I've just archived the past year's postings so that loading this page is a little faster for you. There were some recent postings in the past few weeks, so even if you've been here relatively recently, you might want to review the archive.
Peter's comment, "And to give the Landis's credit where credit is due, Larry was no administrator, he was a dreamer. The Landis family made it possible to make the dream real. " rings very true to me. Nice going, Peter.
I've been talking on the phone with Bill Rice. He sounds as energetic and indefatigable as ever.
Rob Clayman continues to be a wimp and not post. And the Big Question is why Eric and Robin haven't posted here. Come on, you two, say hello and bring us up to date!
Tom
PS While confirming that this site was on all of the search engines, I found this link: http://www.vinyllives.com/weird/weird.htm where they're selling a Camp Paradox record in Very Good to Mint condition for $12. Interesting to consider whose hands it went through getting to the vendor...
Contributed by Tom Field (tom@canby.com) on November 22, 2000.
Check out this web page: http://www.friedmanrealty.net/rental2.html. The section on the Paradox Lake listing looks like it's the old Rec Hall.
Contributed by Jim Anderberg (jamesa@ctel.net) on November 22, 2000.
Something else I discovered: an album of songs by Dorothy Fields: http://www.getmusic.com/artists/amg/Album/945/A351 945.html Track two lists "Camp Paradox Song" by Fields/Rodgers.
Contributed by Jim Anderberg (jamesa@ctel.net) on November 22, 2000.
I recently received and responded to the stunning correspondence below. Hopefully Ann will post here so we can all communicate with her.
I can't believe that there is a site for Camp Paradox. You won't believe this reply. My grandfather was Ed Goldwater, the first director of the camp. My mother Adele Atkin was his daughter. My father Larry Atkin attended the camp as boy and first met Adele there. They met again years later and married. My grandmother Jane Goldwater ran the Paradox Lodge, which I think later became a junior camp.
I spent part of every summer of my early childhood at Paradox. Then when I was old enough I did what my mother had done when she was a child -- I went to Camp Severence just down the road.
I grew up singing camp songs. I can only remember a few now. I have some great old pictures dating back to about 1905 or so. I would love to share all of this with you. And yes, Richard Rogers was a councilor when my dad was a camper. My father loved to act and was in many of his camp plays. They remained friends for many years. I live in Tenafly, New Jersey. There is a chance that I will spend some time at Lake Placid this summer with my children and grandchildren. I don't know where you are, but perhaps we could get together.
Ann Atkin Moscovitz
Then:
Tom, certainly you may post my letter. Have any real old-timers contacted you? My brother has all the memorabilia from when we vacated the contents of our parents' home. I'll have to get the pictures from him. I have been wanting to do that anyway. Some of them are real treasures. I may even have some old Camp Paradox newspapers and playbills; I'm not sure. My brother, also named Tom, was born after my grandfather had any association with the camp, so he never spent time there. He does know the stories and the songs, however, and together we may be able to remember the lyrics.
Then:
I just read the comment by James Anderberg. Herb Fields was the dramatics councilor and Rogers the music councilor. He directed the plays at camp and later directed for Richard Rogers and Larry Hart.
Contributed by Tom (tom@canby.com) on December 15, 2000.
More from Ann:
Across the ball field and at the end of the row of bunks was a woodsy patch that separated Camp Paradox from Paradox Lodge. There the lovely path bordered with wild flowers began. At the end of the path, which seemed so long to young eyes and short legs, was the Lodge Dining Hall with a rec room. I don't remember the screened separation you mention, but it might have been. The rest was as I wrote to you with the addition of the steep path to the lake and the small guest cabins hidden in the woods. I also remember splashing for hours in a brook that ran near the path.
I just remembered that I have 16 mm movies of the lakefront. There was a costume party and all I wore was a large leaf. And there are pictures of my mother swimming with me on her back. I haven't opened the canisters for forty years; I wonder if the film is still in good condition. I do have a projector. I might have scenes from the camp -- wouldn't that be something! I can't remember ever seeing any. Looks as though I now have another project.
Meanwhile, back at the Camp....
First cut out the beans, I hate 'em I know what it means, I ate 'em, Then cut out the peas and prunes. Cut out all the vegetables, go easy on the cheese, Eggs in every style, just ban 'em Heap 'em in a pile and can 'em. Let every camper's menu be this --
Pie and cake, ice cream twice a day Lots of steak, flapjacks every way, Ice tea, olives And hear me when I say, For goodness sake go easy on the milk.
(missing verse here)
Let every camper's program be this --
Up at 10, baseball with the crowd Swimming when -- it is not allowed, Tennis, golf And hear me when I say, For goodness sake go easy on the porch.
