A Rolling Stone

People today tend to look more and more to the internet and on-line sources for their entertainment.

Sixty years ago television burst on the scene and changed people's habits forever. In the early 1930s radio sets became common pieces of furniture and people gathered around them for news and entertainment. Just after World War I and through the 1920s motion pictures (including sound in 1927) drew the public's attention.

What did people do for entertainment in the early part of the twentieth century, before these innovations? They went to plays - legitimate theater, vaudeville, burlesque, and watched their favorite stars act, dance, sing, and display their range of talents.

One of the better known stars of this period was Fred Stone, an actor whose comedic talents as well as singing and dancing activities earned him national and international renown. Stone had the distinction to be the first actor to play The Tin Man in "The Wizard of Oz," which opened in 1902. He appeared in many well-known plays of that era, including "Tip Top," "Chin Chin" and "The Red Mill." Many of his plays ran for several hundred performances and he became one of America's most sought-after stage performers.

For Massapequans, Fred Stone's connection is the ranch he owned south of Merrick Road near the border between Nassau and Suffolk Counties. He and his wife Aileen, also a stage actress, and three daughters lived in Forest Hills.

In 1912 he bought a house on what is today Clocks Boulevard and purchased a parcel of property northwest of his house, where he built two cottages, a stable, a riding track and polo field. He appreciated the undeveloped character of the area as well as its proximity to Forest Hills and to Manhattan's theater district. He also wanted to have a place where friends could come and be entertained.

His friends included many well-known entertainers, who were happy to join him. At various times in the years before, during and after World War I, he played host to Wild Bill Hickok, Annie Oakley, Douglas Fairbanks, Leo Carillo, Tom Mix, Rex Beach, Irene and Vernon Castle and Will Rogers.The latter was so impressed by the area that he bought a house across the road from Stone's and was a frequent visitor to the area.

Stone had also made the acquaintance of England's Duke of Windsor when he performed in London, and the Duke visited him for polo and companionship on his several visits to the United States. The ranch that Stone built was formally opened in 1915 as Chin Chin Ranch, named after the play in which he was performing at the time.

Stone and his friends would often ride through the area. This was a time when cars were still scarce, so many other residents had horses also, and were often invited to use his track or his polo field. Annie Oakley would give sharpshooting exhibitions and Will Rogers would perform roping tricks at the ranch.

It was, in fact, while he was in the Massapequas that Rogers suffered an injury that made him a star. He was swimming in Narraskatuck Creek one day and dove off the dock behind Stone's house. It was low tide and Rogers landed on his head, paralyzing his right side (temporarily, it turned out). To compensate, he learned to twirl a rope with his left hand and came to rely more on his storytelling abilities than his rope tricks. His knack for a well-turned phrase and for engaging his audiences soon brought him significant fame and fortune.

As for Stone, he sold Chin Chin Ranch in 1925 and divided his time between his house in Forest Hills and a home he purchased in Hollywood, where he expanded his fame through several movie appearances.

Ironically, he was seriously injured in a stunt flying accident in 1929 and Will Rogers filled in for him in the play "Three Cheers." His legs were crushed, but he worked tirelessly until he could resume his stage career and continued to appear through the 1930s.

In another irony, his friend Rogers was killed in a plane crash in  Alaska in 1935 while attempting to fly around the world with noted aviator Wiley Post. By then, Oakley and Hickok were dead and Fred Stone's ranch was becoming a memory in the Massapequas. It is, however, one of those unique features of the area's early twentieth century that deserved to be preserved.

As the area that had been Chin Chin Ranch developed, the two cottages that Stone had built passed through several hands. They were bought by the Maier family in the mid 1920s and remained occupied while other homes were built on the surrounding property.

The Maiers sold the buildings in 1960 to Herbert Derrell, a New York City resident who wanted to use them as weekend retreats. Over time the two cabins deteriorated and Derrell sold them in the early 1980s to Anthony Lupo, a developer who intended to build houses on the property.

Several local residents saw value in maintaining the buildings (the smaller cottage had deteriorated beyond the point that it could be saved and worked through the Kiwanis Organization to move the larger cottage. Kiwanians disassembled the building, numbered the pieces and moved them to about one mile west, in 1987. The cottage was reassembled and remains in the southeast corner of the park, an obscure but nonetheless valuable link to the area's past.

Postscript on another Fred Stone Building 

Fred Stone had a long and fruitful career in live theater and in the movies, making several silent films in the early 20s and "talkies" after 1927. He remained active in live theater through the 1930s, although without the star power of his earlier years.

His influence was recognized by an entirely appropriate award he received in 1939. His friend and brother-in-law, author Rex Beach, a Rollins College alumnus, convinced him to travel to Florida in June of that year to visit his alma mater. While there, Stone was surprised by being awarded an honorary doctorate for his work as an actor, and by having a small theater dedicated in his name.

The College has expanded many times since then, but the Fred Stone Theater still exists as a site for experimental productions. It seems entirely fitting that two small buildings, one in Massapequa and the other in Winter Park, Florida honor an actor whose name was a household word in the first three decades of the twentieth century.