_____Because of SHOUT, Grant was always a part of the happening scene in Wildwood and he loved it. He became a bit of a local celebrity in his own right and is remembered by many local residents as the guy seen cruising the streets of Wildwood in his white, 1954 Rolls Royce and sporting a chauffeur's cap. The paper consumed most of his time, but always the entrepreneur, Grant made a major investment in the early 1970's and purchased The Brigadoon Motel in North Wildwood which he operated simultaneously with SHOUT for a brief time before selling it 18 months later. Other than this venture, SHOUT was Grant's only means. Then after the 1976 season he sold the paper to Art Hall (publisher of The Cape May County Herald Newspaper) but remained SHOUT news coordinator for another two years.
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_____Art Hall continued publishing SHOUT, true to its original form, for many years and demand for the guide remained strong. Eventually, however, the lighted strip once dubbed "Little Las Vegas" began to grow dim and as a result SHOUT mirrored the changes happening in The Wildwoods and, naturally, became a different kind of paper; its appearance changed as well, switching from long tabloid (11"x17") to short tab (11"x14") in 1995. In 2005, after a 43 year run, the final issue of SHOUT came off the press bringing to an end the ultimate weekly guide to summer fun. |
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_____On a personal note - when I was a kid SHOUT was something I looked forward to every week throughout the summers of my youth and ranks high on my list of favorite Wildwood memories, and although I was far too young to have experienced the Wildwood night life in its heyday, thanks to SHOUT, I was still tuned in to all the action around town. I still have a few issues from the early 70's nestled among my keepsakes that I revisit time and again. Peeling open an old SHOUT is like opening the door to a virtual Wildwood time capsule, revealing all that Wildwood was at that particular moment in time within its faded pages.
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My sincere thanks and appreciation to Dennis Grant, Richard Bonelli and Steve Kaplan for taking the time to share with me their memories of SHOUT. |
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Also to Karen Dickinson and Rob Kosinski of the Cape May Count Herald for providing information as well as access to their SHOUT archive. |
A special thanks to Anne Vinci - and always, the Wildwood Historical Society and George F. Boyer Museum to which Dennis Grant kindly donated his personal SHOUT collection consisting of every issue from years 1962 through 1976.
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Copyright 2012 Ralph Grassi
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