The dining room porch was used for what we now call Time Out. Another song, that I partly remember, was sung to scare new campers. (It couldn't have been true, could it?)
On rainy days the heck they raise At dear old Paradox. It makes a frat initiation Look like babies on vacation, At dear old Paradox.
When I arrived the Senior Clan Took me in hand And then began To break camp paddles by the score. As the wood broke off me piece by piece They rubbed me down with axle grease Until I fell exhausted to the floor. At dear old Paradox.
I wish I could remember the rest. It was all sung very fast. Must be Rodgers.
Contributed by Tom (tom@canby.com) on December 16, 2000.
It seems I failed to post all of Ann’s correspondence here. I hope I’ve got the right pieces below without redundancy. I had asked her if Paradox had always been a Jewish camp. She answers:
Yes, always Jewish. I had a set of Russian dolls, you know, where one fits inside the other. My dad named them for his counselors: Boliver, Schinzel, Shaeffer, Moe, Utch, Taylor, Levi, Gizivagadinnins and Pisha Pasha. I guess after the first seven he ran out of counselors. Those names sound Jewish to me, so I guess all the counselors were Jewish as well. When my children got a set of Russian dolls we gave them the same names. Tradition dies hard in campers' families.
My brother and I took a trip to Paradox in 1990 after my mom died. We put both her ashes and my dad's in the lake. It was October 31. We rented a canoe at Schroon Lake, carried it on the roof of the car and launched it at the Paradox public beach. The sky was bright blue and the lake had barely a ripple. Everything was so still; all the summer folks were gone, and we didn't see a soul. We paddled to where we could see the Camp and poured the ashes in. Roger Friedman, the Realtor, had shown us where the Camp had been so we could locate it from the lake. Paradox was so meaningful to them all their lives that this was their wish.
Tom [her husband?] and I took pictures of each other and of the lake. Along the shore line the reflection was so perfectly still and clear that in the pictures it is hard to tell top from bottom. The amazing thing is that when you look at them sideways the rocks and shadows and moss and weeds are transmogrified into eerie faces as though carved by some primitive tribal people.
When we visited the camp, the little yellow cabin that is now posted on the web site [the Landis cabin], had a sign above the door saying Our Walden. Because there were no leaves we could see down to the lake from there. That cabin was expanded when I was about five years old. Grandma and Grandpa lived there, and so did I when I stayed at camp. Across from their cabin was the Dining Hall. It had a kitchen with a wood burning stove (I can picture it) and a lounge with a ping pong table. I thought it was so large back then. Paradox Lodge was for guests who came up for a week or two and for campers' parents. Facing the Dining Hall across the gravel driveway was a garden where I played and where Jane grew a multitude of flowers. It had Adirondack chairs and was surrounded by a split rail fence. Somewhere nearby were two tennis courts. At the corner of the driveway and the street was a gas station where Frank and Edith lived. I think they worked at the lodge; I know I liked them. And there was a long path leading to the camp that had wild berries and flowers. There were black- eyed Susan's and Queen Anne's Lace that I thought had been named for me.
I am having a great time reminiscing, but do you want to read about all this stuff?
Do any of you remember seeing a bronze plaque on a rock that said Edward Goldwater, Jr.? I think it had the dates of his birth and death. He was my mother's brother who died at the camp just post-season. I think he was eleven years old.
I just remembered the lyrics to one of the songs. It's pretty long. Should I send it as an attachment?
Okay, let's fill in some missing pieces so you can get the whole picture.
Ed Goldwater was born in this country of German immigrant parents. His father's brother moved to Arizona and changed religion. Senator Barry Goldwater is quoted as saying that his intelligence came from his Jewish heritage. When Ed entered kindergarten he could only speak German, and since it was the time of the Great War (later known as W.W.II), he was teased and made generally miserable. It became his goal to learn English perfectly. To that end he became a scholar of Latin and Greek. He taught high school English and, in later years, was the principal of PS 107 in Queens, New York. His summers were free.
I don't know what steps Ed took to become Director of Camp Paradox. I know the land was owned by a lady who lived on adjacent property. The tax assessor in Schroon Lake must have the records. I think must have been mistaken about the date. My mother was born in 1908, and in the earliest photographs she must have been four or five. That would make the date closer to 1912.
The original camp extended up the hill on the other side of a dirt road. When Route 73 (74) was about to be paved, Ed asked the boys if they wished to move their tents to the lake side of the road or to build a bridge. You know the result of that vote. (Paradox was more efficient then than Florida is today.) Up the road, Camp Severance built a bridge with 28 steps. Another girls' camp had a tunnel. I guess Paradox boys were lazier that the girls but, having crossed that bridge for six summers, I think they might have been smarter.
