FEATURES
WILSONOMICS
On January 10, 2012, Village of Tuxedo Park Mayor Thomas Wilson officially announced his candidacy for Congress in the 19th district of New York. TPFYI sat down with Mr. Wilson to find out a little more about why he decided to run and what he hopes to achieve if elected.
TPFYI: What was it that made you decide to run for public office?
TW: A new political will & real leadership must take control of Washington. Elected officials must stop trying to gain political advantage in partisan politics and put aside their differences, or America may soon become yet another declining world power whose time has come and gone.
This new leadership and political will must not simply be Democratic or Republican, but instead, purely American. Un-selfish & open to the enormous pool of American talent, resources, & enthusiasm that will propel this nation into an era of re-born prosperity & mark the beginning of its greatest century yet.
TPFYI: How do you plan to balance your Congressional Campaign with your job as Mayor? Will you still be able to dedicate the necessary amount of time to running the Village?
TW: I received a leave of absence from my full time job in Manhattan, so I will be in Tuxedo Park full time to focus on being Mayor and running for Congress.
TPFYI: Since most Village Mayors have devoted at least 2 terms, how do you plan to smoothly transition from Mayor to Representative if successful?
TW: The Village has a re-organization meeting every July where a Deputy Mayor is appointed to assist the Mayor. Should I become elected to Congress in November, 2012, the Deputy Mayor will become Mayor in January, 2013. His or her term will expire in July, 2013.
TPFYI: In your view, what are the most important issues facing our district? How do you plan to address these?
TW: I plan to address the following issues with purpose & passion, and most of all with my usual commitment & diligence: high property taxes, high school taxes, high health costs, high energy costs, infrastructure re-building, power outages, mass transit, job growth/creation, Indian Point, Sullivan County fracking, immigration reform, climate change & stormwater flooding.
TPFYI: In what, if any, ways do you feel you might be able to serve/help Tuxedo specifically if elected?
TW: Provide infrastructure funding to create a smart grid that is less reliant on Orange & Rockland, build a new sewer facility that does not rely on concessions to The Related Companies, solutions to mitigate flooding of the Ramapo River, create a Route 17 tax free zone to encourage new business, job creation, & a Northern highway exit to alleviate traffic on Route 17, continued use of Baker High School for education, better cell phone coverage, & super broadband connectivity independent of cable.
TPFYI: What sets you apart from Nan Hayworth, aside from your affiliation with the Democratic Party?
TW: I will focus on solving District issues rather than promoting a personal/Tea Party agenda for national attention.
TPFYI: The recession and high unemployment are lasting much too long. In your view, what needs to be done to make significant improvements? How can you influence that as a congressman?
TW: We need new leadership on affordable health care, immigration reform, burdensome regulations, education & apprenticeships, tax simplification, & innovation revitalization.
Simple ideas like allowing insurance companies to sell across state lines will increase competition & lower health care costs. Passage of the DREAM Act will create jobs, generate new tax revenues, & spur entrepreneurial enthusiasm.
Adoption of a Design-Build process for infrastructure projects will save time & money. Quality of construction can be insured by the use of Public-Private partnerships with municipalities, private entities, & Union pension funds. Union pensions have to generate close to double-digit annual returns to keep up with the aging population of their membership. Rather than invest in infrastructure projects in third world countries, we should encourage Union pensions to invest in projects locally like the Tappan Zee Bridge. A Public-Private partnership with Union Pensions and a Design-Build process will create new union jobs, quickly improve mass transit, & increase prosperity throughout the Hudson Valley.
To reduce burdensome regulations that often layer over multiple jurisdictions, we should look at repealing outdated regulations & establish periodic reviews of existing regulations. New initiatives must be considered to exempt certain types of small businesses from new regulations as they grow & expand.
Finally, many young people are either uninterested in going to college or unqualified to get a job. The charter school trend is an encouraging alternative to the traditional education model but it is not a cure-all. There is a growing consensus that school districts need to re-think the way they hire, retain, fire, and inspire teachers. To encourage the hiring of young workers, we should also look at apprenticeship programs that allow people to acquire skills and gain experience, while employers benefit from a graduated wage structure.
