Happy Birthday, Jay!

Happy Birthday, Jay!

Several dozen notable individuals are honored in the New Rochelle Walk of Fame, which is located in Ruby Dee Park at Library Green. The interpretive signs that make-up the Walk constitute a veritable “Who’s Who in America,” over a course of three centuries. One of the most surprising honorees is celebrating his birthday today. Here’s a snippet from the Walk of Fame sign for Jay Leno:

Born James Douglas Muir Leno in 1950 in New Rochelle, Jay Leno was the son of an Italian-American father and a Scottish mother whom he claims had a “Gracie Allen type of humor.”

He grew up in a house still located at 69 Leland Avenue. He attended Trinity School before his family moved to Massachusetts in 1959 but his relatives remained in New Rochelle. His uncle, Anthony, started the popular establishment Leno’s Clam Bar on Pelham Road (although that side of the family pronounces the name “Leeno”).

He apparently has always had a heart for comedy. His fifth-grade report card read: ‘If Jay spent as much time studying as he does trying to be a comedian, he'd be a big star.’ Jay Leno is well known for his philanthropy. He won Emmy Awards in 1995 and 2011, and has been nominated numerous times. He has been honored with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

Jay Leno was honored in the Walk of Fame in New Rochelle, his hometown, in 2013!

Pulitzer Prize Winners

New Rochelle Pulitzer Prize Winners 

As the 2016 Pulitzer Prize Winners were announced this week, we thought it would be an ideal time for a look back on winners who were from New Rochelle.

Robert E. Sherwood

We’ll start with a four-time recipient, Robert Emmet Sherwood. The New Rochelle native won the very first Pulitzer Prize for Drama in 1936, for his play, “Idiot’s Delight.” In 1939 he won the prize for “Abe Lincoln in Illinois,” and in 1941 for the drama, “There Shall Be No Night.” As if these prizes weren’t enough, in 1949 he won the Pulitzer Prize for his book, “Roosevelt and Hopkins.”

Herbert Agar

Herbert Agar, who was born in New Rochelle in 1898 and grew up on Premium Point, won the prize for best book on American History in 1933. “The People’s Choice” focused on the first 26 American presidents. A poignant note about the family: his brother Lt. John G. Agar was killed in World War I and his brother William Scott Agar was killed while serving in World War II.

George Oppen

George Oppen, son of George A. and Elsie Rothfield Oppen, was the May 5, 1969, recipient of a Pulitzer in poetry for "Of Being Numerous." Oppen's works appeared regularly in such publications as Nation, The New York­er, Massachusetts Review and Poetry. One of his pieces in Poet­ry was titled "Birthplace: New Rochelle."

Elia Kazan

The 1943 Pulitzer Prize-winning play, Skin of Our Teeth, written by Thornton Wilder, was directed by New Rochelle High School graduate Elia Kazan. Born in Turkey to parents of Greek decent, Elia Kazan was four years old when his father, a rug merchant, moved to New York. After in the Greek section of Harlem for a short time, they moved to 731 Webster Avenue in New Rochelle where they lived from 1922 to 1960. Expected to become a rug merchant like his father, he decided instead to pursue his interest in acting and literature. Described as one of the most honored and influential directors in Broadway and Hollywood history, Kazan was also vilified for his appearance before the House Committee on Un-American Activities in 1952.

Tad Mosel

Another New Rochelle High School graduate, Tad Mosel, received the 1961 Pulitzer Prize for Drama for his play All the Way Home. A stage adaptation of James Agee's novel A Death in the Family, the play received critical acclaim at its premier at the Belasco Theater in 1960, and was also nominated for a Tony Award.

Clifford J. Levy

A more recent graduate of New Rochelle High School, journalist Clifford J. Levy is a two-time winner of the Pulitzer Prize. Born in New Rochelle in 1967, Levy became a reporter for the New York bureau of United Press International, New York after attending Princeton University. He joined the New York Times in 1990, and became a special projects reporter for the Times' Metro desk in 2000. His first Pulitzer Prize for investigative reporting was awarded in 2003 for his 2002 series, "Broken Homes," on the abuse of mentally ill adults in state-regulated homes. While serving as the Moscow bureau chief for the Times, he and Ellen Barry won the 2011 Pulitzer Prize in the category of International Reporting in Moscow. The jury awarded their "dogged reporting that put a human face on the faltering justice system in Russia, remarkably influencing the discussion inside the country."

