A complete archive of mail from May 2005

READ last month's letters

June 10
FUDGE AT THE CASINO, CIRCA 1968
I enjoyed reading your take on Vanilla Fudge. I saw them at the Hampton Beach Casino in the summer of 1968. My mom worked for John Dineen and was manager of the Casino Gift Shop in the late 1960s and so I got into any show I wanted for free. Vanilla Fudge was one of them, but I also remember playing pinball at one of the Ocean Boulevard arcades earlier that afternnon and who should come storming in but two of the Fudge. Instead of pinball they seemed more fascinated with the kiddie mini rides but were soon shown the door after their potential for destruction and mischief became evident to the owner.
Thomas K Jenkins

June 9
CEMETERY TALES
I read in the Herald today that there will be a series of walking tours of historic graves. Can you tell me more about that? It sounds very interesting.
J. Gorman

EDITOR'S REPLY: Since the newspapers cover local events so well, we largely offer links and a few select TOP EVENTS where we can offer more detail. Just so happens that we picked the cemetery lectures as one of our favorites.

June 5
HOW ABOUT THOSE VIKINGS?
FYI, a genuine Viking settlement can be found at L'anse aux Meadows,
Newfoundland. Its the only one I know of, and is a National Historic
Park. Various surviving artifacts attest to this being the real deal.
Parks Canada has a website page on it, and there are numerous other
things about it on the net.
M. Wilson in T.O..

June 3
BUNCH OF BUELL
I noticed his allusion to Augustus C. Buell's biography of Jones, and was pleased to see that he needed no introduction to Buell's poor credibility. Buell published a memoir of Civil War service in the 4th U.S. Artillery (THE CANNONEER, Washington, D.C. National Tribune, 1890) that this would-be historian used as a source a quarter of a century ago, but the book has since come to be recognized as an outright fabrication.
William Marvel

June 3
PENNY FOR YOUR THOUGHTS
Penny Gourmet does not give the cities of the restaurants it has reviewed. I see just a list of 10 places. It would be nice to tell me the city name for each one on the index pages rather than making me click on each one individually to see if it is close to where I want to go.
Thanks.Rich

EDITOR’S REPLY: Don’t blame Penny. We have found that Google really likes clear simple searchable titles. The location is at the TOP of the article and in the opening blurb. You can find all of the reviews here 

June 2
WHISTLE AT EATON FALLS
thanks for your articles on the Whistle at Eaton Falls. My father Paul Ignatius was involved in the production, as a recent grad of the Harvard Business School, and someone who was interested in movie making from his childhood in LA. I was hoping to get some archive photos or local stories that ran when the movie crew came to town. And we are trying to get a copy of all the films he was involved in for his 85th birthday. You have a bootleg copy, is that something that could be copied? ( We have searched and found the same thing you did - not available except in a few 16 mm versions, which don't do us any good. ) Any thoughts? Has anyone written up a story on the arrival of the Hollywood crew? Thanks for any help you can give. I live in Concord and would happily do some research in Portsmouth if you have any thoughts.
Amy

EDITOR’S REPLY: Thanks for your note. The bootleg was a gift and, as a former producer, I’m just too respectful of copyrights to copy it. Besides, it is terrible – shot off the wall in an auditorium. Not worth watching in this form. We are unaware of any authorized copies, but there are a few 16mm copies floating around. You might ask at the Dover Public Library. Photo stills and posters appear frequently on eBay which is where most of our materials have come from, including a recent sheet music and 45 rpm from the film soundtrack. We’ll be adding more info on WHISTLE since we recently purchased a copy of the Columbia Pressbook from the film that was used for media and theater owners. It includes sample advertising, publicity info and what is labeled film "exploitation".

