My Father, The Hero (1994)

The awesome Kristin S. from Clarks Summit recently emailed us with a reference to Scranton in the film My Father The Hero, the 1994 comedy starring French actor Gerard Depardieu, Lauren Hutton, and a 16 year-old pre-Gray's Anatomy Katherine Heigl.

In the film, Katherine Heigl plays Nicole, a teen on vacation in the Bahamas with her divorced father (Depardieu). Desperate to appear as a woman and not a girl, Nicole tries to impress a potential boyfriend by telling him her father is actually her much older lover. Bizarrely, her father goes along with the story, even as it becomes more elaborate and quickly spirals out of control.

Kristin S. tells me that, when Nicole and her father first arrive in the Bahamas, they are accosted by two annoying couples dressed like stereotypical tourists who say, "We're from Scranton. Scranton, Pennsylvania."

My Father The Hero is available on VHS from the Lackawanna County Library System. To place a hold, click here.

Much thanks again to Kristin S. for the reference.

The Office (2005) UPDATE

Article on Scranton and
"The Office" in
Wednesday's Yahoo! News

There was an article in Yahoo! News and ABC News on Wednesday that talks about Scranton and its references as the setting of the NBC hit television sitcom "The Office."

Click here to read the article (plus check out the photo of the "Welcome to Scranton" sign that illustrates the article).

The In-Laws (1979)

Directed by Authur Hiller (Outrageous Fortune, Plaza Suite, Teachers), this critically-acclaimed comedy from 1979 stars Peter Falk as CIA agent Vince Ricardo, who involves his future in-law Sheldon Kornpett (Alan Arkin) in a plot to expose a counterfeit scheme devised by a South American dictator.

In one comical scene in the film, a hysterical Alan Arkin exclaims, "The ocean? It's over the ocean to Scranton, Pennsylvania?"

The In-Laws was remade in 2003 with Michael Douglas and Albert Brooks.

To place a hold on the DVD of 1979's The In-Laws, click here.

Much thanks to WILK's Sue Henry for the info.

MULTI GRAMMY WINNER JOHN LEGEND HAS A LOCAL CONNECTION

Did you know that John Legend, who won three Grammy Awards this week, has a connection to Scranton?

From 1995 to 2004, Mr. Legend held a nine-year tenure as choir director, pianist and head of the music department at Bethel AME Church in Scranton, Pennsylvania (716 North Washington Ave).

He left his position in 2004 to work on his major label debut solo album Get Lifted, which has sold over one million copies.

On Wednesday, February 8th, 2006, Legend won the Grammy Awards for Best New Artist, Best R&B Album, and Best R&B Male Performance.

Excellent job, John!

Thanks to Judi for the info.

UPDATE: Scranton Times/Tribune Josh McAuliffe wrote an article about John Legend that includes interviews with his former choir members and others who knew him when he was at Bethel AME Church in Scranton. The article appears in today's (Friday, February 10th, 2006, pages A1 and A5) issue of the Scranton Times/Tribune. Read the full-text of the article by clicking here.

MICHAEL FINE FROM LAKE ARIEL NOMINATED FOR GRAMMY AWARD

Wednesday night, you can bet that all of us at Albright Memorial Library will be cheering for Lake Ariel resident Michael Fine, who is nominated for the Grammy Award for Classical Producer of the Year. The 48th Annual Grammy Awards will be handed out live on Wednesday night (February 8th) at 8 PM and will air LIVE on CBS (locally on WYOU).

Michael and his wife Tammy own Fine Sound Productions in Lake Ariel, PA; Fine Sound Productions offers recording production services, consulting and career counseling.

Mr. Fine, who was also the recipient of the 1992 Grammy Award for Classical Producer of the Year (he was also nominated in 1990), has produced artists such as Cecilia Bartoli and Andrea Bocelli. Several albums he has produced have also won Grammys and other numerous awards.

The Scranton Times-Tribune has published an article about Mr. Fine titled Grandpa Behind Grammy in Tuesday's issue. Click here to read the full text of "Grandpa Behind Grammy."


The Reference Department congratulates Michael Fine on his Grammy nomination for Classical Producer of the Year and wishes him the best of luck at Wednesday night’s Grammy Awards.

An extra special thanks to Mr. Michael Fine for allowing me to use his photo in our blog.

LOCAL AUTHOR SUSAN CAMPBELL BARTOLETTI WINS PRESTIGIOUS NEWBERY HONOR BOOK AWARD

UPDATED 7/26/07

Susan Campbell Bartoletti of Moscow has won the prestigious Newbery Honor Book award from the American Library Association for her book Hitler Youth: Growing Up in Hitler's Shadow.


