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This Week in Rockland: Newspaper Excerpts: Flashback Friday: Week of September 2

August 31, 1872 – 150 YEARS AGO
Rockland County Journal

A NEW FEATURE
       Our friend, Isaac I. Cole, has rented one of the new stores in Onderdonk’s brick block for the purpose of engaging in the Wholesale and Retail Produce Commission business. His object is to sell at a very light commission all produce of the farm, such as apples, potatoes, butter, cheese, eggs, &c., and thus save to both the farmer and consumer the freight and cartage on all articles that go through the New York Market. The idea is an excellent one, and we hope our merchants will find it to their advantage to patronize Mr. Cole

SPARKILL INSTITUTE
       It is with pleasure we learned that Mr. F. W. Bauer, of Sparkill, is meeting with success in his efforts to establish a first-class school in the lower part of our county. The school will commence on the 9th of September, and we call the attention of parents and guardians in the vicinity to his advertisement in our columns this week.

BOAT RACE
[Image: S. S. “Mary Powell,” Hudson River, N.Y., Color Postcard. Courtesy of the Friends of Historic Kingston, via NYHeritage.]
       On the 19th of September, the quietude of our village will be disturbed by an event of rare occurrence in this immediate vicinity. On that day, the celebrated oarsmen, Ellis Ward, of Newburgh, and John Biglin, of New York, will pull a match race from the steamboat dock to a stakeout anchored two and a half miles up the river, and back, for a purse of $500. The above oarsmen are considered the best, perhaps, in the United States, and the trial of skill and endurance on the above occasion will, doubtless, draw crowds to witness the sport. The Mary Powell will land passengers for the race, on the ferry-boat, and it is expected that a large number of people will present to witness the contest. The reason why Nyack was selected is that Ward would not go to New York and Biglin would not go to Newburgh, so the matter was compromised by a meeting halfway between the above places.

August 31, 1932 – 90 YEARS AGO
Rockland County Journal News

HUSBAND THREATENED TO BLOW UP HOME, WIFE SAYS
       After a search of many hours, Frank Garabrant, 56, of Valley Cottage was arrested at 3:30 this morning and lodged in the county jail to await a hearing tonight on disorderly conduct charges. His wife charges that he threatened yesterday to blow up their home and kill the entire family with dynamite. He was said to be under the influence of liquor.
       Arraigned before Judge William B. Hamblin, after being caught by Troopers Cummins and Gale, Garabrant could not furnish $250 bail and was sent to jail until his hearing.

VAMPS CALL TO FIGHT WAGNER PIE TRUCK BLAZE
       A chief’s call was issued in Spring Valley at 10:30 today, when a Mrs. Wagner pie truck caught fire while parked near the west of Grove street. The driver had left the truck to make a delivery when the front end of the machine was seen to burst into flame, evidently from a short circuit in the wiring.
       Excitement was great, but the damage was small. The wiring was destroyed before firemen extinguished the fire with chemicals, and several other repairs also had to be made before the driver could proceed on his route. The Spring Valley Hook and Ladder Company and the Columbian engine responded to the alarm.

August 31, 1972 – 50 YEARS AGO
Journal News

SILVER SCREEN BRIGHTENS NYACK
       “I can’t believe that Nyack has a movie again,” said Mrs. Joseph Lanzana of Voorhis Avenue, South Nyack.
       But the Nyack Cinema, the 710-seat theater that opened Wednesday in Nyack’s urban renewal area, was real enough and beautiful enough to satisfy any cinema fan.
       Mrs. Lanzana and her husband were among the several hundred who attended the “unofficial” opening of the village’s first movie house since the Rockland Theater closed.
       Charles Santora, the manager who shut down that house, recalled it had happened nine years ago. Santora was present Wednesday to wish luck to Ben Cohn, manager of the new theater.
       John Green, custodian at the old Rockland, was also among those in the long line who waited for the box office to open.
       Mr. and Mrs. John Packer of Nyack, the first in line, were pleased that they wouldn’t have “to run way over to Pearl River or to the Nanuet Mall” when they want to go to the movies.
       Miss Cecelia Logiodice of Nyack said it was about time Nyack had a movie theater. Alex Bleier, former president of the Nyack Chamber of Commerce, called it “great,” as did Wayne Bomer, 15, of Nyack, and Pierre Jean-Jacques, 18, of Central Nyack, who were among the many young people present.
       William Eli Kohn, urban renewal sponsor who built the commercial building in which the theater is located, was there too. So were Mrs. Patricia Rauch, urban renewal executive director; William Hope of the Nyack Urban Renewal Agency; and County Legislator Hezekiah Easter, a former Nyack trustee and a former agency member.
       Mayor Alex Caglione spoke for them and for all Nyack officials and former officials present when he called the theater “a beautiful place. Nyack can be proud of it. When Nyack does things, it does them right.” He said the theater was “the beginning of many beautiful things for Nyack.”
       Kohn noted the theater’s “official” opening, with all the attendant flourishes, and the show for the benefit of Nyack Hospital would take place within a month or six weeks.
       Moviegoers found Caglione’s description justified. The walls of the red-carpeted circular lobby are covered with gold vinyl, and the benches along the walls are cushioned in blue velvet. Lights in the lobby simulate old-fashioned gas lights.
       In the theater itself, black lighting paints an abstract design by giving a luminous glow to the seams of the brick walls. The stage curtain resembles “an Austrian shirred shade of abstract design in red, gold and white.” The description was given by Miss Jane Zadorozny of Yonkers, one of those at the opening.
       The seats are red, and the aisles of the sloping floor are carpeted in red. The rows of pushback seats have been staggered so that everyone gets a clear view of the screen.
       Nyack Cinema is a Brandt theater. Admission for adults is $2 and for children 75 cents. The theater will be open evenings and there will be matinees on Saturdays, Sundays and holidays.
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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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