Literary Guests At Home In Branford

What did Ella Wheeler Wilcox, Mark Twain, Orson Wells, and Sinclair Lewis have in common? They all considered Branford home for a period of time during the early part of the 20th century.

Jane Bouley, Branford’s historian for 25 years, detailed their lives (and others) during that time at a recent talk sponsored by the Friends of the Blackstone Library. A resident of Short Beach, Bouley has explored all the nooks and crannies of Branford from an historical view point. Her fourth book, Stony Creek Cemeteries, will be published soon.

Bouley (pictured) started her tour of these celebrities in Short Beach at a time that coincided with the end of the summer resorts along the shoreline, noting that 3,000 postcards of the area were printed. She said celebrities liked Short Beach, whether living there year-round or visiting for the summer, because no one bothered them.

The premier hotel in Short Beach was The Arrowhead (pictured), which was built in 1911, named as such from the Indian arrowheads found during its excavation. Built with steam heat, it was the first year-round hotel.

Among the visitors was Walter Winchell (pictured), veteran broadcaster, journalist, and syndicated columnist in 2,000 daily papers, including the New York Mirror, with 50 million daily readers. In the later part of his career, he narrated The Untouchables television show. Described as cryptic and a civil rights advocate, Winchell was friends with FBI director J. Edgar Hoover despite their differing views.

Ella Wheeler Wilcox (pictured) was perhaps the most famous resident. Born in 1850, she lived in Wisconsin and Vermont before moving to Short Beach in 1891. She was writing by the age of 5 and published at age 12. From her residence, dubbed Bungalow Court (the house was built by Richard Bradley of Montowese Street), she wrote 70 books of poetry including Poems of Passion in 1883, which made her instantly famous. Included was ​“Solitude” with its instantly recognizable passage, ​“Laugh and the world laughs with you, cry and you cry alone.”

Bungalow Court was a gathering place for the literary elite, including William Randolph Hearst in 1901. He asked Ella to attend the funeral of Queen Victoria and write a poem for the occasion. She had writer’s block, but crafted The Queen’s Last Ride on the morning of the funeral.

Other visitors to Bungalow Court included Ruth Helen David, who wrote a march with John Philip Sousa, actress Sarah Bernhart, actor John Barrymore, and poet Edgar Allan Poe.
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Ella’s husband Robert Wilcox died in 1916; she died in 1919. A painting of her hangs in the Reference Room at the library. That is not without controversy since she is wearing what appears to be a nightgown.

Jenny Ballou wrote a biography of Ella titled Period Piece, which was less than flattering. Single-minded Short Beachers, protective of their lady poet, ran Ballou out of town.

A cottage on Court Street, Sleepy Hollow, was another gathering place. Orson Wells stayed there while a student at Yale Drama School. He produced the well-known ​“War of the World” radio broadcast in 1938. He also spent time in Stony Creek. Carleton Beales, author of 45 books, including a history of New Haven, stayed there and at Brockett’s Point.

Over the town line in East Haven, Nellie Green’s, described by Bouley as a ​“hardscrabble” place, attracted the likes of Jack London. (pictured) He spent summers there and wrote Call of the Wild there in 1903. He was journalist, activist, rough and tumble (and quite the looker), and died at the young age of 40 of kidney disease (not alcoholism as is often surmised).

Nellie herself was a rum runner in the 1920s, taking over the business at age 16 after the death of her father. Despite the place’s reputation as a speakeasy, Nellie was a tea totaler and considered a lady.

Stony Creek

At the other end of town, Stony Creek was also a magnet for literary types. The small theater was built in 1903 by the Howd family as a silent movie theater. It then became a summer stock theater and was taken over by the Parish Players in 1928. Its first play was Death Takes a Holiday, which premiered there. The theater thrived for 20 years, its viability challenged by World War II. It later became The Puppet House. It looks as if it will see a new life as a repertory theater.

In between, the theater attracted the likes of Sinclair Lewis, Ayn Rand, and Orson Wells and Sam Byrd, who both spent time in Short Beach.

Ayn Rand, (pictured) lived at Hall’s Point, produced two plays for the theater, Night of January 16 in 1936 and We The Living, the following summer.

In 1938, Orson Wells was in Stony Creek for the summer, bringing with him the Mercury Players (who were also cast in his film Citizen Kane). He produced and directed Too Much Johnson by William Gillette, of the castle fame. In October 1938, Wells aired his well-known fear-fest War of the Worlds, which people thought to be a live broadcast of the invasion by Martians of Grover’s Mill, N.J.; the Mercury Players were also involved in that production. Wells was also the radio voice of The Shadow during that time.

Nobel and Pulitzer Prize winner Sinclair Lewis was part of the 1941 season, acting in the play My Dear Children, which was apparently not that good. His performance was panned by the Branford Review and by Walter Winchell, who picked up its review, describing Stony Creek as ​“in the sticks.” Lewis blamed the bad review on ​“the dopes in Stony Creek.”

However, he remained there, also directing Angela Is 22 – but not acting in it.

The Flying Point Hotel (also known as the Island View) was a popular hotel for these visitors. Coinciding with the demise of theater, it was torn down in 1942. The theater’s last production was Blind Alley by James Warwick, who worked with Agatha Christie.

Other celebrities calling Stony Creek home were Andre Smith, who did set designs, etchings and Cubist-inspired art; Arthur Weithas, illustrator for Yank magazine, who collaborated with James Jones on From Here to Eternity; and Any Wednesday playwright Muriel Resnik.

Indian Neck

The Owenego House (pictured) and the Montowese House, both on Linden Avenue, were major gathering places in Indian Neck, each attracting their own collection of writers and actors.

Owned by Connie Driscoll, who was married to the late Jane Rosenthal, the Owenego attracted the likes of Erich Maria Remarque, who wrote All Quiet on the Western Front. He and actress Pauline Goddard were married by Driscoll.

The Montowese House, built in 1886, was the largest hotel between New London and New York and a hot spot where families would spend the entire summer. Downed trees from the 1938 hurricane were planed and used to build the Montowese Playhouse on site.

Thorne Smith, who wrote the Topper series about a couple who come back to haunt the banker who bought their house, was a guest.

Dorothy Parker, a poet and short story writer known for her wit and wise-cracks, was also a guest. She wrote for the New Yorker, Vogue, and Vanity Fair, as well as more than 300 poems and the script for ​“A Star is Born.” Among her quotes: ​“I hate writing, but I love having written.”

Among other guests: Horton Foote, who wrote the screenplay for To Kill a Mockingbird; Helen Keller who wrote a dozen books, plus essays, and received the Presidential of Freedom in 1964; and Mark Twain, who was a friend of Helen Keller.

Twain, known for his many novels, was perhaps less well-known as a supporter of women’s rights. He was such a regular at the Montowese House that he had a custom-made galvanized tub for his room. He was born when Haley’s Comet came through in 1835, and predicted that he would die when it passed through again, a prediction that came true.

The Montowese House closed in 1963 and was torn down in 1965.

So if you think Branford was a sleepy little village, think again. On the other hand, these literary types were attracted to Branford for that very reason.

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