The Gallant Vagabond the OFFICIAL NEWSLETTER of the HENRY BESTON SOCIETY
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
The Gallant Vagabond THE OFFICIAL NEWSLETTER OF THE HENRY BESTON SOCIETY AUTUMN 2014 EDITION DOCUMENTARY FILM PROJECT ‘The Perfect Home’ Campaign McAleer ‘Kicks’ off Collection donated at Chatham to Beston screening Society Orpheum rough The Henry Beston Society is pleased to cut program, announce that the family of author John McAleer online drive set for donated its Beston/ Coatsworth/McAleer Col- holiday weekend lection to the Cape Cod The Henry Beston Society’s docu- nonprofit on May 30. mentary film project has been coming The collection includes together piece by piece, and now there’s correspondence between enough for the public to view on the Dr. McAleer and Coat- silver screen. sworth, a.k.a. Mrs. Henry Fresh off a rough cut screening of Beston, dating from Nov. film segments in front of 55 people at the 17, 1970 to Feb. 1, 1977, Newburyport Film Festival’s WIP (Work along with Dr. McAleer’s in Progress) Workshop at the Screening Beston collection of Room Theater in Newburyport, Mass., books and memorabalia. on Sept. 20, the movie showcase now Dr. McAleer, who shifts to Cape Cod for Columbus Day died in 2003, was the weekend, when producer Don Wilding best-selling author of over and director Christopher Seufert (on a dozen books, including Mooncusser Films) will host a rough the Pulitzer Prize- cut screening and Q&A session at the nominated biography, Chatham Orpheum Theater, 637 Main Ralph Waldo Emerson: “I know my father (John McAleer, pictured above at St. in Chatham, on Cape Cod. Days of Encounter. Dr. The program will be held on Satur- McAleer wrote critically- the Fo’castle in 1971) is delighted that we have found the day, Oct. 11 at 10 a.m. Admission is acclaimed studies of perfect home and caretaker for the Beston-Coatsworth- free. Doors open at 9 a.m., and coffee, Thoreau, Dreiser, the McAleer collection! Thank you for keeping this important pastries, breakfast sandwiches, and Out- Edgar Award-winning Rex part of American history alive.” ermost House theme merchandise will be Stout: A Biography, and available for purchase. Continued on Page 2 -- Andrew McAleer Continued on Page 2 SUPPORT PROVIDED BY: Attorney Karen Underhill Paul Glenn & Charitable Foundation Trust Koulouris Sheila Mott Silver Hollow Audio Page 2 The Gallant Vagabond/Autumn 2014 Massachusetts area Screening: Chatham event Oct. 11 lecture/ rough cut screening schedule Continued from front page scale of “Rewards” for those who con- tribute to the project. Books and other The holiday weekend also marks media, along with photography and art- the beginning of a second campaign work, will be among the items offered by the Beston Society on Kickstarter. for various levels of contributions. com, a well-known crowdfunding The rough cut screening at the New- website. The Beston Society has a goal buryport Film Festival was one of two of raising $10,000 in 30 days to cover films presented at the WIP Workshop production costs (which includes video Series, along with another seaside- services, and fees for actors, clothing, n Saturday, Oct. 11 at 10 a.m.: Special rough cut theme film, Rise and Fall, an eight-min- and other props). ute feature by filmmaker Casey Atkins screening presentation at the Chatham Orpheum The campaign is an all-or-nothing about erosion on Plum Island along the Theater, 637 Main St., Chatham. (508) 945-4900 proposal; the target goal (in this case, North Shore of Massachusetts. $10,000) must be achieved by Nov. 10 chathamorpheum.org The presentation included a new epi- to claim the amount pledged. sode that focuses on how Henry Beston n n In 2012, the Beston Society ran a Thursday, Oct. 16 at 7 p.m. Friday, Nov. 21 at 10:30 a.m. went from a stint as an ambulance successful Kickstarter campaign, rais- Holliston Public Library, 752 Washing- Eastham Council on Aging, 1405 driver for the American Field Service ing $5,000. This enabled the Beston ton St., Holliston. www.hollistonlibrary. Nauset Road, North Eastham. Please in France during World War I to his org RSVP at (508) 255-6164. Society to produce a five-minute video recovering from the horrors of the con- trailer while also collecting enough flict on Cape Cod’s Outer Beach. n Wednesday, Oct. 22 at 11 a.m. n Tuesday, Nov. 25 at 2 p.m. footage to produce a 10-minute episode Support for the Beston Society Cambridge Center for Adult Educa- Cornerstone at Milford, 11 Birch St., from the film. Production of the documentary film project was made tion, 56 Brattle St., Cambridge. Pre- Milford. cornerstonemilford.com feature-length project is broken into possible in part by the Cape Cod Five registration required. www.ccae.org small fundable