Fireworks

Happy 4th of July! Just a brief entry today in remembrance of George Plimpton. Mr. Plimpton was the multitalented grandson of Oakes and Blanche Ames of Borderland. His mother was Pauline Ames. A writer, editor and sometime actor, Mr. Plimpton was a great lover of fireworks. Amid the dozens of books he wrote or co-authored his excellent book on fireworks is apparently out of print. In 2008 he was the subject of a biography George, Being George which is a collection of quotes from 200 friends and family members. On the Plimpton side he was the son of Francis Plimpton a successful corporate lawyer and the grandson of the founder of the Ginn publishing company. My favorite quote in the biography comes from Plimpton himself-"Mother rather looked down on Father, but, after all, he wasn't an Ames." Ironically, back in the 18th century, a young Oliver Ames may have gotten some of his training as a shovel maker from a Plimpton ancestor.

Mr Plimpton had a well deserved reputation as a bon vivant and charming conversationalist, but the day I met him he was cool and distracted (I was young and excited). Overcome with emotion, he was touring the Borderland mansion one last time before giving the speech that would mark the opening of the estate as a public park. The speech included fond reminiscences of his grandfather and grandmother. Plimpton, you may remember, became famous for writing books about his experiences as Everyman competing with pro athletes, and on that day he remembered Oakes Ames skill as a baseball pitcher-a wicked curveball- and a tennis player.

You can go to our library and take out the Nero Wolfe Mystery DVDs to see Plimpton the actor in 10 episodes. He was also the reader of George Templeton Strong's diary in Ken Burns Civil War series. Or you can picture him looking down on the Esplanade tonight for the fireworks show.