125 Years Ago 1900
From The East Hampton Star, August 3
The first entertainment given by the East Hampton Cornet band, at Clinton Hall last Monday evening, made a popular hit.
The house was comfortably filled, and the musical portion of the program was particularly pleasing. Genuine pleasure was evinced by the audience while it listened to the wonderful violin playing by Peter Kurtz, of New York, a young man who is stopping at Bridgehampton, and is a pupil of the famous violinist David Mannes.
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The state law requiring the closing of barber shops on Sunday has already become a dead letter.
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The bathing season is now at high water mark. Every pleasant day at about twelve o’clock there may be seen over two hundred bathers in the surf. Among them are always many good swimmers who plunge through the high rolling waves and swim outside the breakers. The daring ones, however, are a little more careful since the incident which happened last week, when several women got beyond their depth. But it should be remembered that the ocean is not more dangerous this season than it ever is, but occasionally some bathers get too daring and then something happens.
100 Years Ago 1925
From The East Hampton Star, July 31
Each year the Fair of the Ladies’ Village Improvement Society seems to be a greater success than the year before. Mrs. George Ethridge is to be congratulated on the Fair of last Friday, which was a howling success, both financially and socially. Everyone was there — the East Hampton people and the summer colony — and everyone had a good time. The weather was perfect, the sky was a brilliant blue, the marvelous trees in the background a vivid green, and the artistic booths more lovely than ever. The net receipts will total over $6,000.
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Over 300 members and teachers of the Presbyterian Sunday school enjoyed the annual picnic at Maidstone Park Tuesday afternoon. The day was ideal; a light, steady breeze blowing from the west made the picnic grounds delightful.
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In the columns of the Star of August 8, 1924, there was recorded a meeting held at Peebarsett House, the residence of Mr. and Mrs. Edward E. Bartlett, to consider ways and means to secure tennis courts for Amagansett. On Saturday last one of the most notable events ever held in the village was the outcome of a meeting of a year ago. The new tennis courts were formally opened, with the first day’s play of an Invitation Tennis Tournament, for which about twenty entries were recorded.
75 Years Ago 1950
From The East Hampton Star, August 3
The first East Hampton man to become a casualty in the Korean war is Edward Selah Reney, 19, with the 19th Regiment, infantry. His father, Howell L. Reney of Three Mile Harbor Road, East Hampton, received a War Department telegram last weekend, stating that his son had been missing in action since July 16.
Edward Reney is listed in the Army’s official casualty list as private, first class, but his father told The Star that he had become a corporal recently in Japan, where he had served under General MacArthur for more than a year.
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The Suffolk Board of Supervisors decided Monday to pay all cash for Plum Island, thereby saving the county several thousands of dollars in interest charges, and indicated that it will start the development ball rolling at the former U.S. Army reservation by authorizing its Plum Island committee to draw up a lease with the promoters of an adult summer vacation camp.
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Thrills and chills are promised theatre-goers who visit the Guild Hall John Drew Theatre during the week of August 7, when Victor Jory will appear in a novelty mystery melodrama, “The Spider” by Fulton Oursler and Lowell Brentano.
Victor Jory is best known for his many film parts, and he is distinguished on the West Coast for his legitimate performances at Pasadena and at Los Angeles. He has been seen on Broadway in “The Two Mrs. Carrolls,” “The Perfect Marriage,” and “Therese,” among others.
50 Years Ago 1975
From The East Hampton Star, July 31
“A man came into the store the other day and said, ‘Dave, I’ve got a good slogan for you: “Sag Harbor, Don’t Miss the Boat.” ’ And I think it’s a good slogan.”
Others would quickly disagree with David Lee, an industrious advocate of the proposed Sag Harbor to New London ferry service, about that slogan. They’d just as well Sag Harbor deliberately missed the ferry boat and in so doing, they argue, preserve the Village’s relaxed, smalltown character.
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Karen J. Young, 23, of 74th Street in New York City and Central Avenue, Amagansett, got a tan Saturday. It may be costly.
She was arrested by East Hampton Town Police for allegedly sunbathing without a top on the beach south of Marine Boulevard in Beach Hampton, following complaints. The police demurely alleged, “the upper portion of her body [was] uncovered, and the pertinent appendages exposed.”
For that she was charged with “Exposure of a Female,” and released on $25 bail.
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At 7 a.m. on July 22, Steve Bock of East Hampton, his son, Steven, and Harold Topping were netting for porgies in the bay off Sag Harbor. Suddenly, there was a disturbance in the water and it was soon discovered that a dusky shark had wandered into the net and was trapped.
“It was the first time I ever caught a shark; I was very surprised,” said Mr. Bock.
Once the shark had been captured, they found that it weighed close to 200 pounds and was over seven and a half feet long.
25 Years Ago 2000
From The East Hampton Star, August 3
It’s August, and the dog days are here — but we’re not talking heat and humidity.
For some, these days are about the care and feeding, treats and beach runs, and transportation and sleepovers for pets with a place in the Hamptons.
More dogs — cats and birds, too — belong to more owners requiring more custom services than ever before, those in the growing pet-sitting business report.
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Retracing steps taken a week earlier by his Democratic opponent in New York’s race for the United States Senate, Representative Rick A. Lazio courted the East End’s Jewish vote on Saturday, highlighting what he called his unflagging support for peace in the Middle East.
Although Mr. Lazio was well received at the Jewish Center of the Hamptons in East Hampton, attracting about 170 people, Hillary Rodham Clinton drew a crowd of about 400 and standing ovations when she addressed the congregation there the previous weekend.
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The ranks of those who oppose what they call a “sportsplex” on 42 acres of prime farmland on East Hampton’s Long Lane are growing by leaps and bounds.
Organized under the name Save Our Farmland, a reincarnation of the East Hampton group that formed here in the late 1970s, the group’s members are mounting a vigorous public campaign to stop the town from turning the Schwenk family’s land into football, hockey, baseball, and soccer fields.