June 2
MORE ON THE MARCY BROTHERS
Is there any way you can tell me more about Daniel Marcy? I am doing research on the March family in Algiers (New Orleans). I am working on an exhibit for the local museum about the ship building and ship repair industry in Algiers between 1830-1862. Peter Marcy was Daniel's brother. Peter came to Algiers and started a dry dock company here. I would like to know more about the family and plan to come to Portsmouth the third week of June.
Lydia Breen

EDITOR’S REPLY: Captain Daniel Marcy is best known locally because his name is attached to the former Water Street. Marcy Street runs today between Prescott Park and Strawbery Banke. According to Jim Garvin in his book HISTORIC PORTSMOUTH, "Orphaned at twelve, he (Marcy) first tasted salt water the next year when he signed for a voyage to the West Indies…he followed the sea first as a sailor and then, after his twenty-first birthday, as a New Orleans shipmaster." During the Civil War he was known as a Portsmouth "Copperhead" and afterwards he helped revive the local shipbuilding industry. We’ll feature his photo online in the next year. The Portsmouth Athenaeum will certainly know about him (open to the public Tues / Thur / Sat only). Daniel and Peter Marcy are featured extensively in Tall Ships iof the Piscataqua 1830 – 1877 by Ray Brighton (1989) and Constructing Munitions of War by Richard E. Winslow III (1995) both from the Portsmouth Marine Society.

June 1
PLAYING CARDS WITH DEAD AUTHORS
I enjoyed your "... Cards with Dead Authors" article. I never became a teacher, but I've often said, "I think like an English teacher." My authors cards were a little different from yours, but they were important in my early education in about1949 (as were Classics Illustrated comics, which may be before your time). I never found them for my kids in the 60's, but I used Authors Cards when working for awhile in a childrens' home and then with my Grandchildren. It was delightful hear-ing 4-year-olds ask, "Do you have James Fenimore Cooper?" Or "Nathaniel Hawthorne?" Mark's favorite author at Age 4 was Edgar Allen Poe, and Greg's at 4 was Balzac! And in a game of Charades, Mark gestured "a moustache," and Greg guessed Balzac! Their mother was amazed. And Mark liking Poe led to our reading "The Raven" and other things by Poe at an early age. I haven't had Internet till recently and can't find Author's Cards in the stores, but here they're still widely available in my search. Where I also found your article, and thought I'd write and share another story about author's cards in childhood. No need to reply. Cordially,
Sylvia Salter

June 1
THANKS FOR DINGING HOTEL
Thanks so very much. I had given up hope of getting a reply to my query. (SEE LETTER BELOW) At long last, I have found out that "The Albracca" was a hotel in York Harbor, not 10 miles from the Isles of Shoals. Ms. Dowling has sent me a beautiful postcard picture (dated 1906) of the hotel. Do you think it might have been one of the Star Island Corporation's original hotels? The next time I go down to the US, I am going to go there. Perhaps they have a local historical society that might have some more information.
Carol Nicholson

June 1
SHE FOUND THE ALBRACCA IN YORK
You posted a letter from Carol Nicholson in Canada on March 15, 2005 asking about the Albracca. I have an old postcard of the Albracca hotel in York, Harbor, Maine. It is dated Sept. 12, 1906. I would like to tell her this, and maybe send her a scan of the postcard. Here it is:
Sandra Downing

June 1
JONES ON THE WALL
I wondered if you could help me? I'm trying to buy a poster of John Paul Jones suitable for framing. I am currently directing Herman Wouk's 'The Caine Mutiny Court-Martial' and would like to have a portrait of JPJ for set-dressing. I've been searching the internet without success and keep coming back here.
John Smeathers, Director, Garrick Theatre, Stockport U.K.

EDITOR’S REPLY: I can't say, in seven years of collecting "Jonesiana" that I've ever seen a poster of Paul Jones, other than those of the 1959 film starring an un-Joneslike Robert Stack. We do have a WW2 navy recruitment poster that includes his image, but that won’t work here. There is an eBay seller who goes by the name "Line of Battle" with scores of naval portraits. The best I can suggest is to get a smaller portrait, scan it, and have a "life-size" copy center blow it up to the size you desire. Just as easy to buy a Jones book on eBay or go to the library and do the same.