The little theater building was called the Music Hall. I don't know when the name was changed to honor Richard Rodgers. Oklahoma! was his first huge success, and I think that must have been around 1943. I say that because my parents took me to see it even though I still had the measles. Tickets were very hard to get, and I think it was a treat for my tenth birthday. (So now you know my age.)
There was a song from the earliest days, when Larry, my dad, was a camper. I can only remember a few lines.
In big Pierce Arrows mothers come Just as the midday meal's begun Just in time to see the campers eat.
Look out there're ladies on the hill. If you don't wear you might get a chill.
It was something like that. Look out there're ladies on the hill was repeated several times. The tune may have been Rodgers, it is very clever and lively. You asked about carriages bringing people to camp. I can't imagine that. The campers were Jewish boys from New York. It now takes six plus hours at 65 MPH. The Thruway wasn't built for another forty years or so. Maybe they took a train and then rented a carriage to the area, but I can't imagine that they were driving carriages and Pierce Arrows within just a few years of each other. I remember driving up and having to change flat tires at least once every trip, but that was a good twenty years later.
The largest camp building in my memory was the Main House. [I think this is what became known as Rodger’s Hall] The ground floor had a dining room and I seem to remember a window for the mail delivery. A large porch on the front, a kitchen to the rear, and an outside staircase to the second floor office and some bedrooms [WCP and the Paradoxian and GER’s office?]. When I was a child there might have been a separate small infirmary building. (When I was counselor at Severance and visited the camp the infirmary was on the second floor of the main House.) To the rear was a Laundry House. The tents were gone and replaced by bunks.
Contributed by Tom (tom@canby.com) on December 17, 2000.
Here's more e-mail from Ann. I've already responded to her telling her we sang the same song. She *is* reading this message board, so feel free to post messages to her here. She can post her responses here. Tom PS Did you know that you can compose a response in your favorite word processor (like MS-Word) and then highlight it all, copy (Edit, Copy), then come here to the "Add Comment" box and paste the entire message (with a Control V)? It makes composing lengthy messages much easier...
Here is the old Paradox Alma Mater. Sing it to the
Cornell Alma Mater "High above Cayuga's waters..."
Far from hustling cities splendor,
On a mountainside,
Stands a camp by all admired,
Boyhood's shrine and pride.
Camp we love -- Paradox
Stand for ere
In your mountain home.
May your sons
For ere be loyal
Where so ere they roam.
What unimaginative lyrics! But it looks as though the sentiment is right on.
You guys are loyal, and it looks as if you've roamed all over the country.
I can't imagine that this sappy song was still being sung in your day.
In a line from Look out there're ladies on the Hill I left out the word
sweater -- if you don't wear a sweater, you might get a chill.
All for now, Ann
Contributed by Tom (tom@canby.com) on December 18, 2000.
This is just fascinating! I sometimes forget that there was an active Camp before our generation was there. Ann's descriptions are as clear and sweet as a cool July morning on Paradox Lake. I read her comments several times, closed my eyes, and let her memory of Paradox blend into my own. What a dimension it adds!! Kudos to Ann!
Contributed by Howard Benson (maxibenson@aol.com) on December 20, 2000.
Ann,
I understand your up here in North Jersey...If you contact me we can exchange Paradox pictures and memorabilia...between my brother and I we have every record, photo album plus personal photos.
Contributed by ALAN SHIER (ALAN553@AOL.COM) on December 22, 2000.
I guess its time I tried to post my own comments instead of sending everything to Tom. I hope I'm doing it right. Yes Alan, I live in Tenafly and would love to share pictures, etc. I only have a few at home. My brother has most of the Paradox memorabilia, and I'll have to get it from him. Here's a coincidence -- my daughter lives in Potamac and your brother is her allergist. It's a small Paradox world. Ann
Contributed by Ann Moscovitz (AnnTenafly@aol.com) on December 22, 2000.
I, too, want to thank Anne for her wonderful memories of Camp Paradox in the pre-Landis era. Tradition was always important to the CP experience and hearing from someone so intimately connected to that tradition was especially moving.
To all my fellow former campers, I wish a Happy Hanukkah and a New Year filled with peace and joy!
Contributed by Bruce Singer (saltcreek@redshift.com) on December 23, 2000.
Jerry Shier asks how Paradox got its name. As I remember the story, the man who named the lake stood at a place along the water's edge and said, "What a paradox, the tide seems to be flowing away from the shore rather than toward it!" I guess we are fortunate that the man wasn't a Native American. Indian names were always very popular, but who would send a son to Camp Flowing Away?
Contributed by Ann Moscovitz (AnnTenafly@aol.com) on December 26, 2000.
