I grew up in the 1970’s – an age before cellphones and the Internet. There were far less things to contemplate (or be distracted by depending on your point-of-view) in the days before laptops, and baseball was central to my existence. It was a time where I still could visit my grandmother who sitting on her porch every summer night listened to the Bucs on radio since she grew up before the days of television – even though she could have walked inside and looked at her TV screen. Perhaps this explains to a degree that even though the Pittsburgh Steelers were perhaps the greatest team in football history during the decade – there was something magical about baseball, something that connected me to the past. Honus Wagner, Forbes Field, Bill Mazeroski’s walk off homer – I never experienced these events, but I felt like I had – I never had this connection to say, the 1930’s Steelers. No one did.
And the 1970’s Pirates were good, really good. They won their division six times and never finished below second place in nine of ten years. They also won two very memorable world championships. Also, they were fun, really fun; throwing no-hitters on L.S.D., trashing hotel rooms, partying every night, playing insane practical jokes, enjoying the camaraderie among white and black players and disco dancing. As with the city that was their home, the Pirates' days were numbered.
The 1970’s Pirates seemed to collapse all of its history into the present as the old-timers like Danny Murtaugh, Mazeroski, Clemente and Bob Prince intermingled with the new, brash multi-racial team of the 1970’s (the number of black players were at an all-time high) – and they were making history almost every year. The beloved Willie “Pops” Stargell bridged both these eras---he came up to the big league team just after they won the 1960 World Series, was a key part of the ’71 championship team, and of course was the leader of the “Fam-a-lee” that won it all in 1979. But, the euphoric, disco high of 1979 come to a crashing end as the city (and its team) hit hard times with industry cratering and the urban renewal of the mid-century showing its failures.
The plan:
This fundraising campaign is to collect enough money to create a proof-of-concept short film clip to shop around to film/TV investors to eventually produce a feature-length film. As an Emmy Award winning documentarian – my films have aired on HBO, BBC, and other networks around the world – I have relationships with many major networks and production companies. I also have a deal with the pre-eminent sales agency; Submarine Entertainment to ensure that this project has a great change to get fully funded as a feature-length film. As the short film clip and text here explain the film will be about the 1970’s Pittsburgh Pirates. By using the brilliant work of the Pittsburgh playwright August Wilson as inspiration – the ultimate aim of this film is to examine the de-industrialization of the Pittsburgh area and how its baseball team mirrors these changes. Wilson’s landmark work The Pittsburgh Cycle changed the course of American theatre by creating a cycle of ten plays – each play represented a specific decade and showed the comic and tragic aspects of the black experience in 20th century America – particularly the experience of living in the city of Pittsburgh. Using his work as a guide and starting-off point, I will examine the ties that bind the city to the Pirates, race to the city’s history, and both to the re-making of contemporary life (via de-industrialization).
Although on the surface this project may seem to only cater to Pittsburgh sports fans – in reality the idea is to better understand the global experience of modern life changing rapidly and destructively. The history of Pittsburgh and its ball club provide certain lessons and clues as to how to navigate the journey from industrial stability to confounding “globalization”. And the vast popularity of the 1979 "Fam-a-lee" team that transcended team and city allegiances and drew the attention of even the most casual sports fan is the gateway to the issues this film will address.
This film rides the currents that flow from one point to the other. Not only do cities change, and businesses disappear, but idea of nationality and identity change too. And many questions remain unanswered – who decides how to remake a city? Who are the winners and who are the losers? What role do the public institutions play and what responsibility does private enterprise has if any? Could the changes of de-industrialization have been smoother? More humane? Or were these changes uncontrollable? The sport of baseball has the same questions and nowhere do the two intersect more than in the city of Pittsburgh and its Pirates.
The title comes from the storied call that Bob Prince used to use when Willie Stargell went deep in the early 70’s:”And it’s chicken on the on the Hill with Will!”---the story goes that Stargell owned a chicken restaurant in the Hill District section of Pittsburgh, and the deal was that anytime he hit a dinger everyone in the joint got a free chicken dinner. Stargell was truly beloved in Pittsburgh, yet how many of his fans would actually consider going to his restaurant in the predominantly black Hill District? And what does that say about race, sports and celebrity in Pittsburgh and elsewhere in the 1970’s…and today?
The proposed promotional clip and eventually the final film will incorporate the award-winning work of the Manual Cinema Group (http://manualcinema.com/#work).
I will interview many of the players from the 1970’s Pirate teams and integrate their stories with the help of Manual Cinema into a multimedia-animated design. Their interviews will serve as a “Greek Chorus” to guide us through the ten years/chapters of the decade of the 1970’s. I will structure the film by profiling each year – each with its own theme.
Each year will cover the on-field events, but also go deeper into issues that made the decade one of dramatic change – and these changes are still felt today. The objective is to marry the unique brilliance of this period in Pirate baseball to the profound changes that the city of Pittsburgh has experienced from the 1970’s to today. And thus, questions will be asked – how did urban renewal change our city for the better? Did the problems of race and equality get solved? Did Pittsburgh really survive de-industrialization and de-segregation? Who were the winners and who were the losers? As we struggle to support our current Pirate team – perhaps the biggest question is who gets to decide change and the future?
Contributors:
Jack Christin - Executive Producer. Jack grew up in Pittsburgh, PA and lived and breathed the Pittsburgh Pirates of the 1970s, culminating with serving as “Honorary Bat Boy” for his Dad’s employer, Rockwell International, at a weeknight home game against the Giants in August, 1979. In his life after the 70’s Pirates, he graduated from Mt. Lebanon High School, attended Oberlin College and the University of Pittsburgh School of Law, spent 12 years as a public sector attorney in Greensburg, PA and Boston, MA, and has spent the last 15 years in the tech industry as an in-house attorney and compliance officer. He lives with his family in San Jose, CA, and is thrilled to be helping Jeff tell the dynamic story of the Pirates and the city of Pittsburgh of the 1970s in “Chicken On The Hill.”
Paul A. Anderson - Creative Consultant/Composer. A graduate of Mount Lebanon High School. Ph.D. Cornell University (Associate Professor, American Studies – Indiana University, Bloomington, IN) will compose the film's original score -and provide historical commentary. Previously composed songs for the HBO film; "The Art Of Failure: Chuck Connelly Not For Sale".
Dr. Rob Ruck - Creative Consultant. Professor in the Department of History, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA and noted sports historian and author.
Dr. Todd Boyd, a.k.a. “Notorious Ph.D.,” Creative Consultant. He is the Katherine and Frank Price Endowed Chair for the Study of Race and Popular Culture and Professor of Cinema and Media Studies in the University of Southern California School of Cinematic Arts. Noted author and historian.
