Worker History @ the Beach House

Rachel hanging out! Photo by Eric Davis

At the beginning of the residency, I was able to borrow the documentary about Marion Davies from the Santa Monica Public Library and it filled me with with information and ideas about the dances I would make.  I made contact with the documentarian, a woman named Elaina Archer, and we exchanged supportive introductions.  Yesterday, I emailed her with some questions about the working staff at the site when Davies lived there.  In response today, she directed me to Taylor Coffman, who has written a thorough examination of the site's history.  He's collected his information into an ebook he calls Hearst and Marion: The Santa Monica Connection.  It's filled with great first hand info--newspaper clippings, announcements, etc.

Unfortunately, Mr. Coffman bemoans the lack of archival records about the staff at the house in MD's time, though he does recall the names of two butler/housemen in the big house:  George Eckert and possibly Eckert's successor, a man named Constantine Fox, usually called Connie.  Disappointing for that to be the extent of available info, but great to have their names.  

This past Sunday, after working with dancer Gloria Tinajero in the artist-in-residence office and then on the beach, I wanted to find out how long it would take to crawl along the path by the sand from one end of the property (by the edge of the pool and the front office) to the edge of the property in line with the Guest House.  The dancers had tried crawling a few times before and the visual impact of the action was dramatically evocative!  To me, it refers to all the workers that have kept that place running--the unseen and unacknowledged, but without whom the place would fall down within minutes!  

I had a great chat with one of the landscapers after my crawl, a young guy named Ricardo who told me he spends abut an hour a shift sweeping the sand off the pathway, trying to avoid the possibility of anyone slipping on the premises.  Ricardo doesn't complain about this thankless task and it reminded me of Northeasterners shoveling snow.  Ricardo said there are times in the year that the sand blows heavier up to the Guest House property than other times and the recent inclement and windy weather has resulted in some long hours sweeping the path.  

If interested, you can find Taylor Coffman's ebook here!