Movie theater roadtrips

I love your website and visit it often.

 

We used to stay at the Grandview. Do you recall the existence of an old movie theatre possibly called the Haddam? I remember going there on a camp outing and it was typical of the old ornate bygone movie theatres. We went by a school bus from Grandview and I vaguely remember crossing the old East Haddam Bridge on Route 82 to get there. The time frame is late 1950's-early 1960's. Two movies come to mind that I saw there, Pollyanna and The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn.

What was the name of this particular movie theatre? Where was the theatre located and when was it demolished? Thank you.

--Millie

Happiest days at Grand View

For the first 14 years of my life, summers were spent at the Grand View Hotel.  I was one very lucky girl because my Father & Mother worked at the hotel and my family spent the entire summer there.  

Let me tell you about my Dad.  His name was Lew Nadell and he first worked for the Greenbergs in the 1930's, at both of their resorts, summers in Moodus and winters in Lakewood, N.J.  After he married my mother in 1939 he only worked summers because the job he had at a manufactuing firm in Manhattan gave him an unpaid sabbatical leave so he could spend three months in Moodus.

At the Grand View, he ran a concession that was located in the Playhouse.  There he would have candy, soda, ice cream and even sandwiches, just in case the guests would get hungry between meals!  He would go out early in the morning to town and pick up the New York newspapers and sell them to the hotel guests.  During the day, when guests were at the swimming pool or the baseball field or just sitting around the grounds, Dad would walk around with a large cooler strapped to him that held ice cream and soda.  

Meanwhile, my Mother would be behind the concession counter to serve anyone who would come into the Playhouse to play ping pong or listen to the jukebox.  Of course that wasn't my Dad's only job.  He was also the Social Director and was very popular.  Many guests would return year after year because of Lew Nadell.

Dad was a former Vaudevillian and Borsht Circuit entertainer.  He was on stage every night.  Most of his skits had a Jewish flavor to them.  He could sing and dance and was very funny, expecially when he dressed in drag.  Most of the summertime help, like the waiters and busboys were part of the skits.  I remember being on stage singing "A Pretty Girl in Like a Melody" and all the guys came out dressed as girls.  The band for many years was the Al Jarvis Band.

Sometime in the late 1940"s the Grand View was sold to the Pivnik family.  My Dad stayed on until 1954.  My parent's had bought a restaurant in New Haven and Dad couldn't be away all summer.  

When I first came to Moodus, I was only a baby and my parents didn't stay at the Grand View even though they worked there.  We stayed across the road at a small resort called "Steins".  When I got older we did stay at the Grand View but not in the Main House.  We stayed at what was called the Grey House which I believe was where the owners lived.  

We ate with the staff and I was always treated like a Princess by the staff since I was the only little girl that ate with them.  I also was given the privilege of ringing the big bell that called the guests to meals.  I had all my birthday parties at the hotel since my birthday was in July.  The Hotel's baker would make fabulous cakes for me and an announcement went out over the loud speakers inviting all the kids staying at the hotel to come to my birthday party.  Those summers were the happiest days of my childhood.  

--Elinor Nadell Snow

Fresh cream and more in the country

When I was born, in 1921, Moodus was already operating as a sort of resort. I don't know how she ever made contact with them, but my grandmother was already 'vacationing' there, in what everybody called 'the country.' We have a few pictures of her and her daughters taken in Moodus about that time.

As I was growing up, not yet in my teens, I knew that Grandma 'went to the country' every spring, for the month of June. She always went to Harry Greenberg's place. When it became Grand View, I don't recall. I do recall that the 3-story hotel which you see in the brochures was built later, probably about 1930 to 1935. And the swimming pool was built about the same time.

The place was owned by Harry Greenberg, its phone number was "Moodus 1," and it was run by Harry and his wife and their numerous children. I knew them all -- Gertie and George and Maish, the oldest three, and then Rozzie, and Florrie, and the youngest, who was about 8 years younger than I was, "Ginnie." Harry's brother Aaron had a place in Moodus, also, but it was competitive, and I don't think they got along.

Grandma must have been one of their earliest guests, and they treated her like a member of the family, or even better, like a queen. All of our family were treated like family. I remember that every afternoon around 4, Mama Greenberg would "invite" me into the kitchen to sit at the table while she poured milk from a pitcher taken from the refrigerator, and gave me milk and a plate of cookies. Homemade, of course.

Grandma stayed the whole month of June, every year, and we would drive up from New York around July First to get her. She always left before the "tourists" arrived. We were never there 'in season.' Grandma wasn't that kind of a person. When the tourists arrived on July 3rd or 4th, she was gone.

Harry was basically a dairy farmer. All the milk, cream, butter, eggs, and vegetables came from right on the grounds. Out back, behind the 'big house' was a mighty large meadow, and a barn at one end.

The ritual was always the same. Every morning they (Harry and the kids) milked the cows, and then led them out to the field. Late in the day, they went out and brought in the cows, led them into the barn, and milked them again. The milk went into huge cans, I'd estimate maybe 15 gallons or so, and they went into the 'ice box' (a big room next to the kitchen).

Eventually, when it settled and cooled, I imagine that they must have skimmed off the cream, but the milk I got with the cookies was as thick as the 'half and half' that is now served (sometimes) with coffee in better restaurants. There certainly was no pasteurization, but I figure that there was some sort of inspection and certification.

The swimming pool in the brochures was interesting. I was there before it existed, and was a client-gathering addition, "Up the hill, near Banner Lodge," a more swinging and less "haimish" place.

They changed the water in the pool at regular intervals, but I don't know what intervals. I suppose that the water was filtered, but I can tell you that it was heated only by the Sun and the Earth's atmosphere. When they drained the pool and refilled it with fresh mountain spring water, you waited a few days before you dipped even your toe in it.

The 3-story hotel in the pictures had another innovation: indoor plumbing with bathrooms on every floor. I can't recall whether each room had running water at all.

Well, with that amount of recollections, I will close this rambling series of observations.

--William B. Lurie

Dirty Dancing at Grand View

As a family, we spent several weeks every summer at Grand View. First,when the "senior" Pivnicks were in charge and later when Seymour and Phyllis Picnick ran the Hotel. Then, when I was old enough, I became a counselor at the hotel. It really was like the movie "Dirty Dancing."
Some of the regular guests included Jonathan Winters wife and Johnny Carson's first wife. Al Jarvis (from Hartford) was the bandleader and in subsequent years we kept in contact with him after he moved to Palm Springs, California and worked at the Canyon Club Resort.
They were among the best years of my life. I have other postcards and lots of photos, as well as a million stories to tell. I also used to take the kids to your chicken farm on field trips. This was in the late 50's, early 60's. Finding your website brought back many, many memories. Thank you!
--Alice Elkins