Hitler Youth tells the story of a generation of German young people - one group of youths devote all their energy to the Hitler Youth and the propaganda that gave Hitler his power, and the other group of youths resists the Nazi movement.


Ms. Bartoletti is also the author of the critically-acclaimed A Coal Miner's Bride: The Diary of Anetka Kaminska, 1896; Kids on Strike! and Growing Up in Coal Country.


The Reference Department congratulates Ms. Bartoletti for this amazing recognition and honor.

Much thanks to Susan Campbell Bartoletti for
permitting me to use her photo in our blog.

http://www.scbartoletti.com/

UPDATED 7/26/07 Susan was profiled in this week's Electric City discussing the upcoming Gathering Symposium and her upcoming book. To read the article, click here.

Curtain Razor (1949)

Believe it or not, the city of Scranton actually had a mention in a Looney Tunes cartoon titled Curtain Razor, directed by Friz Freleng.


In Curtain Razor, Porky Pig plays a talent agent auditioning very strange acts---including a dog who highdives into an ordinary glass of water and a singing chicken who literally “lays an egg.”


In the beginning of Curtain Razor, the camera pans up the exterior of the Porky Pig Talent Agency. The sound during the pan is a series of belted-out "LA LA LAs," punctuated by boasting of successes in several cities. One of the first of the voice's many boastings is "I slayed 'em in Scranton!" The singing turns out to be a tiny grasshopper hoping for representation from Porky Pig.


Curtain Razor preceded many of the Warner Bros. films released theatrically in 1949. It was also incorporated into the 1983 feature film Daffy Duck's Movie: Fantastic Island.

The Hokey Pokey (1944)

The Hokey Pokey, the perennial song of birthday parties, weddings, and roller skating in your youth was actually composed by two Scrantonians -- although the question of its true authorship caused a small controversy in 1996.

Robert P. Degan, a former guitarist and former salesman in the old Home Furniture store in Scranton, wrote and copyrighted the song with fellow Scranton songwriter Joseph P. Brier in 1944. The full proper title of the song when copyrighted was “The Hokey Pokey Dance Song.”

In 1996, Scranton Times writer Joseph X. Flannery wrote two editorials (April 20, 1996, p. 5 and May 11, 1996, p. A5) after a Boise, Idaho newspaper incorrectly identified a different musician as the writer of the song. However, the copyright form at the U.S. Copyright Office correctly states that Degan and Brier are the true songwriters.

The Local History Vertical File (LHVF) for “Music – Hokey Pokey Dance Song” includes both of Flannery’s editorials, as well as a photocopy of a letter to Degan from the US Copyright Office confirming its true authors. The LHVF can be viewed in the Reference Department of Albright Memorial Library.

So the next time you shake your butt to the Hokey Pokey, remember that one of our own (make that two of our own) has made this ditty a celebrated classic of epic proportions.

Don't take our word for it - click here to hear the Ray Anthony Band's version of The Hokey Pokey.

Much thanks to Judi K. for this entry.

Never Been Kissed (1999)

Matt Flynn recently emailed me about a mention of Scranton in the film Never Been Kissed.

In 1999, Drew Barrymore co-produced and starred in the comedy Never Been Kissed, which also featured David Arquette, Molly Shannon, and Oscar-nominee John C. Reilly (Chicago). Barrymore plays Josie Geller, the youngest copy editor ever at the Chicago Sun-Times who poses as a high school student at the very same high school where she was once a misfit (nicknamed "Josie Grossey").

In a scene on her first day of school, as an undercover reporter, Josie rehearses her background to herself as a new student, chanting, "My name is Josie Geller. I'm from Scranton, Pennsylvania, the Keystone State."

The DVD of Never Been Kissed is available to borrow from the Lackawanna County Library System. To place a hold, click here.

Much thanks to Matt Flynn for this reference.

"Winter Wonderland" by Richard B. Smith (1934)

Sleighbells ring, are you listenin',

In the lane, snow is glistenin'

A beautiful sight,

We're happy tonight

Walkin' in a Winter Wonderland

Believe it or not, this classic holiday song that has been recorded thousands of times was written by a man from Honesdale who did not live to see his legacy and success.

Richard (Dick) B. Smith (1901-1935) attended Honesdale schools in Wayne County before enrolling at Penn State University, where he studied advertising, edited the college magazine and formed and conducted his own orchestra. Upon graduation, Smith moved to New York City and managed several theaters.

