Great Gatsby Boat Tour on CBS Sunday Morning
Great Gatsby Boat Tour on CBS Sunday Morning
Behind the Scenes Filming on the Boat and in a Mansion
I probably should have changed my outfit from an old gray cashmere sweater, and jacket with a patch covering a hole in the pocket. I wasn’t really thinking about being on national TV, I was just thinking about how I did not want it to rain us out on the water of Manhasset Bay. We filmed an episode of CBS Sunday Morning, which aired on April 27.
It had been absolutely cold, overcast, and rainy all week, truly terrible weather for being on a boat with a camera crew. The producer, Mark Hudspeth, and I had been in constant contact about the weather, and even the tides. Captain Kenny told me when high tide was expected, so that the Angler could come closer to shore for great shots of Port Washington, Plandome Manor, and Great Neck.
The segment was for the centennial of The Great Gatsby, so what better place to film the story than in the place where the novel is set? We were visited by Lee Cowan, a CBS News National Correspondent for the CBS Evening News, and a substitute anchor for CBS Sunday Morning. CBS brought him in from Los Angeles, and he was so wonderful. Really warm and friendly, and he definitely did his research. Also from California was Blake Hazard, the great-granddaughter of Zelda and Scott Fitzgerald. She was in New York to celebrate the centennial with a few media events, including the Empire State Building being lit green for Gatsby. She came with extra copies of the novel.
We had a terrific time on the boat! The weather cooperated, and we had some Port Washington friends aboard for a mini-tour. We put out from the wharf, starting with Port Washington on the port side. Above us, CBS was flying a drone to capture all the action. Watch the video; the Angler looks very small in the bay. We proceeded along the shore past the Fathoms Hotel (once the Knickerbocker Yacht Club), Carl Fisher House, Jock Whitney Boat House, and Raoul Fleischmann House. Lee interviewed Blake on the port side, getting full sunlight on a gorgeous day.
After the tour, we next moved to film at the Raoul Fleischmann House; he was the publisher of The New Yorker and heir to the Fleischmann Baking fortune. Today, it is owned by Elena and George Schietinget, who lovingly restored the landmark home to its pre-WWI glory. Elena read a passage from The Great Gatsby, that seems to include a very detailed description of their own “wedding cake” of a ceiling. To be in an actual East Egg mansion, that was in place when Scott Fitzgerald was in the area, was a real pinch-me moment for all of us.
The episode turned out so well, I hope you enjoy watching it as much as I did helping with it.
BOAT TOUR: Our boat tour starts in Port Washington (the real-life inspiration for East Egg) and cruises through Manhasset Bay, offering views of the very spots Fitzgerald saw from his home in Great Neck (West Egg). Get tickets here: Great Gatsby Boat Tour