Mighty Duck

The Rubber Duck

A giant rubber duck is probably one of those things that doesn't require much of an introduction. (The name sort of says it all.) Besides, most of us in the Greater Pittsburgh area -- and probably across much of Western Pennsylvania -- are already aware of the "avian artwork" that has made its way up and down many of Pittsburgh's waterways.

Still, a giant rubber duck floating its way across our rivers is enough of a rare occurrence that it seems worthwhile to take a look at how it got here. The Rubber Duck is the creation of artist Florentijn Hofman, a 36-year-old Dutch artist who is famous for his "temporary sculptures," which have appeared in urban settings around the world. From 20-foot-tall blue sparrows for a Belgian annual music festival, to a nearly 100-foot-long aardvark commissioned by a zoo in the Netherlands, Hofman's unique urban pieces are undeniably eye-catching ... and a whole lot of fun.

Another of Hofman's "temporary sculptures," on display in the Netherlands

The Rubber Duck Project made its first appearance in 2007, with giant Rubber Ducks appearing in harbors in Amsterdam, Belgium, Osaka, Sydney, Sao Paulo, and Hong Kong. (Each city builds its own duck, following Hofman's specifications.) The Pittsburgh Rubber Duck marks a Duck's first US appearance -- with more tour dates across the country to follow. (Pittsburgh's Duck will be on display for the next several weeks.)

Hofman's words on creating the Rubber Duck seem to match the approach he takes to all his work: it's all about bringing joy to those who see his creations. "My sculptures ... give people a break from their daily routines. Passers-by stop in front of them and enter into conversation with other spectators. People are making contact with each other ... The Rubber Duck knows no frontiers, it doesn't discriminate, and doesn't have a political connotation. ... [the Duck] can relieve mondial tensions as well as define them."

From the top of a Japanese art museum

The Rubber Duck is here, in part, to help launch the Pittsburgh International Festival of Firsts. The festival is a chance for artists from around the world to launch their debut performances. (You can check the festival's calendar of events here.)

Our Rubber Duck is a bit smaller than normal (to help it fit underneath our myriad bridges) -- but at 40 feet tall and three stories wide, it's still a waterfowl to be reckoned with. The Duck is currently moored on the Allegheny River, near the Point, and is scheduled to remain in town until at least October 20. Don't miss it!


Links

Follow the Rubber Duck on Facebook: RubberDuckPGH

Follow the Rubber Duck on Twitter: @QuackPgh

Check out a "Just Ducky" Tour of Pittsburgh -- tour the city (and perhaps glimpse the Duck) by land and water!

Read more about the Rubber Duck from the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

Check out a photo gallery of Florentijn Hofman's urban art creations

The Rubber Duck Project - From the Pittsburgh International Festival of Firsts

"QUACK."

-- Post by Ms. B 

No Place Like Home

Pittsburgh, and Western Pennsylvania, have not been the setting of many books or films until the last 20 years or so. Our area is not as popular as, say, New York, Chicago, or Los Angeles. There might even be more made up-places that get used as story settings, rather than authors placing their stories in Pittsburgh (though that's just pure conjecture).

According to a 2010 Pittsburgh Post-Gazette article, the first book to use Western PA as a locale was Modern Chivalry by Hugh Henry Brackenridge, published in 1792. Unfortunately, it seems that this didn't start any kind of trend of writers wanting to explore the intricacies of the area. By the late 20th century, however, it started to slowly change.

One of the most successful writers to use Pittsburgh as a setting was Pulitzer Prize winner August Wilson (April 27, 1945). Born Frederick August Kittel in the Hill District neighborhood of Pittsburgh, he made a name for himself with his Pittsburgh Cycle of plays. Of the ten plays in the cycle (one for each decade of the 20th century), all but one are set in Pittsburgh. The first play, Ma Rainey's Black Bottom, took place in Chicago in 1927, but was based on musicians that Wilson knew while growing up in Pittsburgh.

Wilson was one of six children born to Daisy (Wilson) and Frederick August Kittel. His father was a German immigrant who did not live with or support the family; he was a baker by trade, but often out of work. Wilson's mother was the biggest influence on his life. She worked as a cleaning woman to support the family and provided a loving, but strict, home for Wilson and his siblings. He lived much of his life in the then-racially diverse Hill District neighborhood. This is where he got much of the inspiration for his stories.

