Looking Back With Lee
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YOU CAN’T GO HOME AGAIN!
By Lee Canalizo
It was Thomas Wolf who said, “you can’t go home again!” I don’t agree with him. Last weekend I DID go home again. It was the spring weekend of the Long Island Shows. The Ladies Kennel Assn. on Friday and Saturday and the Long Island Kennel Club on Sunday.
These clubs and shows were a very big part of my coming of age in the dog world… they were in my area and held on the loveliest estates on the North Shore of Long Island, for the most part. Earlier on I did not belong to either of the above-mentioned clubs as their membership was comprised of the most elite dog folks, and in the case of Ladies, most of the prominent lady dog fanciers in the Long Island area. It was well above my social status in the dog world and otherwise!
Over the passage of time the Ladies shows were held at the historic Planting Fields Arboretum having previously been on the vast fields of Hofstra University where the dog shows shared Graduation Weekend (often a crazy mixture to say the least). The Long Island event was held just a few miles away on the beautiful albeit uneven grounds of the Long Island Museum. The show always had massive crowds of the public in attendance. Springtime in New York can deliver a broad range of weather. Over the years they had some with brutal heat. I vividly remember our dear Patricia Spears, one of the “Ladies”, soundly smashing any car window not opened sufficiently and putting a dog in jeopardy. There were rainouts, and a few times the show was called off due to lighting and wind strong enough to take two sets of 300 foot tents down! Let the record show that the sun gods were known to smile down on the Sunday show with only an occasional mud event due to the previous days deluge.
It was during this time things started to change a bit. Many of the newer breeders/exhibitor/enthusiasts of the day started to infiltrate the ranks of this hallowed kennel club. The same thing was taking place in many kennel clubs around the country. There was a changing of the guard. In fact, many of today’s “seniors” were just getting a foot in the door with their respective kennel clubs back then.
Some of the prominent names of the early days on Long Island were legendary for things other than their dogs. There were industrialists like the Graces, Posts, Vanderbilts and Phipps, just to name a few. Long Island had a powerful presence in the dog world at this time. There were five other clubs within 50 miles of each other. Almost all of them have now been around for nearly a century or more. The clubs I refer to are Westbury Kennel Association, Suffolk County Kennel Club, Brookhaven Kennel Club and Queensboro Kennel Club, with the Bronx County Kennel Club just a wee bit north. Most popular and well-attended of these clubs in the early days was the wonderful Westbury Kennel Association. This was one of the most distinguished venues, held outdoors and benched, with a great panel of judges to adjudicate during the first days of the autumn. At its height, this event had over 3,000 dogs trotting around on the childhood playground of none other than Mrs. Ellen Charles’ family estate which is now home to New York Post University. Westbury had strong leadership with Ramona Van Court and Bea Godsol at the helm for many years. Their touch of elegance was most unique. Each ring had a wooden platform to stack the dog for examination; yards of garland made of vine wrapped every tent rope, with flags or banners at the ring corners. It’s nice that some of those touches are still evident at today’s events. I remember one year the Brookhaven show was delayed due to a hurricane swooping through the grounds the night before. The show went on amidst the debris and helter skelter tents and rings.
Those were good days on Long Island for the dog fancy. We had so many wonderful, successful breeders as well as important kennels. The impressive folks who could afford to run large kennels with professional kennel help, handlers, and vast expanses of property supported these endeavors. There were also folks like us, hardworking families who shared the love of the dogs and shows on a far more limited basis. We worked hard together and met a great measure of success both for the kennel clubs and our own more limited breeding programs.
Well, last week I attended the Long Island and Ladies weekend of shows. This pristine site is still as magnificent as I last remember. Roger Rechler, who was an integral part of the Long Island dog show scene and a close personal friend in the Afghan Hound breed to say the least, was a patron to the Arboretum and was instrumental in the local clubs planting their seeds (every pun intended) on those respected grounds of the Coe Estate. How fortunate for all concerned as this stunning show grounds has been enhanced by the hard work of Roger’s widow, Evelyn, and her merry band of Ladies. This would be a revival of sorts for after a decade-long separation of locations, the two clubs would share the same site again. I think it’s the perfect way to fend off the all too common scenario of a club losing its site due to sprawling suburban growth or unsustainable expenses.
Of course, I had a grand time. I miss seeing my dearest friends from both clubs and bemoaned those that could still sprint around doing anything needed. Do I hate seeing Pat Cruz endlessly crossing the grounds with kids and newcomers getting her spiel? Do I hate how Viola Burgos defies all medical science and looks so elegant as she juggles all she takes on from dawn on Thursday to midnight on Sunday? Do I hate Susan Sprung, all the Reisman girls, and the matriarch of LIKC the one and only Barbara Miller? Of course not! I love them all and every other member who hangs on to the thinning thread that keeps bringing these beautiful events to the once Gold Coast that time and “advancement” has tarnished over the years. I do see a new shine cast on these clubs that should glisten evermore as the years go by.
Sure, this weekend has evolved into a smaller, gem-like dog show which is a joy to attend. I hope we never forget the importance of these historical clubs which paved the way for the current extravaganzas of today. They fill a place in our universe which should never be lost. I was thrilled to “BE BACK”!
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Posted by ralbee
on Jun 14 2015. Filed under Current Articles, Editorial, Featured.
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