2004-07-28
AT GILLETTE'S CASTLE || Part Two
The story goes that Gillette was coming up the Connecticut River in his beloved boat, Aunt Polly, and saw the area called Seven Sisters | He soon bought the surrounding area and began building his dream house |
Yakitaka Ozaki was first hired on as a house boat attendant on that boat ...actually a 110 ft luxury yacht... and that he and Gillette became fast friends |
Ozaki was from a Japanese family of some means | His brother, said to have once served as mayor of Tokyo, was so impressed with America when he and his family visited that he donated the trees in Washington DC now famous for their cherry blossoms |
There is one story told of Ozaki and Gillette, of when Ozaki's family came to visit him in Connecticut | Gillette had removed all the signs indicating who owned the estate and,
for the duration of their visit, Gillette "played" the role of valet to Ozaki's landowner, serving Ozaki's family the dinner as if Ozaki was lord of the manor |
So far, there is little more I've been able to find about Yakitaka Ozaki; even less about Fukumatsu Tsubone, the gardener | What is here came from the DEP book "His Beloved Aunt Polly" as read to me over the phone by amateur archeologist Ken Beatrice, from Lyme, CT
Washington DC pix credit: Wingett Photography | © 2004 --v
The story goes that Gillette was coming up the Connecticut River in his beloved boat, Aunt Polly, and saw the area called Seven Sisters | He soon bought the surrounding area and began building his dream house |
Yakitaka Ozaki was first hired on as a house boat attendant on that boat ...actually a 110 ft luxury yacht... and that he and Gillette became fast friends |
Ozaki was from a Japanese family of some means | His brother, said to have once served as mayor of Tokyo, was so impressed with America when he and his family visited that he donated the trees in Washington DC now famous for their cherry blossoms |
There is one story told of Ozaki and Gillette, of when Ozaki's family came to visit him in Connecticut | Gillette had removed all the signs indicating who owned the estate and,
for the duration of their visit, Gillette "played" the role of valet to Ozaki's landowner, serving Ozaki's family the dinner as if Ozaki was lord of the manor |
So far, there is little more I've been able to find about Yakitaka Ozaki; even less about Fukumatsu Tsubone, the gardener | What is here came from the DEP book "His Beloved Aunt Polly" as read to me over the phone by amateur archeologist Ken Beatrice, from Lyme, CT
NOTE: Ken Beatrice was instrumental in working to get the remains of the Aunt Polly registered on the Connecticut Historc Commission's important underwater archeological treasures |
¶ 09:18
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While this is a touching section on Ozaki, the story about Ozaki and Gillette switching places when Ozaki Yukio came to visit is not true. Guthrie Burton was there and in her memoir, Three Parts Scotch, she says that Ozaki was not ashamed of his position, and they all had a wonderful visit. It was, however, the last time the Ozaki brothers saw each other. Henry Zecher, biographer of William Gillette.
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# posted by 
: 22 March, 2010 16:33
: 22 March, 2010 16:33<< Home