TPFYI: It seems as though partisanship is growing more deeply entrenched in Washington D.C. and the general population is becoming more frustrated with the political process. What can you do to try and change that and still remain effective for this Congressional District?
TW: The purpose of the Tea Party is to create national grid-lock. We need new leadership and political will to create comprehensive solutions rather than partisan solutions. For instance, Peter Dolan & I recently met to put aside our differences on Tuxedo Reserve & agree to work together on solutions for the Town & Village. If Peter & I can agree to work together after all our differences, I am confident that I can find similar solutions in Washington.
TPFYI: Which current representative do you admire most and why?
TW: There are two Representatives that I admire for similar reasons. First, Representative John Lewis from Georgia's 5th District. As one of the original Freedom Riders, and member of the Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee, Lewis was on the front lines with Dr. Martin Luther King. The Freedom Riders were the object of much hatred and brutality. Lewis suffered a fractured skull in Selma, and he bears the scars of those bloody days today. His activism and suffering during the Civil Rights Movement continues to inspire me, and I hope, guide me to make a difference as well. As Lewis said on February 27, 2008, “Something is happening in America and people are prepared and ready to make that great leap.” I want to take that great leap with Representative John Lewis.
My next choice is Representative Luis Gutierrez of Illinois’ 28th District. In some ways my esteem for Gutierrez is akin to my esteem for Lewis; both advocate non-violence and civil disobedience. Gutierrez is a national leader on comprehensive immigration reform. He is the first elected official to sponsor the DREAM Act – legislation that requires education or military service in exchange for conditional permanent residency to illegal immigrants that arrived in the U.S. as minors. In addition, and this is something I feel very strongly about since my father is a Vietnam veteran, Gutierrez also introduced legislation that makes treatment and counseling available to veterans in times of need. He also expanded health care service to veterans by securing $92 million for grievous injuries and prosthetic limbs.
Both men are unafraid to tell the truth. They both stood for the truth when the truth was unacceptable. When I am your Congressman, I will not tolerate unacceptable truths either.
TPFYI: Is there anything that you would like to address that has not been covered in this interview?
TW: Living in Tuxedo Park over the last 11 years has profoundly changed my life. This community has given me life-long friends and made me a better person. Most importantly, public service has been the most rewarding experience of my life & I hope that you will continue to support me in my run for Congress.
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Obscure Poughkeepsie/New York Social Diary
by John Foreman
Poughkeepsie, NY, like most old cities in our part of the world, is full of mysterious stone retaining walls. I often wonder what used to be behind them, before today's mini-marts, parking lots, office buildings, subdivision houses, and (usually funky) "garden apartment" complexes.
The one in the image above borders a short street called Dongan Place, located a block east of the Poughkeepsie Amtrak station. Just as nature abhors a vacuum, so Poughkeepsie's city fathers have abhorred the emptiness of the space that miraculously survives behind this wall. Since 1949 they have repeatedly tried to fill it, first with low income housing projects and, more recently, with a proposed mix of retail and (presumably) higher income housing.
They have failed so far because it is a public park, destruction of which requires state-level legislative approval. To date this has not been forthcoming. The beleaguered patch of lawn in the image above was once a small estate that still contains its original Italianate mansion. Called Hill House, it was built in 1859 for George and Charles Pelton, a pair of rich Poughkeepsie carpet manufacturers. Charles got married; George never did.
They all lived together at Hill House, dying one by one, until family heirs sold it to the City of Poughkeepsie in 1910. A $4000 bequest to the city from a deceased believer in what at the time was called the American Playground Movement enabled the municipality to put together the $10,000 purchase price. The posthumous donor's name was Mrs. Charles Wheaton, and it seemed appropriate to rechristen the place Wheaton Park.
Oh, the indignities old houses suffer. Old people too, if you think about it. Those of us in our sixties may find it sobering indeed to gaze upon Hill House, with its awful screw-on shutters, flaking paint, filled-in porches, macadamized lawn and brutal fire escape affixed to its facade like a giant carbuncle on the nose of a beloved aunt. OK, OK, I'm overdoing it. More important than aesthetics is the fact that, for the last 100 years, this house has been of invaluable service to the neighborhood as a day care center. Since its founding in 1907, the Poughkeepsie Day Nursery has helped legions of young parents who might otherwise have been in grave difficulties. It's not the Nursery's fault that neither they nor the City of Poughkeepsie has the funds to properly maintain Hill House.
