Bob, Summer Jobs, and Waterskiing Dogs: The Lakes Region in Literature and Film

1. What About Bob?
None of this 1991 film starring Bill Murray and Richard Dreyfuss was filmed here but in a much nicer resort area in Virginia. But my family enjoyed it nonetheless, because of the parallels between psychiatrist Dr. Leo Marvin and my dad, psychologist Dr. Leo Sandy. Our first boat was a small motorboat named Freudian Slip. Later my dad and Uncle Fred went in on a sailboat together, called Sand and Spice (Fred’s last name is Spicer.) I think this clip really captures the joy of sailing on the lake, even if it isn’t the right lake.

2. Twenty Grand and Other Stories by Rebecca Curtis
You must read this book. I read one of her stories, “Summer, with Twins” in Harper’s several years back and I absolutely loved it. As I was reading it, some of the places in it seemed vaguely familiar. Well, it wasn’t until she published another story in the New Yorker that I realized that she was from Gilford, and went to my small high school, and that she was the little sister of one of my brother’s friends (and she now teaches creative writing at Columbia University). A lot of her stories about women and work, mostly the kind of temporary service jobs available in tourist towns like this. She even has a guide to the area in the back of the book.

3. King of Kong
Mentioned in a previous post, but it’s the newest, so this list would be incomplete without it.

4. The Three Stooges
OK, I’m citing Wikipedia with this one, but apparently, in an episode, Curly said that he was born near Lake Winnipesaukee until he was asked by Larry or Moe to spell it, and then he changed his answer to “Lake Erie.” I can’t find that clip, so here’s my favorite-- “Pie Fight.” If you can’t laugh watching a Senator get a pie in the face, you’re not human.

5. On Golden Pond
Yes, not technically Lake Winnipesaukee—this was filmed on Squam Lake, pretty close by. The director of that film, Ernest Thompson, is a friend of my parents’ and his kids went to my mother’s school until they packed up and moved to L.A. When you get near Squam Lake, everything in Holderness is named after that movie—two bed and breakfasts, a restaurant called “Walter’s Basin,” “Golden Pond Gas and Gulp” (I made that last one up, but I’m not exaggerating that much).

6. The Waterskiing Jack Russell Terrier
Needs no further explanation.

7. Peyton Place
Grace Metalious lived in nearby Gilmanton and was ostracized when the book was published. If you haven’t read Peyton Place, you should read it—it’s a fantastic book, particularly for beach reading. When I taught this in one of my classes my students loved it, and even shared stories of their grandparents reading the book (one student’s grandmother went to buy it and the clerk called her husband to ask if she had his permission). It’s still a pretty scandalous story by today’s standards. Scott read it and didn’t like it, but I don't like his Cat Power records. There's no accounting for taste.