The National Comedy Center and Much Else

From San Francisco we hied us to western New York, our ultimate destination being the Fredonia Marxonia Festival at SUNY Fredonia. We'll write about the festival itself on Travalanche, but that wasn't the sum total of what we saw in the area. My welcome committee (Barb Yochym) and the Marxonia organizer (Cindy Yochym) took amazing care of me, enabling me to get a TON of sightseeing done prior to the festival. Here's some of what I saw:

First glimpse of Lake Erie. Below is Dunkirk Historical Lighthouse. 

I'm distantly related to Oliver Hazard Perry, the hero of this battle. 

Nearby: George Abbott's birthplace! Who knew? 

My (5th) great grandfather Jonathan Bugbee (1749-1820) was one of the first settlers of nearby Stockton (1809). There seems to have been a migration of relatives from my mom's home region of Northeast Connecticut to western New York around this time. Numerous Cadys (including the lines leading to Elizabeth Cady Stanton, and comedian Fred Cady) made the move. The town of Pomfret, New York appears to be named after Pomfret, CT the village next to my mother's, and so forth. 

Anyay, we stopped by the Union Cemetery in Centralia, NY to honor the remains of Bugbee, and my (5th) great grandmother Mary Dean. 

Next it was on the the famous Chautauqua Institute, which I had written a little about here. 

We also stopped by Lily Dale, the famous village of spiritualists. I'd wanted to see it since reading Christine Wickers' book Lily Dale: The True Story of the Town That Talks to the Dead. If you were really my friend you'd Photoshop a ghost behind me in this picture:

Then on to Jamestown, hometown of Lucille Ball! It's all about the laughter: 

Then finally the headline act, the new National Comedy Center.

Here are some artifacts I particularly liked: 

Rodney Dangerfield's notes: 

Smothers Brothers' suits and instruments: 

A purported cane of Charlie Chaplin:

Coats of Groucho and Harpo Marx:  

Jack Benny's tuxedo: 

 Rose Marie's pink suit:

Archie Bunker's jacket: 

Dan Aykroyd's motorcycle: 

Several Laugh-In related items: a wall from the set, a flashy outfit worn by Judy Carne, and a Fickle Finger of Fate: 

Several items celebrating Ernie Kovacs' centennial. Something tells me my friend Ben Model was involved.

I found myself unexpectedly awestruck and moved by the sight of Bob Hope's fatigues. Nothing else at the museum shook me quite so much as this. 

And here's Lenny Bruce's dirty trench coat and typewriter!

A genuine list of rules from the Orpheum vaudeville circuit. 

Here's Jonathan Winters' dress and wig! 

A page of script from The Dick Van Dyke Show. 

And now, on to the big event!