Local fans aren’t sure new TV show will capture what they love about bingo

Emily Young

May 17, 2007 10:33 pm

— When Lorraine Keyes’ child turned 7 years old, the East Hampstead, N.H., resident told her husband she really needed one night a week out. Keyes decided to give bingo a try, and after a while, one night turned into two nights a week. And then two turned into five.
Four decades later, she’s still a regular at the bingo games at Rockingham Park in Salem, N.H.
“Friday and Sunday nights I’m home with my husband,” said Keyes, who’s now a very spry 82-year-old. “We used to play in the afternoon, go home for a quick dinner and then play all night. That’s a little much for me now.”
But Keyes’ Friday night might soon be taken up by bingo, too. ABC is betting big on the classic game by launching a new TV show, “National Bingo Night,” tonight at 9 p.m.
“The idea of bingo being a great spectator’s sport seems really out there — it seems as interesting as watching chess. But that doesn’t mean it can’t be repackaged for television,” said Robert Thompson, director of the Bleier Center for Television and Popular Culture at Syracuse University. “If you told me 10 years ago that people playing cards on television was going to be the next great, big thing, I’d say you’re crazy. And televised poker has become huge.”
While Keyes is excited to watch the new show, many other local bingo lovers doubt it will capture one of the main things they love about playing the game in a group — the social camaraderie. Plus, many longtime players, like Haverhill resident Katherine Muldowney, have all but retired their daubers for good, reducing the number of likely TV viewers.
“I’d rather read a book,” said Peabody resident Ethel Babner, who ran the weekly bingo night at Temple Ner Tamid for roughly 20 years. “I ran it; I didn’t play. The only time I’d play is when I’d sit in for a player who had to go to the bathroom. For me, it’s horribly boring.”
What Babner did enjoy was the social aspect of volunteering with roughly 50 other members of her temple. During bingo’s heyday about 15 years ago, the temple made about $80,000 per year from 250 weekly players. As the number of regulars slid to around 100, so did the proceeds. The temple closed its bingo hall recently because organizers didn’t think it could make more than the $18,000 it cost to run the games.
“It’s a nice social event,” said Babner, who blamed the demise on Keno, scratch tickets, and the area’s proximity to casinos like Foxwoods in Connecticut.
Dick Robichaud, who manages Monday night bingo at Rockingham Park for the local Knights of Columbus, said many bingo players have turned to poker, particularly Texas Hold ‘Em, for their entertainment. In years past, Robichaud said, as many as 700 bingo players would try to get a seat in the clubhouse. These days, 250 players hit the venue Monday nights.
The numbers of players are down, but there are still dozens of local venues that offer bingo. More than 1,000 attended the weekly games at the Amesbury Senior Center between July 2006 and April 2007, said director Pamela Brown.
“It’s a fun night out,” said Lawrence resident Kim Hadley, 30, a regular at Rockingham Park. “I play 33 or 36 cards (at once). It does take time to build up speed. But it’s fun. ... I might watch the (television) show, but it’s definitely not the same as going somewhere to play.”
Many regulars have bingo penciled into their social calendars more than once a week. While Methuen senior Helen Varitimos only plays Monday nights with her five girlfriends, Amesbury resident Joseph Wilson, 76, travels as far as Haverhill by bus to get his fill of bingo four days a week.
“I keep saying, ‘I’ve got to stop,’ because it’s really an addiction,” joked Amesbury resident Carolyn Levesque, 66. “I’ve been playing here (at the Amesbury Senior Center) for about two, three years and a long time (elsewhere) before that. I also go to play in Salisbury, Seabrook and Kensington (N.H.). I enjoy it and I just lost my husband, so I needed something to get involved in.”
Levesque is skeptical about whether she’d enjoy tonight’s televised bingo program because she doubted she’d go online to print a game card so she can play along. She’d rather play the sometimes frustrating game with friends.
“Sometimes I get mad because I wait and wait and wait to win,” Levesque said. “But it’s better than sitting at home and looking at the television.”
Find your bingo style
Each bingo venue has its own atmosphere, where the hall can be filled with laughter or silenced with concentration.
For example, the 40-odd players at the Amesbury Senior Center Tuesday were relaxed and chatty this week. Most seniors played 12 cards simultaneously, marking them with colored chips. The end of each round was marked with the snap of the chips snapping back into place as players moved magnetic wands over the cards. Veteran player Levesque left her seat more than once to help first-timer Jackie Pallazola of Amesbury at another table.
The atmosphere was far more serious Monday night at Rockingham Park. As soon as caller Bill Gallagher read the first number, silence fell over the approximately 210 players. Heads turned downward and arms smoothly moved up and down the cards, blotting the appropriate numbers with their daubers. If you missed the winner shout “bingo,” you could tell the game was over by the simultaneous ripping of sheets of paper cards as they were torn off and disposed in trash bags tied to chairs next to each player.
Keyes appeared more relaxed than other players, as she quietly joked with her friend, Carol. Her lucky thimble — Keyes was a seamstress for more than 30 years — was next to her, bearing trinkets from Foxwoods and Florida. Her luck was running cold that night, but she knows it comes in waves: She racked up $39,000 during her last four-month winning streak.
Salem, N.H., player Phyllis Penna, 69, sat in a small booth where she could see the bingo balls on a small television screen. She still comes to play bingo “for the money,” hooked after winning her first time playing the game more than 40 years ago.
“I play almost every night. It’s close to home and I’ve met friends here,” Penna said. “But I haven’t been winning. I keep coming back to win.”

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