Smith became ill with tuberculosis in 1931 shortly after marrying the former Scrantonian Jean Connor. He was admitted to the West Mountain Sanatorium. While a patient (and his wife worked as a nurse at the same institution), he won first prize in a Maybelline Eye Shadow slogan contest ("The Eyes Have It") and started writing songs--including "When A Gypsy Makes A Violin Cry," "Bringing My Honey Back To Me," and, of course, the holiday perennial Winter Wonderland, which Smith wrote the lyric and Felix Bernard wrote the music.

Smith was only able to write songs for a little more than a year before he succumbed to the disease. He had accepted a contract to write music in Hollywood, but he died September 28th, 1935--one month before he was to go to California.

The song Winter Wonderland, for which Smith was mostly remembered, never made it to the top of the charts until eight years after his death. He is said to have written the song about the snow-laden trees of the Poconos, perhaps the trees in front of his family home at 922 Church Street in Honesdale, across from Central Park.

Today, Winter Wonderland could be found on hundreds of artists on hundreds (perhaps thousands) of holidays albums—from Ray Charles and Elvis Presley to Clay Aiken and the Eurythmics--to hundreds of other artists in every genre of music.

To hear Bing Crosby's rendition of Winter Wonderland, click here.

To read more about Winter Wonderland and Richard B. Smith, come to the Reference Department and ask to see the Local History Vertical File (LHVF) for "Music - Winter Wonderland."

Migration by W.S. Merwin (2005)

W.S. MERWIN:
NATIONAL BOOK AWARD FINALIST
IS A SCRANTON NATIVE

Poet W.S. Merwin, who grew up in Scranton, PA, has been nominated for the 2005 National Book Award for Poetry for his collection Migration: New and Selected Poems. This is the eighth National Book Award nomination for W.S. Merwin, a two-time Pulitzer Prize winner (1971 for The Carrier of Ladders and again in 2009 for The Shadow of Sirius) whose career as a poet and translator spans five decades.

As a boy, Merwin lived in Scranton before his family moved to Union City, NJ. He attended West Scranton High School and Abraham Lincoln public school in the city of Scranton. He has said many of his poems were drawn from his childhood here. Merwin returned to Scranton in 1983 to read from his works in a poetry series sponsored by the Friends of the Scranton Public Library.

We have several of Mr. Merwin's poetry collection listed in the library catalog. Our Local History collection in the Reference Department includes a newspaper clippings file on Mr. Merwin, including a 1994 Scranton Times article detailing his winning a $100,000 Tanning Prize from the Academy of American Poets.

The Reference Department staff wishes Mr. Merwin the best of luck in his nomination for the National Book Award.

UPDATE: W.S. Merwin has been awarded the National Book Award for poetry.

The Reference Department congratulates Mr. Merwin on his award. Also, check out the display in the Reference Department lobby.

Visit here for W.S. Merwin's page on the official National Book Award site.

To place a hold on W.S. Merwin's Migration, click here.

"Send My Picture To Scranton, PA" by B.J. Thomas (1970)

In 1970, acclaimed songwriter Burt Bacharach put his own creative mark on Scranton when he wrote a song titled "Send My Picture To Scranton, PA." Bacharach's previous famous collaborations include Dusty Springfield's "Wishin' and Hopin'," The Carpenters' "Close To You" and numerous songs with Dionne Warwick ("Do You Know The Way to San Jose" and "I Say A Little Prayer" just being two).

When it came time to record "Send My Picture To Scranton, PA," Bacharach selected B.J. Thomas, most famous for the song "Raindrops Keep Fallin' On My Head" (also written by Bacharach) from the 1969 film "Butch Cassidy & The Sundance Kid" and "Hooked on a Feeling."

The lyrics to "Send My Picture To Scranton, PA" begin:

Send my picture to Scranton, PA
Write them and say
I'm the kid they used to laugh at
Send my picture along with the news
Of all the good things I've done

If you would like to read the rest of the lyrics, click here.

B.J. Thomas recorded "Send My Picture To Scranton, PA," in 1970; it was released on his album "Everybody's Out Of Town." Unfortunately, the album is out-of-print, but the song is available on a Burt Bacharach compilation titled "The Sound of Bacharach."

Why Do Men Have Nipples? (2005)

There is a suprising and SHOCKING reference to Wilkes-Barre in the recently released book "Why Do Men Have Nipples? Hundreds of Questions You'd Only Ask a Doctor After Your Third Martini" by Dr. Billy Goldberg, M.D. and Mark Leyner. This bestselling book (presently #1 on the New York Times Bestselling Paperback Advice Books) presents humorous answers to medical questions, from "Can you get high from licking a toad?" to "Why are yawns contagious?" to "What causes an ice cream headache?"