This of course was once an open porch affording sweeping views of the Hudson.
Those views, alas, have been compromised by an Amtrak parking lot and four elevated lanes of roaring traffic on Route 9. The bridge in the distance is the Poughkeepsie Railroad Bridge, opened in 1889, on the verge of collapse by the 1990s, and restored recently as a pedestrian walkway that is terrific fun. It's our local High Line.
My heart goes out to the Day Nursery for those eaves. I have so been there.
Here's the other side of the house, showing how the porch wraps around. I can well imagine it with awnings and wicker and potted palms. The upper deck looks to me like early 20th century work – basic ideas intact, but details simplified. In 1951, Day Nursery Director Josephine Talbot described the view from this porch as an education in itself for the children.
"There is the river with the mountains in the back. The leaves are turning now and they'll want to know why. Ships come up the river now and then and we imagine where they're going ... to China or Europe or South America. Of course with the railroad station just below, it's a virtual utopia for the youngsters seeing the engines slow down right outside their window."
I liked the look of all those brackets.
It's hard to get much sense of the past here, but somehow this angle of the porch columns and the glimpse of the river beyond do it for me.
This path leads out of Wheaton Park to a little street called Davies Place, once a rather distinguished place to live.
That's Hill House hidden in the distance behind the big tree on the left. The building in the foreground is currently used as a community house by the Church of the Holy Comforter, a neighborhood landmark at the other end of the block.
You know money is short when broken windows are repaired with plastic drop cloths.
This beautiful iron railing – beautiful in spite of its damaged condition – runs between the church house and a mansion next door. The latter was built in 1860 for a prosperous local builder and one-time Poughkeepsie mayor named William Harloe.
The Harloe house has been divided into three apartments and is currently for sale for $159,000.
Another house on Davies Place. People are trying very hard in Poughkeepsie, a city brimming with terrific old houses. Many are in neighborhoods where nothing at all is run down and a grand old house will still cost under $400,000.
There must have been a building frenzy on Davies Place on the eve of the Civil War. Both the Pelton and Harloe houses were either still under construction or only just finished in 1860 when this church went up on the corner of Davies Place and Main Street. Called the Church of the Holy Comforter, its designer was none other than Richard Upjohn, architect of New York's Trinity Church at Broadway and Wall. Holy Comforter has been on the National Register of Historic Places since 1972.
Holy Comforter seems in pretty good shape, all things considered, even though the chain link additions to its wrought iron gate are a little alarming.
Looking north on Davies Place with the Church of the Holy Comforter on the left.
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Family Turns Grand Old Ballroom Into Livable, Viable House
Photo by Jonathan Becker/Town & Country
The January issue of Town & Country runs a profile of Tuxedo Park, the 5,000-acre NYC bedroom community that's credited with the modern dinner jacket of the same name and will celebrate its 125th anniversary next year. Names such as William Henry Poor, Emily Post, Harry Truman, and Dorothy Draper—whose parents' grand stone manor is currently asking $3.3M—made Tuxedo Park famous, as do its many impressive estates (ranging from lakefront manses to lots and lots of Tudors). After the Great Crash of 1929, certain properties fell into disrepair and were converted into unconventional spaces—and in the realm of the unusual, it doesn't get much crazier than living in what used to be a ballroom.
Enter the Kilgore family, who in 1999 paid $1.3M for a freestanding 75-by-45-foot ballroom that had been built in the mid-'20s and once faced Villa Blanca, a manse likely designed by McKim, Meade & White. (It was torn down in 1937.) The place was converted into a residence in the '60s with the addition of a second floor for the bedroom and bathroom, renovated again by actress and comedian Whoopi Goldberg in the late '90s—she was in contract to buy the ballroom but eventually settled on a larger actual house in town—and again by the Kilgores, who divided the bedroom so their daughter would have a place to sleep, too. Other changes were made on the surface level to make the place look like it stepped out of the 18th century. As to what life actually feels like there? See this kicker from an old NYT story: "Although Mr. Kilgore can’t quite explain why, whenever he returns to the ballroom and opens the elaborate iron gates at the entrance to its driveway, he feels as if he should mix a shaker of dry martinis for a party that is about to begin."