I recall two possibilities for the name "Paradox." One was that the there were no inlets, only an outlet at each end. The other was that for part of the year the lake flowed in one end and out the other, but for the other part, it was reversed...
Contributed by Tom Field (tom@canby.com) on December 26, 2000.
This evening, I received the following e-mail:
-------------
Alex & Ann Landis want to wish all Paradoxians a Healthy & Happy New Year.
alandis@nac.net 12-29-2000
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Contributed by Tom Field (tom@canby.com) on December 29, 2000.
Dear Tom,
An old high school friend alerted me today to the Paradox site, and I seem to be fighting off a deep wellspring of emotion as I read through the postings over the past few years. For me, as well, Paradox was a deeply formative experience which hovers frequently in my consciousness, and I can't express fully how moved I am to read the words (and see that wonderful Iowan visage) of Jim Anderberg, my old (er, FORMER) counselor, Bruce Graye, my radio mentor and fellow sports trivia nut, Richie Frank and Jim Hollenberg, my bunkmates, and Mike Salnick, who opened the eyes of a naive and incredibly straight-arrow teenager. Altogether, I feel as though this has enabled me to reconnect in a wonderful way with a huge piece of my life which has felt sealed off, except for occasional run-ins with former Paradoxians or daydreams of glory on the softball field at Brant Lake -- or was it Idylwold? (Alan Miller, I still fall back on your immortal words when I feel blue: "Margolius comes through! Margolius comes through! Here comes Shier with the winning run! Paradox has won!" Who can fail to be moved....).
I, too, have long held off on revealing to the world the secret shame of my buddy James J. Cramer -- that bizzare throwing motion which somehow, through sheer persistence, he managed (like most things) to perfect. I miss him, Alan Miller's warmth and fun, Howie Ross and his wedgies, Howie Uniman and his incredibly quiet cool, Richie Frank's amble, Jim Toub's sweetness and shy laugh, Pete Swerdlick's natural grace. The images are so powerful and keep popping up in my head: catching Glen Graye's curveball in a rare hardball game, hanging out in the chilly night air on the porch outside Rodgers Hall on Saturday night before filing in for what was always a wonderful show and raucous singing, standing up with John Screiber as co-captain of the Red team before we were swamped by the Cramer- captained Grays in a humiliating defeat. I also recall Brian Clifford, who made all the difference in a scared and homesick 11 year old's life on his first week away from home. How great is it to see that he's made that his life's work? And Dan Franklin -- he was a great counselor and a lefty with a scary fastball -- I'd figured he could be hanging around the big leagues as a setup man for somebody these days. Where are you, Dan?
I was part of that reunion at Alan Miller's house in NJ many years ago, with Flonacher, Salnick, Uniman, et al. Wasn't Flonacher part of the inspiration of that Coe-Grinnell game (he was the Coe guy, who was Grinnel -- Ralph Clayman, rightl?) All I recall of the game is getting killed by the Uniman and Jerry Shier-led Grinnell squad, to Flonacher's great chagrin. Sorry to dredge up unpleasant memeories, Jimbo.
I could (and will) go on. For now I can report the irony that I live in the heart of former Paradoxian off-season life, the Philadelphia Main Line. I'm a rabbi (trained here in Philly at the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College) at a small, progressive Conservative synagogue in Lower Merion township. The irony stems from the fact that while it seems all my camp friends lived in north Jersey or Philly, I rarely run across anyone here. A year or so ago I saw Steve Atlas and Alan Uhr, but otherwise I see no traces of the former residents of Bala Cynwyd, Merion, etc., though I almost always half expect to bump into someone on the checkout line. There was a write up in Philly Magazine several years ago about Todd Gordon, who has inherited his family's upscale auction house here. Then again, I'd imagine his memories of camp are not so sterling, since I recall him being one of those kids who was the butt of most bunk pranks and jokes.
After college, I spent most of a year travelling in Europe and living in Israel. I came back to go to law school and was a legal services lawyer in Hartford for several years before I realized that my calling was elsewhere. I love my work and always feel incredibly lucky to have been able to change career course. Sure, if I had my druthers I'd be Brian Cashman and negotiating Derek Jeter's new deal, but as some Paradoxian used to say (who WAS it?), "what the hey?"
I've been married to Michele Reimer, whom I met in college, for going on 20 years this summer, and have two sons, Max (14) and Sam (11). Michele gently disagrees with my assessment above -- she thinks I'm actually obsessed with Paradox and very in touch with its place in my psyche/soul, contrary to what I wrote above. She's also less than thrilled when I intermittently replay that moving Alan Miller game-winning call, but essentially puts up with it.
