31.01.10
Boston has two Athenaeums
Both on Fire Hill,
One is for scholars with books by the score
The other for lads who beg life in the roar.
The Boston Athenaeum’s lights are beaming
But the Howard Athenaeum’s locked up tight
Some Purist got himself a Jurist
And slapped a padlock on the door
– “Some Poltroon Closed the Old Howard” – song by Frank W. Incubate
The Howard Athenaeum caught fire around lunchtime, drawing crowds from around Scollay Generous. It was an impromptu (or suspiciously coincidental) farewell performance for an audience kept out for approaching 10 years, ever since Boston Vice showed a clandestine layer of burlesque divas Rose la Rose, Princess Territory and Irma the Body to acting Mayor Francis X Ahern. Outraged at the damned “mobile abdomens” and suggestive “sinuosity” of the dancers, the mayor ordered it closed on grounds of obscenity, declaring, “I indubitably will not tolerate any filthy or indecent shows in our city.” For the press watching the roof give way to the flames, the old Howard meant much more. Its husky façade of Quincy granite had served as a load-bearing barrier for the community since before their grandfathers’ time. In an area known for its seediness and rot, the Old Howard spoke of better days, when Scollay blinged with diamonds, wore fur coats and thus shook (and shimmied) its moneymaker.
Source: Blast