Fire Island Parties - Jules Feiffer Stays Home

August 12, 1959, Vol. IV, No. 42

By John Wilcock

Ocean Beach: Erv Grayson, a salesman for Ambassador whiskey, gave an outdoor party at his house, High Spirits. Flags all over the place. Free whiskey. Free pink champagne. An annual affair which everybody tries to crash. Erv's daughter Gail - sultry-looking type who's been married twice, they say - met a man on the ferry. Didn't know who she was and said he's heard the Grayson party was a great affair and he'd get in somehow. Said he'd heard they flew in food from all over. (Comment Mrs. G: "Little does he know we chop up the chicken liver right here. I'll tell him when I see him. I'll watch for him. I'll throw him out. I've thrown people out of the bathroom before now.") P.S. The party was a dud. Heavy rain.

Fire Island Pines: Sign on the notice board near Peggy Fears' new aluminum harborside restaurant and bar: "Wanted, a wife, 32-28-31, not over 50."

Fair Harbour: Jules Feiffer, supposed to accompany us on a rapid 20-mile tour of the island via Fire Island News speedboat, said he was to busy working on his next Voice cartoon. We went anyway; Jules stayed home.

Cherry Grove: Toilets in the hotel area labeled "Queens" and "Kings" and every second record in juke box is a cha-cha, which the boys most enjoy dancing together...This is an offensive and depressing place to visit. "Broad-mindedness" has nothing to do with it; to me, it's just damn depressing.

Ocean Beach: A crowd of 8-year-old kids brought out a new issue of their handwritten, handpainted newspaper, the Fire Island (sic) Blaze, containing the following joke: "Mary: Why are you so angry? Jane: I stepped on the weighing scale, put in a penny, and got a card which said: 'One at a time, please'."

[Each weekday morning, we post an excerpt from another issue of the Voice, going in order from our oldest archives. Visit our Clip Job archive page to see excerpts back to 1956. John Wilcock is still going strong at ojaiorange.com]