Showing to help leave mark on Carson history

There is $1,240 missing from the city treasury and Andrew Long has discovered it, but city officials are trying to shush him.

Such is the plot of the "Remarkable Andrew" a 1942 movie filmed in Carson City. Many of the scenes were shot in the Rinckel Mansion 102 N. Curry St. and other historic locales in and around Carson City.

The movie returns to the "big screen" for one night at 7 p.m. Nov. 20 in the Brewery Arts Center.

The movie is being shown to raise money for the Carson City Preservation Coalition. The group is beginning to raise funds to purchase a building to house a museum filled with Carson City History.

"There's so much history here," coalition leader Eileen Cohen said. "But it's not in one place."

The mansion was built over two years beginning in 1874 by Mathias Rinckel as a way to placate his wife Marcella Elizabeth Coffee Rinckel.

Marcella Rinckel was from Staten Island, N.Y., and hated the raw, dusty frontier territory that became a state the same month and year she was married. He convinced her to stay promising to build her "a house befitting a queen."

The family would not move in until Christmas 1876.

Longtime Carson City resident Ronald Machado was named curator of the Rinckel Mansion in 1962. Prior to that he spent many years learning the history of the Rinckel Family and will open the show with family tales. Popcorn, sodas and wine will be available.

Machado said between 1953 and 1960 he frequently visited the mansion captivated by Blakeslee's revelations. In 1962 he was named curator of the mansion and retold the tales of the Rinckel family for the next 10 years while he kept up the 1870s home.

While the home was being built the pair took a second honeymoon to the Centennial Exposition in Philadelphia and took part in the nation's celebration of the U.S.'s 100th birthday.

At the world's fair they purchased a cooking range for the kitchen and a glass-domed clock for the parlor.

"Most of the furnishings that graced their home came from the latest displays shown at the exposition," Machado said.

Machado described the home as "a treasure of grace and beauty," the film shows the interior as it was left by Louise Rinckel Blackeslee the last living member of the Rinckel family to live in the home.

"Louise inherited the house and it was thought by others at the time that she got the worst of the deal," Machado said. "Being the fourth and youngest daughter she didn't inherit any of the Carson Street business property."

Her father Matt Rinckel had a two-story brick building on the corner of Carson and Proctor streets. Rinckel was a leading resident of town with a successful butcher store on the first floor called the Eagle Market and offices for doctors, lawyers and dentists on the second story.

The Eagle Market sold beef, pork and mutton to the mining camps of Virginia City and the lumber companies at Lake Tahoe.

Rinckel also built a horse racing track on East Musser Street where the Carson City Sheriff's Office is today. The center of the track is most famous for the boxing match between Gentleman Jim Corbett and Bob Fitzsimmons. Fitzsimmons' "terrible right swing on Corbett's neck" robbed the title from the champion after 14 rounds.

Blackeslee inherited the home after her mother's death in 1933, but left the home intact as a time capsule of 1876.

"The film's producer Mr. Bloomenthal induced Mrs. Blakeslee to open the house to the public as an educational museum of Nevada pioneer history," Machado said.

Bloomenthal's film "Remarkable Andrew" staring William Holden, Brian Donlevy and Ellen Dru was filmed at the house and in other locations around Carson such as the Paul Laxalt State Building.

The plot for "Remarkable Andrew" is that Andrew Long, a hyper-efficient small town accountant, finds a $1,240 discrepancy in the city budget, his superiors try to explain it away. When he insists on pursuing the matter, he's in danger of being blamed himself.

In his trouble, the spirit of Andrew Jackson, whom he idolizes, visits him and , and in turn, summons much high-powered talent from American history ... which only Andrew can see. Can he get out of trouble before too many people think he's crazy?

Blackeslee gave personal guided tours of the home from 1941 until her death in 1960.

In 1971 an estate sale was held at the mansion and the family's belongings were scattered to the four winds.

Machado has a lap secretary given to Marcella Rinckel in 1864 as a wedding present.

"She was very proud that she was married about the same time that Nevada became a state," he said.

What: Remarkable Andrew

When: 7 p.m. Nov. 20

Where: Brewery Arts Center, 449 W, King St., corner of Division and King streets

The Rinckel Family in the 1880 U.S. Census

Marcella Elizabeth Rinckel, age 33

Francis Marcella Rinckel, age 13

Ellen Livinia, age 12

Carolyn May, age 10

Louise, age 6

Mathias Centennial, age 3

Edward J., age 11 months

Mathias Rinckel died of a ruptured appendix Oct. 6, 1979 at the age of 46

Mathias and Edward were born in the mansion. Mathias' middle name Centennial stems from his conception in 1876.