You Must be This Tall

From Providence Journal:

Rocky Point Park, the fantasy playground that drew Rhode Islanders to Warwick Neck for more than 150 summers, may have met an unhappy end when the last remnants of the place were demolished early this summer.

Yet it lives again in David Bettencourt’s entertaining, warm-hearted documentary You Must Be This Tall: The Story of Rocky Point Park, which has its world premiere at 7 tonight on the big screen at the Stadium Theater in Woonsocket.

Bettencourt’s film chronicles Rocky Point’s history — from 1840 to the turn of the last century, through two destructive hurricanes, several makeovers, and on to today — in old paintings, archival photos, home movies and, especially, in the memories of fans who traveled there every summer for a day of fun. You Must Be This Tall is a nostalgic trip that’s often funny, sometimes poignant and definitely lots of fun.

If you’ve ever ridden the Ferris wheel, the Cyclone roller coaster or the rocket ships at Rocky Point, swum in the huge salt water pool or chowed down on chowder and clam cakes in its famous Shore Dinner Hall (“the world’s largest,” as was proclaimed in big letters on the roof), You Must Be This Tall is not to be missed.

Those who may have come to the park late in its existence in the early 1990s, when it had grown shabby and a little seedy, will be surprised to see it in its heyday in the late 1950s, when families crowded the place and a couple of thousand people sat elbow to elbow at the long tables in the dining hall over bowls of chowder. It was, reminisces Nick Cardi (of the Cardi Brothers furniture dealers) “just like Oz.”

Bettencourt, ably aided by film editor Harry Cawthorn, has put together a fast-paced, feature-length documentary. They’ve crammed in more than 70 interviews, hundreds of old shots of the park, some dating back to the 19th century, in a snappy hour and 21 minutes that goes by in a flash of rekindled memories. One can gauge their success by the fact that when You Must Be This Tall is over, one wishes there had been more. (Following a recent press screening of his film, Betttencourt said much more will be included in a later — he wasn’t certain when — DVD release, including the fact that on the hot August day in 1892 when Lizzie Borden allegedly murdered her father and stepmother with a hatchet, the entire Fall River Police Department was having its annual outing at Rocky Point Park.)

There are plenty of interesting tidbits and sights that do color the film, however. You’ll see the 10-story observation tower that loomed over the park in 1881, looking like a Chinese pagoda. You’ll see President Rutherford B. Hayes at Rocky Point in 1877 making the first telephone call by a sitting U.S. president, on the line to Alexander Graham Bell, who was in Providence. You’ll see President George H.W. Bush, on a campaign swing through the park, wishing that the Secret Service had allowed him to ride the Corkscrew roller coaster. You’ll hear about Babe Ruth’s controversial 1914 home run at Rocky Point. You’ll see trolley cars carrying hordes of vacationers to Rocky Point, see the destructive aftermath of the 1938 hurricane, hear about the monkeys who escaped from the park’s zoo during the storm to live for years afterward in surrounding trees.

Some memories of Rocky Point’s fans are amusing.

There’s the man who recalls being inside the pitch-black Castle of Terror when the car he and a friend were riding in ran off the track. An employee had to push them out of the building, now with all the lights blazing inside, and they could see, much to their delight, all the pulleys and gizmos that were used to make the horrors of the place so scary in the dark.

Some memories are poignant.

John Gould, who ran the Castle of Terror ride for many years, is near tears as he looks at the crumbling ruins of the place just before it was razed.

You Must Be This Tall hits its high spots thanks to the anecdotes of dozens of Rhode Islanders, whether it’s the woman fondly recalling the goldfish she won on the midway that went on to live 12 years, or Governor Carcieri sharing fond memories of riding the Ferris wheel to look out across Narragansett Bay.

One knows going in to You Must Be This Tall that Rocky Point’s story will come to a sad end, with the auction of many of its rides on a rainy day and its later demolition. Bettencourt does not spare us those sights. Yet he manages to end the film on a somewhat brighter note than one might have expected. Peppered with toe-tapping tunes throughout and a flood of fond memories, Rocky Point Park truly does still live on.