Sheep stroll through Prospect Park in rare newsreel
BY SUSAN DE VRIES
It is just a snippet of footage,
but a rare bit of fi lm gives
a glimpse of something that
once greeted generations of
Brooklynites: a fl ock of sheep
taking a springtime stroll
through Prospect Park.
The shepherd and his collies
that guide the bleating herd,
including some scampering
lambs, were captured on fi lm in
April of 1929 by Fox Movietone
News. Delightfully, the footage,
apparently outtakes intended
for a newsreel, includes sound.
“I’d sooner be herding sheep in
Prospect Park,” proclaims the
shepherd when asked by his
young interviewer whether he
would prefer to be in Ireland.
Holding a lamb in her arms,
the interviewer gets in the last
word, proclaiming “there’s no
place like the USA.”
While the identity of the interviewer
and the other girls
who join in the scenes are unknown,
the herder with a pipe
in his mouth and collies at his
feet is likely John McLaughlin,
who worked as a shepherd in
the park in the 1920s. One of his
coworkers, collie Mike, can be
heard being called by name.
COURIER L 30 IFE, MARCH 5-11, 2021
McLaughlin wasn’t the only
herder to work in the park and
not even the most well known.
He appears to have taken over
primary duties when James
O’Hara retired after more than
35 years on the job. Appointed
in 1885, O’Hara and his collies
were a popular sight on the
Long Meadow and his retirement
in 1922 had the New York
Post declaring “lambs and babies
lose old friend.”
The herd likely predated
O’Hara as there are newspaper
references to sheep in the park
in the 1870s. In a circa 1869 report
to the Brooklyn Park Commissioners,
park architects
Olmsted and Vaux urged that
before the design of the “sweep
of grass-land” could be fully experienced
by visitors, it would
be necessary for sheep and cattle
to be allowed to graze.
Southdown sheep, an English
breed, were apparently
thought suitable for the pastoral
landscape, and the compact
and sturdy-looking animals
were popular subjects with amateur
and professional artists
alike. Photographs of the fl ock,
particularly upon their fi rst
spring stroll or their annual
shearing, appeared regularly in
local papers.
The sheep were also put to
work clearing out undergrowth,
much like the goats recently employed
by the Prospect Park Alliance.
The number of grazers
seems to have fl uctuated over the
years and the herd was culled
annually. By the summer of 1928,
McLaughlin told a local paper
he had 35 in his care with older
sheep sold off annually and 30 to
35 lambs born each spring. Collies
Mike and King helped him
in his work and the sheep had
fairly new quarters, a pen built
WOOL RUNNING: The fl ock circa 1900 with shepherd, likely James O’Hara,
and collie on duty. Detroit Publishing Co. via Library of Congress
for them near the zoo in 1920.
When precisely the fl ock
stopped grazing in the Long
Meadow is unclear but it seems
to have been the late 1930s.
They were joined by some Central
Park transplants in 1934 after
Commissioner Robert Moses
ordered their removal from
Manhattan. Annual spring references
to the herd in newspapers
fi zzle out in 1935.
This fi lm clip is the only
known footage of the fl ock, although
given the popularity
of the attraction, more fi lm
might yet be discovered.
The clip is preserved in
the Fox Movietone News Collection
of the University of
South Carolina Libraries. The
collection is a treasure trove
of snippets from the early 20th
century.
BY SUSAN DE VRIES
The 19th century Brooklyn
Heights house featured in
the 1987 fi lm “Moonstruck”
has hit the real estate market
— giving buyers the chance
to scoop up an iconic piece
of movie lore for a whopping
$12.85 million.
The romantic comedy —
starring Cher, Nicholas Cage,
and Olypmia Dukakis —
prominently featured the exterior
of the residence on the
corner of Cranberry and Willow
streets, along with its surrounding
areas, although the
interior scenes were fi lmed
elsewhere.
In real life, it’s a grand single
family home fi lled with
pristine-looking details such
as pocket doors, moldings,
mantels and ceiling medallions.
The 26-foot-wide brick
house was under wraps for
a couple of years for a restoration
project that included
work on the mansard roof,
the brownstone stoop and the
ironwork fence. That mansard
roof, complete with cresting,
is a later 19th century addition
to the circa 1830s house,
bringing a Second Empire
touch to the original Federal
style house.
The history of the
‘Moonstruck’ home
While the fi ctional Castorini
family from “Moonstruck”
may be the main association
with the property,
some of the real owners who
lived there over the building’s
180-plus years have some
equally dramatic stories.
The most extreme might be
the 1880s scandal and drawnout
lawsuit over the house’s
ownership after Dr. Herman
Richardt was accused of having
“complete control and
mastery” over the mind of
owner Catharine A. Valentine,
resulting, her family alleged,
in her handing over the
deed to 19 Cranberry St. The
case was followed extensively
in the press as competing interests
fought for the property
and the guardianship
of her son, who was removed
from her care over claims of
an “illicit relationship.”
In more positive recent history,
in 1961 the house was purchased
by Edward and Francesca
Rullman. An architect,
Edward Rullman was chairman
of the Brooklyn Heights
Association’s Design Advisory
Council and was active
in the movement to designate
the Brooklyn Heights Historic
District. His decision to sell
the house in 2008 after years
of restoring it and more than
50 others in the neighborhood
made the New York Times,
with Mr. Rullman telling the
paper, “We got 100 times what
we paid for it back in 1961.”
Back on the market
It’s now on the market for
the fi rst time since that sale
at an even more substantial
price. The interior was also
part of the recent renovation
project, and the listing notes
the house has a new steel infrastructure,
a gym and wine
cellar in a newly excavated
cellar, and recently restored
original details.
There is a driveway on
the Willow Street side entrance
to the property, and
the fl oor plan shows a car
parking space takes up less
than a third of the backyard.
The listing photo of the garden
shows a terrace off the
rear parlor, a brick-lined patio,
and a concrete pad with a
parked Vespa.
When the “Moonstruck”
house last sold in 2008, it went
for $3.85 million. The current
ask is more than triple that at
$12.85 million.
Once around the fl ock
‘Moonstruck’ house in Bklyn Heights
hits the market for $12.85 million
BROOKLYN
Love has a price
The home featured in the movie “Moonstruck” has hit the market.
Corcoran