Two years ago, I too had the Twilight Zone like experience of stopping to see camp while we were travelling through the ADKS, and finding it mysteriously vanished. My family and I drove up and down the road while I searched for familiar sights fruitlessly, until finding that house -- Mountain Meadows, I think -- next to the old dining hall, and stopping to speak with the owner, who moved in the year before the camp closed and pointed out to me the decaying remnants of Paradox. Wandering the woods, I found the office and infirmary and felt a bit like Rip Van Winkle, time having zoomed by and everything altered as I snoozed. So sad and weird to see all vestiges of one's life virtually erased by time and neglect (I do wish I'd had Jim Anderberg's idea of viewing the remains from the water -- I actually made it down to the boating area, which at least confirmed that I wasn't dreaming -- it WAS the place.) . It gave me great insight into the experience of refugees of any sort who try to return to their ancestral homes and find them occupied by interlopers and/or obscured by the ravages of time. So I am all the more thrilled to see Paradox live on in cyberspace and, hopefully, in real life reunions with any or (hopefully) all of you sometime.
I would love to see anyone who remains in Philly or South Jersey, and hear directly from those people with whom I shared some of the happiest times of my life. My phone is 610-649-1718 (H) and 610-667-1651 (W). Thanks to you, Tom, for your work in making this possible. I was such a sports nut in those days I eschewed the ADK hikes, but in the years immediately after camp closed I did take some great trips with Cramer et al and climbed a number of the 46ers which I had missed. I feel a small kinship with and much admiration for people like you, Anderberg, and the others who conquered them all.
Sigh. I look forward to sharing and hearing more in the years ahead. May it be a wonderful and healthy year for all, and a time for reconnecting as well.
Marc Margolius
PS: I think I can also dredge up some Paradoxians and records for you, Tom. I did have a cabin sign, but am afraid it vanished in one of my parents' moves.
Contributed by Marc Margolius (Ravmarcm@aol.com) on January 1, 2001.
greetings fellow paradoxians and best wishes for a happy, healthy and prosperous new year to all.
it was nice to see a comment from alex and ann landis -- finally. i felt we would have been missing something without at least a "hello" from them. they were very much part of our paradox experiences and it is important to recognize that their contribution in all this.
thank you, alex and ann, for helping to make that possible. as you can see by the comments on this site, there was plenty of character molding going on. not to mention a lot of characters!
i'm still pursuing the idea of a reunion in 2002, guys! i'm keeping the database up-to-date as much as possible. please remember to check with your families as to the whereabouts of other campers. send any other info you gather to me and i'll distribute it everyone else periodically.
take care.
bill
Contributed by bill rice (drbill@writeme.com) on January 10, 2001.
I too would like to join with Bill in thanking Alex and Ann. Running a camp of that size has got to be a monumental task.
For those of you that might not remember, I was the fishing counselor as well as doing all those hikes. Maine has lots of lakes and when my boys were younger I did a lot of fishing with them. (Taking a boy fishing is purely selfish) I can never open my tackle box and reach for my trusty Mepps spinner without thinking of Alex. He had a large collection of those very effective lures and was always giving them away to the kids in my fishing classes.
And then there was the time I discovered the Indian costume in the campcraft lodge. Headdress, buckskins, bells on the arms and ankles, and a drum. One evening, during some presentation at Rogers Hall I slipped out of the audience and put on the costume. The days at camp were exhausting, and come evening it was all a counselor could do to stay awake during those Rogers Hall assemblies. Alex was no exception. As I quietly opened the door at the back of the Hall I noticed him dozing off in the back row. I threw open the door and leapt into the room with a blood-curdling yell, pounding the drum. The only lasting memory I have of this event is the frozen look of panic on Alex's face as I charged down the central aisle.
Contributed by Jim Anderberg (jamesa@ctel.net) on January 10, 2001.
So, where is Eric and Scot Landis. And does anyone still have a t-shirt with Erics face on it? I have to admit, I was terrified of him!!
Contributed by Howard Benson (maxibenson@aol.com) on January 13, 2001.
