August 4th

Meet up, connect, make travel plans, and organize face-to-face get togethers in Fall River.

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Kat
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August 4th

Post by Kat »

So are any Forum members going to Fall River for the 4th?
What are your plans- and what's going to be going on at the House?
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Kat
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Post by Kat »

I guess no one is making plans?

Shell, what will you be doing on the 4th- playing Abbie?
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Shelley
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Post by Shelley »

Hi! It has been so nice weatherwise lately I think we're all at the beach or out in the garden :grin:

I'm at the moment writing the script for the 4th. It will be the usual suspects- Ed Thibault as Mr. Borden, Dee as Lizzie, a new Bridget this year (as Kathleen is on an archeological dig in Israel) so we have Samantha in the part, Lee and and Lollie doing the house tours, and I will get the easy part of Abbie-on-the-floor. Eleanor usually pops in impromptu as Mrs. Churchill and we may have our Billarica friends Joanne and Barbara as Mrs. Bowen and Alice if they are willing. If Ben can get away, he is our Mr. Cunningham. Right now there are costumes to hem, props to get ready and next week the hatchet cookie baking begins in earnest for visitors.
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Richard
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Post by Richard »

I'd like to be there for the 4th. I was thinking of coming up to Fall River before the end of the summer and around the 4th may be the perfect time so I can see the recreation.
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Lefty
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Post by Lefty »

I'm going to be in Fall River on the 4th!

Oh, wait..I live there..nevermind :wink:
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Post by bobarth »

RJR @ Mon Jul 16, 2007 8:20 pm wrote:I'm going to be in Fall River on the 4th!

Oh, wait..I live there..nevermind :wink:
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Post by kfactor »

Maybe I'll take a trip down on the 4th!
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Post by Shelley »

I hope you do come, it would be lovely to meet you and maybe show you the findings at Wheaton College, we we all owe to your research.
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Post by kfactor »

It's a plan! I am looking forward to meeting you, Shelley, and to an update on the Wheaton story.

'Till then :grin:
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Post by Shelley »

That's great news. The house is jumping on the 3rd and 4th of course, but after the 3 p.m. tour on the 4th, things quiet down until 8 p.m. I know we have a full house on the 4th, but I will check on the 3rd, and 5th. Will you be staying at the house or in the area?
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Post by Richard »

Shelley,
I was thinking of coming down on the 4-5 too. I'll stay at a motel on the 4th and try to book myself into Lizzie's on the 5th. If there is a vacancy...
A book shall be an axe for the frozen sea within us -- Franz Kafka
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Post by kfactor »

Shelley @ Fri Jul 20, 2007 10:05 am wrote:That's great news. The house is jumping on the 3rd and 4th of course, but after the 3 p.m. tour on the 4th, things quiet down until 8 p.m. I know we have a full house on the 4th, but I will check on the 3rd, and 5th. Will you be staying at the house or in the area?
I'm about 1.5 hours away from Fall River. However, I am tempted to stay over Aug. 3rd. I will make a decision and let you know for sure!
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Post by Shelley »

As of this morning when I left, 2 rooms were still available on the 3rd but I would not wait much longer,-hope you can make it.
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Post by kfactor »

I've got the Bridget Sullivan room for Aug. 3rd! I'll see you then. :smile:
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Post by Shelley »

Wonderful news! It is the quietest room in the house and one of my favorites. Looking forward to seeing you then- it will be a busy night with preparations for Saturday morning. You may get crammed into a dress and thrust into the role of Alice Russell! :lol:
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Post by Shelley »

The script is done and approved by LeeAnn for the 4th. This year we are doing something quite different. For a decade the usual action is a repeat of events from the morning of the 4th, with Mr. Borden, Abby, Bridget, and Lizzie, and some years an Uncle John (played by our cook, Dave Quigley) and a pop in by Mrs. Churchill.

This year we will feature an all-female cast for the first time in A House of Mourning-A House of Women. It is August 5th, visitors to the house (coming to pay their respects) will be ushered past the black-wreathed door into the parlor, where Bridget (who has been fetched by Uncle John) will explain the "goings on" from the day before". Mr. Winward will soon be arriving to start the preparation of the bodies, but visitors may murmur a prayer over the prone forms in the dining room. The house is in deepest mourning, the clock is stopped, the portraits draped in black.

Alice Russell is upstairs to show visitors the dreadful spot where Mrs. Borden met her death, and then, if Lizzie is up to receiving on her fainting sofa, she will exchange a few words with visitors. Mrs. Churchill and Emma are hovering solicitously nearby, preparing funeral refreshment in the kitchen. The police, mercifully are outside on the landing, leaving the bereaved family to their private grief.

I hope to see some of our local forum friends there on Saturday.
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Post by Angel »

Hell and damnation! I wish I could be there Friday night. It's my birfday.
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Post by Shelley »

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We will be thinking of you, even on the solemn occasion and wishing you a happy birthday!
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Post by Richard »

I'm still torn over whether to jump in a car on Friday and spend the weekend in Fall River and see the recreation, etc.

Any forum members want to hook up and hang out?
A book shall be an axe for the frozen sea within us -- Franz Kafka
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Post by kfactor »

Sounds fantastic!!! I am looking forward to being there in person. Nothing like a bit of macabre history for a weekend getaway!
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Post by Shelley »

There will be a nice feature story in Friday's Fall River Herald done by Debbie Allard about the Borden House plans for the 4th. I believe it can be read online on Friday evening.
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Post by Shelley »

Must have been a slow news day in Fall River, the Friday story ran this morning http://www.heraldnews.com/homepage/x809748864
The funny part is, the copy editor , who knows nothing about the case, plastered a photo of "Andrew Borden" in the hard copy edition which shows a younger man in a twentieth century suit. Len Rebello has had calls this morning from all over the country.... I also marvel at how many MISTAKES a reporter can make after an interview. Do they not take notes? Do they make stuff up when they can't read their own handwriting? Makes one wonder how much else they get wrong. Oh well. it is good PR for the house and we get a correction in tomorrow's papers.
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Post by Tina-Kate »

Isn't it incredible?

