The following statement was released by Jim Hubbard of American Film Renaissance:
I have approached Mike Wilson with an offer to sell, at a sharply discounted rate, the footage he shot for the McKeesport documentary. If the offer is accepted, this will provide Mr. Wilson with the opportunity he publicly claims that he wants: To finish the McKeesport film in a manner in which he feels it "needed to be made." If Wilson agrees to a deal, our funders, the Arthur N. Rupe Foundation, will incur a considerable loss on their investment.
We believe our offer is more than reasonable. This is especially true considering that Mike Wilson and his team have publicly stated that they are "in love with the story", have "amazing footage" of an "important story", and are "crushed" that their version of the McKeesport film will "never be seen." This need not be the case.
We are providing Mr. Wilson with a fantastic opportunity to take ownership of the film and finish it in any way that he chooses. The ball is now in Mr. Wilson's court. If his public comments are indeed sincere, then he should eagerly accept the opportunity we are providing to him.
Sincerely,
Jim Hubbard
Editor's Note: Some days, I live by the precepts of Dorothy Parker, who said, "If you can't say anything nice, come sit next to me."
. . .
He Puts the 'Goober' into Gubernatorial: Gov. Ed Rendell, with all due respect, please stuff a cheesesteak into your gobhole before you say something else that's ridiculous.
Why did anyone think that he was such a skilled politician? After all, he can't seem to get anything through the Pennsylvania General Assembly, with the exception of casino legislation that's been of very dubious quality so far.
Apparently unsatisfied with confining his lackluster record to the confines of the Commonwealth, Rendell never misses an opportunity to say dumb things to national audiences.
Out at the Democratic National Convention, Rendell, who put all of his chips on Hillary Clinton during the Democratic primaries, just can't seem to accept the fact that she lost. Now he's running around, making backhanded remarks about the presumptive nominee, Barack Obama.
First, Rendell blamed the media for Clinton's failure to grab the nomination; at a forum hosted by the Sunday-morning talk shows, Rendell began railing at MSNBC until PBS's Judy Woodruff gently encouraged him to sit down.
Then he told NPR he's "disappointed" that Obama won more delegates than Clinton, because "Hillary Clinton would have been a spectacular president."
Way to sandbag your own candidate, governor. Of course, Rendell did the same thing to Bob Casey Jr. two years ago --- you may recall when he told reporters that "Rick Santorum has proven that he gets the job done ... When it comes to Pennsylvania, Santorum delivers." With friends like these, Democrats don't need enemies.
Maybe Rendell is secretly a Republican; he couldn't be a better advocate for the GOP. Frankly, I don't care if he's a Republican or a Democrat --- I just wish he were a better advocate for Pennsylvania.
We'd be better off if the governor spent just a little time trying to reform the state's antiquated 19th century government, and less time listening to himself talk.
. . .
Sign, Sign, Everywhere a Sign: I like to watch for political signs and bumper stickers; I don't have any proof that their presence or absence can actually be correlated to support of some particular candidate, but I find it interesting.
I've already seen a John McCain sign in a front yard in Liberty Borough, and a McCain bumper sticker on a car in Port Vue.
Liberty has long been a safe place for Republicans in the Mon-Yough area, but Port Vue? Hmm. Interpret this information however you want. It might be meaningless.
Obama signs are so far conspicuous by their absence outside of the McKeesport city limits.
. . .
Sign, Sign, Everywhere a Sign, Part II: Alert Reader Lane wants to know what the signs saying "Save the Police" mean. "Are we talking about Sting? Or just what is going on. Dare I entertain the notion of consolidating redundant services?"
The signs are being posted by Versailles residents who are panicking over the thought that McKeesport police might start patrolling the borough under contract.
Obviously, the 1,700 people who live within Versailles' 0.5 square miles justify the cost and expense of a separate police force, Lane. Bringing in the larger McKeesport police force, which has its own juvenile officer, K-9 team, detective bureau and other services, clearly wouldn't provide any benefits to the residents of Versailles.
It's not important for Versailles taxpayers --- who spend about $257,000 per year on police services out of an $893,480 annual budget --- to save more than $90,000 per year by going with the city.
It's more important for Versailles to retain the "civic pride" that comes from having a police car with "Versailles" painted on the door, because that's really going to keep people from moving away.
I'm glad I could clear up this confusion.
. . .
Home, Sweet Office: Finally, Alert Reader John wants to know if the former G.C. Murphy Co. "home office" might have anything worth preserving.
A few artifacts, like the grandfather clock from the lobby and the brass plaque from the Fifth Avenue entrance, are out at the McKeesport Heritage Center.