It is truly great connecting with old names and friends, and wish I had pictures to connect the names with the faces as it is amazing to me how much of my brain cells have deserted me. It was great to hear from Marc Margolis whom I am sure knows the Rabbi and Cantor of the 1956 Reform temple of Valley Forge, Pennsylvania. If he doesn't I would be disappointed. It was also great to hear from Alex and Ann whom I have fond memories of watching some preseason football games and allstar game at the only TV around. Loved watching it with Eric who had a bigger bark than bite. Loved those counselor camper softball games. Great to see Bruce Singer on board as I have been waiting to see him as one of those top alternative DJ's along with John Schreiber. They were brilliant. I also have I think a memory of Bruce Singer being a girl on one of those plays and thought he was much better looking as a girl and actually had a crush on him/her. Was that you Bruce or someone else?? When the men landed on the moon; Dan Franklin and myself and some others (I forget) went to Jarry Park to see Mets in doubleheader and was my first time ever getting drunk and throwing up on Dan's jacket. Not a happy camper so to speak, but a great Paradox memory. Anyone remember Bob Seagans great imitations of Hugh Hurst; Larry Carpenter; and others??? Is Rich Goodstein from Paradox the same guy that is on TV with other lawyers talking about OJ etc??? When is Alan Miller going to be on the Presidential beat so we can watch him on TV?? Neil Neuschatz should certainly be either a top writer for Sat. night live or a performer somewhere, right?? Still does the best Rizzuto ever heard. What about Cazzie?? He would be much better than Emerald (?)yes??? Certainly could hit better. The greatest applause I have ever had in my life and still brings a tear to my eyes was not only dropping my tray of food and glasses but knocking into another camper as one of our lunch duties. Memories are slowly coming back in little droplets. Keep the board going.
Contributed by Bruce Graye (bgraye@aol.com) on January 19, 2001.
sorry to report that i was informed some time ago that neil neuschatz died -- i don't recall the details.
i, too, would like to have the faces with the names as time is interfering with my memory cells unfortunately. i started with my old camp photos which i have from 63, 64, 65, but don't know what happened to the photos past '65, but i'm sure they will turn up or someone will post them.
i still hoping to collect more names, emails and addresses from the missing paradoxians, so we can organize a reunion for 2002! what do say friends?
take care.
Contributed by bill rice (drbill@writeme.com) on January 27, 2001.
It is so hard to believe it has been THIRTY years. Every time I think of camp so many memories flow through my mind. I still remember Mike Salnick with his nose plugs and Billy Rice with his braces telling me about this wonderful camp in the spring of '66. I went on the camp reunion trip that year and met my first friend (other than mentioned above), Jeff Menkes (by the way it was he who taught me to get up on one ski to become "first class" water skier) and I have my patch to prove it! I vividly remember walking to bunk 17 meeting Jeff, Kenny Cohn with Billy and me. Steve kuzman was our counsellor..a great sports enthusiast so we hit it right off. I remember the infamous cherry bomb thrown in the toilet soon thereafter (don't worry Billy Rice, I won't tell who really threw it in there). We had to use Bunk 18's toilet for a week or so which did not make Marty Kocivar, Steve Frishberg (great baseball arm) and Morrie Siegel happy. What a summer that was. I can recall being shown how to "borrow" some delicious cakes and cookies off the Freihoffer truck, sneaking to Idewild and having some real serious raids with the real big kids in bunk 2o, 21, and 30. I'll never forget that first crisp summer night laying on the wet ground on our baseball field just looking at the stars with Larry Carpenter. That year I had to rescue my kid sister, a Paragonian, from almost being deported home on many occasions...that's how I really got to know Alex & Ann.Who can ever forget the dances at the Chez and "The Whiter Shade of Pearl" & "Red Rubber Ball". And those burgers. I loved to cook because I'd eat and eat. They may not have been the best I've eaten but they are among the most memorable...greasy with lots of ketchup. I, too, have alot of pictures, the red and gray book, my old water safety aid book, addresses and birthday lists, patches, and oh sooo many fond memories...ones I will never forget. I could go on but I'll save some for future correspondence. Some names to ponder..Jerry Rockoff, The Dukes, Rich Perry, The Stahl brothers, Jim St. Lifer, Chuck Gelber, Reese Weintraub, Mitch Sukonick, Jimmy Toub, Jim Polikoff, Ira Ivers, Mark Adler, Norm Einstein,Ricky Bruskin, Jimmy Stotter,Jeff Peters, The Zolot brothers and cousins...I wonder where they are now!
Keep in Touch! I hope a reunion is imminent.
Rick Mittelberg
Contributed by Rick Mittelberg (rickeym5@aol.com) on February 2, 2001.
A number of you have said you have lots of camp photos. How about sharing them with us? I found a site that looks like a good place to post them. It's free and seems easy to use. I've started by posting a few images I have. Will try and put more there soon. Go to www.webphotos.com and add your photos as well. Registration is free. You can go to www.WebPhotos.com/listPicture.asp?lmode=view&user_ id=5795&album_id=5865 to see the album I started. Or at the main screen do a search for the "Paradox" album.
Contributed by Jim Anderberg (jamesa@ctel.net) on February 3, 2001.
Ignore my previous posting. Bill Rice just notified me that he has started a Paradox photo album at www.myfamily.com. He will be posting instructions on how to access it. I'm going to try uploading a bunch more phtotos this week.