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A Small Slice of the Grand Life
By JANE GARMEY
TUXEDO PARK, N.Y.
EVEN in a turn-of-the-century gated enclave famous for its architectural extravagance, a freestanding ballroom built into a rocky hillside with urn-shaped finials, huge windows rising to fanlight transoms, a limestone balustrade and a 28-foot ceiling is an unlikely choice for a weekend getaway. But when this one came up for sale, Jack and Kim Kilgore had no hesitations. “It was quite impractical,” Mr. Kilgore said, but “quite magical, and we have never for a moment regretted it.”
It was also, in spite of its opulence, a one-bedroom house, thanks to a conversion in the 1960s, and in that sense one of the most modest dwellings in town. A 2,050-acre gated community in Orange County, less than 50 miles north of New York City, Tuxedo Park is known for its scores of enormous mansions, built by some of most prominent American architects of the late 19th and early 20th centuries, and ranging in style from shingle style to Arts and Crafts, Tudor to French chateau, Italianate to pure Shangri-La. In a setting like this — the splendor of which has just been documented in a 350-page book, “Tuxedo Park: The Historic Houses,” and will be showcased in an upcoming photography exhibition — it would be easy to overlook a 1920s annex to a long-demolished mansion. The Ballroom, as the building has always been called, is almost an afterthought in the book, sequestered in a section about the town’s lost houses. But the Kilgores set their sights on it the moment they learned it existed.
That was in 1997, when they came to Tuxedo Park to look at another house. Sitting in the broker’s office, Ms. Kilgore noticed a flier advertising the Ballroom, and was told that it was a local folly, under contract to Whoopi Goldberg. “My heart sank,” Ms. Kilgore said, “because I knew at once it was exactly what I wanted.”
For the next two years, the Kilgores — he deals in old masters and has a gallery, Jack Kilgore & Company, in New York; she was working as an adviser to clients at Christie’s at the time — kept coming back to Tuxedo Park. Friends would invite them up, and although they were always on the lookout for a house to buy, nothing compared to the Ballroom. Then, in 1999, Ms. Goldberg, who had decided to buy a larger house nearby, put this one up for sale.
WHEN the Kilgores bought it in 1999 for just under $1.3 million, the Ballroom still had one of its crystal chandeliers, but the parquet flooring, interior lattice work, floor-to-ceiling mirror and indoor fountain, all visible in an old photograph they had seen, were gone. What remained was a shell that needed a lot of work.
The Ballroom had been built in 1926 by Amory Carhart Jr. and his wife, Isadora, possibly in celebration of a daughter’s society debut. It originally faced Villa Blanca, an Italianate mansion built by the first Amory Carhart, an heir to a banking and railroad fortune, in 1900 — 15 years after Tuxedo Park was established by a tobacco magnate tired of life in Newport, R.I. Nothing is known about the Ballroom’s architect (the main house, torn down in the 1940s, is believed to have been designed by McKim, Mead & White), but the building, particularly the interior, bears a resemblance to the Petit Trianon at Versailles. Amory Carhart III, whom the Kilgores reached through a friend a few years ago, told them that it was built as a place for the family to hold its parties.
The original 60s conversion had cut off about a third of the space to make room for a kitchen and dining area downstairs and an upstairs bedroom and bathroom. Ms. Goldberg had replaced the rotted parquet floor with oak flooring, and divided the kitchen and dining area with a wall. The Kilgores considered doing a full-scale renovation, but having bought a house in New York City and decided not to live full time in Tuxedo Park, they opted to simply divide the bedroom in two to create a room for their daughter, India, now 6. Instead, they focused on bringing the Ballroom back to its original grandeur.
