Maplewood Trivia archived

Buzzsaw - Maybe Robert Sheckley?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Sheckley

Hmmmmmm.
I'm not sure.
Maybe.

My basement has a bunch of WW2 and 1950's maps allover the ceiling.
I am told the maps are from the first owners. (I purchased it from 2nd owners - not affiliated w/ the sci fi dude)
Wiki says he was in the Army....

Thing is - it says he was raised in Maplewood in the 30's. My property was farm land at that time - so no dice.....

Not sure if I can wait until the next block party for this info now.
I'm on a mission.


CAPTAIN VIDEO.....and the video rangers
if my house had anything to do w/ Ed Norton's favorite show....then I am blessed.

Posted By: jasper1664I have heard (also on the internet) that ultimate frisbee started in Maplewood.



There is a rock with a plaque attesting to this in the Columbia H.S. parking lot on W. Parker (across the creek from the Y). I believe the Holywood producer Joel Silver was part of the inventing group. You still see Ultimate pickup games there on Sundays.

1. I was at Columbia when Ultimate was invented. It's true.
2.When I was growing up, the Hilton Branch (not sure if main branch was the same) did not carry any Nancy Drew books. They were not considered "quality" reading. My friend Barbara and I had our own lending library with our extensive colledtion.

Glover, even though the author of the Nancy Drew series was a Maplewoodian? Sounds kind of tough on a hometowner.

I was around 1962 ish. Same library reported to my mother when I tried to take out Portnoy's Complaint in 1966 or 67 when I was in 7th grade. Adult reading, I guess. my mother had no problem with me reading it.

Carolyn Keene was actuall the psuedonym for Helen Stratmeyer's father. She took over writing when he died. He also wrote the Bobsey twin books.
I used to ride the carousel at Olympic Park all the time. Knew the original went to Disneyworld.

The house that the first Nancy Drew book, The Secret for the Old Clock is at the corner of Prospect and Oakland Road. cecilia

Cool, I didn't know that.

Wikipedia gives a pretty extensive list of all the noted people who have lived in Maplewood.

I was going to write an article about the Olympic Park Carousel but didn't end up with enough interesting information so ... it ends up here as an MOL post.

The carousel was originally named "Liberty". It was built by Philadelphia Tobaggan Company as #46 in 1917 for Palace Gardens in Detroit. In 1927 Olympic Park bought it and sent it back to Philadelphia Tobaggan to get rebuilt slightly. It moved to Disney World sometime between 1965 and 1971. It used to be the largest in the world, but perhaps no longer.

Almost the entire Disney carousel came from Olympic Park, aka the whole damn thing not just one horse. The biggest change was the conversion of some of the outers ring's fixed horses into leapers (up and down...) There are a few fiberglass horses because they took out the sleighs... but the sleighs are back so maybe the fake horses are gone. If you look at it very closely you will notice a few amusing things... Since it was originally called "Liberty" it had an American theme so it took an interesting paint job to make it Cinderella. I remember distinctly one horse had a blond woman painted on it with long braided hair... but a huge schnoz. It was because it was supposed to be an Indian male (with a braid...) and not Cinderella herself. Another horse has a dead sheep strapped to the back of it. Disney painted it gold perhaps to hide it.

All the horses were painted white after it moved to Disney. A good picture of one of the horses before they were all painted white is on the cover of "A Pictorial History of the Carousel" Link to picture: http://shop.strato.com/epages/62050110.sf/en_GB/?ObjectPath=/Shops/62050110/Products/B101&ViewAction=ViewProductDetailImage Don't bother finding that book, it has very little information about the carousel in it other than the cover.

If you want to see that horse today... its at 0:10 in this video : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RRyfNDw0TwI It might even be the one I'm remembering as a blond Injun but no longer blond.

To see the whole thing, here is a video from 1971 of Julie Andrews singing with the carousel:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N7llivn4LHA (carousel starts around 3:10)

Who needs diphenhydramine when youtube has videos of other people's kids at Disney...




-John

I've never been to DisneyWorld, but I remember the carousel from its days here. It's too bad Disney felt it had to change the theme. You would have thought Walt himself would think "Liberty" a great theme.

Didn't Olympic Park end at Stuyvesant? I thought it was in Irvington, bordering the Maplewood line? Hazy memories here however.

Olympic Park's eastern side was 40th st. which, because of the weird right-angle turns that Stuyvesant takes, you can be forgiven for thinking is Stuyvesant. Any reasonably accurate map with town lines will show you that Olympic Park was half in Mplwd. and half in Irvngtn. I forget the name of the author of a recent book on O.P., but it shouldn't be too hard to find, maybe even on MOL.

