DAN'S PAPERS, October 17, 2008 Page 34 www.danshamptons.com
Robinson
Bishop
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neighbor Naomi Lazard, she went to work. She contacted many Hollywood friends, all of whom agreed to help her in one way or another. Michael Fuchs became involved. So did Steven Spielberg, who became an honorary chairman. Her friend Alan Alda — she had cast “MASH” — became involved. She contacted Stuart Suma from Silvercup Productions in Queens and he came on board. Through contacts, she got Gerald Levine from Time Warner, she hired Daryll McDonald as first director of the festival and arranged for Ruda Dauphin, a dynamic woman from France whom she knew, to declare that her Deauville Film Festival would be a sister film festival. She hired a PR firm. The New York Times wrote about the upcoming first festival and she talked to many of her Hollywood friends who became instrumental in getting on board new films. “Daryll and I screened over 100 movies for that first festival. We wanted it largely to be a festival of independent films. We chose about 30. We put together a program. I made the arrangements to take over the UA Theatre in East Hampton for that week of the the first festival. It was just a duplex at that time. The theatre asked for just a modest sum to cover their expenses. Through contacts, I got our first sponsor, Stuart Kreisler of Arrow Shirts. I was doing all of this out of my basement which, early on, I had converted to the festival’s first office.” It was an exciting time. And it was clear from the get go that this was going to be a huge success. But, as it turned out, Joyce Robinson was not to be part of what she had created. Just prior to
the opening of that first festival in October of 1993, she had a dispute with some of the people on the board of directors of the festival, and she left. Director Daryll McDonald became the official host of the first film festival, which opened three weeks later. It seems a shame to me that 15 years later, the Hampton International Film Festival does not honor Joyce Robinson somewhere during the event. Whatever happened was 15 years ago. Nobody disputes what she did for the first year and a half, and as the publisher of Dan’s Papers at the time, I can attest to the tremendous amount of energy she put out. Her name, at the very least, should grace the program somewhere. Joyce Robinson, of course, moved on with her life. She moved to New Canaan, Connecticut and opened a corporate event planning business. Much of it was in Los Angeles, New Orleans, Orlando, Las Vegas and Philadelphia. In 1999, after three years of renting it out in the summer time and coming here winters, she sold her house in East Hampton. She closed her corporate event planning business in Connecticut in 2006 and since then has dabbled in real estate. In any case, Joyce is back in town. If you see her at any of the films, it could be that she is wearing a FOUNDER’S tag around her neck. They are hard to get because it gets you into every film, event and party during the festival, but you know what? That’s her. If you see her, thank her. She really did something.
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tecting Main Street and middle class families. We’re trying to protect them. Without this, the credit markets will continue to tighten. This [bill] is the best tool available to us at this time.” In a bipartisan statement from all members of Long Island’s Congressional Delegation, who all voted in favor of the bill, including Bishop, they said, “Long Island’s economy is dangerously close to reaching a tipping point…… Clearly, we need to stop the meltdown on Wall Street from breaking down Main Street.” As Long Island’s economy has been hurting more and more from the country’s deepening recession, even the East End is seeing the effects. Bishop says he knows of several multimillion-dollar homes on the South Fork that were abandoned mid-construction because the owners are uncertain about their financial future. Car dealerships have been having a hard time securing credit for auto financing and small businesses struggle to pay their bills at a time when shoppers are spending less money. Bishop also recently voted in support of an energy bill that will permit off-shore oil drilling 50 to 100 miles off the coasts, as long as it’s approved by the state whose shoreline is in question. The bill passed in the House 236 to 189, days after a moratorium on off-shore drilling expired. The Senate, however, did not have time to vote on the bill, so it never made it to Governor David Paterson’s desk. Bishop, who has long been opposed to offshore drilling, says he only supported this legislation because the House couldn’t muster up enough support to continue the moratorium, but says it’s no reason for concern among East End residents. “I’m extremely confident it will have no impact on Eastern Long Island,” he said. He also said that since the moratorium on off-shore drilling has expired, people shouldn’t worry about it happening any time soon because of the lengthy application process. “Even if a company approached the Department of Interior today and said they wanted a lease for off-shore drilling, it would happen, at the earliest, 2011, 2012,” he said. And, with this being an election year, a new president and new Congress will be sworn into office in January to tackle the issue. “So, it’s not something anyone should be concerned about,” Bishop said. He added, “The whole discussion of off-shore drilling is not a discussion we should be having. The discussion that has more relevance is one about renewable energy, wind power and solar power. That should be the direction of public policy. We cannot drill ourselves out of this.”
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