Ch. 11’s original program, “Remembering Chicago: The 1950s and ’60s,” is the fourth in a series the station has produced on what is essentially a city memoir, with material provided, as they say, “from viewers like you.”
“Remembering” producer/director Jamie Caesar is actively seeking contributions of photographs, snapshots, footage and for the hour-long show to debut in December.
So far Caesar has collected about 10-15 minutes worth of mostly 8mm footage, plus lots of delightful memorabilia, such as the pristine Beatles’ record albums, and notes on those albums that were preserved by a woman who will never forget the 1954 Beatles concert she attended in Chicago.
Some footage is being contributed by Tom Palazzolo, who reigned as an experimental filmmaker in the ’60s and ’70s and inadvertently served as a visual historian by capturing many scenes of bustling downtown streets, the building of Marina City, the unveiling of the Picasso and other architecturally-historic events at mid-century and the so-called Soaring ’60s.
“The doc will be self-narrated,” Caesar said, “by the Chicagoans who tell their own stories of the movie footage and photographic images they’ve provided.”
Interviews will be conducted in August. Deadline for completion is late November.
Caesar is looking for pictorials like these: Chicago TV shows and commercials, 3-D movies, Old Town, White Castle, Demolition Derbies, area race tracks, Rainbow ice skating rink, Chicago newspapers, soda fountains, Woolworth’s, public and Catholic schools, College All-Star games, school trips, the Civil Rights Movement, sock hops, Chicago ’60s bands, S&H green stamps, TV trays, Riverview, street cars, Comisky Park, Kiddyland, Adventureland, Santa’s Village, hippies, ad infinitum.
“Haul out those memorabilia boxes you or your family have tucked away and let’s see what’s in them,” said Caesar, a nine-time Emmy winner and long time “Image Union” and TV show producer.
Query Caesar by Email at jceaser@wttw.com, or send materials directly to her in care of WTTW11, 5400 N. St. Louis, Chicago, IL 60625, Attention: “Remembering Chicago.”
All submissions should include contact information and indicate if they should be returned.
