In the midst of this decline creditors seized on losses at both Fern Brook and Sandy Beach at the Lake.  Fern Brook was sold in foreclosure in May 1936 and Sandy Beach followed the next month.  Fern Brook’s amusement assets were acquired by a new corporation, Fern Brook Park, Inc., principally owned by Samuel Insalaco, Paul Griesmer and Hugh McKane  who made substantial new investments in the park. 

From 1937 to 1941 they leased management of the park to Pierre Venner, a professional entertainment manager with New York and Texas experience.  The dance hall was also renamed Club Boch in 1937.  It is unclear, however, if Venner remained throughout his 3 year contract since other dance promoters also entered the scene.

The new enterprise had a strong beginning on May 28, 1936, with band leader Ozzie Nelson who would marry his vocalist Harriet Willard Nelson, and as “Ozzie and Harriet” would later have a famed radio show and more famous television series in the 1950's.  They were the parents of Ricky Nelson, the rock-singer who died in an airplane accident in 1985.  Nelson had a second appearance at Fern Brook on July 12, 1938.  (Nelson, at age 13, was the youngest Eagle Scout in the US.  An honor student quarterback at Rutgers University he left law study to pursue music).next