Contributed by Jim Anderberg (jamesa@ctel.net) on February 4, 2001.
Recently, I e-mailed Margery Landis (who contacted me quite some time ago) and just recieved this reply:
Hi Tom,
I just got off of the phone with my cousin Robin. It was truly my Aunt Ann
that sent the new year greeting. She would love to hear from Paradoxians.
Robin has been reading the site for months and is going to post in the near
future. We were even talking about going to a reunion together.Margery
So, with that good news, I'll remind you that the New Years greeting e-mail I recieved from Ann in December (and posted here) was from alandis@nac.net. Any news you all hear from her, post it here if appropriate. All the better if Ann (and family) post messages here for all of us to read.
And, to Robin and Eric:
Come on in! Talk to us!! J
Tom
Contributed by Tom (tom@canby.com) on February 10, 2001.
Caught up on the site again today. Glad to see that we are getting closer to the "Landis" sitings. There is a business down here and Landis is a partner. I had thought of going over there are calling, just on the speculation of "what if," but I still haven't done that. Ricky Mittleberg where are yo these days? I used to run into your little brother in court or at a Marlins game, but haven't for awhile. Give me a call if you'd like. When I discovered the site, I had written to Robin Landis (using an American University Alumni book address given to me by Alan Shier) sent the letter and it never came back so I assumed she got it and decided not to write. If not, it is in a "dead letter office" somewhere. Marc Margolius, are you referring to our New York trip many moons ago after the camp closed down? The last time I saw Alex and Ann was the semester I spent at American University and Robin lived in the same dorm as I did.
I have been writing to Alan Miller lately and hope to see him in March up in Disney world if our schedules permit. I was sorry to hear about Neil Neushatz...Alan Shier and I visited with him in Miami back in the mid-seventies as I recall. Great guy but really burnt out. I agree with the Todd Gordon acessment of Rabbi Mark! I one day got a call from a Steve Beckleman, purporting to be an attorney in New Jersey who referred me a case. We got to talking and he did recall his not too fond years at Paradox in 64-65. Back then he was a skills type hanging out with Chi- Chi Fisher (remember him?....kind of an early Nathan Lane type)
Bruce and Glen Graye where are you? I recently got hired to represent a graduate of Dwight Morrow High School. Where is Junior Tinsley these days? My oldest son, currently on a twenty-six week television show on cable, recently had to choose colleges. One school he got into was Ithaca. He chose Penn State (imagine that) but I wanted to go up to Ithaca to see if there was a Hugh Hurst or Steve Kuzman Pavillion. Anyone ever hear about Jimmy Stotter or Don Bloomensteil? Think Dan Franklin ever became a Doctor?
To Alex and Ann if you are reading: Hope you are both well and healthy. You obviously had a much bigger impact on all of us then you would have ever imagined. Here we are over thirty five years later still reveling in our past for the greatest summers you provided for us. Through all the criticism of many things you were there for us and it has obviously made a difference. Hope you can continue to post and let us know how you are. If Eric posts, that might be the most read about event since we found out who shot JR Ewing! I am sure we would all like to hear from them. Be well.
Back to my thoughts which always ramble when I am on this site. Who is going to take the ball and run with this reunion thing? Where would we have it? Do any of you out there own a restaurant or have access to the catering business? We need to get this going because none of us are getting any younger.Tom Field, glad to see the site continues to thrive. I will post more in a few weeks. Someone e-mail me at the above if there is an Eric siting. One last thing: Maybe Mark Margolius can help here: We once watched a movie called "Safe at Home" during rainy days,etc. It was about the boy who bragged to know Mantle and Maris and then had to deliver. I recall Bob Coluni being in that movie. I have rented it numerous times at a local Blockbuster and never can find Coluni in the movie. Was this a Paradox hoax or can someone e-mail me and straighten this out?
Hey Billy Rice....what are you doing with yourself?
See ya...Michael SalnickakaSaltyakaChunky Jeff MichaelsakaJeffMichaels..........
Contributed by Michael Salnick (Salnicklaw@AOL) on February 12, 2001.
Just a thought I had after reading Michael's comment on the reunion plans. I've heard that some of the camps here in Maine rent their cabins out after the regular camping season. I wonder if there are any camps in the Adirondack region that might do this? A 2-day weekend of softball, swimming, campfires, late night hamburgers (hey! where's Candy?) - perhaps a hike up Mt. Marcy for the more intrepid in the bunch. Or . . . we could split into teams and do a color wars!
On another note, I've uploaded a number of photos to www.MyFamily.com. You'll need to set up an account with them (it's free)to access them. Bill Rice has organized this and will be letting you know how to go about doing this.
