Travel Articles > We Love Lucy - Hardy Boys - Museums
WE LOVE LUCY Paying our respects to Lucille Ball, the greatest comic ever, at the Lucy and Desi Museum in her home town of Jamestown, N.Y.
THE HARDY BOYS Who really wrote The Hardy Boys and Nancy Drew books? Franklin W. Dixon? Carolyn Keene? We search for clues in Bayport, NY.
GREAT MUSEMS COSI, National Inventors Hall of Fame, Indianapolis Children's Museum. The latter is especially worthwhile at Halloween.
Fall 2001 Highlights
WE LOVE LUCY
Dennis Goza
Jamestown, NY
August 2001
Lucille Ball was without a doubt the greatest female comic of the Twentieth Century. Wait, let me rephrase that. Lucille Ball was the greatest comic of the Twentieth Century of any gender. Still not quite right. Okay, try this. Lucy was the greatest comic ever. Period. Those of us who labor in the amusement trade are thoroughly intimidated by her gargantuan shadow looming over us, and by how easy she made it all look.
Recently we passed through her hometown of Jamestown, New York and had to take advantage of the opportunity to visit the Lucy and Desi Museum. For entertainers, it's like a holy pilgrimage.
But in a way, I was disappointed with what I found. This place was just too darn small to do justice to a career of such proportions; we only spent about an hour poring over its rather sparse contents. And there were really no mementos from the "I Love Lucy" series, which is what I believe fans would find most appealing.
On the plus side, I enjoyed the photos and taped reminiscences of her early days in Jamestown. There was also a continuous screening of some rare video clips including a skit from a Bob Hope special with Bob Hope portraying Ricky and Desi Arnaz portraying Fred. It was the one time that Vivian (Ethel) Vance could get away with kissing Desi.
Also on display was an obsolete projector that was state-of-the-art when Lucy and Desi (who deserves a bit of credit for molding his wife's career, directing many of the TV episodes, and being a marvelous straight man) used in their home to review film footage. Noticing how massive and unwieldy this contraption was, I was all the more awed that they were able to create such memorable magic using equipment and techniques which, by today's standards, seem impossibly crude.
On the wall was a large book of blank pages in which visitors may enter their impressions of the museum, their memories of Lucy, etc. These then are passed on to the children, Desi Jr. and Luci Arnaz. I really wanted to write something, and I'm usually not at a loss for words. But what can one possibly say? Except thanks for the memories, Lucy. And for the formidable challenge.
THE HARDY BOYS
Zephyr Goza - October 2001
If you ask just about anyone "who wrote the Hardy Boys?", they'll either say, "I don't know," or "Franklin Dixon." However, Franklin W. Dixon has some difficulty writing books, as he does not exist in the first place.
On a trip to Bayport, NY (Where they probably based the Hardy Boys' Bayport) we discovered that the Hardy Boys books were actually written by a woman-with much help from ghostwriters. And no, her name is not Carolyn Keene (a.k.a. the author of Nancy Drew). That also is a pseudonym.
This woman's name is Harriet Adams, and her father (Edward Stratemeyer) started the Hardy Boys in 1910. Frank and Joe have been 18 and 17 since 1910? Anyway, the woman and the ghostwriters also wrote the Dana Girls, the Bobbsey Twins, and Tom Swift.
Mrs. Adams is now dead, but you can go to Bayport, NY and taste the DELICIOUS pizza at Tony's Pizza Parlor, a favorite restaurant of the Hardy Boys, visit Bayport's beach, look at the Bayport/Bluepoint High School, visit Bayport's airfield, and live the Hardy Boys mysteries.
GREAT MUSEUMS
Dennis Goza - October 2001We've been doing quite a bit of museum-hopping lately, especially since we bought an annual pass for admission to hundreds of science museums around the country.
We purchased it at one of our favorite museums, the Center of Science and Industry (COSI) in Columbus, OH, This marvelous facility features three floors, plus an outside patio of fascinating interactive exhibits. Our favorite one is called Adventure, which is an archaeological site, in the manner of an Indiana Jones film, through which the guest searches for clues in order to solve a riddle and obtain an important message. It's a cleverly planned and meticulously executed concept, a participatory parable on the importance of curiosity and perseverance, enhanced with entertaining special effects. We enjoyed going through it a second time to examine some of the details more closely, even though we'd already solved the central puzzle. (Note to parents: If you take your children to this exhibit, please counsel them in advance not to blurt out the answers to riddles and spoil the surprises and thrill of discovery for other participants!)
Even going to the bathroom is educational at COSI. Each wall of each stall in each bathroom is adorned with an informative tidbit about . . . well, going to the bathroom. Specifics range from milestones in the history of plumbing to why astronaut Alan Shepard urinated in his spacesuit.
Ohio is also home to another very worthwhile science museum, the National Inventors Hall of Fame (formally known as the Inventure Place) in Akron. As the name suggests, this facility honors inventors and inventing. As you might expect, there are informative tributes to prominent inventors, including a special section honoring juvenile inventors. But there are also ample opportunities for attendees to hone their own inventing skills. In one section, you can dissect old computers and other gizmos to your hearts content. And in another section, you can cobble together (and take home) some gizmos of your own using tools and a promising stock of recycled materials (commonly known as junk). I still haven't found a name for the musical instrument I invented using scrap wood, nails, sand paper and plastic scoops.
While it isn't covered by our pass, we also made our umpteenth trek to the Children's Museum of Indianapolis, which is just about the largest of its kind in the world. It isn't devoted exclusively to science. One exhibit, for instance, deals with preserving family history through oral tradition - with 5 floors covering about half a block, it has plenty to keep kids and parents intrigued. The water clock in the lobby is worth a visit. (You can see it without even paying admission. Shhh!)
We especially like going there for Halloween, because this place stages an absolutely fabulous haunted house (separate admission). We've been there two consecutive years, and the haunted house featured a different theme each time, but both were spectacular. And this year, like last, we took Zephyr afterward to wonderful neighborhood for Trick-or-Treating. This time there was even a full moon, right on cue!