But we'll probably never know if anything else is inside. Several years ago, former Murphy PR man Ed Davis asked the current owners of the complex if he could visit the building where he spent much of his career; they cussed him out and hung up on him.
Ed, who does a lot of charity work around town and is one of the Mon Valley's all around "good guys," says he's "never been treated so rudely in my life."
The Murphy home office --- a mishmash of old 19th and early 20th century buildings --- was never much of an architectural treasure, but its current condition is pretty sorry to look at.
It's doubtful much was left behind anyway; most of the fixtures were auctioned off by the late Leo Jesion when Ames sold Murphy's to the McCrory Corp., and I'm told that boxes and boxes of photos and other items were tossed into trash bins.
First things first: I have received several emails from Jim Hubbard of American Film Renaissance disputing the accuracy of the story that appeared in Saturday's Almanac. He calls the allegations in the story "false, malicious, and despicable":
Any notion that we only plan to examine Unions and Democrats without also examining Corporations and Republicans is also inaccurate. Personally, I believe there is both good and bad in Unions, Corporations, Democrats, and Republicans. I see the McKeesport film as a non-partisan and non-ideological project which seeks to explore the roots causes for the town's economic decline --- a decline we all hope is temporary. This film is not an ideological hatchet job.
Personally, I believe our completed film will serve as the ultimate rebuttal to these allegations.
To show how much we want a balanced film, we even wanted to hire you, someone who probably does not share our political viewpoints, at least on some issues. Anyway, Art and I really liked you, and wanted you to be involved with the film.
I am sorry that you prejudged us and our motives for making this film. I would simply ask that you be fair and withhold judgment until we have a final product in place. Why would you attempt to malign us --- or this project --- before you have even had a chance to review the film?
To say that Mike's footage was terrible is the worst possible thing he could have blamed it on, because first and foremost this is untrue; and second, how unprofessional can someone who has the role of bringing all parties together be?
I drove with Jim, ate with Jim, and heard nothing but positive aspects of Mike and why he had come to him on this project. The decision to take Mike off of this film was unfortunately made long before Jim ever looked at a lick of footage and even prior to the footage being sent back to him to a point where Art would have been able to see it ... It's very unfortunate that he has to take the lowest road possible in your discussion with him.
We are crushed by the fact that the heartbreakingly honest interviews the people of McKeesport gave us would never be seen. I won't speak for Mike Schaubach and Andy Halliwell but ... you would be hard pressed to find a different story from them.
I wish this was different. not only because we have some amazing footage on those tapes that now collect dust but because it is an important story for not only the citizens of McKeesport but for the rest of the country that McKeesport helped to build.
I showed him your article in the Tube City Almanac. You are extremely perceptive and are right on about everything you said about the people and the rumors ... However, he was slightly taken aback by the following quote: "Terry Lee --- or someone who says he's Terry Lee." I guess when you are Terry Lee, you want everyone to believe it!
The crisis in Eastern Europe has hit home in Renziehausen Park, where the 49th annual International Village food and music festival opens today.
Reports indicate that last night, workers at the Polish booth asked the city if they can move further away from the Russian booth.
Apparently, the people at the Russian booth are claiming that they have the right to enter the Polish booth any time they want.
A spokeswoman for the Russian booth said the problem is that workers from the American booth have been meddling in the Polish booth, and previously meddled in the Slovak and Croatian booths.
In the event that fighting breaks out, the McKeesport Little Tigers will be dispatched to serve as peacekeepers, and additional humanitarian aid has been promised by the Glassport Sons of Italy.
I keed! I keed!
. . .
Pennsylvania's original and best ethnic food and music festival gets underway today and runs through Thursday. It's easy to get to from Route 48 or Route 30. Parking is free.
Gates open nightly at 3 p.m. and admission is $2. (Yeah, it used to be free, blah blah blah, gas also cost 25 cents a gallon and don't be such a tightwad.)
Today's entertainment lineup includes the Mikey Dee Polka Band, William Penn Magyar Dancers, Christ Temple AME choir, the Trafford Junior Tamburitzans, the Grecian Odyssey Dancers from East Pittsburgh, the Golden Triangle Junior Tamburitzans, Lebanese belly-dancer Sandy Roma, and The Barons, a German band.
Tomorrow's lineup includes Radost, a Hawaiian dancing demonstration, the Rankin Junior Tammies, the Lajkoniki Polish Dancers, the Otets Paissii Bulgarian dance group, and the Duquesne Junior Tammies.
More dancing follows on Thursday, with fireworks after 9 p.m.
Also, remember the advice of Tube City Online's medical expert, Dr. Pica Pole, who says you should always wait at least 30 minutes between eating a pound of halushki and trying to dance an oberek.
. . .
