Tony Alva was relaxing by the pool at the Kuilima on Oahu, talking things over with his close friend and confidant Wentzle Ruml IV. The course of the discussion covered Alva’s more recent activities such as his unique screen test for the Argentine film genius Adolpho Antonio Brasura. For the final sequence of the test, Brasura, a master of a vicious brand of cinema verite, rented an entire posh resort on the Kauai coast, and had Tony toss a 24” Zenith color television off the roof twenty stories into the pool below. The TV was plugged in via a 250 foot extension cord, and its impact produced a 1 00-foot-high brilliant flash of pure prismatic color. The Zenith people were so taken with the quality of this work that they are negotiating for the rights to a Brasura-Alva commercial. Imagine Alva skate jumping off a pile of color TV’s, grabbing one, dropping it into a swimming hole far below, and the resultant crash landing at which point an underwater reveals that the set is still working perfectly. It would definitely sell a few million sets.

The conversation revealed other interesting facets of the upcoming Brasura epic. Robin Alaway will play the female lead (an apt choice considering her stunning performance with Russ Howell in the hilariously satirical segment of “Freewheeling”). Arthur Jennings Brewer will handle the in-the pool water photography, Ted Nugent will record and engineer the soundtrack, Senor Brasura will play himself in a cameo role, and Roy Rogers’ horse Trigger will be the hero’s mount.

By far the most interesting thing to emerge that afternoon was Tony’s plan for a bowl-riding invitational. The sponsors and entrants would all put their money into a collective pot, up front, with the winner taking it all. Alva envisions it as either a one-on-one, or a team competition. When queried as to how it would be judged, he laughingly replied: “Well, just have everyone go skate it out … and the last man to emerge from the bowl wins!”

THE SKATING POLICEMAN

A group of young rowdys were sitting in the alley down by the Central Towers when the patrol car arrived. The two policemen inside get out, saunter over and politely ask the kids what they’re up to, and this smart-ass punk sardonically replies, “What the hell is it to you, anyway?” Now the elder cop of the duo is about to blow his cool, but the younger one intercedes . . . “Let me handle this.” “Is that your skateboard, son?” he inquires. “Yeah, bet you can’t ride it, pig.”

The young Centurion silently grabs the skate, takes off his gun and borrows a pair of tennis shoes from one of the other kids, all of whom are quite upset with their loudmouth friend for getting . them into trouble. With the borrowed Adidas three-stripers on his feet, the lawman executes a highly technical freestyle routine, and ends it with a stylish crossover dismount. The troublemaker, now thoroughly humbled, apologizes profusely, and the skating policeman advises the youth to tighten up his mounts as well as his act. The two officers reenter the black and white, and motor on, leaving the mischievous lad a bit wiser in the ways of the world.

SkateBoarder Magazine vol.3 #4 April 1977