I noticed this lack of accuracy in a recent news item from my neck of the woods---I posted about this on another thread in "Stay to Tea"; "Gruesome but Interesting".

Originally on the news it said the mummified baby had been found by the owner of the house who was renovating. Later reports said it was found by a renovator who was hired by the owners. Some reports say the baby was found in the floor boards, others say in a wall. So who the heck knows the truth?

I think news reports have not improved much since 1892. Those early reports of the Borden murders are just as bad.
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Post by Kat »

Richard @ Wed Aug 01, 2007 9:27 am wrote:I'm still torn over whether to jump in a car on Friday and spend the weekend in Fall River and see the recreation, etc.

Any forum members want to hook up and hang out?

It doesn't sound like there's to be a *recreation.* See Shelley's earlier posting on this thread.

I don't think there ever really was a *recreation* tho, over the years- more like an adaptation? :?:
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Post by Shelley »

It 's sort of hard to get volunteers for Andrew and Abby to do a real "re-creation" :lol:

Mostly people seem to enjoy meeting the "family" and observing the dynamics, seeing the scenes of the crimes, some years they find the "bodies", and reliving in a small part the past.

The cast has expanded to include two regular August 4th guests, one a Cook Borden descendent who will play Emma, and her friend who will interprete "Mrs. Churchill" in all her observant and helpful nature. The most relaxing roles will go to the two stalwart actors who will be reposing beneath the cloths of Mr. Winward in the diningroom. Actually playing a corpse is not as easy as one might think. One may not breathe visibly, twitch, scratch the nose, sigh, blink, fidget, sneeze. hiccup, burp or move in the slightest. One also gets a nudge or little kick if on the floor, from enthusiastic observers, just to make sure the body is good and dead. It also gets pretty hot under the sheets and there is, the overwhelming desire to laugh.
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Post by Shelley »

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Post by Kat »

Thanks for the links!
Sounds like a great success!
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Post by Shelley »

I have posted many photos in a slide show and a film to the blog below. The house is still "in mourning" until after the 6th.
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Post by Harry »

Thank you, Shelley. I enjoyed both slide shows. You all look very Victorian!

Shooting The House of Death photos in black and white was the perfect touch.

I would have liked to have been there.
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Post by Susan »

Great slide show, Shelley! I loved the "silent movie" touch, it really felt so right. I loved all the black crape draping everything and your gorgeous black dress! And that is quite a story with that man who showed up unexpected in period garb to pay his respects to the newly orphaned Miss Lizzie, that is wicked cool!!! You played Lizzie this year, correct? Who played Emma?
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Post by Shelley »

Emma was played by Barbara Morrissey of Billerica. She is a Fall River native and a relation of Cook Borden- and loads of fun! I have listed the cast on the blog below. Yes, I came out of retirement to do Lizzie one more time- but this has got to be the last- pulling off 32 at 55 is well--- quite a trick- funny thing is, nobody seems to care! :lol: I usually tell visitors my ordeal has added YEARS to my face and pounds to my figure!

Thanks Harry- I wish you had been there too-we could use a Dr. Bowen! A lady also came dressed to the nines in deep mourning -big hat and long jet beads, looking suitably mournful. But oh my heart belongs to that gorgeous Mr. Hathaway! I am hoping someone got his photo. The young people seemed to enjoy hearing about the various mourning customs - a topic so dear to my heart. Yes, we had MILES of black crepe. Now I am all set for Halloween! The flickering candle bulbs were a last-minute touch and with the drapes drawn and just those on, it felt like 1892!! Many of us just sat gaping in the parlor, enjoying the effects.
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Post by Susan »

I wouldn't give it a second thought if I were you, Shelley, you look fabulous as Lizzie! And I'm quite sure that not many can hold a candle to what you bring; the knowledge and heart and touch of New England that you can to our Miss Lizzie. Oy, if only I lived closer, I would have been there in a heartbeat, and dressed if I could have pulled something together with a big old mourning veil. Oooo, I could have been Abby's old employee, the maid that allegedly knelt at Abby's gravesite at the funeral and was turned away, sobbing. Ah, which author was that in again, I can't recall off the top of my head? Is Barbara Morrissey the lady all the way to the right of the photo with all of you in the sitting room? Sorry, so many questions, I am just trying to visualize the whole scene and am trying to picture Emma to your Lizzie.
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Post by Shelley »

Yes Barbara is on the sofa arm- all the way to the right in the group shot.

Well, bless your heart- my daughters said today- "Ma- you are looking SCARY now it's time to reprise Abby". Actually in this photo, a man standing in the doorway had proposed to "Lizzie" now that she was an heiress and wondered if divorce was the answer as he was unfortunately married- I replied "I may have a quicker way." and was unconsciously illustrating my 'technique' with the fan. The man in front of me was apparently greatly amused. He was great fun and a good sport and played along, even down to picking out the brooch for my mourning dress for the funeral. Yes, people seem to love this story and love Lizzie-no matter who plays her, they want to chat her up. It's strange, isn't it? Yes, there is room for everybody and next year the cast will be larger still- and with a few surprises. It is my dream to have a person for nearly every single role.
The Herald also ran a poll on whodunnit- Lizzie was leading by a mile!
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