At The Jonathan Channel, we are reflecting on summer’s past. Summers going all the way back to the early 1900s. As we shared earlier this week, the trend of sending boys to overnight camp was very popular for Jewish Manhattan families, including Larry Hart's and Richard Rodgers's. Both families sent their sons, at different times, to Camp Weingart and Camp Wigwam. The duo shared one more camp in common, Camp Paradox.
Camp Paradox, located on the shores of Lake Paradox in the Adirondacks, was established in the early 1910s. The camp lay alongside the state forest reserves and had spectacular views of the many lakes and streams in the surrounding area. Like Wigwam, and unlike Weingart, Richard Rodgers would have called Paradox a “real boys camp.” Paradox housed the boys in twenty tent-bunk houses along the hillside that looked down towards the lake. State of the art washrooms with flushing toilets were separate from the bunks. There was also a double story mess hall, laundry facility, a club house, as well as fields and courts with ample equipment for athletic activities.
In a brochure from 1918, camp life is described as follows: “The element which vitalizes the incidents of summer in Paradox, is the wholesome and hearty enthusiasm and loyalty which are felt by each and every camper. This reflection of college spirit is the moving cause of Camp songs, Camp cheers, and of meetings and rallies on every occasion.” Dramatics and music played a large role in camp identity. The camp club house included an auditorium and even had dressing rooms for campers to prepare for performances. Each Sunday evening would include dramatic programming. Many talented campers wrote and performed in Sunday-night programs and other campers participated by reviewing the shows in the camp paper, The Pardoxian.
In 1910 Larry Hart arrived at the newly established Paradox with an extremely heavy trunk. Larry did not fill the trunk with clothes and sporting equipment like the other boys. Instead his luggage was filled with the complete works of William Shakespeare and whatever additional books he could fit. With just the clothes on his back, Hart was quickly adorned with the nickname “Shakespeare.” That same summer, Larry met Herbert Fields, the son of the vaudevillian Lew Fields and older brother of future lyricist Dorothy Fields. Herbert was two years his junior, but the two became fast friends and bonded over their love of reading and theatrics. Together they became enthusiastic performers and writers of weekly Sunday shows.
In his last summer at camp, Larry wrote a song called “Tale of the Lone(some) Pine.” In it, he cleverly rhymes snoozing with schmoozing and throws in names of fellow campers – an audience pleasing practice that continued throughout his career.
‘Twas a balmy summer evening
When King Sarnoff blew his Taps:
“LIGHTS OUT!” (Jablow eats salami
While the little Kinberg naps.)
Rusty Robbins in his snoozing
Tells you what he dreams in schmoozing,
While the hillside all is quiet,
Unsuspicious little chaps.
Richard Rodgers was hired to work at Camp Paradox in the summer of 1920, already acquainted with its former camper Larry Hart. Rodgers was hired primarily to compose songs for the Sunday-night shows. Herb Fields had by now graduated from camper to counselor and supplied lyrics for Rodgers’s work. They wrote many numbers including “We Want You to Feel at Home,” “My Tent in Paradox,” “The Melting Pot,” and “Paradox Victory Song.”
They wrote songs about camp events including a song memorializing a swimming feat of a camper named Ovid Rose:
“O” stands for Ovid, who swam to the raft.
“V” stands for “Vhy did he svim to the raft?”
“I” stands for I who seen him swim to the raft.
“D” stands for “Did you see him swim to the raft?”
“R” Stands for the raft out to which Ovid swam.
“O” stands for Ovid, who swam to the raft.
“S” stands for swimming to the raft.
“E” stands for excellency in swimming to the raft.
Camp provided an outlet for these creative minds. They were unafraid to be creative, smart and goofy when writing these songs, performing in camp shows, and editing the camp newspapers. This experience likely gave these future songwriters the confidence they needed to share their talents throughout life. Their stories did not end at Paradox, but continued throughout their summers and into the "real" world. Keep following their stories and other's next week on The Jonathan Channel!
