For a documentary film about the lives of 1930s movie stars/singers Jeanette MacDonald and Nelson Eddy, I’d like to hear from anyone, particularly in the Pittsburgh area, who might have known or seen Nelson and Jeanette. This would include hearing them in local concerts, opera or nightclubs, anyone knowing them personally (especially since Jeanette was a Philly native and Nelson spent his teenage and early adults years in Philly and singing around Pennsylvania). I’m looking for friends, fans, co-workers, family and/or lovers…and annonymity is assured, if you prefer. Anyone whose parents or grandparents might have had a connection, particularly in Pittsburgh, should also contact me. Any help or leads will be appreciated, you can email me at sharonrich@aol.com. I was a good friend of Jeanette’s older sister Blossom (the 3rd MacDonald sister Elsie had a dance school in Upper Darby) and am the author of a duo-biography of the team, “Sweethearts,” in which I candidly discuss their off-screen romance. My website is: www.maceddy.com and you can also read the first chapter of “Sweetheartsâ€Â? at this link. Thanks for any help you can provide!
Category Archives: History
What’s a strength for our community to build on?
I recently found this Dec. 2005 discussion between the City Paper (CP), Wilkinsburg councilwoman Tracey Evans and three Mon-Valley mayors, including John Fetterman of Braddock, Betty Esper of Homestead, and Norma Ryan of Brownsville. I thought this interview provides a creative view of Mon-Valley strengths – it’s not all gloom and doom! (Links added by your truly. 🙂
CP: What’s a strength for your community to build on?
Evans: Definitely the housing stock. Just beautiful houses, the proximity to the city and the accessibility to the East Busway and Frick Park.
Ryan: Our assets are probably our potential for tourism and recreation. We’re right on the river, and we’re in two heritage zones, Steel Industry Heritage and also the National Road. We need to build on our heritage, and maybe bring people out of city life to experience rural life.
Evans: No, no! Keep ’em in the city!
Fetterman: This might sound strange, but I think Braddock’s asset might be its complete lack of assets. I mean, some of our buildings don’t have roofs! Maybe it can capture someone’s imagination. It’s small enough to make an impact, but large enough to get people’s attention.
Esper: I think the asset of Homestead is the history of Homestead, the steel industry.
Fetterman: As mayor of Braddock, I have to say, We’ve got steel!
Ryan: And guys, if it weren’t for the coal from Brownsville, how would you get steel?
Esper: We’re celebrating our 125th anniversary this year. You can’t talk to anyone who can’t talk to you about the history of Homestead. We had the 1892 strike!
Ryan: Are we just that throwaway society, is that what America should be known as? No. Southwest Pennsylvania — the steel capital of the world, the national road that opened the west — as I keep trying to promote, you can really tell the story of the making of America. It’s all here.
be in a movie about pittsburgh
i just received this information in an email:
“IT’S A BEAUTIFUL DAY IN THE NEIGHBORHOOD”
BE PART OF A FILM SHOOT
SATURDAY JULY 1, 2006
5:00 PM
AT THE POINT
On Saturday July 1st at 5 p.m., Pittsburghers, past and present, near and far, are invited to join Mr. McFeely (David Newell) to sing “It’s A Beautiful Day In the Neighborhood” at The Point.
This once-in-a-lifetime event is part of the grand finale of “A TALE OF TWO CITIES”, a movie we are making about Pittsburgh– the city which built America with its steel, cured polio and invented everything from aluminum to the Big Mac which now is being challenged to reinvent itself.
Continue reading
Tell your favorite stories of Pittsburgh…
…or ask someone to tell you theirs!
StoryCorps has arrived in Pittsburgh, and will stay until July 2! I first heard about StoryCorps on NPR, and I love the concept. Here’s a blurb from their website www.storycorps.net to explain the project:
StoryCorps is a national project to instruct and inspire people to record each others’ stories in sound. We’re here to help you interview your grandmother, your uncle, the lady who’s worked at the luncheonette down the block for as long as you can rememberâ€â€?anyone whose story you want to hear and preserve.
We have two traveling recording studios, called MobileBooths, which embarked on cross-country tours on May 19, 2005. We’ve tried to make the experience as simple as possible: We help you figure out what questions to ask. We handle all the technical aspects of the recording. At the end of the hour-long session, you get a copy of your interview on CD. Since we want to make sure your story lives on for generations to come, we’ll also add your interview to the StoryCorps Archive, housed at the American Folklife Center at the Library of Congress, which we hope will become nothing less than an oral history of America.
Sign-ups for the last two weeks of recording are open tomorrow – June 9 at 10:00 am. If you have someone in mind that you want to interview call 1-800-850-4406 or sign-up online at http://www.storycorps.net/participate/record_an_interview/locations/ Be sure to sign up right away. Time slots go fast!
Make your Pittsburgh story part of this great project!
Hazelwood: History
I recently saw August Wilson’s Gem of the Ocean (which deserves a post of its own!) The work is set in the Hill District 1907, and one of the characters, Selig, mentions setting off to Scotch Bottom. Where exactly is Scotch Bottom?
This is actually part of Hazelwood, and according to this look at history of Scotch Bottom,
“Immigrants from Scotland were the first settlers in this Indian territory, and the area from Four Mile Run to the Six Mile Ferry (four and six miles respectively from The Point) was called Scotch Bottom.”
Hazelwood itself actually derives its name from the hazelnut trees which once covered its site along the Monongahela River. Check out the rest of the history of this neighborhood here!