Big E 100th Anniversary - West Springfield, Massachusetts

The Eastern States Exposition, or Big E in West Springfield, Massachusetts, New England's Great State Fair is celebrating its 100th anniversary this year.  Above is just one blast from the past exhibit, but there's more.

And also on hand are a few of the usual suspects:

There's still another week to go! For more info, have a look at this website.

My Books at the Library - Springfield, Massachusetts

Recently, a kind person made a comment on a Facebook post that she had requested her library to purchase a copy of my book on the career of actress Ann Blyth - - Ann Blyth: Actress. Singer. Star.  I am very grateful to her.

While many authors get a thrill from seeing their books on bookstore shelves, most bookstores around the country will not carry the books of self-published authors.  Sometimes those in the minority that do will require a fee from the author above their cut of the sale just for giving the book shelf space. 

But libraries, that most egalitarian bastion of learning in our society, do give self-published authors a place at the table.  It is an even bigger kick for some of us to have our book on the shelf of a public library among older, established, even worn books, knowing they are joining the ranks of a literary heritage to which we aspire -- than to have them placed in competition with current best sellers.  A competition most of us self-published authors lose.

These photos are books of mine to be found at the Springfield (Massachusetts) City Library.  The Ann Blyth book is in the biographies section.

Here among New England history is my book, States of Mind: New England, and The Ames Manufacturing Company of Chicopee, Massachusetts.

Here in the fiction section is my novel, Meet Me in Nuthatch.

It's a kick to have three of them in a row.

I love libraries.  It's humbling when they seem to love you back.

My deepest thanks to the Springfield City Library, and to any public libraries that carry my books. 

For libraries interested in obtaining my books in paperback, please contact the printer, Create Space for a selection of my self-published books. They sell to the general public, but also offer a special rate for libraries and resellers.

Here's a list.

Also available in paperback at Amazon.

It's a big book.  It sticks out.

FREE EBOOK - SPEAK OUT BEFORE YOU DIE

SPEAK OUT BEFORE YOU DIE - 2nd book in my "cozy mystery-noir-romance" series is currently FREE for the eBook, today and tomorrow, August 31st. Take at look over at Amazon and download your FREE copy.

The series is set in New England in the post-World War II era, a world in flux, where our centuries-old cities were being sliced through with super-highways, where city dwellers were moving to a place that used to be farmland and now was called suburbia.  Even in a place as old as New England, there was newness -- and it was sometimes very strange, especially for a guy like Elmer Vartanian, who had spent seven years in prison. 

The second in the “Double V Mysteries” series reunites wealthy Juliet Van Allen and ex-con Elmer Vartanian on New Year’s Eve, 1949. Guests are gathered in a snowbound Hartford, Connecticut, mansion for the wedding of Juliet’s widowed father to an elegant younger woman just after the clock strikes midnight. When Juliet finds what appears to be a threatening note directed at her father, she calls Elmer to pose as a hired servant to help ferret out the danger…but midnight is approaching and time is running out. There may be murder as the old year dies.

Race Rock Light

Photo by J.T. Lynch

Race Rock Light is on dangerous reef southwest of Fishers Island, south of the Connecticut coast. New England has its share of dangerous waters, and our many lighthouses dotting the coast give testament to this area being one of the so-called “graveyards” of the Atlantic for the number of shipwrecks over the years.  In just one year alone, 1837, eight ships were lost on Race Rock reef, where the tide forces the current with great power.

Photo by J.T. Lynch

Some believe Race Rock Light to be haunted, which perhaps presents another kind of danger, but that’s another story.

Photo by J.T. Lynch

It was built in the 1870s, and just the rock ledge which forms its foundation took seven years to construct. The Fresnel lens was automated in 1978.  It is currently maintained by the New London Maritime Society.

Photo by J.T. Lynch

Have a look at this website for more information and some fascinating lore about the Race Rock Light.