Wilson dropped out of school after ninth grade, due to the racist treatment he felt he was receiving. Instead, he spent his time at the Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh's main branch, where he immersed himself in the writings of African-American authors. After a stint in the Army in the early 60s, Wilson returned to Pittsburgh. He bought a used typewriter, moved out of his mother's house and started writing.

He started out writing poetry but eventually moved on to plays. His involvement in the Black Power movement, and his neighbors and friends in Pittsburgh, greatly influenced his writing. When he moved to Minnesota in 1977, and was no longer surrounded by a large black community, he turned to those people and places he knew in his youth.

While Wilson did write other plays, his main focus after 1984 was on his Pittsburgh Cycle plays. While none of the ten plays opened in New York (most opened at the Yale Repertory Theatre), they all eventually were produced there. He earned two Pulitzer Prizes, one for Fences (1987) and the other for The Piano Lesson (1990). He earned numerous New York Drama Critics Circle Awards and won the Tony for Best Play in 1987 for Fences. These plays focus on the African American experience throughout the 20th century. While many of the issues raised are familial in nature, the stories tend to be about issues of black identity, of those that embrace their African past, and those that have turned away from it.

While Wilson never lived in Pittsburgh again (he died in Seattle in 2005), the city and its people were always a part of him.


To read any of Wilson's plays:
Pittsburgh Cycle Plays

To watch a television production:
Television broadcast of The Piano Lesson (DVD)

Additional information:
Interviews with August Wilson (DVDs)

August Wilson: Pittsburgh Places in His Life and Plays by Laurence A. Glasco and Christopher Rawson

Also, be sure to take time to visit the August Wilson Center for African American Culture located in downtown Pittsburgh.

And here are a few select titles from some other Pittsburgh and Western Pennsylvania authors who use our area for the setting of their works:

Tawni O'Dell -- For a dark, but, at times, humorous, look at life in rural Pennsylvania, start with Back Roads. Her other works are also set in the same area.

Kathleen George -- For mysteries, start the Richard Christies series with Taken. Also, be sure to take a look at Pittsburgh Noir, a collection of short stories edited by George.

Jennifer Haigh -- Set in fictional Bakerton, PA, Baker Towers follows the lives of one coal mining family in Western Pennsylvania. Recently published is News From Heaven, a series of short stories about Bakerton.

Michael Chabon --  This award-winning novelist's first books, The Mysteries of Pittsburgh and Wonder Boys, are set in Pittsburgh.


-- Post by Tracy

The Golden Age of Radio

KDKA, November 2, 1920 - East Pittsburgh, PA

Are you sick and tired of all the political ads that are being shown almost non-stop on television? Are you tired of phone calls for one of the many candidates up for election on November 6th? For most of us, it's hard to imagine a time when we weren't inundated with all of this political advertising. But there was a day when the American people weren't connected with the world 24/7. There was a time when people got all of their information from their local newspaper. There was no television, no radio, and definitely no cell phones! Most people didn't even have a regular landline phone in their home.

On November 2, 1920, right here in Southwestern Pennsylvania, the age of information (kind of) started. On that night, from a room on top of one of the Westinghouse buildings in East Pittsburgh, four hours of election results were broadcast. Communication would never be the same. At the most, a thousand people heard that first broadcast. Those people found out before the rest of the country that Warren G. Harding was to be the next President of the United States. Everyone else would have to wait for the next edition of their local newspaper.

By the next Presidential election, all of that would change. In 1922, WEAF in New York City (which later became WNBC) became the first commercial radio station. Its advertising wasn't as we know it today, but it established the precedent that commercial broadcasting was viable.

The 1920s saw the growth in the number of stations throughout the country and the number of radios in American homes. By the 1930s, about 90 percent of Americans owned at least one radio. This was the beginning of the Golden Age of radio.

The basic format was music, news, and other programming. Much of the programming would be theatrical productions, such as dramas, comedies, soap operas, westerns, and such. Many of these radio shows would go on to be television shows as well (Perry Mason, The Lone Ranger, The Guiding Light).

