PROJECTIONIST

The sequence of things to come:

(1) Movie theaters report declining business. (2) Videocassette industry booming. (3) Moral Majority predicts collapse of civilization as we know it. (4) Lousy movies blamed for theater decline. (5) Jack Valenti says movies are better than ever. (6) Theater popcorn industry collapses; thousands lose jobs. (7) Home popcorn-machine sales booming. (8) Theater tickets cost three times the rental fees for video cassettes. (9) Hollywood video film business booming. (10) Teen-agers rebel at seeing movies at home. (11) Sales boom for portable TVs for back-seat viewing. (12) Incidence of teen-age pregnancies booming. (13) Last movie theater in America closes its doors. (14) Valenti insists movies were better than ever. (15) Video costs triple what theater tickets were. (16) Public says quality of VCR movies deteriorating. (17) Civilization as we know it collapses. (18) Sales of parlor games booming, surpass 1930s.

WALKER A. TOMPKINS

Santa Barbara