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<TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=1 width="100%" border=0><TBODY><TR><TD><SPAN class=TopStory>Frenchman's Cove</SPAN>
<SPAN class=Subheadline>Where power, glamour & history come in waves</SPAN></TD></TR><TR><TD>BY MARGUERITE GAURON Observer writer
Sunday, August 20, 2006
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<P class=StoryText align=justify>IT was once a lush green private property where, back in the 1950s a young Princess Margaret had a secluded swim and a retired British Prime Minister, Sir Winston Churchill, was able to set up his easel and paint in blissful solitude<P class=StoryText align=justify>Later it was also the place where French movie star, Leslie Caron got married to a secret lover she met on a plane and young music entrepenuer, Chris Blackwell was Best Man at the wedding.<TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=5 width=330 align=left border=0><TBODY><TR><TD>
</TD></TR><TR><TD><SPAN class=Description></SPAN></TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE><P class=StoryText align=justify>This was the Frenchman's Cove of yesteryear, a 42-acre section of Cold Harbour Estate (San San), owned by Canadian businessman, Garfield Weston. Weston bought the idyllic seaside property with the dream of building 10 cottages, one for himself and one each for his three sons and six daughters.<P class=StoryText align=justify>It was later son, Grainger, who, prompted by the foreign press, eventually turned the villa complex into the Caribbean's first successful luxury "all-inclusive" resort that attracted the rich and famous, crowned and uncrowned heads, to frolic in the mineral waters that bubbled out of rocks at the front gate and flowed into series of icy-cold, crystal-clear pools to join the sea at one of the most picturesque beaches in the Hemisphere.
The ultra-lavish service offered by this first all-inclusive was legendary.<P class=StoryText align=justify>Ted Ruddock, who managed Frenchmans Cove from 1967 to 1972, recalls the late commedian Jackie Gleason as being a guest who really enjoyed his liquor. Gleason and a red-headed companion stayed at Frenchman's in 1969.<TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=5 width=330 align=right border=0><TBODY><TR><TD>
</TD></TR><TR><TD><SPAN class=Description></SPAN></TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE><P class=StoryText align=justify>One day the couple had an argument and the lady walked off the property in a huff and disappeared into the company of super rich, debonair permanent bachelor, Rex Rand, better known as "Sexy Rexy". Rand was then the owner of the Jamaica Reef (formerly the Titchfield). He lived in a villa on that property and was famous for his lavish parties. He was also owner of the popular Miami-based radio station WINZ and was famous for flying in to Port Antonio on his private Gruman Goose (seaplane) and landing in front of the Titchfield Beach, now a part of the Errol Flynn Marina complex.<P class=StoryText align=justify>When Gleason's companion did not show any sign of returning to Frenchman's Cove, he went on a serious drinking binge. Completely inebriated, he leapt onto one of the resort's golf carts and sped through the property unwittingly taking a trail that led straight downhill to the garbage tip.<P class=StoryText align=justify>Ruddock recalls chasing the cart which came to a sudden stop just in front of the tip. Ruddock then helped the swaying Gleason from the cart and offered to drive him back to his cottage where he was quietly settled into a comfy verandah chair.<P class=StoryText align=justify>Ever mindful of Frenchman's superior reputation for service, Ruddock called Rand and asked him to persuade Gleason's guest to return - and he did - so everything returned to normal and the couple settled down happily for the rest of their stay.
<SPAN class=Subheadline>Where power, glamour & history come in waves</SPAN></TD></TR><TR><TD>BY MARGUERITE GAURON Observer writer
Sunday, August 20, 2006
</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>
<P class=StoryText align=justify>IT was once a lush green private property where, back in the 1950s a young Princess Margaret had a secluded swim and a retired British Prime Minister, Sir Winston Churchill, was able to set up his easel and paint in blissful solitude<P class=StoryText align=justify>Later it was also the place where French movie star, Leslie Caron got married to a secret lover she met on a plane and young music entrepenuer, Chris Blackwell was Best Man at the wedding.<TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=5 width=330 align=left border=0><TBODY><TR><TD>
</TD></TR><TR><TD><SPAN class=Description></SPAN></TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE><P class=StoryText align=justify>This was the Frenchman's Cove of yesteryear, a 42-acre section of Cold Harbour Estate (San San), owned by Canadian businessman, Garfield Weston. Weston bought the idyllic seaside property with the dream of building 10 cottages, one for himself and one each for his three sons and six daughters.<P class=StoryText align=justify>It was later son, Grainger, who, prompted by the foreign press, eventually turned the villa complex into the Caribbean's first successful luxury "all-inclusive" resort that attracted the rich and famous, crowned and uncrowned heads, to frolic in the mineral waters that bubbled out of rocks at the front gate and flowed into series of icy-cold, crystal-clear pools to join the sea at one of the most picturesque beaches in the Hemisphere.The ultra-lavish service offered by this first all-inclusive was legendary.<P class=StoryText align=justify>Ted Ruddock, who managed Frenchmans Cove from 1967 to 1972, recalls the late commedian Jackie Gleason as being a guest who really enjoyed his liquor. Gleason and a red-headed companion stayed at Frenchman's in 1969.<TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=5 width=330 align=right border=0><TBODY><TR><TD>
</TD></TR><TR><TD><SPAN class=Description></SPAN></TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE><P class=StoryText align=justify>One day the couple had an argument and the lady walked off the property in a huff and disappeared into the company of super rich, debonair permanent bachelor, Rex Rand, better known as "Sexy Rexy". Rand was then the owner of the Jamaica Reef (formerly the Titchfield). He lived in a villa on that property and was famous for his lavish parties. He was also owner of the popular Miami-based radio station WINZ and was famous for flying in to Port Antonio on his private Gruman Goose (seaplane) and landing in front of the Titchfield Beach, now a part of the Errol Flynn Marina complex.<P class=StoryText align=justify>When Gleason's companion did not show any sign of returning to Frenchman's Cove, he went on a serious drinking binge. Completely inebriated, he leapt onto one of the resort's golf carts and sped through the property unwittingly taking a trail that led straight downhill to the garbage tip.<P class=StoryText align=justify>Ruddock recalls chasing the cart which came to a sudden stop just in front of the tip. Ruddock then helped the swaying Gleason from the cart and offered to drive him back to his cottage where he was quietly settled into a comfy verandah chair.<P class=StoryText align=justify>Ever mindful of Frenchman's superior reputation for service, Ruddock called Rand and asked him to persuade Gleason's guest to return - and he did - so everything returned to normal and the couple settled down happily for the rest of their stay.