Page 4 THE VILLADOM TIMES II • November 25, 2009 Ridgewood Eleanor Roosevelt impersonator appears at library by John Koster Ridgewood Library’s auditorium became a time capsule last week as a standing-room-only audience met “Eleanor Roosevelt” at a lecture sponsored by the New Jersey Council for the Humanities. Roosevelt was portrayed by Rene Goodwin, whose skilled impersonation drew her audience into 1935. The program included the story of Eleanor’s tragic childhood, her troubled marriage, and her decision to work so no one would be deprived of the opportunity to lead a useful life due to poverty or racial discrimination. When she was eight years old, Eleanor lost her mother and a younger brother to diphtheria. Two years later, she lost her adored father to acute alcoholism. She later attended elite schools in France and Britain and married her distant cousin and childhood playmate, Franklin Delano Roosevelt, on Saint Patrick’s Day on New York City’s Fifth Avenue with a parade going on full blast just outside the household ceremony. When her uncle, Theodore “Teddy” Roosevelt, left just after the ceremony, everyone followed him to the library for refreshments except her cousin Alice, Theodore’s daughter, who offered Eleanor some tart consolation. “My father, the president, is the bride at every wedding and the corpse at every funeral,” Alice told Eleanor. Goodwin’s Eleanor also shared her feeling of oppression and suppressed rage at the president’s mother, saying, “His mother, Sara, was the most domineering, overbearing woman I have ever seen in my entire life. When Eleanor and Franklin moved into an apartment in New York City, Sara moved into the twin apartment next door, which had a tunnel that led almost to the bedroom. Goodwin, an actress and singer who studied Eleanor’s speech patterns through tapes made available at Hyde Park, also told of her heartbreak at learning that Franklin had been carrying on an affair with her own social secretary, Lucy Mercer, behind her back, and of how – after FDR’s mother forbade a divorce – she agreed to keep up the marriage in name because she felt that together, they could go a lot of good for the poor and the victims of racial prejudice in America. Since the performance depicted Eleanor in 1935, some of FDR’s more controversial moves – charges that he ignored the U.S. Constitution to foster socialism, the fact that now-known Soviet agents had penetrated his administration, and the perception that he manipulated the United States into a war with Japan – were not addressed. Goodwin’s perception of Eleanor as a woman of instinctive kindness and generosity, albeit with a certain patrician ability to give orders and have them carried out, made her hour of living history touching and convincing. Rene Goodwin as Eleanor Roosevelt. Christmas T & Wreaths 4 Out of 5 Ain’t Bad! rees W/COUPON • Exp 11/30/09 • Not Combinable November 27 – December 23 Weekday 3pm-10pm Weekend 10am-10pm Ramapo College Baseball Field • Finest premium trees and wreaths • Best prices in the area All proceeds to benefit Ramapo College Baseball Delivery Available www.VacationRentalsRetreats.com Come stay in our CATSKILL MOUNTAIN SKI RETREAT. Stay 2 nights, get the 3RD NIGHT FREE! One of my SAT Verbal-Writing tutorial students got into four out of five colleges he applied to…including his target school. College counseling too… 201-445-1343 • $60 per hour. 11-25-09 joan/janine Ask us about the wines that taste like a $10 bottle that we’re selling for theRamapoCollegeBaseball2x2(11-25-09) ridiculously 2 x 2” low price of HARDING WINE&SPIRIT $ It blew us away! 5 .01 750 ml Liberty Creek HUGE WINE SELECTION Beer • Super Premium Spirits Party Planning • Gift Baskets Free Parking • Ice • Soda WE DELIVER Chardonnay, Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon, White Zinfandel $ Barefoot Wines $ 305 E. Ridgewood Ave Ridgewood, NJ DEBIT CARDS ACCEPTED 201-445-7122 Pinot Grigio, Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon, Chardonnay, Sauvignon Blanc, White Zinfandel & Moscato 5 9 .99 1.5 liter 2 Locations Glen Rock & Passaic PASSAIC LOCATION NOW OPEN SUNDAYS! We Offer Line Of Credits And Financing Plans .29 1.5 liter 201.345-5621 No rain checks issued. Not responsible for typographical errors.