Landis, Jessie Royce (1904-72)
NUGGET #63
Landis, Jessie Royce: Nee Jessie Medbury, was a movie actress famed for playing mother roles (her “children” included Grace Kelly, Cary Grant, June Allyson, Tab Hunter, Anthony Perkins, Jean Peters, and Kim Novak); films included To Catch A Thief (1955), North by Northwest (1959), The Swan (1956); also wrote stage plays and did TV shows; her autobiography, You Won’t Be So Pretty, But You Will Know More, was published in 1954; she lived at 137 Old Branchville Road from 1966 until her death with husband, Major Gen. J.F.R. Seitz (q.v.); buried Branchville Cemetery.
Jack Sanders, Who Was Who in Ridgefield.
More Historical Nuggets
First Pride Day, 1998
FIRST ‘PRIDE’ DAY: “A Celebration of Community: Straight, Gay and Lesbian“ took place in 1998, on the Community Center lawn. Just a year later, a Rainbow Flag was flown for the first time in the nation over a state capitol, Hartford, on March 21, 1999.
Hezekiah Scott (1789-1879)
Hezekiah Scott was a weaver and operated a distillery on the brook near his home on Barlow Mountain Road — a stream now called Kiah’s Brook.
Paving
The first road paving, part of a state experiment, was done on the eastern end of Branchville Road around 1912. Catoonah Street was paved in 1922.
Lillian Barnard Gilkes and Louise “Lulu” Davidson
Gilkes, Lillian Barnard, (1903-1977), was a nationally recognized scholar, author and critic who lived at 93 Olmstead Lane with stepsister.
