BS: Bailey's Mistake & Mine

Subject: Bailey's Mistake & Mine
From: GUEST,Roll&Go-C
Date: 24 Mar 01 - 10:01 AM

Speaking of Disney Productions did anyone else waste an hour or two watching "Bailey's Mistake" on TV last week? I'm still in shock! I live in Maine and I read that this made for TV movie had something to do with an island of the coast here. I was curious, as I was familiar with a cove called Bailey's Mistake that's downeast near Lubec, and I had wondered how it had gotten its curious name. Well, the movie briefly confirmed what I'd learned in one 3 second aside (which I'll share if anyone is interested) but what really infuriated me was this island of Celtic Gypsies...They did have piles of lobster traps cluttering up the foreground but did you see a single lobster buoy in the water? Maybe, the folks out in the island just dump the traps into the water, dive in after and unload what they find underwater? And did anyone else notice the zipcode of the return address of the "letter" from Bailey's Mistake, 04107. Cape Elizabeth! Hours from Washington County! I still wonder if there wasn't a good story there before the usual Disney production team got involved. Ma, look what they've done with my story!

Subject: RE: BS: Bailey's Mistake & Mine
From: Ebbie
Date: 24 Mar 01 - 02:56 PM

I came upon it late, and because it was Elizabeth Montgomery, watched it to the end, an exercise in bemusement. I would read the book if I came across it- there has to be the thread of a good story there somewhere.

Ebbie

Subject: RE: BS: Bailey's Mistake & Mine
From: Banjer
Date: 24 Mar 01 - 06:52 PM

I saw the movie, but not being familiar with the area would not have caught the mistakes. Probably if it had been set here in Florida I could have picked it apart. Cute story though...

Subject: RE: BS: Bailey's Mistake & Mine
From: Amergin
Date: 24 Mar 01 - 11:46 PM

I saw it, too....and I thought that it could have been a wonderfully done show if Disney hadn't gotten ahold of it.....

Subject: RE: BS: Bailey's Mistake & Mine
From: GUEST,Roll&Go-C
Date: 26 Mar 01 - 10:32 AM

I really wonder who originally worked on the film story. The story, which periodically surfaces in Maine newspapers, usually has Capt. Bailey sailing off the coast of Washington County. It's not clear which way he was heading but he had a cargo of lumber piled high on the deck and was probably socked in by fog or otherwise indisposed. It is clear where he ended up, ashore in a large cove south of the Town of Lubec (check your Delorme Atlas), which oddly enough is now called Bailey's Mistake. It's generally suggested that Capt. Bailey was so disgusted that he gave up sailing, salvaged the lumber and built some houses on the cove. Lovely story with no mention of Gypsies. And for some reason, the reporters who wrote the news stories refuse to provide further details, at least in response to my e-mails.