Simply Wild About It!

Filmmaker Carolyn Travis turned a trip down memory lane into an award-winning documentary

By Anna Christopher

Carolyn Travis is a beach girl. Raised in Maryland, Travis spent summers with her family on the shores of Wildwood, N.J., splashing in the surf and enjoying the amusements along the seemingly endless expanse of boardwalk. She now lives with her husband in Florida but still makes the occasional trip back home to Wildwood for a reminiscent visit. "I live on the beach in Miami, but I always come back to Wildwood because it's such a unique place," she said. "It's like going back in time to the '50s and '60s!"

When she visited the seaside town in 2002, however, Travis was dismayed to find that many of her favorite retro spots -- art deco motels, 1950s nightclubs and classic pizza places -- had been razed to build condominiums. Worried that in a few years nothing would be left of Wildwood's rock 'n' roll past, Travis assembled a production crew in the summer of 2003 to film Wildwood Days, a documentary that celebrates the town's vibrant past and promising future. The program airs Monday, March 14 at 8 p.m. on WHYY TV12.

"I knew that if I didn't get this special part of Wildwood on film soon, it would be too late," she said. And while the film entertains with celebrity interviews, archival footage and local residents' recollections, Travis said she hopes Wildwood Days will raise the community's conscience about saving such unique places. "There are people who come to the same motel in Wildwood every summer," she said. "Some of the children who went there are coming back with their kids. If they tear down these motels, it would be like coming home for Thanksgiving and finding out your family had moved!"

Here, Travis shares her thoughts about making the film and her fondest childhood memories of Wildwood:

Why did you decide to make Wildwood Days?

Even though I live on the beach in Miami, I would still go back to Wildwood occasionally because my parents live in Maryland. And I would drag my poor husband on these journeys down memory lane -- pointing out the motels where we stayed, taking him to my favorite restaurants. And as the years went by, more and more things just weren't there anymore -- the retro, funky, family-owned motels were being torn down and replaced by condominiums. And I just decided, 'I'm going to get these things on film while they're still there.' When we started filming, I really didn't know direction it would take, but it all came together and the story of the town just really told itself.

What were some of your childhood experiences in Wildwood? What is it about this town that you find so appealing?

I went to Wildwood with my family from the time I was a little less than 2 years old until I got my driver's license. All of my cousins went, too, because my aunts and uncles had homes there. So my most vivid memories are of going to the boardwalk, and going on the rides, playing miniature golf, and my first pizza and my first merry-go-round ride, and the beach, especially, because we lived in Maryland and were pretty much land locked.

When we were editing [Wildwood Days] in L.A., the people who we were working with started talking about places in Colorado or Maine or wherever they vacationed as children. Everyone has a place in their childhood that's special, but the thing about Wildwood is that it basically looks the same as it did -- you can bring your family back to the motel you stayed in when you were 10, eat at the same pizza place, the boardwalk is still pretty much the boardwalk, except that the rides have improved. We were saying that it's sort of the land that time forgot, but in a good way. One person we talked to called it "the comfort food of beach resorts."

You interviewed some incredible personalities for this film. How did you get in touch with these celebrities, and what were some of their memories?

Two of the people in the film were the original dancers on American Bandstand, and they still keep touch with Dick Clark, so we were introduced to him through them. For Bruce Willis, my producer is also a musician, and one of the members in his band has a connection, and so on and so on. I'm sure Bruce Willis is asked to do a lot of things and turns down a lot of interviews, but Wildwood just seems to be this place that brings out something special in everybody…people are just excited to talk about it!

Everyone was just very enthusiastic. We spoke with Tom Verica (who plays Jack Pryor on NBC's American Dreams), and I don't think he'd been there in 20 years, but he started reminiscing about this motel and that ride. Everybody just has these wonderful memories…I think one of the best memories shared during the show is from Ray Smith, a writer and producer in New York City. He describes being in the Starlight Ballroom -- all of the music and activity going on with the waves crashing under the pier -- and it just makes me wish I wasn't too young to have experienced that.

And Chubby [Checker] talks about how Wildwood was the first place that he performed when he was a teenager, right out of high school. He remembers celebrating his 19th birthday at the Rainbow Club, and how Wildwood really made him a star. One of the original Comets from Bill Haley and Comets shares his story during the film, and this summer, Wildwood's actually having a celebration marking the 50th anniversary of "Rock Around the Clock" because it's the first place the Haley and the Comets performed that hit.

You also spoke with local Wildwood residents. What was that experience like?

All of the local residents we talked to were extremely helpful. One in particular was Jack Morey, owner of Morey's Piers on the boardwalk. He really grew up on the boardwalk -- his father owned most of the piers since the late '60s. We started with a core group of people we wanted to talk to, and it just spread by word of mouth. One guy we grabbed from the lobby of a motel called the Starlucks, which was originally the Windgate and was recently renovated as sort of a "test case" to try to make these old motels new and flashy and fun. So, he walked in saying, "Wow, I came here looking for the Windgate, I've been coming here for 20 years." So we grabbed him on the spot, sat him in front of a camera and asked him to share his story!

You mentioned the rich musical history of Wildwood. What else did you learn about the town while making the film?

I never knew that it was the home of the National Marble Tournament until making this show, which is a big deal in Wildwood. I really didn't know too much about Dick Clark and the Starlight, what a big deal it was and how he would host dances there before American Bandstand. And I think he had a lot to do with the acts playing Wildwood -- he brought a lot of Philadelphia performers, like teen heartthrobs Bobby Rydell and Frankie Avalon, to Wildwood clubs.

I read that no one from your New York City production crew had ever been to Wildwood. Where did you take them first, and what were their impressions of your beach town?

It was funny, because the first night we arrived it was raining and really just freezing, and half the city wasn't even open yet. I kept telling the crew about this place with the best pizza in the world, and you know New Yorkers and pizza -- they think there's nothing like it -- so I made them walk on the boardwalk and go to this pizza place I'd been going to my whole life. By the end of the summer, most of them were making plans to bring their kids next year!

Can you describe the format of the film? What can viewers expect to see?

What you see in the show is Wildwood in its heyday -- the 1950s and '60s. We got most of the archival stills used in the show from the Wildwood Historical Society, who were wonderful and just literally opened their collections up to us. It's really an amazing place. The whole history of Wildwood -- books, photos, travel logs -- is contained in this one building.

Wildwood Days is interviews, it's archival, it's music, it's a little bit of everything -- a rock 'n' roll, beachy, sand 'n' surf documentary. It's not a normal documentary, because it's full of music and laughter and some really funny moments. When I was making this film, it really reminded me of a similar thing that happened in South Beach, Florida, where there was a huge fight to preserve the original buildings. I'm hoping that this film will open people's eyes, and make them realize that places like this are worth saving!