I hear there were some child stars who lived in Ridgefield in the 1930s. Who were they?
In 1936, the height of the Depression, the nation was looking for distractions. Often the youthful and innocent provided them. Shirley Temple was a hit in the movies, Little Orphan Annie was the star of comics and radio.
And in Ridgefield, three children won the hearts of many Americans. In April that year, Patience, Richard and John Abbe became instant celebrities with the publication of Around the World in Eleven Years.
Written mostly by Patience, 11, and encouraged by their mother, Polly Shorrock Abbe, the travelogue was, according to its jacket, “by children for grown-ups. It is an enchanting odyssey.”
The three Abbes were offspring of James E. Abbe, one of the top photographers of the era, and with their parents, had spent most of their lives in Europe. They played with Pavlova, loved Lillian Gish, and admired Thomas Mann, among the many celebrities they met.
They arrived in Ridgefield in 1935, living first on West Lane just across the New York line and then on a West Mountain farm, all the time attending the East Ridge School (old high school).
The book was well reviewed — even the crotchety Alexander Woollcott called it “enchanting.” Hollywood wooed them for movies and politicians brought Patience to Capitol Hill, where she gave a dinner party — preparing her own food.
“In spite of the whirlwind of excitement about their book, the youngsters are not the least carried away with any idea of their own importance,” The Press said at the time. “They remain perfectly natural children, with something akin to an air of resignation to their indubitable and meteoric rise to literary fame.”
A year later, they were gone — moving to a 320-acre ranch in Castle Rock, Colo., purchased with the profits from the book, which sold a then-remarkable 100,000 copies. The three — mostly Patience, who essentially wrote the first book — produced two more. Patience went on to work in journalism and died in California in 2012. Richard eventually became a noted California judge; he died in 2000. John still lives in California.
Their dad, James Abbe, was a pioneer photojournalist; his pictures are owned by major museums. He worked for newspapers and magazines, doing portraits of many stars and political leaders in the 20s and 30s, including Charlie Chaplin, Tyrone Power, Gloria Swanson, and Cecil B. De Mille. He went on to cover breaking news: The Spanish Civil War, the Nazis rise to power, and events in the Soviet Union. By the 1940s, Mr. Abbe had become a radio broadcaster in the West and later one of the nation’s first television columnists. He died in 1973 in San Francisco.