Artists and Writers of The Hamptons – 2019

71st Artists and Writers Annual Charity Softball Game
Saturday, August 17 2019 – 2 pm {batting practice at 12 noon} Raindate August 24 2019
$10 suggested donation per person
Herrick Park in East Hampton

We have touched on some of the history of Artists and Writers in the Hamptons in past blogs:

• Art in the Hamptons – MHI Blogs
• Some of the History of Sag Harbor
• And a little History of our Graybarn Cottage

Now let’s talk about today!

The Artists of East Hampton

The Arts are alive and well in East Hampton.  The light, the water, the tranquility (OK, maybe not in August!) and the company of other creative souls, still attract artists and writers to the East End.  And, in Springs and Sag Harbor and the Northwest Woods, there are still some (relatively) affordable properties to be found.

The Artists Alliance of East Hampton was formed in 1984 in memory of internationally acclaimed abstract painter, Jimmy Ernst, to carry on his vision of an artists’ community living and working on the East End of Long Island. And it really is a vibrant community, with a couple of hundred active members, offering:

• networking opportunities for artists, artist lectures and presentations
• community outreach programs including high school scholarship programs and art workshops for middle school students
• Member Art Shows
• An Online Gallery
• Artists’ Studio Tours

Plus ad hoc get-togethers and flaunting of their art at events like Rowdy Hall’s Rowdyween (Adult) Costume Contest!

And Then There Are Our Writers! 

For over 30 years, Ashawagh Hall in Springs has hosted the Ashawagh Hall Writers Workshop. “Writing is lonely work,” said the group’s leader, Laura Stein. “The workshop gives writers a community. When you’re writing, you see everything so fully in your mind, but you don’t really know what you’ve conveyed onto the page. The workshop enables that invaluable feedback from a supportive community.”

The group’s focus is on getting published, and well over two dozen published works have come out of the attic at Ashawagh Hall.

And here it gets convoluted.  Of course, writers like Truman Capote, Peter Matthiessen, Joseph Heller, Spalding Gray, and Kurt Vonnegut are amongst the notorious Hamptons’ resident authors. Then you have all the writers of Non-Fiction Books in and about the Hamptons. And what about the actors like Alec Baldwin writing his brilliant memoir, and photographers like Michael Dweck publishing remarkable books like Mermaids and The End. Do they qualify as Artists or Writers?  Does it matter?

And Don’t Forget Dan Rattiner!  

Dan Rattiner is an unequivocal scion of the Hamptons… He moved, with his family, to Montauk as a teenager, and published the first edition of his free (ad-supported) newspaper in 1960.  First called the Montauk Pioneer, it soon became ‘Dan’s Papers’ and became a must-read for both locals and visitors to the Hamptons.  

Not always to be trusted (think the weekly updates about the Hamptons Subway and, my favorite, the Giant Ecuadorian Eel!) but always to be enjoyed, Dan’s is still published weekly after all these years.

 And Dan has published several books based on his articles over the years:

• In the Hamptons: My Fifty years with Farmers, Fishermen, Artists, Billionaires, and Celebrities
• Still in the Hamptons: More Tales of the Rich, the Famous, and the Rest of Us
• In the Hamptons Too: Further Encounters with Farmers, Fishermen, Artists, Billionaires, and Celebrities

If you are at all interested in the Hamptons, Dan’s books are not to be missed! Great beach reading.

• Check out some of our recommended ‘Reading Lists for more!

Artists vs. Writers Play Ball!

 Dan has been writing about the Artist & Writers Softball Game in the Hamptons since 1968 (it started in 1948 as a picnic for several artists and writers in Springs, and has since become one of the best beloved and most important annual fundraisers for local charities…)

 Some things Dan remembers:

• Eugene McCarthy, the Senator from Wisconsin and former presidential candidate, playing first base in 1972 with a split in the back of his pants that nobody wanted to tell him about.
• I recall singer Paul Simon leaping high up against the left field fence to catch a ball and coming down on the spikes of the fence, fortunately without serious injury.
• Writer George Plimpton pitching carefully to Eric Ernst for the Artists.
• Superagent Sam Cohn at bat.
• Bianca Jagger bidding against a gallery owner from Florida for some paintings made by Eric Fischl on a clothesline behind home plate.
• Bill Clinton umpiring several innings in 1986.
• The soccer star Pelé from Brazil playing in the game.
• Yogi Berra making an appearance, there to watch his son, Dale Berra, a shortstop for the Pittsburgh Pirates, play in the game.
• Heavyweight contender Gerry Cooney hitting a single to left.
• Hippie Abbie Hoffman in 1971, after watching the first pitch to him called a strike, then watching the second one come in, for a ball, dashing down the base path to “steal” first base. (He trotted back when we told him he could not do that.)
• Christie Brinkley getting three strikes and you’re out, and after that missing the next pitch for strike four.
• Walter Isaacson playing second base. Carol Channing in the outfield. Alec Baldwin in right. Chevy Chase hitting a single. A host of others over the years—Leo Castelli, Regis Philbin, Ed Burns, John Irving, Sylvia Tennenbaum, Alan Alda, Gail Sheehy, Walter Bernard.
• Gallery owner Elaine Benson managing the Artists for 10 years, and “stealing” me from the roster of the Writers to play for the Artists. She said it was a trade, but there were no other players involved, nor was any money paid.
• Working as the umpire and declaring a called third strike against billionaire Carl Icahn, standing there with the bat on his shoulder and watching the pitch come in right over the plate.
• Towering home runs (into the tennis court beyond left field) by Rick Leventhal, Bill Collage, Richard Weis and, earlier, Marty Lyons (defensive lineman for the New York Jets), and even earlier, sculptor Philip Pavia.
• Having the game delayed because the ball field had been reserved and was still being used by a group of 10-years-olds who were now still tied in the top of the fourteenth.
• Shaking hands with Barry Commoner, running for president in 1980 as a third party candidate and campaigning at the game. I didn’t care for either major candidate that year. So I voted for Commoner because he’d gone to the trouble of shaking my hand where neither of the others, Reagan or Carter, had.
• Actor Roy Scheider pitching with good humor for the Artists for 15 years in the 1990s and on.
• Billionaire publisher and real estate man Mort Zuckerman pitching for the Writers for those same 15 years with great ferocity and focus.
• The year I was declared one of two Players of the Game. It was in 1970 and I was awarded an enormous jeroboam of Champagne, which I carted home and didn’t use for several years because we never had enough people to drink it all at one sitting.

A Few More Links about Artists and Writers:

• Check out Hamptons Art Hub for their Gallery & Museum Guide to the Hamptons, also for their Weekly Guide to Art & Culture Happenings in The Hamptons
• And this lovely coffee table book Hamptons Bohemia: Two Centuries of Artists and Writers on the Beach by Helen Harrison, director of the Pollock-Krasner House and Study Center in East Hampton
• Be sure to visit Book Hampton – our favorite local bookstore – within walking distance of the Mill House Inn
  • Peruse their Event Calendar for book readings and signings and more
• Stay at the Mill House Inn during the season and get a bag of books from Bedside Reading to read and take home with you!

Hope to see you at the game, and on the Mill House Inn front porch – reading a good book!

Sylvia