The Wilkes-Barre mention appears in the book's Preface on page 21. In his version on how the two authors met, Dr. Goldberg was asked to be a medical advisor on the short-lived (only 3 episodes, in fact) medical drama Wonderland, for which co-author Leyner was a screenwriter. According to Dr. Goldberg:

*****

Within five minutes Leyner had regaled me with the precise pharmokinetics of jimsonweed...and the inexplicable prevalence of

supernumerary ___________

in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania."

*****

To find the missing word (CLUE: it rhymes with spectacles), pick up a copy of "Why Do Men Have Nipples? Hundreds of Questions You'd Only Ask a Doctor After Your Third Martini" by Dr. Billy Goldberg, M.D. and Mark Leyner and see page 21 of the Preface. It's avialable to borrow from several libraries throughout the Lackawanna County Library System under the call number:

610

LEYNER

To place a hold, click here.

To read the entire list of questions answered in the book, click here.

"Sisters of Mercy" by Cher (2000)

Wait a minute...CHER?

Yes...that Cher.

In 2000, Cher released her CD "Not.Com.mercial," sold exclusively throught Artist Direct. The CD features nine songs written and composed by Cher herself after attending a writer's workshop in 1994.
One of the songs, "Sisters of Mercy," has a connection to Scranton, PA., though the song never mentions Scranton directly. The song is a harsh critique of the Sisters of Mercy, an order of Catholic nuns who serve the poor and sick, whom Cher refers to as "daughters of hell," "twisters of truth," etc.
In an article from People Magazine (November 27, 2000, pages 18-19) titled "Cher, Nuns & Trouble," Cher explained that she wrote the song for her mother. When Cher was a a few months old, her father abandoned her and her pregnant mother in Scranton, PA. Cher's mother took her to a Catholic orphanage to care for Cher during the day while she worked as a waitress in an all-night diner. Cher's mother ended up having an abortion, and she returned to the orphanage to collect Cher after a three-week hospital stay. The Sisters of Mercy responded by calling her an unfit mother and refusing to return her daughter to her. According to Cher, it took six months and help from a Scranton City Councilman for Cher's mother to regain custody of her daughter.
Cher has stated that the song "is about a particular incident--not a condemnation of the Catholic Church."
If you would like to read the article from People Weekly, it's available in Access Pennsylvania Power Library from the magazine database "Masterfile Premier." We also have a copy of the People Weekly article in the Local History Vertical File for "Diocese of Scranton".
You can read the lyrics to "Sister of Mercy" by clicking here.
Cher's CD "Not.Com.mercial" is only available from the Artist Direct web site: http://www.artistdirect.com/

Field of Dreams (1989)

Our wonderful Head of Reference, Miss Evelyn G., informed me of a Scranton connection to the 1989 Academy Award nominated baseball blockbuster Field of Dreams. The film stars Kevin Costner as Ray Kinsella, an Iowa corn farmer who hears voices saying "If you build it, they will come." Ray interprets the voices as a command to build a baseball diamond in his cornfield; he does this and, indeed, the Chicago Black Sox come.

The late, great Burt Lancaster plays one of the baseball ghosts, Dr. Archibald 'Moonlight' Graham, who was based on an actual baseball player for the Scranton Miners. The real Archibald Wright Graham was a left fielder for the Scranton Miners in 1905-07 and, at the end of the season, he practiced medicine in Scranton before moving to Minnesota. There were even several articles in the Scranton Times on Dr. Graham in the early 1900s (including a team picture of the Scranton Miners, including Dr. Graham, on Sept. 12th, 1908).

Field of Dreams is available to borrow from the Lackawanna County Library System. If you'd like to reserve the DVD, click here; if you'd like to place a hold on the VHS, click here.

Thanks again to the kickin' Evelyn G. for the info.

The Sopranos (2000) Season Two, Episode One

Our lovely district consultant Mary Yeager emailed me and told me of a mention of Scranton in the popular HBO series The Sopranos. The story centers on fictional Mafia man Tony Soprano and his relationships with his wife, his family, his associates, and his therapist. The first-rate cast includes James Gandolfini, Edie Falco and Lorraine Bracco.

The Scranton mention was in the first episode of the second season. The episode, titled "Guy Walks Into A Psychiatrist's Office," features a scene in which Philly "Spoons" Parisi (played by Dan Grimaldi) is picking up Tony Soprano (James Gandolfini) from the airport. The dialogue goes like this:

Spoons

So how's Boston?

