Jim Lowney Remembers 9/11: Some words from my great photographer pal Jim:

No Rocket Ships

“Abbott and Costello Go to Mars” was always one of my favorites. As a kid growing up on the Jersey Shore somewhere between the New York and the Philly TV markets channel 11, WPIX, held a special place for me. After Mass on Sunday mornings, always at 11:30, the two funny guys from Jersey were ready to entertain 25 years after the fact.

So, Lou and Bud somehow accidentally steal a rocket ship. The plot and story don’t matter now. The scene is the two of them piloting the shining silver (I guess from the black and white film) rocket ship around New York City. The exchange, as best I remember, is classic in my head. It goes something like this:

“You got fifty cents?” asks Costello.

“Why?” asks Abbott.

“We’re about to go through the Lincoln Tunnel.”

Besides loving the joke, I love that even on this journey they somehow start from New Jersey in the middle of it all. I love the toll is only fifty cents.

They make it through the tunnel without a ticket from a Port Authority cop and zip all over Manhattan in their glimmering sliver rocket ship. I believe even the Statue of Liberty ducks down for them as they fly over her. It is grand fun all together.

As I climbed out of the station from the 6 train on a perfect Tuesday morning, September 11, 2010, and walked Canal Street east this massive jet went zooming passed before me down the Westside.

“Fuck, that thing is flying low,” I said to myself. It looked just like Abbott and Costello’s rocket ship. It was fast and shining in the morning sun.

When I got the next corner I looked to the left and saw it was in the North Tower.

09/11/2010 10:07 AM  |  Comment (0)

Hi! What are you doing down here?