A room that measures approximately 75 by 45 feet and has such a high ceiling presents a decorating challenge. To unify the space, the Kilgores replaced the original lattice work in the alcoves with a series of 12 plaster plaques of classical themes that they had cast in Paris (the originals are in the Louvre). They painted the walls and hung an eclectic mixture of modern and classical art, often in small groupings since anything short of an enormous painting would be lost on its own on walls so big. A beige wool carpet covers the floor, tying the room together and dulling the echo caused by the height of the ceiling. On it rests an Aubusson rug, bought at auction in London. Scale, of course, is all-important, so the furniture, much of it 18th century, is oversize.
Since they knew they wanted the Ballroom to have an 18th-century classical look in keeping with its architectural exterior, they selected French, Italian and Dutch pieces, generally of this period, which they purchased mostly at auction. While the painting and decoration of the interior took less than a year, furnishing the Ballroom took more than four years, and the Kilgores said they used crates to sit on for quite some time.
The garden also needed a great deal of work. Woods had to be cleared and a new driveway installed. Mr. Kilgore designed an overall plan and brought in a local garden designer to advise him on plantings. More than 200 boxwood bushes were put in, the hillside was terraced, a stone pathway extended, and a parterre garden created within the remains of two of the Villa Blanca’s original greenhouses.
The most daunting task was repairing the huge outdoor fountain made of bronze, marble and limestone, a replica of the 16th-century Fontana delle Tartarughe (Fountain of the Turtles) at the Piazza Mattei in Rome that was cast in Naples around 1905. While a local artist was found to recarve the broken marble bowl, replacing the missing bronze turtles, added by Bernini in the 17th century, proved more difficult. But Mr. Kilgore located the foundry in Naples that had made the fountain, and that foundry was able to locate the original molds and recast the turtles. The piping was repaired and the fountain, which had probably not worked since the 1930s, now gushes water through all of its five spouts.
In the decades after the Ballroom was converted into a house — by a Hungarian couple, Anthony and Josetta Karolyi, who bought it for less than $100,000 in 1968 — it was both a romantic and demanding place to live. David and Alexandra Parker, who rented it from the Karolyis in 1993 and 1994, have vivid memories of it, especially in winter, when it reminded them of scenes from the film of “Doctor Zhivago”: “On cold days, you could see indoor clouds of your own breath,” Ms. Parker said. They also remembered living in constant fear of freezing pipes. There was no insulation, and the old, inefficient furnace was in a basement room that could only be reached by going into the garden and down a set of perilous stairs, often covered with snow in winter. If water that had seeped into the fuel line began to freeze, they would have to telephone a maintenance man, who came from miles away to shoot CO2 cartridges into the line to break up the ice.
That kind of problem is now a thing of the past; one of the first changes the Kilgores made was the furnace. Still, the past seems to haunt the place: Although Mr. Kilgore can’t quite explain why, whenever he returns to the Ballroom and opens the elaborate iron gates at the entrance to its driveway, he feels as if he should mix a shaker of dry martinis for a party that is about to begin.
Park Life
“Tuxedo Park: The Historic Houses,” edited by Christian R. Sonne and Chiu yin Hempel, with photographs by James Bleecker, is being published this month by the Tuxedo Historical Society. It can be ordered for $85 plus shipping at tuxedohistoricalsociety.com or (845) 351-2926.
The editors will talk about the architecture and social history of Tuxedo Park tonight at 6:30 p.m. at the Institute of Classical Architecture & Classical America, 20 West 44th Street. Tickets are $10; reservations: (212) 730-9646, extension 106.
An exhibition of Mr. Bleecker’s photographs of Tuxedo Park will be on view from Oct. 3 to Nov. 4 at the Allen Sheppard Gallery, 530 West 25th Street, (212) 989-9919.
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Friday Night Salon Series at Harmony Hall November 18 - 7:30pm
Geoff Welch, Curator of Harmony Hall, will be presenting some fascinating Ramapo Valley art history on the Hudson River School Artist, David Johnson (1827-1908). The Friday Night Salon Series at HarmonyHall on November 18, 2011 at 7:30 pm will be on David Johnson’s Nature Studies in Ramapo, New York in the 1870s. In the 19th century Ramapo generally referred to what we now call the Hamlet of Ramapo (the area near NY Thruway Exit 15A) where the Pierson Brother’s Ramapo Works supported a population of 800 people. This was the most important industrial site in Rockland. Ramapo Lake, no longer extant, was formed by the dam constructed across the Ramapo River by the Pierson’s, ca. 1797. This lake became a noted scenic location noted for its fine fishing.