Phyllis McGinley

The first time a poetry Pulitzer was awarded for light verse, the prize went to Phyllis McGinley for "Times Three: Selected Verse From Three Decades." In 1961 the poet, children's book author and essayist had gained fame for her on-target views of suburban and somewhat-urban life. The Oregon­ born McGinley wrote "Lucy Mc­ Lockett," "The Year Without a Santa Claus" and other beloved juvenile books after she attended West Coast universities and moved to Manhattan. "Sixpence in Her Shoe" and the "Province of the Heart" were among her amusingly insightful essays that appeared in The New Yorker, the Woman's Home Companion and other leading mag­azines. Her long career began while she was teaching English at New Rochelle High School and living in Larchmont. Two years before her death, in 1978, McGinley's wry humor shaped the 70th birthday poem she penned to herself: "Seventy is wormwood, seventy is gall, but it is better to be 70, than not alive at all."

News correspondent Russell Owens, who resided at 17 Lee Court, won a Pulitzer for his coverage of the first Byrd Antarctic expedition, 1929-1930.

William Schuman

Last in this illustrious list, but certainly not least! William H. Schuman, who won the first Pulitzer for music in 1943, while teaching composition at Sarah Lawrence College. His piece, “A Free Song,” was adapted from poems by Walt Whitman... Soon after, and, he moved to his grand home on Elk Avenue and, in 1945, became the president of the Julliard School. While there, he founded the Juilliard String Quartet. From 1961 – 1969 he served as the first president of Lincoln Center. In 1985 he won a special Pulitzer Prize for "more than half a century of contribution to American music as composer and educational leader. He also received the National Medal of Arts in 1987. 

Have we missed anyone? Please let us know!

Alexander Jackson Davis - the New Rochelle Connection: Part II

 

Alexander Jackson Davis - the New Rochelle Connection

Part II

Last week, we highlighted the great architect’s works for Colonel Richard Lathers. This week: Two A. J. Davis houses that continue to grace New Rochelle.

Wildcliff

The Gothic Revival style cottage on the top of the hill overlooking Hudson Park was built in 1852. Originally called Overlook, it was the home of Cyrus Lawton and his wife, a member of the Davenport family for which Davenport Neck was named. Lawrence Montgomery Davenport, her father, commissioned A. J. Davis to design the home as a wedding gift to the newlyweds. Wildcliff, as it was renamed, was enlarged in 1865 and again in 1919, five years after it had been purchased by banker Julius Prince and his wife, Clara. In 1940, Clara Prince bequeathed her home and its one and a half acres of land to the City of New Rochelle. After having been utilized for city offices the building housed a variety of not-for-profit groups and functions: Wildcliff Youth Museum and then Natural Science Center (1963 – 1981), East Coast Performing Arts (Dec. 1986 – 1991), and Wildcliff Center for the Arts (beginning in 1992), and Fleetwood Stage (1999 - 2004). Wildcliff was listed on the National Register of Historical Places in 2002. The interior of the building has not been used for several years; the exterior was restored with funds from the sale of adjacent property.

Sans Souci

The magnificent Gothic Revival-style villa at 157 Davenport Avenue, also designed by Alexander Jackson Davis, was completed in 1859. It was a 1½-story residence with a central gable-roofed section and flanking pavilions. Its original features include the lacy, curvilinear bargeboard, many windows, tall tripartite chimneys, an oriel window, and other details still seen today.  

Sans Souci, as the estate was named, was also built for Lawrence Montgomery Davenport. In 1865 he sold the house to W. W. Evans, who commissioned A.J. Davis to design a wing in 1871. In 1875 a 1-story wing, designed by Frederick H, Coles, was added to the north. The firm of Snelling and Porter enlarged the north and south wings to two stories. In 1922 the Evans family sold the property Leroy Franz, a founder of the First Westchester National Bank. Theodore Green, who served as a New Rochelle City Councilman, completed historically-appropriate restoration of the building in the 1970s and completed the process for 1980 National Register designation. In 2015 it was given local historic designation, which provides the property with the greatest level of protection.

Alexander Jackson Davis - the New Rochelle Connection

Alexander Jackson Davis - the New Rochelle Connection

Lyndhurst mansion, in Tarrytown, was profiled in the first episode of the new PBS series program, "10 Homes That Changed America," this past Tuesday evening. If you had the good fortune to tune in, you learned that William Paulding, a former mayor of New York City, hired architect Alexander Jackson Davis to design a Hudson River mansion that would be set apart from all others. And Davis delivered! Although a shocking and dramatic departure from the Colonial Revival styles popular in the period, the design of the 1838 Lyndhurst would inspire American Gothic mansions and cottages for decades to follow…including at least five in New Rochelle.

Alexander Jackson Davis designed at least three New Rochelle houses for Colonel Richard Lathers, who maintained a long friendship with the renowned architect. One of the houses would become the home of the famous artist Frederic Remington. To learn about these houses, read the below article written by City Historian Barbara Davis for The Preserver, a former publication of the New Rochelle Historical and Landmarks Review Board.

Two other Davis-designed houses are still standing, near New Rochelle’s Sound shores. You can learn all about them in next week’s Thursday Throwback!