*

Tony

Well, it was good to be back for a while, then, ya know.

*

Spoons

Do I?

*

Tony

That place is Scranton, with clams.

*

*

NOTE: Now I have never seen an episode of The Sopranos in my life. So if I have the scene or the characters wrong, please email us at refdept@albright.org and tell us.

*

Season Two of The Sopranos, featuring "Guy Walks into a Psychiatrist's Office" is available to borrow on DVD from the Lackawanna County Library System. To place a hold, click here.

Much thanks again to the lovely Mary Yeager for this entry.

That Championship Season (1973)

In 1973, playwright and Scranton native Jason Miller won the Pulitzer Prize for Drama, as well as the Tony Award for Best Play, for That Championship Season.

Set in Scranton, PA, the plays tells the story of four friends and their former basketball coach as they reveal themselves and are honest with each other for perhaps the first time in their lives. By the end of the evening, they are reminiscing about their 1957 championship basketball season.

THE 1973 PLAY

The play opened on Broadway at the Booth Theatre on September 14, 1972 and played for nearly two years, closing April 21, 1974.

Besides Miller, TCS also won a Tony Award for director A.J. Antoon, as well as nominations for actor Paul Sorvino, lighting designer Ian Calderon and scenic designer Santo Loquasto (Santo himself is a Wilkes-Barre native).

THE 1982 FILM VERSION

In 1982, Hollywood came to Scranton, PA, where they made the film version of TCS. Written for the screen and directed by Jason Miller, the film starred Paul Sorvino (the only actor from the original stage play to recreate the same role in the film version), Stacy Keach, Bruce Dern, Robert Mitchum, and Martin Sheen.

THE 1999 TV REMAKE*

In 1999, Paul Sorvino directed (and starred as the coach in) a made-for-TV remake of TCS, starring Vincent D’Onofrio, Gary Sinise, and Tony Shalhoub.

To place a hold on the text of Jason Miller's original 1973 play, click here. To borrow the DVD of the 1982 film (shot in Scranton), click here. The 1999 remake is also available; click here to reserve the DVD or click here to reserve the VHS.

A big holla and thanks to Elizabeth Davis for the suggestion.

*The 1999 remake of That Championship Season will be screened Friday, August 19th at 7:45 at Nay Aug Park. Click here for details. (NOTE: This event has passed and it remains listed here strictly for archival purposes.)

"The Office" (Sitcom) (2005- )

The show "The Office" is set in a fictional paper supply company in Scranton, PA.

Click here for a news item that our very own Lackawanna County Library Crad will be appearing on an episode of the upcoming second season.

School Ties (1992)

Eagle-eyed Jennifer Maher from the University of Scranton emailed me about the film School Ties, starring Brendan Fraser, Matt Damon, Ben Affleck and Chris O'Donnell. The film tells the story of David Greene (Fraser), a working-class Jewish quarterback from Scranton, PA who is attending the elite St. Matthew's prep school in 1950s Massachusetts (MA). David has chosen to hide his religion until a jealous bigot forces it out in the open.

School Ties is available to borrow on DVD from the Lackawanna County Library System; to place a hold, click here.

Thanks again, Jennifer, for the info.

Tovarich (Broadway Show) (1963)

James Stephen Behrens, O.C.S.O., of Monastery of the Holy Spirit in Conyers, Georgia, sent me the following email:

"Hi,
There was a song called Wilkes-Barre, PA in the musical Tovarich, which ran on Broadway and starred Vivien Leigh.

James"

Information about Tovarich (which is Russian for "Friends") is available from the Internet Broadway Database at:
http://www.ibdb.com/production.asp?ID=2996

According to IBDB, the show played for almost a year in a succession of 3 (count 'em 3) different theatres on the Great White Way. The music was composed by Lee Pockriss, and lyrics were written by Anne Croswell.

Vivien Leigh (who, with Byron Mitchell, sings Wilkes-Barre, PA in the show) won the 1963 Tony Award for Best Actress in A Musical for her performance in Tovarich.

The song concludes with:

Not Altoona,
I don't mean Scranton,
I hate Reading,
Where are we heading?
WILKES-BARRE!
P AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!

At Amazon.com, you can listen to a sample of Vivien Leigh and George S. Irving singing "Wilkes-Barre, PA!" the song is also available to purchase from iTunes.

Thank you so much, James, for this information. I'm a big Broadway buff and have never heard of Tovarich before, so my mouth is still agape at this information. Plus I'm amazed that someone as far away as Georgia has looked at our blog. WOW!!!

Thank you, James! THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU!!!!