Hidden History of Vermont by Mark Bushnell

Author:Mark Bushnell [Bushnell, Mark]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: History, United States, State & Local, New England (CT; MA; ME; NH; RI; VT), Photography, Subjects & Themes, Regional, Travel, Pictorials
ISBN: 9781625859006
Google: gq84DwAAQBAJ
Publisher: Arcadia Publishing
Published: 2017-01-15T00:43:00+00:00

Literary critic Alexander Woollcott, seen posing with actress Gina Malo in his home on Neshobe Island, drew numerous celebrities to Vermont. New York Public Library.

The Algonquin crowd was a competitive lot, always trying to one-up each other’s latest quip. They brought that competitiveness with them to Neshobe. It showed up particularly in their cutthroat games of croquet, in which players took particular glee in knocking their opponents’ balls into the lake.

Harpo wrote in his autobiography about a particularly hard-fought game with Woollcott. At one point, Harpo wanted to smash his ball into Woollcott’s, but a maple tree stood in the way. Undeterred, Harpo took an old tire that had been used as a boat bumper, sawed it in half and laid half of it around the tree. Harpo then slammed his ball into the tire, around the tree and into Woollcott’s. Woollcott reacted by slamming his mallet into the ground and storming off into his house.

The other regular game was called “Murder,” which was played during cocktails. It began with players drawing lots to see who would be the murderer and who would be the district attorney. While the district attorney announced himself or herself, the murderer’s identity remained a secret. During cocktails, the murderer would wait for the moment to strike, then discreetly say to his or her victim “You are dead.” The victim would then stand motionless until others noticed. The district attorney would question the other partygoers to reveal the murderer.

One night, when Woollcott was the district attorney, no murder victim had turned up by the time dinner was ready. Someone noticed that one of the guests, author Alice Duer Miller, was missing. Woollcott refused to allow dinner to be served before the case was cracked. Club members and guests scoured the house and turned up nothing. Finally, at 11:00 p.m., a club member spied Miller through the keyhole of the back bathroom. Hours earlier, Miller had gone in to use the bathroom and found the words “YOU ARE DED,” complete with misspelling, written in red lipstick on the toilet paper. Miller had gamely played her part and remained in the bathroom. Woollcott instantly knew whose work this was. Without asking any questions, he wheeled on Harpo and declared him the murderer, then berated him for breaking the rules by not speaking the words to his victim.

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