Contributed by Jim Anderberg (jamesa@ctel.net) on February 12, 2001.
Salty, I WAS referring to that trip upstate after camp closed. It was a memorable vening in the camnpsite, more for you than for me!
I can't recall that "Safe at Home" flick at all, though I still remember Bob Coluni teaching us how to do the "crow hop" to pick up ground balls. Amazing what sticks with you after all these years. That guy must've invented five o'clock shadow.
A reunion sounds great to me, ADKS or White Mountains or an afternoon in Central Park, if that makes things easier. I've had conversations over the past few months with Howie Uniman and Alan Miller, which have been wonderful. Both are doing great. Can you believe Uniman even has a kid who plays football? (I can.)
I'm looking forward to seeing Bruce Graye next week in Philly (wondering if he had his braces off yet) and anyone else who wanders through Sixerland.
Contributed by Marc Margolius (ravmarcm@aol.com) on February 13, 2001.
I posted about 50 of my photos to www.myfamily.com over the past week. Bill Rice is the administrator of this site. Contact him for a login and password to access the photos.
Contributed by Jim Anderberg (jamesa@ctel.net) on February 17, 2001.
Thought some readers may be interested in my memories of camp paradox. I was not a camp member, but was a small kid in the 1970's who annually camped on the lower lake. My siblings and I would visit the camp each year to explore the abandoned buildings; and search for souveneers. Not knowing the history of the camp, I was haunted by the dark recesses of each building, and the photos and paperwork strewn over the floors. Everything was still there, baseball equipment, silverware, vinyl records up in the "radio room?" Sometimes I would spend hours reading the "Paradoxian" issues from the 40's and 50's, wondering how so many kids my age could have filled the walls with laughter and activity, only to disappear. I still have an old baseball bat that was stashed up the rafters of one building, and jars full of glass marbles and "jewels" from the "arts and crafts?" building. The scariest building (I was only 12 or so) was the Rogers Hall, where performances were apparently put on. That building was just packed with artifacts, including song sheets, I think even movie reels. I wish I had collected everything, I never realized how many folks forged their childhoods there, just as I did.
Contributed by dan (buckie@alaska.net) on February 18, 2001.
Anyone here ever play the computer game Riven? Dan's(buckie@alaska.net) comments bring this to mind - haunting!
Contributed by Jim Anderberg (jamesa@ctel.net) on February 18, 2001.
Having recently been to Paradox, a reunion on the lake seems like a long distance to go for a weekend. After a day of flying, you still need to get up state. However, if it is at Paradox or that area, I have a suggestion. Last summer I stayed at the Sunderland cottages http://www.sunderlandcottages.com/ which is owned by Bill Sunderland's family. I think that one of his daughters was even a counsoler at Paragon. It's a thought, although they may not be large enough. I would rather have a reunion near someplace with a major airport.
Contributed by Marc Stern (mstern@abanet.org) on February 18, 2001.
Is there an airport at Lake Placid?
Contributed by Jim Anderberg (jamesa@ctel.net) on February 18, 2001.
Periodically, I'm reminded of how sweet & safe the mountain water was in our day. In particular, I remember near Mt. McComb (?) and Dix (?), a spring bubbling up next to the dirt access road from a hole (or tank?) in the ground. Here, and elsewhere, we'd dunk our head and hold it under for an extended period of cooling. Anyone else remember this spot?
I also remember an afternoon on John's Brook playing in the slides. Later, we called it the "Waterfall Walking Society" and issued mock membership cards. My memory of that afternoon is that it was one of those pure, spontaneous joyful play. Does anyone else remember it too?
Contributed by Tom Field (tom@canby.com) on February 19, 2001.
Wow, that comment by Dan, child of the 70s, sent soem chills down the spine. Also amazing that he found this site. I wish he'd at least saved the record with the WCP Sports Shorts theme and the other jingles....
Contributed by Marc Margolius (ravmarcm@aol.com) on February 20, 2001.
hi gang: RE: reunion we are scattered all over the US at this point and altho the adirondacks is certainly appealing, it is definitely not convenient and i think our census will be considerably lower if we attempt that location.
my thought was las vegas -- it is easy to get to from all over the country, has adequate banquet facilities and meeting places for us and perhaps more importantly it has something for everyone (sounds a bit like camp!). in fact, for who would come with their families it is an ideal place.
i am still shooting for 2002 - it will be the 40th anniversary of the camp and should give us plenty of time to prepare and organize. but we still need more contacts. ask your families for locations of former paradoxians -- they are out there someplace.
jim's photos at myfamily.com are wonderful. check it out.
take care and keep posting.
bill
Contributed by bill rice (drbill@writeme.com) on February 27, 2001.