NESHOBE ISLAND, VERMONT: AN ALEXANDER WOOLCOTT RESORT

This weekend I watched "Star", the 1968 musical biopic of Gertrude Lawrence starring Julie Andrews and Daniel Massey (he plays Noel Coward and steals the movie). At three hours in length the film is hopelessly bloated. There isn't really much of a story and the musical numbers--mostly recreations of music hall routines and early Coward numbers--are strangely flat, given the fact that they're all performed onstage and not woven into the story.

So what has this to do with Neshobe Island, on Lake Bomoseen in Vermont? Well, one of the characters pictured (but barely heard) in "Star" is Alexander Woolcott, the critic/broadcaster/racounteur man-about-New York of the 20s and 30s. (Today he's largely remembered for being the model for the main character in 'The Man Who Came To Dinner'). As the movie droned on, I found myself spending increasingly more time surfing my I-Pad and, after searching on Woolcott's name, I came across an article about his beloved 'summer camp' on Neshobe Island. Following this path, I learned that Woolcott invited his Algonquin Round Table pals out every summer for witty conversation and competitive croquet games. Woolcott dearly loved this little slice of Vermont and actually retired to it in the late 1930s. This led to me wondering where the hell Neshobe Island was, what it looked like and what its current state of existence was?

And that led me to the video posted above. It's a very nice little magazine segment for a local Vermont show, detailing the history of the tiny island and featuring the new residents who are carefully preserving its history. The whole place is only seven acres and Woolcott's house and an adjacent barn are the only structures. The very pleasant Vermont couple who now own it, the Browns, are admirably appreciative of its peculiar place in 20th century literary history. There are nice shots of the rustic interior, pretty views of the island/water/views and a general air of nostalgia and simplicity that makes one long to go there...if only for a few hours. The only problem with the video is that the narrator calls Harpo Marx 'Harpo Maddox'. Really?

 Subscribe in a reader