David Johnson in the 19th century was called “the best painter of trees in America” and he produced some fine drawings and paintings detailing cedars, oaks and rock formations in Torne Valley. Johnson also created a masterful painting of Ramapo Lake with Torne Mountain in the background. Johnson was a student and friend of Jasper Cropsey (1823-1900) who also painted many wonderful depictions of Torne Mountain and the Ramapo River throughout his career. David Johnson undertook several sketching rambles along Torne Brook and on the terraces of Torne Mountain during the summer and fall in 1873, 1874 and 1876. These beautiful drawing and paintings produced by Johnson, Cropsey, John F. Kensett and other important artists offer a cultural and environment window into this scenic regional landscape which is also a vital interstate watershed. Geoff’s side show will include some recently located images not shown in previous lectures.
In recent years, key land acquisitions have extended the Harriman Park Boundary and protected most of Torne Mountain and Valley. Recognition of the high regard the Hudson River School artists had for this area underlines the importance of these conservation efforts.
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Cheymore Gallery Presents Zeifman Newfoundland
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Scott Hurst - six by seven by eleven - This Saturday at the Chey More Gallery
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New Art Gallery Opens In Tuxedo!
This coming Saturday (9/17) marks the opening reception at the Chey More Gallery, Tuxedo’s newest (and only) contemporary art gallery. The Gallery is the brainchild of life-long Tuxedo Park resident Mae Shore, who also serves as its director. Having been involved in the New York City art world for the past 12 years, the gallery seemed like “a perfect fit” to Ms. Shore. “ I love Tuxedo. There’s no contemporary art gallery in the area and it’s what I know and love, so I thought it would be fun to bring that here.”
Located in the Tuxedo Square building, the Chey More is hoping to showcase all types of work from painting, printmaking and sculpture to sound, poetry, and film.
The opening exhibit six by seven by eleven features the work of photographer Scott Hurst and will fun through November 12. Stop by and check it out!!!!
Gallery Director Mae Shore
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Reminiscences From Earle Stevens
J. Earle Stevens, Jr.
This history of the origin of the men’s formal dress was written in 1988 by J. Earle Stevens, Jr. (b. Nov. 23 1905-d. July 21, 2010). It was recorded based on conversations about the true origin of the tuxedo that Earle Stevens had about 50 years earlier with Greenville Kane, an original resident of Tuxedo Park and member of The Tuxedo Club.
For those of us who had the pleasure of knowing Earle Stevens during his long and fruitful life, this historical document is indicative of his love of history and especially the history of Tuxedo Park. Earle grew up in Tuxedo Park during its golden years and personally knew the early residents. His father, J. E. Stevens, completed in 1910 the still existing mansion overlooking Tuxedo Lake on Cannon Hill Road.
Earle had two younger brothers Ludlow and Pelham. He attended private school in New York City and Harvard University, class of 1929. After a short career in New York City, Earle went to England to attend Cambridge where he obtained a law degree from Trinity College. During the early years of World War II, Earle worked in London with a U.K. Government agency responsible for resettling the hords of immigrants from Europe that had fled to England. In late 1941 Earle returned to the United State to work with the State Department in Washington, D.C. . After the War, Earle went back to New York City and commenced a long and successful commercial career in Real Estate and ultimately, in Public Relations.
In December of 1968 Mary Rose Jackson and Earle were married and a few years later settled in Tuxedo Park. After his retirement, Earle remained very active throughout his long life with a myriad of varied interests and projects indicative of a person with a retentive mind and broad intelect.