Listen to that historic broadcast here.

So to celebrate the beginnings of radio broadcasting, here are some of the most well-known moments in radio history.

The Hindenburg Disaster

Hindenburg disaster, New Jersey - May 6, 1937

Dirigibles, or Zeppelins as they came to be known, had been around since the late 19th century. They had been invented by a French man, but it wasn't until German Graf Ferdinand von Zeppelin that the crafts were remodeled into viable flying machines. By 1937, Zeppelins had been used by the Germans during World War I and had flown across the Atlantic many times. Still, it was always a big event when an airship was going to land in America. So, Herb Morrison, of WLS in Chicago, was in Lakehurst, New Jersey on May 6, 1937 to cover the landing of the Hindenburg. Little did he know of the horror he was about to witness. His emotional and personal reaction to the disaster would outlive him.

Listen to the original radio broadcast here.

"War of the Worlds" 

Orson Welles, 1938

On the night of October 30, 1938, the world was invaded by Martians! Or, at least, that was what many people thought, when Orson Welles and his Mercury Theater broadcast a radio play version of H.G. Wells's War of the Worlds. It was done as a Halloween prank and as a way to boost the show's ratings. (It was on the air against the most popular radio show of the time.) Despite the fact that it was announced that this was just a dramatization of the book several times during the broadcast, most people somehow seemed to miss that. Panic ensued because so many people believed this broadcast to be real and that Martians were invading Earth. The belief was so strong that people were fleeing their homes to escape the invasion. Once people realized that there was no invasion, there was anger and frustration. Police were even thinking about arresting Welles. This did not happen, and this "prank" would put Orson Welles on the map and help him establish his acting and directing career. Four years later, Citizen Kane (considered to be the greatest American film) would premiere -- a movie that most likely would never have been made without this moment in radio.

Listen to the original broadcast here. Or you can check out the broadcast on CD from the library. And for another take on the radio play, listen to L.A. Theatre works production (which includes several Star Trek actors!).

The London Blitz

Edward R. Murrow

In 1940, the United States was not yet involved in World War II, but there was still great interest in what was going on in Europe. Edward R. Murrow was just beginning his broadcast career when he began reporting from London for CBS. His live, first-hand accounts during the London Blitz captivated the American public.  These broadcasts would establish him as one of the most well-known and well-respected journalists in the US. After the War, he would return to the States and establish himself as a television journalist who took on many controversial subjects, including Sen. Joseph McCarthy's search for Communists in politics and entertainment.

To listen:
September 20, 1940 - London rooftop during the blitz

From Trafalgar Square during an air raid



Further reading on the history of radio:

Hello Everybody: The Dawn of American Radio by Anthony Rudel

Don't Touch That Dial: The History of Broadcasting by J. Fred MacDonald

Sold on Radio : Advertisers in the Golden Age of Broadcasting by Jim Cox


-- Post by Tracy

Forever Singin'

Thursday, August 23rd marks the 100th Anniversary of the birth of Gene Kelly. In honor of his enduring legacy to dance -- and to the city of Pittsburgh -- check out the links below to biographies, books, films, and news about Eugene Curran Kelly.

News:
Honoring Gene Kelly on his 100th: Actor's widow and Pitt plan announcement

Umbrella Dance at Pitt
Turner Classic Movies (TCM) celebrating Kelly's birthday all day with films
Remembering a Gene Kelly Visit to Pitt in 1987
Gene Kelly's Widow Doesn't Dance Away From His Secrets

Biographies:
Biography Channel
Wikipedia
IMDB

Books:

Gene Kelly: A Life of Dance and Dreams by Alvin Yudkoff

Gene Kelly : A Celebration by Sheridan Morley and Ruth Leon

Gene Kelly : A Biography by Clive Hirschhorn

Films:

An American in Paris (1951)
Anchors Aweigh (1945)
Brigadoon (1954)
Cover Girl (1944)
For Me and My Gal (1942)
Inherit the Wind (1960)

On The Town (1949)
Singin' In The Rain (1951)
Summer Stock (1950)

-- Post by Tracy