The Stratemeyer Syndicate was also responsible for the Hardy Boys series and dozens of lesser-remembered series (Tom Swift?). As far as Nancy Drew, there have been many reprint editions over the years that supposedly dumbed down the stories in various ways, as well as series continuations in a more modern vein, so people need to be aware of which edition they might run across. And even early on, Mildred Wirt Benson(sp?) the main ghost-writer for the Drew series complained that Mrs. Adams had insisted on making Nancy more conventially feminine than Benson had written her. And Benson sued Adams for claiming to have written the books. Even though the various authors were, I think, contractually prohibited from taking credit under their real names, Benson won the suit. The whole controversy is actually ongoing among partisans of the two women.

My daughter in law wrote several Nancy Drew books for the Stratemeyer syndicate. She was another Carolyn Keene.

Here is a link to a feature I wrote several years ago for NJ Monthly on the history of Ultimate Frisbee and Maplewood. Please note that I am not responsible for the misspelling in the title.

http://njmonthly.com/articles/lifestyle/sports/games-disk-jockeys.html

I meant "conventional," obviously.

For those that don't follow Alison's link, Ultimate Frisbee was invented at CHS by Joel Silver, who went on to produce films like Lethal Weapon and The Matrix. Silver was portrayed by Steve Martin in the film Grand Canyon (he is the producer of ultraviolent films who is permanently disabled when he is himself shot).

I did a report on Ultimate Frisbee as a student at Columbia High in the early 80's. It was invented at CHS in 1968.

Posted By: riverside68Wikipedia gives a pretty extensive list of all the noted people who have lived in Maplewood.

but it doesn't list me.

Posted By: Tom Reingold

Posted By: riverside68Wikipedia gives a pretty extensive list of all the noted people who have lived in Maplewood.

but it doesn't list me.

You're still a newbie, Tom ... but I think that you may find yourself there when all is said and done!

First, I would have to become noteworthy.

Posted By: Tom Reingold

Posted By: riverside68Wikipedia gives a pretty extensive list of all the noted people who have lived in Maplewood.

but it doesn't list me.

Its Wikipedia. You can add yourself.

Other bits of trivia might be of interest:


In 1796, Maplewood's most famous son, Asher B. Durand, was born.

In 1798, The name Jefferson Village was given to an area centering not far from the foot of Oakland Road, a part of the town of Springfield.

In 1806, Orange, created out of a part of Newark, includes northern part of present day Maplewood.

In 1831, Lewis Pierson starts building his mill in the Vaux Hall area.

In 1841, the first store in Jefferson Village - Clinton Valley Store and Shoe Manufacturing - on the corner of present day Valley Street and Park Road.

In 1855, Famous inventor Seth Boyden retires to a house in Hilton given to him by Newark manufacturers he had so much benefited. He cultivates a large strawberry which bring prosperity to Hilton area farms.

1860, the first railway station, call Maplewood station, is built on Baker St.

In 1867, Columbia becomes a grade school.

In 1888, CHS graduates its first student.

To to clarify on that 1867 date... Columbia School was founded in 1814, became Columbia High School in 1885, and the 1888 date is correct for the first graduate of the high school grades. Was 1867 when the the ungraded school (all kids in one room all ages) became a graded school?

Posted By: Tom ReingoldFirst, I would have to become noteworthy.

You don't think you are??? I do.

I was encouraged to post a follow up on the "Cinderella" carousel at Disney, formerly of Olympic Park, and its not-very-cinderella parts.

First, one horse has a buffalo with what appears to be large buffalo penis... but maybe its a buffalo teet? I don't recall any buffalos in Cinderella, with dinks or teets...

http://www.flickr.com/photos/disneytara/2021975051/

Lady liberty done up like a prostitute:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/fodw/532283607/

Here is the red white and blue with a gold eagle on a horse... very Cinderella

http://www.flickr.com/photos/karonf/2549244181/

Ignore the goomba, this horse appears to be sporting an indian's head (dead?) with a scary looking club, and an indian headdress. I slept through the part where Cinderella battled the indians

http://www.flickr.com/photos/saffyrre/219713847/sizes/o/

Here Mary Poppins mixes her metephores with lady liberty... the liberty torch is right off a mercury nickel. I also like the chain and the mace. (Note eagles in background)

http://www.flickr.com/photos/43153185@N00/2896963411/

More indians

http://www.flickr.com/photos/10511900@N00/384790897/sizes/l/

This is the indian I remember done up like a woman. Apparently its an indian again

http://www.flickr.com/photos/polkafish/3422758504/in/photostream/

Random Eagle...

http://www.flickr.com/photos/79547402@N00/3060527288/in/photostream/

:swingin:Oylmpic park . COOL
Hey Glover :swingin:

Posted By: nanI'm easily fooled by the romance of 60's radicalism.

romance?!