Click here to read The Prince and Mrs. Potter
Click here to read Grizzy's Lark and a Legend
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The Petty Project - Making Rockstars Out of Residents
If you’re looking for something local and fun to do this coming Saturday night, (May 14) swing by Taverna Tuxedo for a late supper and catch Tuxedo’s newest rock and roll superstars, The Petty Project. Comprised of Village residents Christian & Meg Vaught, Glenn & Kerrianne Cavada and Seth Denbeg, along with Town residents Robin Brennan-Seibel and Glenn Donovan as well Christopher “Nuz” Nuzzolo and Joel Bachrach from New Jersey, this cover band promises not to disappoint. Born out of a common love for Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, the band has expanded their repertoire to include a wide array of classic rock tunes by artists such as The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, The Doors and Neil Young. Saturday’s performance will mark the third of its kind at Taverna within the last year, each one more successful than the last. This past October the group raised over $1,500 for the local PTO when they played to a packed house of “Petty fans”
So mark it on the calendar, make a date, hire a sitter….you won’t be sorry. The Petty Project will definitely rock the house!
Proceeds from Saturday’s performance will go to benefit 15-year old Amy Clifford, recently diagnosed with a rare form of cancer. (for more information on Amy, click here)
*Can’t make it this Saturday? Don’t despair! The Petty Project will be playing at Rhodes Tavern on June 23!
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Chiu Yin Hemple Reveals The Best of Her New book at Joint Library/Fire Department Benefit in NYC June 14, 2011
Chiu Yin Hempel reveals in secrets and slides the best of her new book "Tuxedo Park: Lives, Legacies, Legends" at Doubles Club, 783 Fifth Avenue, New York City.
6.30 pm cocktails/lecture ($35), dinner buffet to follow ($75 including wine, tax, tip).
Signed book available for $80, with sale proceeds benefiting Tuxedo Park Library and Tuxedo Park Fire Department.
Dress: jacket & tie. Seating very limited, advance reservations required at
TuxedoParkDoublesJune14@gmail.com
Book link:
http://www.tuxedoparklibrary.org/shop/pdf/LLL/all.pdf
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Tuxedo Park Resident Janine Safer Whitney To Produce Broadway Play
Our neighbor and twenty-five year resident of Tuxedo Park, Janine Safer Whitney, is fulfilling a life-long dream of becoming a theatrical producer, with her debut as Associate Producer of the revival of Tom Stoppard’s Arcadia, opening on Broadway on March 17th at the Ethel Barrymore Theatre. For Janine, she is really starting at the top, as Arcadia is what she believes to be perhaps the finest play written in the 20th century. The play is set in April 1809 in a stately home in the English countryside, where a gifted pupil proposes a startling theory, well beyond her comprehension. All around her, the adults, including her tutor, are preoccupied with secret desires, illicit passions and professional rivalries. Two hundred years later, academic adversaries are piecing together puzzling clues, curiously recalling those events of 1809, in their quest for an increasingly elusive truth.
Janine is thrilled to be part of the production and to be working with an outstanding cast as well as a playwright as celebrated and prolific as Tom Stoppard, whose works include The Real Thing, Travesties, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead and The Coast of Utopia. It is quite a change for Janine, who is rounding out three separate careers in the areas she loves the best – rock ’n’ roll (she commenced her professional life working for musicians, starting with Led Zeppelin), travel (Janine was named one of the top travel specialists in the world by Conde Nast Traveler Magazine for eight consecutive years) and now, in her third incarnation, theatre.
We wish Janine all the best (break a leg?).
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To purchase, ($80 per copy + shipping) please visit the Tuxedo Park Library online store by clicking here.
A few images from the book:
Mulberry Street, New York City, circa 1900
Cora Urquhart Brown Potter
A Tuxedo Park work permit, 1895
Anita Stewart and Prince Miguel of Portugual
A "soup kitchen" sponsored by Chicago gangster, Al Capone, circa 1930s
In the bowling alley at the Tuxedo Park Library
Spencer Trask
Forsyth Wickes house
To purchase, ($80 per copy + shipping) please visit the Tuxedo Park Library online store by clicking here.
The book will be available for collection from the Tuxedo Park Library on December 4, 2010. Orders requiring shipping will be processed on December 6, 2010.
All sales proceeds benefit Tuxedo Park Fire Department and Tuxedo Park Library
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A World In Which You Can Be Mayor by Tuxedo Park resident Katherine Rosman
Click here to read
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The Texting Revolution Is Here
The following piece, written by Tuxedo Park Resident Katherine Rosman, appeared in the Life & Culture section of the Wall Street Journal on October 14:
Click here to read
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