Happy Birthday to "The People's" Longshore

It was on February 14, 1960, that Westport's RTM voted 34-0 to purchase Longshore Club Park, a 190-acre seaside jewel, for $1.9 million.

But it was not until May 28, 1960, fifty years ago Friday, that the manicured estate, formerly the private Longshore Beach and Country Club, opened to the public for the first time as a recreational playland.

To celebrate the joyous occasion, the Westport Historical Society sponsored the premiere Fiday afternoon of Longshore Club Park, Westport's Crown Jewel, a 26-minute film created to celebrate the 50th anniversary of Westport's public treasure.

The film's creators were all on hand at the Historical Society's Avery Place home to talk about it as it played continuously in a room filled with posters, newspaper clippings, artworks and other  artifacts connected with Longshore's history.

They included Scott Smith, who chairs Westport's Longshore 50th Anniversary Committee, which produced the film. Smith wrote the script in four days after immersing himself deeply in a subject he clearly loves and that grows ever more fascinating to him as secrets of the past reveal themselves.

Committee member Jenniann C. Barile served as executive producer. She oversaw a professional team of filmmakers - Gemma Tummolo, director, co-producer and editor, Doreen Birdsell, cinematographer, and Wanda Weber, associate producer.

The team worked at electric speed -- less than six weeks -- to produce the film in time for the anniversary.

They conducted five interview in three days of filming at the Senior Center. The subjects were Allen Raymond, who with First Selectman Herbert Baldwin, was a prime mover in the town's visionary purchase of the property, First Selectman Gordon Joseloff, Stuart McCarthy, Park and Recreation Director, John Kantor, founder of the Longshore Sailing School, and Mimi Levitt, a legendary golfer who recalled the days when high society figures and entertainment celebrities frequented the then-Longshore Beach and Country Club.

Think Bette Davis, Noel Coward, Helen Hayes, Elizabeth Taylor, Frank Sinatra, Bert Lahr, Jackie Gleason, Tallulah Bankhead, Zsa Zsa Gabor, Gene Tunney, Gregory Peck. Think F. Scott Fitzgerald and Zelda.

The film moves quickly through dozens of archival photographs and present-day aerial footage. There is stunning footage of Jazz Era sassy dancing and beachgoers in funny-looking beach attire. Westport's Frank Deford is narrator.

Tummolo said it was overwhelming at the outset to have so much material to work with, and that what was left on the cutting room floor could easily fill a second film of equal quality.

Committee member Brian O'Leary, who could not attend the premiere, was missed.  He spent days on end collecting ephemera and combing old newspapers at microfiche machines to contribute historical research to the project.

The film will be show at events and locations around Westport, including the library, Women's Club and Town Hall, through the summer of Longshore's 50th anniversary celebration.