Larry Brown

It's been great to read all of the wonderful memories that so many have of Pleasure Island. Having grown up in the Montrose section of Wakefield during the 50's, I figured life couldn't be much better than having an amusement park so close to home. My parents, of course, had other ideas.

But Pleasure Island recently brought me great distinction with my 11 year old son. He had just received his first Three Stooges video and as we watched it, I proudly told him that I had appeared on stage with the trio. It occurred at the Show Bowl in 1959 or 60. The Stooges, with Moe, Larry, Curley-Joe (Derita), invited three kids on stage, dressed us as babies and conducted a contest to see who among us could empty a baby bottle full of milk through a rubber nipple. I fortunately discovered that if you just let the milk slide out through the enlarged hole, you could avoid constricting the flow by sucking on it. My prize was a plastic model of a knight in arms and the short-lived awe of my son.

Years later after the park had closed, a compatriot and I paid Walter Sherman $25 to purchase one of the whale boats that lay in "dry dock." We had visions of dropping a Chevy 283 engine in the craft and tooling around the North Shore fishing. Walter, being no fool, knew we would never find the crane, sling and flat bed it would take to move our mammoth prize. I wonder how many times over he sold that boat?

Thanks for bringing back all the memories.

Larry Brown
525 School Street, S.W. Suite 500
Washington, D.C 20024
lbrown@waveinc.org