For more free advice (and worth every penny), click here for the Tube City Almanac ultimate guide to International Village.
For some historical coverage of International Village as it was in 1972, click here.
Actually, if someone wants a certain title, there's a pretty good chance that Book Country will have it.
Editor's Note: This story was edited after publication.
. . .
The trailer for a still-unseen documentary about McKeesport asks whether the city can "rise from the ashes."
Now the producer and director are embroiled in a nasty dispute, and it's not clear when the project itself will rise from the ashes.
Director Mike Wilson told the Almanac this week that producer Jim Hubbard seized control of the film, and pressured him to slant the movie to suit his own conservative ideology.
But Hubbard says the footage that Wilson shot last year was "terrible," and that's why he and Art Rupe, who's financing the film project, fired the director.
Rupe, a McKeesport High School graduate who now lives in Santa Monica, Calif., is a millionaire philanthropist and the founder of Specialty Records.
"Clearly if I felt we had a good film there, I wouldn't have fired him," Hubbard says. "At the end of the day, it's my film, not Mike's."
. . .
Wilson is the second director fired from the project. The first, Sarah Whalen, has since become a supervising producer on the History Channel television series "Ax Men."
"Art seemed to indicate to me that this was Jim's decision, and Jim indicated that it was Art's decision," Wilson says. He bristles at Hubbard's accusation that the footage shot in McKeesport was sub-par.
"It had nothing to do with the (quality) of stuff we were creating," Wilson says. "The cut that I turned in was the film that I felt needed to be made."
Wilson, a Missouri native who now lives in Minnesota, first came to prominence for the 2004 film Michael Moore Hates America.
Shot in the same cheeky, irreverent style that characterized Moore's controversial movies like Bowling for Columbine, it pointed out inaccuracies in Moore's films and asked whether he betrayed the principles of documentary filmmaking. The film received generally positive reviews from critics, including Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times and Robert Koehler of Variety.
Michael Moore Hates America was one of the featured selections in the first "American Film Renaissance" film festival, which was organized by Hubbard and his wife as a conservative alternative to what they viewed as left-wing bias in Hollywood feature films.
. . .
Although much of Rupe's philanthropy has been non-partisan, he has also supported organizations like the Young Americas Foundation, which calls itself "the principal outreach organization of the Conservative Movement," and the Media Research Center, which is an opponent of what it calls "strident liberal bias" in the media.
Wilson says "his gut" tells him that Hubbard and Rupe want to make a film that blames Democrats and trade unions for McKeesport's decline.
"Look, I'm a libertarian and a capitalist, but I tried to be fair," Wilson says. Throughout the film, he says, he juxtaposed stories about government programs with comments from people such as Jerry Bowyer, a conservative author and commentator from Elizabeth Township, who says local and federal officials have turned McKeesport into "a welfare state."
"Then I talked to (Mayor) Jim Brewster, who told me (the government) has to tear down (abandoned) houses, for instance, because who's going to want to invest money and move into a neighborhood with abandoned houses?" Wilson says.
"I was in love with the story, and I was in love with what I thought we were going to create," he says. "The worst part about this is to have it stripped away --- for really nefarious purposes ... I just hope people know that this isn't us, and it isn't right."
. . .
Allegations that political bias motivated Hubbard and Rupe to remove Wilson from the project are untrue, Hubbard says.*
"Clearly we had some creative differences with Mike," he says. "What we want to do with the film is pursue the truth ... We don't have an axe to grind here."
The film is solely motivated by Rupe's desire to find out why the Mon Valley's economy collapsed in the 1980s, Hubbard says.
"Art just wants to help the town he grew up in," he says. Rupe has donated tens of thousands of dollars to charities in the McKeesport area, including the Consortium for Public Education.
. . .
Yet privately, several people who met with Rupe and Hubbard last year to discuss the film have told the Almanac that they were concerned by remarks made by both men.
One person says he warned other prominent local residents to be careful when dealing with the film crew. This source says he was worried that the film was going to do a "hatchet job" on the city.
(In the interest of full disclosure: I met with Rupe and Hubbard last year, and declined to participate in the project because of similar concerns, which I wrote about on two occasions, here and here.)
Wilson also worries that Hubbard and Rupe might betray McKeesporters who have cooperated with the film crew so far.
I thought I should point out that Lucas Piatt of Millcraft Industries, which is renovating the store for commercial and residential use, has been nothing but supportive of our efforts to preserve what we could of the store.
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Don't buy some piece of plastic junk. Support the troops by helping the USO instead:
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"Hell, I'm an old man and it's early in the morning. I'm just gathering my thoughts here." (circa 2004, attributed to Donald Rumsfield, U.S. Secretary of Defense)
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Mon Valley
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M'pls.
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