup today from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. Others just looking for a slot machine or a pinball game for the rec room, some old soda fountain equipment or a barber pole will pay $4.50 admission tomorrow from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. and again on Sunday from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. At the show, expect to see 50 different models of jukeboxes, ranging from a console that plays old 45s and sells for less than $1,000 to a rare Wurlitzer 950 that sells for as much as $20,000.

Time to finish what we started last week. Here are more games to keep you in front of that new system you got for Christmas. CRUE BALL For Genesis Dude! It's video pinball with a motley twist - Motley Crue, that is. If you've never played a great video pinball game, the realism will amaze you. The flippers have the same feel as an arcade machine, the bumpers play the same - you can even tap a button and nudge the machine. (Careful not to tilt!) But video pinball can do things arcade pinball never dreamed of, like make monsters parade across the screen while you blast away with your flippers.

Midway into the second act of The Who's Tommy a pinball machine rises from the stage on a lift. It spins in circles while the title character plays it to a mad crescendo of ringing bells and flashing lights, then it bursts into flames. The opening night audience Friday at the Forrest Theatre cheered and applauded this pyrotechnic display, and you can't really fault this mild breach of theatergoing good behavior. It is a wonderful effect, and if a fire ever deserved applause, this one does.

The last previous tenant of the room over this North Philadelphia bar was a "mystic" who dressed in a flowing robe with a lunar motif and matching pointed hat. He had installed a revolving mirrored ball that projected jittery stars on the walls and ceiling of the darkened room, which his clients knew as Lodge 9. The mystic ultimately moved into fast food and didn't stop expanding the business until his franchises had reached No. 9. The tenant of...

Pennsauken rings up style points along with traditional ones on the scoreboard. Take Saturday's 52-23 victory over Triton in the semifinals of the South Jersey Group 4 football tournament. In addition to setting a season high for points, the Indians entertained another big crowd at Vince McAneney Stadium with another thrill show by Manny Cortez, Amar Williams, and Anthony Sweet. Still, the top seed in South Jersey's largest group and the No. 4 team in The Inquirer Top 10 has substance as well as sizzle, and grit as well as glitter.

Pennsauken rings up style points along with traditional ones on the scoreboard. Take Saturday's 52-23 victory over Triton in the semifinals of the South Jersey Group 4 football tournament. In addition to setting a season high for points, the Indians entertained another big crowd at Vince McAneney Stadium with another thrill show by Manny Cortez, Amar Williams, and Anthony Sweet. Still, the top seed in South Jersey's largest group and the No. 4 team in The Inquirer Top 10 has substance as well as sizzle, and grit as well as glitter.

The Arena Football League is famous for its pinball-machine scoring and outrageous statistics. Take the milestone Donovan Morgan reached last night. Morgan, in only his third season, caught his 100th career touchdown as the Soul eventually put away the New Orleans VooDoo, 70-49. Less than 4 minutes later, he added No. 101. And No. 102 came 9 minutes after that. You get the idea. "It's a great thing to reach those individual goals," Morgan said. "But the main goal is to win a championship.

A Novel By Jonathan Franzen Farrar, Straus, and Giroux. 576 pp. $28 Patty Emerson Berglund is a "lyrics-and-stories gal. " She never tires of "cheating men and strong women and the indomitable human spirit. " Neither does Jonathan Franzen. In Freedom , his first novel since The Corrections , Franzen tells the story of Patty and Walter Berglund of St. Paul, Minn., two fundamentally decent people (with two kids, a straight-arrow and a screw-up) who "loved each other and brought each other daily pain.

WILDWOOD - Flat-screen TVs make fabulous prizes, but boardwalk arcade-game players prefer something plush . "Stuffed animals," says Mike Weimar, games manager of the three Morey's amusement piers in Wildwood. "People want plush. They love plush. " For a columnist on a quest to find out what has (and hasn't) changed in the world of summer fun and games, there's no better destination than Wildwood, where retro never goes out of style. From behind a merry fringe of multihued beach umbrellas in the distance, a peerless ocean breeze cuts through the curtain of August heat on the boardwalk, where I explore the timeless appeal of tossing a ball, throwing a dart, and pitching a quarter.

Lou Perfidio, 43, freelance writer and self-proclaimed "Greatest Pinball Player of All Time," died Tuesday of heart disease at home in the Northeast. Mr. Perfidio's last article for The Inquirer, on Philadelphia's hard-core punk days, appears on the front of today's features section. He told a New York Times reporter in 1990 that his truck-driver father met his mother in a Philadelphia candy store where he was showing off his prowess on a pinball machine. Mr. Perfidio grew up in Croydon, Bucks County, with a penchant for pinball, which he played on a machine in a neighborhood cheesesteak shop.

Martin "Buddy" Sheldon Himmelstein, 79, a hard-working businessman who installed and serviced pinball machines and jukeboxes in restaurants and bars, died Tuesday of lung cancer at his son's home in West Chester. He was a longtime resident of the Northeast until moving to Atlantic City in 2005. In the summer of 1937, when Mr. Himmelstein was 9, he and his best friend were heroes. His friend, Gilbert Sokolow, rescued Mr. Himmelstein when he impaled his hand on an iron fence. On another occasion, Mr. Himmelstein saved Sokolow when he fell off his bike, hit his head on a rock, and fell into a pond.

WELCOME TO Mayor Street's City Hall Arcade. This joint has the best policy pinball machines anywhere. Ring-a-ding-ding. "Schools" costs $45 million a game, but you gotta pay somebody else to play for you. Even though you're free to choose anybody, Edison has all the pinballs. "PGW" costs the same. But if you bat the pinball down the wrong holes, the whole city goes up in a ball of flames. The mother of all policy pinball machines, however, is the $295 million "NTI. " Most folks just call it the blight game.

James Jacobs is set to carry the ball - and the torch - for Norristown. The 5-foot-9, 165-pound speedster should be a key for the Eagles in the Suburban One League's American Conference Liberty Division. Norristown is looking for its fourth straight District 1 Class AAAA playoff berth. Jacobs, who runs the 40-yard dash in 4.4 seconds, is the latest in a long line of standout Norristown running backs. "I call him the 'Human Pinball,'" coach Roger Grove said of the senior. "He's an exciting player.

Reminiscing about his childhood days of shooting pool in his basement and hanging out at the corner arcade, 76ers owner Pat Croce has carried the tradition into his adult life. The only difference: The arcade happens to be in the basement of his Villanova home. Home-based game rooms are becoming hugely popular. Croce's comes equipped with a customized "Croce Coliseum" air bubble hockey machine, pool table, skeeball, custom chessboard, Asteroids video game, dartboard and a rather large collection of old-fashioned pinball machines.