sub-projects that will n Cents Savings Bank Charitable Foun- Wednesday, March 11 at 7 p.m. be streamed as “webisodes,” while also n Wednesday, Nov. 5 at 7 p.m. Brookline Adult Education, 115 dation Trust, the Arts Foundation of being used to help in soliciting distribu- Norfolk Public Library, 139 Main St., Greenough St., Brookline. www. Cape Cod, Glenn and Sheila Mott, the tion channels, such as PBS. Norfolk. http://library.virtualnorfolk.org brooklineadulted.org Inn at the Oaks, Silver Hollow Audio, Kickstarter campaigns feature a and Paul Kourlouris. McAleer: Scholar’s collection donated to Beston Society Continued from front page the definitive novel of the Korean War, Unit Pride. A professor of English Literature at Harvard and then Boston College for more than half a century and, a permanent fellow at Durham University, Dr. McAleer, at the time of his death, was completing the defini- Entrance to the Henry Beston Society office in North Eastham on Cape Cod. tive biography of Jane Austen. His es- say, Solar Electricity, was featured in the book, Heaven Is Under Our Feet. CONTACT US For many years he taught the American Personal Narrative course at Elizabeth Coatsworth, a native of Boston College -- a course structured Hingham, was a writer of fiction and • Visit out websites at www.henrybeston.org and around the works of Henry Beston. poetry for children and adults. She www.outermosthousemove.com He was also a past president of the won the 1931 Newbury Medal from • Follow us on Facebook and Twitter. Thoreau Society. the American Library Association “I know my father is delighted that recognizing The Cat Who Went to • Call us at (508) 246-7242. we have found the perfect home and Heaven as the previous year’s “most • E-mail us at [email protected] caretaker for the Beston-Coatsworth- distinguished contribution to American • Mailing address: P.O. Box 407, North Eastham, MA 02651 McAleer collection!” wrote Andrew literature for children.” In 1968 she • Our office is located at Main Street Mercantile Plaza, 3 Main McAleer, the author’s son, in a letter was a highly commended runner-up last week to the Henry Beston Society. for the biennial, international Hans St., Unit 31, in North Eastham (just off Route 6, across from “Thank you for keeping this important Christian Andersen Award for chil- the Fairway Restaurant). Office hours by appointment only. part of American history alive.” dren’s writers. For many years (John McAleer, pictured above) Thank you to eCape.com/Cape Cod Today taught the American Personal Narrative course at for hosting our website since 2002, and to Boston College -- a course structured around the the Cape Cod Times/ capecodonline.com for hosting our blog since 2007. works of Henry Beston. The Gallant Vagabond/Autumn 2014 Page 3 The Outermost House goes to London Nearly 5,000 miles of ocean separate the outer beach of Cape Cod and England, but that didn’t stop one of the Cape’s biggest icons from being featured in the Chelsea Flower Show in London this spring. Henry Beston’s classic book, The Outermost House, was front and center in the Massachusetts Garden, an exhibit at the Chelsea Flower Show that was sponsored by the Massachusetts Office of Travel. Designers Susannah Hunter and Catherine MacDonald Pop artist Sir Peter Blake Susannah created a Cape Cod garden, inspired reads the Beston Society’s copy of The Outermost Hunter by the beauty of the sand dunes, the House in London. coastline and dune shacks of the Cape. The exhibit also included a worn copy of Beston’s began on this concept, and architect Julian Hunter Dame Jacqueline Wilson, author of the Tracey book from the collection of the Henry Beston So- was commissioned to design it. That’s when The Out- Beaker series of books and a one-time frequent ciety. Wendy Northcross of the Cape Cod Chamber ermost House entered the picture. visitor to the Cape, took a photo of the book to get a of Commerce arranged the loan of the book from “I showed him pictures of the Provincetown dune copy. Matthew Barzun, the U.S. Ambassador to the the Beston Society, brought it to London, and then shacks and he began his research and quickly dis- U.K., “was obviously familiar with it as he’d spent returned it to the Cape Cod nonprofit. During this covered The Outermost House and was completely every childhood holiday on the Cape,” Hunter noted. process, The Outermost House mingled with folks inspired by the whole concept of Henry Beston and Then there was pop artist Sir Peter Blake, best with ties to the Tracey Beaker series of children’s the house and the fact the house was moved and known for co-creating the sleeve design for the books, a United States Ambassador, and The Beatles. finally swept away, giving it an almost legendary Beatles’ classic album, Sgt.