Photo by J.T. Lynch

Eugene O'Neill Statue - New London, Connecticut

JT Lynch Photo

The boy sits on the gray boulder by the City Pier, looking out into the harbor. A poignant figure immortalized as a statue, he will forever be a child on this spot.

He is Eugene O’Neill, and the spot is New London, Connecticut. One of America’s finest playwrights, and a Nobel laureate in literature, O’Neill spent his summers here until 1915.  His father, actor James O’Neill, took a house on Pequot Avenue, and called it Monte Cristo Cottage, a few years before Eugene was born in the late 1880s. 

JT Lynch Photo

The figure wears the lace-up boots, the diminutive cap of a child of the late nineteenth century. He is alone, a boy with much on his mind, who perhaps needs the solitude.

Much has been written of Eugene O’Neill’s troubled family—he wrote much of that himself—and there is a seriousness in the expression of the statue that indicates perhaps burdens too heavy for a child to carry, that the man will continue to shoulder the rest of his life.

JT Lynch Photo

It is believed that O’Neill wrote two of his plays here in New London, the rare comedy, Ah, Wilderness!, and the dark tragedy based on his own family, Long Day’s Journey Into Night. Not only did he write them here, but New London is the setting for those stories.

JT Lynch Photo

What is he writing on the pad of paper in his lap?  Is he drawing the boats on the harbor, or as he looks beyond the mouth of the Thames River, does he seem some less bleak future out towards Long Island Sound?

Is he taking notes on his own future?  He is not at play.

JT Lynch Photo

The statue was unveiled in 1988, some 35 years after O’Neill’s death (Monte Cristo Cottage was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1971).  The sculptor is Norman Legassie. The image is based on a photograph of young Eugene by Nikolas Mury.

Nikolas Mury Photo

The bronze has tarnished to green, but the compelling, enigmatic expression remains.

JT Lynch Photo

Theatre on Mt. Tom, Holyoke, Mass. - Calling for Interviews

 

Comedy and Tragedy on the Mountain:

70 years of Summer Theatre on Mt. Tom, Holyoke, Massachusetts

By Jacqueline T. Lynch

1895-1930s: Vaudeville and operetta

1930s WPA Theatre
The Pioneer Valley Drama Festival - 1940
The Valley Players – 1941 – 1962
Casino-in-the-Park 1963
Mt. Tom Playhouse – 1964-1965

I'm currently writing a book on theatre on Mt. Tom - from the late 1800s to 1965.  I'd to interview anyone with connections to The Valley Players, or the Mt. Tom Playhouse -  actors, staff, ushers, or members of the audience with any memories they’d like to share.  I hope to have the book out by the end of the year.

Contact:

Jacqueline T. Lynch at JacquelineTLynch@gmail.com...or write to:

PO Box 1394

Chicopee, MA 01021.

I’d be happy to interview you in person (in the western Massachusetts, northern Connecticut area) , or over the phone, at your convenience.    You can also just drop me a note with anything you have to say, if you’d rather not be interviewed, but please include your name.

Thank you.

Cape Playhouse Celebrates 90th Season - Dennis, Massachusetts

The Cape Playhouse in Dennis, Massachusetts is celebrating its 90th season this year.

Founded in 1927, it was the workplace, and for many, a training ground, for so many famous stage and screen actors. 

Have a look at this previous post on my Tragedy and Comedy in New England blog on Ruth Gordon's impressions of performing at the Cape Playhouse in the 1930s.

Here is the remainder of the 2016 season:

THE MUSIC MAN

Book, Music & Lyrics by Meredith Wilson

July 5-23, 2016

THE MAY QUEEN

by Molly Smith Metzler

July 26-August 6, 2016

CABARET

Music by John Kander, Lyrics by Fred Ebb

August 9-20, 2016

THE MOUSETRAP

by Agatha Christie

August 23-September 3, 2016

Congratulations to this historic playhouse, with a fond wish for many more seasons to come. See their website for more info.