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Category:    Home > Reviews > Documentary > Amusement Parks > Rollercoasters > Kennywood Memories (WQED DVD)

Kennywood Memories

 

Picture: C+     Sound: C+     Extras: B     Main Program: B+

 

 

There are so many great new technological steps forward that you can loose track, like the DVD making us all quickly forget VHS and LaserDiscs, but there are some things that cannot be replaced.  Like books surviving TV and handwritten messages and books surviving the internet, the videogames boom and the excitement of virtual reality (the most overblown idea since 3-D movies of the 1950s) have not replaced the amusement park.  Tourists, even after terrorism concerns, continue to make it a multi-billion dollar business.

 

Like going to the movies, with the split between big multi-screen cineplexes and chains and the great mom and pop establishments and drive-ins that remain, we have the same parallel with amusement parks.  Including theme parks, you have movie studios that own some (Universal, Disney, Warner Bros. has Seven Flags, Paramount has King’s Island), and other chains top boot.  There are name specialty destinations like Dolly Parton’s Dollywood, but many of the great mom and pop amusement parks remain.  One that has been around for over a century is Kennywood Park, located in Duquesne, PA, not far from Pittsburgh.  Kennywood Memories crosses the documentary and special interest categories with what turned out to be the debut of a remarkable, exceptional series of specials made by the very first public television station: WQED-TV in Pittsburgh.  They are the home of Mister Roger’s Neighborhood.

 

Production began in 1988, with a 1990 debut that was one of the most successful in the history of any public TV channel.  It also made a household name of the already-known station personality Rick Sebak, who had been a voice-over guy and pledge drive host already, among many other duties at the station.  However, unlike the on-camera hosts of many a cable channel about lifestyles, Sebak takes a back seat to the many people and personalities met along the way.  His shows always tell the story about it subject, as well as the people and history of the area that surrounds it.

 

Rick Sebak’s neighborhood is spelled out in ways that anyone anywhere can identify with, as his fact-dense shows become some serious time well spent.  When this show came on, Pittsburgh and surrounding areas were going through a second Renaissance project, but the people were far from readjusted from losing the very prosperous steel industry.  Dozens of major corporations also left the area, so this show single-handedly served as a turning point in rethinking what the area had to offer and what it and its people were worth.  The happy days were not just about the industry, but about how their time was spent.  It also pointed out to something very uniquely American, where a great melding of so many proud ethnic cultures came together and synthesized into The American Dream; especially the part where you work hard and get to then go out and have a good time.

 

So, yes, this is about an enduring amusement park and it many great rides and attractions, but it is about how lived in it is and by whom.  It is also something that could only be made possible by an area with a thriving working and middle-class, as so many of the best results of anything in the U.S. is.  That tends to hold true for so many of the great thing to come out of the U.S. that we think of as American.  The Amusement Park is such a phenomenon and Kennywood is the epitome of that, like a great independent film production company standing tall among chain competitors, the park has existed for over 100 years and is still going strong.  Its Thunderbolt rollercoaster is considered one of the greatest of its kind ever made, especially from the wooden coaster era.  It is also among many at the park, which has great claim to the phrase “rollercoaster capital of the world”.  The park is also known for its food, character, variety of rides, and traditions of events.  This includes the opening and closing rituals, as well as many unique characteristics no chain will ever be able to recreate.

 

As is the case with all of these incredible programs, Kennywood Memories is loaded with rare footage and once-in-a-lifetime interviews.  The research that went into this program had one heck of a learning curve for all involved, so the efforts to make this were extraordinary and the results are on the screen. 

 

The full frame image is nicely reproduced off of the original analog video materials and may show their age, but look clean.  The film clips also look good and there is plenty of newer video to compare to.  The Dolby Digital 2.0 sound is a mix of stereo and monophonic sound, but there are also patches of silent footage in the supplement section, so do not be surprised by that.  This is a good presentation.

 

The great extras include two revisits to the park.  One is for the DVD in 2003, with Sebak on camera tying everything together, while the other is a segment produced years later for the PBS special Great Old Amusement Parks that Sebak hosted and should also be finding its way on DVD soon.  The Pittsburgh History Series Kennywood Memories launched was so successful, that Sebak is fitting national PBS shows in between them.  There is also a clip from The Best of the Pittsburgh History Series that enhances things.  Robert Qualters, whose art has been the used as the visual motif for Kennywood Memories, is featured with several of his works.  He did several along on Kennywood itself.  The vintage TV ads and silent theatrical film ads (remember, this park was a hit before films had sound!) is great, as is some early silent footage of the park in its early days, that lasts about 18 minutes.  It was beautiful; even then.  A great, full color Kodachrome silent short of the WABCO (Westinghouse Air Brake Company) picnic form July 12, 1941 (!!!) has survived remarkably and was a stock only six years old.  It is the most pleasant surprise in the extras, unbelievable in its color fidelity and the nice choice shots that were taken.  Wait until you see the classy title cards.  Finally, you get promo spots for this and many other great shows in the series.

 

Rollercoaster, travel, and amusement park fans have to get this one, but its appeal goes far beyond a few groups.  It is so rewatchable, that even if you go and visit the place, you will still want to rewatch this program.  Even if you have never been to Kennywood or any other amusement park for that matter, this is television at its very best and you will not find typically find this on cable or satellite channels.  IT is also proof of how vital Public Television is to all of us.  Find out more at www.wqed.org

 

 

-   Nicholas Sheffo


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