History of Puzzle Parleys

Introduction

Early 1994 Pagey Elliott suggested to me that we gather puzzle cutters together at a meeting to discuss mutual concerns, and that we call it a “Puzzle Parley”.  She asked me to organize it and volunteered to help.  I contacted Anne Williams who thought it was a good idea and also agreed to help which was especially important in supplying a list of cutters.  Thus was born the Puzzle Parley.

The Meetings

  1. September 10, 1994.   House of Debby Greeley, Pagey’s older sister, Maine St, Concord, MA.  Cost was $10 (including lunch).  Only puzzle cutters from the Northeast were invited.  @20 attended.  2 notable things happened:
    1. Hostess, Debby Greeley lay down after lunch and had a mini-stroke.
    2. Yours truly, who organized the meeting and was to chair it with Pagey, was lying in the Mt. Desert Island Hospital, Bar Harbor, Maine, after a serious mountain accident.  Our son, Conrad, stepped in and substituted for his missing father.
  2. April 27-28, 1996.  Museum of Our National Heritage, Lexington, MA.  Cost $10 (included refreshments but no meals).  Puzzle cutters from beyond the Northeast were invited.  @22 attended.  The actual meeting  was Saturday afternoon at the Museum in conjunction with Anne Williams exhibition “Cutting a Fine Figure: The Art of the Jigsaw Puzzle” being held at the museum.  The next morning, some of us went over to the AGPC convention being held elsewhere in Lexington and demonstrated cutting puzzles.
  3. October 25, 1997.  Worcester Public Library, Worcester, MA.  Cost $15 (including lunch).  Puzzle cutters from around the country were invited.  @32 attended.  Parley was in conjunction with my exhibition of puzzles at the Library, including puzzles sent me by active cutters, several of whom attended the Parley as well.
  4. February 14-15, 1999.  Seafarer’s International House, New York City.  Barry Benepe helped make all the local arrangements and he and Judith Spektor invited us to their home the day before, as did Amy Scott, well known New York City artist who cuts some of her original artwork into puzzles.  Cost $30 (including lunch).  For the first time, invitee list was expanded to include puzzle collectors and enthusiasts, and, also for the first time, we received the endorsement of the AGPC as one of their regional or specialty meetings.  @32 people attended.
  5. November 11-12, 2000.  First day was at Holiday Inn, Mt. Kisco, NY; second day was at the Katonah Art Museum, Katonah, NY in conjunction with an exhibition of jigsaw and mechanical puzzles curated by Anne Williams and Jerry Slocum and a panel discussion which included Will Shortz, crossword editor of the NY Times, as well as Anne, Jerry, Harold Raizer and myself.  Cost $50 (including Saturday’s lunch & dinner).  @60 people attended, with more showing up Sunday for the panel and exhibition.  Hildegard had a concert Saturday night but showed up for Sunday’s events.
  6. September 27-28, 2002.  National Arts Club, NYC.  Again, Barry Benepe and Judith Spektor helped make the arrangements and also invited us to their home for drinks.  Cost: $35 (including lunch on Saturday).  @38 people attended.
  7. September 10-12, 2004.  Colonial Inn, Concord, MA.  For the first time, Melinda Shebell joined me as a co-organizer and while I put on a restoration workshop Friday morning at my house, she held Open House at her place Friday afternoon.  Cost: $35/person(including lunch).  @65 attended.  Melinda designed and organized the cutting of the first of her collaborative masterpieces presented to Pagey Elliott at the meeting, clearly the high point of the meeting.
  8. April 12-13, 2007.  Holiday Inn Golden Gateway, San Francisco, CA.  Meeting was carefully coordinated with the AGPC Convention the same weekend, managed by our very own fellow puzzler, Joe Seymour.  Cost: $50/person (including lunch).  @55 people attended.  Melinda not only co-organized the meeting with me, she also designed and organized the cutting of two more collaborative masterpieces presented to Anne Williams and myself.  Speaking for myself, I was totally stunned by Melinda’s puzzle and recognition of my contributions to the puzzle world.
  9. November 7-9, 2008.  Sturbridge Host Hotel, Sturbridge, MA.  Melinda held an Open House at her home in Stow on Friday afternoon and Hildegard and I held an Open House at our home in Worcester Sunday morning.  Saturday's session included discussions on copyright laws, setting up a "mega-website" for jigsaw puzzles, personalization in puzzles, repair of Pastime boxes, the 3 incredible multi-faceted puzzles designed by Melinda and presented to Pagey Elliott, Anne Williams and myself at earlier Parleys, the Showcase puzzles made by current puzzle cutters for the AGPC Charleston, SC convention earlier in the year, how to make presentations of puzzles, and more.  For the first time, we arranged for puzzling after Friday and Saturday's dinners in a special room.  The basic charge for Saturday's session was $45 and @87 attended, our largest participation to that point.

Conclusion

  1. Meetings have grown over the years in attendance, probably reflecting the growth in puzzle interest, especially cutting new puzzles.
  2. Puzzlement Google Group has been a big help.  Lara Braithewaite set this up after attending our meeting in San Francisco.
  3. No organization behind the meetings: just Melinda's and my willingness to organize and underwrite them, my data bank of 1600 names and addresses of people who have shown interest in buying or cutting puzzles over the past 15 years, and those of you who help out at the meetings. With Melinda spending 5 months of the year up in Nova Scotia and my getting just plain old, my wife says its time to share with someone else the responsibility for these meetings.  They are tremendously satisfying but require a steady hand for the several months leading up.  Anyone who might be interested, please call Melinda (1-978-897-3499) or myself (1-508-799-0644).
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