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This Week in Rockland: Newspaper Excerpts: Flashback Friday: Week of July 8

July 6, 1872 – 150 YEARS AGO
Rockland County Journal

AROUND HOME [Nyack]
     ☞ A crazy drunken man in a state of nudity shocked the modesty of a number of our citizens on Monday evening, by parading unmolested through several of our public thoroughfares. Our officers, as usual, were out of the way.

DEATH ON THE TRACK
       The gravel engine, leaving a few minutes before seven o’clock, and moving at a slow rate of speed, on Monday morning July 1st, struck and instantly killed William Conklin of Rockland.
       It appears that “uncle Billy,” as he was called by many, had proceeded from Rockland to Piermont for the purpose of getting a bottle filled with liquor and was returning up the track when the engineer perceived him in the curve at what is called the rock cuts, back of Haddock’s store, only about three cars length ahead. The brakes were put on and every effort made to warn him but in vain. His body was terribly mangled.
       An inquest was held over the remains by Coroner J. J. Stephens, and the jury returned a verdict in accordance with the facts, exonerating the employees of the railroad from all blame. When found, the bottle was emptied of five-sixths of its contents. Undoubtedly the merchant who filled the bottle that morning thinks that he also is free of blame, but it is a question admitting argument.

July 7, 1932 – 90 YEARS AGO
Rockland County Evening Journal

BACK HOME IN NEW YORK
[Image: With James A. Farley are his wife and son, James A. Jr. Mrs. Farley is the former Bessie Finegan, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Richard Finegan, of Haverstraw.]
       Back home in New York, with his family, James A. Farley, campaign manager for Franklin D. Roosevelt, is being flooded with congratulations over his successful management of the New York Governor’s fight for the Democratic Presidential nomination. Farley will continue to manage Roosevelt’s campaign as Democratic chairman.

ROBIN’S REST DESTROYED IN RAMAPO FIRE — ROADSIDE RESTAURANT BURNS TO GROUND; LOSS PUT AT $5,000 — THREE FIRE COMPANIES OUT – FLAMES THREATEN EMGO STATION, ACROSS ROAD, BUT ARE KEPT IN CHECK
       A roadstand-restaurant known as the Robin’s Rest, located on Orange Turnpike, Ramapo, burned to the ground at about nine o’clock last night. The fire was discovered at 8:30, and an alarm telephoned to Suffern, Hillburn, and Sloatsburg for assistance. The loss is estimated at $5,000.
       The Suffern Hose Company and the departments of Hillburn and Sloatsburg answered promptly, but were unable to do anything since there are no water connections in Ramapo.
       The place recently changed hands and is now said to be operated by Miller and Nelson, addresses unknown. 
       It was feared for a time that embers from the burning restaurant might ignite the gasoline station across the turnpike. This did not occur, however, the structure burning completely without doing other damage.

July 5, 1972 – 50 YEARS AGO
Rockland Independent/Leader

SUFFERN SIDEWALK SALE
       Mother nature was kind [to] Suffern this weekend as she gave blue skies and warm weather as her donation to the village’s annual sidewalk sale.
       Bargains could be found in every store, although most sightseers and shoppers limited their perusals to Lafayette, from which the police had barred any kind of vehicles.
       Entertainment by the Funky Turtles, a combo of students from area schools, was the highlight of the Friday-Saturday sale. Listeners adorned with straw hats [and] armloads of bargains often crowded around the lively band.
       Suffern, which often boasts of being the crossroads of Rockland, kept good that boast for at least a weekend.

NYACK IS LOCATION FOR X-RATED FLICK
       A haphazard detective spent most of his day last Thursday tracking down a promiscuous housewife set loose in Nyack.
       The detective, clearly a misfit, could only catch the woman, one Kathryn Ford, eating a banana split in The Hero Hut, buying cosmetics in Shea’s Drug Store, and looking at dresses in Mod Boutique.
       What he didn’t see will probably be enough to get the movie Miss Ford was acting in at the time an X-rating. Merchants and shoppers in Nyack didn’t seem to mind that, however. They readily cooperated with the director and cameraman from Vincent Productions.
       Paul Giacobbe, locations advisor for Vincent Productions, recommended that main street, Nyack, and a few other places in Rockland be used for filming of the farce comedy called “Have You Seen Mrs. Lynn Jones.”
       “It is the kind of film that would involve a lot of characters and stand-ins, so a lot of merchants were used and were paid for it,” Giacobbe, himself a Nyack resident, explained.
       In the movie, the detective is trying to find out what a suburban housewife does. Unfortunately for the movie company within the movie that he is working for he catches Mrs. Jones, played by Kathryn Ford, only in very meek, ordinary activities.
       Other parts of the movie are less innocent. “Some of the scenes do suggest,” Giacobbe commented.
       “It’s a comedy,” he quickly added. “It’s not really done to show any dirty stuff.”
       Giacobbe found Rockland people willing to help out in any way they could as extras for the flick. “We had an audience of anywhere from 50 to 200 people everywhere we went to shoot it,” he explained.
       The movie is scheduled to be released in two months and will be shown in the eastern part of the country.
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This Week in Rockland (#FBF Flashback Friday) is prepared by Clare Sheridan on behalf of the Historical Society of Rockland County. To learn about the HSRC’s mission, upcoming events or programs, visit www.RocklandHistory.org or call (845) 634-9629.

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