Pets, Pets, Pets

Part 18- "Search for Sensation": Time to fit the mysterious MacLevy into our local Westminster equation.
by Joanne Anderson

I'll skip writing the book, and go straight to the movie. I want Robert Downey Jr. cast as Professor MacLevy. Here's why: Picking up where we left off last week in the Babylon Westminster Kennel Club (WKC) quest, we learned that the former clubhouse burned down on Oct. 14, 1918, while Max MacLevy was leasing it as a faddish health retreat and pig farm. Hmmm, among other controversial antics, flamboyant body builder "Profes­sor MacLevy" was a health mentor to Teddy Roosevelt, also the vanishing wit­ness in the 1902 Pulitzer murder case and consultant to Delmonico, famous restau­rateur who died suddenly in 1901 of TB although the prof "cured" him. MacLevy met and married his bride right after saving her from drowning in Bensonhurst. Details of his Enquirer-style past are chronicled online in Laura Crawley's vivid Brooklyn blog "Virtual Dime Museum", which is also the source of this vintage MacLevy post­er promoting his "quick trolley" swimming sys­tem. Starting to get the shady picture? Read on:

When MacLevy rented from James L. Ewell and moved to the old Babylon WKC estate around 1915, he was already well- known for his vaudeville boxing exhibi­tions and gymnasium in Brooklyn. As a "physical culturist", a bygone New Age health trend made popular by Seventh-day Adventists and quirky Dr. John H. Kellogg of Battle Creek (yes, Dr. Corn­flakes), MacLevy turned Westminster's once-glorious clubhouse into a "physical cultural sanitarium". An ad in the Aug. 19, 1917 New York Times says: MacLevy Health Farm Babylon, LI Physical train­ing, gymnasium, masseur, handball, ten­nis court, saddle horses, showers, bath­ing, fishing, sailing, billiards, wholesome foods, excellent grounds, 65 acres…. Interesting- he put pigs in our hallowed kennels, then commandeered Westmin­ster's fancy billiard room. At the time MacLevy's city gym had moved to the old Madison Square Garden. Strange coincidence- Westminster has held dog shows in all 4 Gardens.

It seems MacLevy (1873-1934) had at least 3 sanitariums in Babylon, all left in ashes, not necessarily when he was in them. At the turn of the century, he used Havemeyer Pt. on Oak Island which burned down around 1920. He put an ad in the 1/25/1901 Brooklyn Eagle to hire a handyman at $12 a month and ocean side free rent. From 1915-18 he set up shop at the WKC clubhouse near Southards Pond. Max and the Mrs. were living in the WKC shooting house when the build­ings were destroyed in that 1918 blaze, supposedly due to a defec­tive flue. MacLevy's name in connection to my coveted WKC Babylon clubhouse first popped up in the elu­sive scrapbook photo that took me a year to identify from the 1935 Babylon Leader. One 1920s Baby­lon fire from the Brooklyn Eagle baffled me until now. On 8/30/1923 the Underhill Nursery Farm, on Great East Neck and Montauk Hwy., later Bulks Nursery and the windmill, mysteri­ously perished in flames. Last sentence is the clincher: farm was "formerly the Ma­cLevy Physical Cultural Sanitarium"... yet another one bites the dust. His health and diet beliefs did have some merit. MacLevy wrote an anti-to­bacco booklet cited in 1916 "American Journal of Public Health", plus a April 23, 1933 beer and exercise letter excerpted in the New York Times that warns: "flabby, unproportioned bodies are not conducive to healthy minds".

Riley, left and Panda, right

However, the Profes­sor also had some dis­gruntled clients at his Babylon Health Farm. On Aug. 5, 1915 the Times reported Henry Wood the 20 yr. old son of a late wealthy brewery owner, sent to MacLevy to recoup from a nervous break­down, wandered away lost in the Westmin­ster woods. For all we know, Wood might still be in there. Meanwhile, on Nov. 24, 1918, the Brooklyn Eagle says the father of 1st Lieut. Edward D. Fraser Jr. sued Mac-Levy to recover $500 he paid in 1917 to furnish his ill son an attendant, outdoor sports and games and rub downs. Fraser Sr. accused the Prof of providing none, but instead, treating his son like a farm­hand, making him work in the fields and eat at the same table with the help. Heav­ens, no! For this breach of contract, Papa Fraser got his $500 back. MacLevy had a peculiar side business. The Oct. 18,1918 South Side Signal said that at the time of the clubhouse fire, he was also raising pigs here, but about to move them to Hempstead. (Please don't tell me that poor Fraser Jr. was forced to slop hogs in the once state of the art WKC kennels.) Pork belly futures don't seem kosher. MacLevy's real name was Levy. At the time of his death in 1934, he was president of the Lynbrook temple. Bacon was verboten on the physical cultural menu too. Don Whalen, my men­tor in Maryland, has an interesting theory. On his WWI draft card MacLevy lists his occupation as "farmer," a notation that would have earned him a military defer­ment;

so by going hog wild, Max would be free to profit on his sanitarium.

Location, location, location. Meander­ing the MacLevy maze, I'm hunting for site clues. Where, oh, where were the Westminster clubhouse and Sensation the renowned Pointer's grave during this health mania? The Profes­sor's 1918 draft card says "Babylon" - no street clue; a 1917 NYC directory lists MacLevy's farm phone as "Babylon 185". "Max, can you hear me now?" Darn. No one answers when I call.

Foot Note: Might there be a physical cultural gene? MacLevy's son Monty fol­lowed in his Dad's footsteps. He saved gals from drown­ing at the Lynbrook pool, opened a Milk Farm for women in Huntington, patented many pieces of fitness equipment such as treadmills, exercise bikes, and even that belt contraption that shakes off your fat. Feel like you walked into the middle of a movie? To catch up on the WKC Sensa­tional soap opera search in Babylon, go to www.babylonbeacon.com, type "West­minster Kennel Club" in Search and my 17 previous "Pets" starting at Feb. 8, 2007, should pop up. For Adoption: We have another mystery at Babylon Town Shelter (643-9270) Lamar St. W. Babylon. "Panda" now in Cage 7 is back. He was found tied to a fence. He spent six months at the shelter as a stray, was a "Pets" poster dog three times, and in February, 2007 when featured in Newsday's "Take Me Home," a fam­ily friend recognized him. Family rushed down. Supposedly his owners were new to New York and didn't know where to go when he got lost. They've been noti­fied. Panda needs someone else to "Take Him Home" for good. Last week showed the wrong photo for "Riley." This 1 yr. old Foxhound/Saluki should now be a Last Hope www.lasthopeanimalrescue.org foster. Females: sweet Pit pup Cage 37; "Sasha" gorgeous spayed longhaired tabby. Males: older Westie found in Babylon Village; "Scooby"- the Chubby Checker of Pits Cage 4; "Teddy Bear" mature Malamute Cage 22, needs a breed experienced home: "Mousy"-the condo cat. Readers can write to Joanne Anderson, c/o the Beacon, 65 Deer Park Ave., Babylon, N.Y. 11702 or via email at acjnews@rcn.com