Things That Aren’t There Anymore
Picture:
C+ Sound: C+ Extras: B- Program: B+
We always
see nostalgia on films, music, and national events, but local histories about
what once was are far more obscure to see about and there is rarely any film
and video record available outside of home movies (and now tapes) if you are
lucky enough to know someone with them. Things That Aren’t There Anymore (1990)
does an amazing job of beginning to look at very popular and fun places and
events that used to exist, and are hard to forget.
Saving us
from a few snapshots and word of mouth, the show shares many great things about
the Pittsburgh area that includes the legendary Forbes Field, Jenkins Arcade (a
Downtown Pittsburgh 24-hours-a-day shopping area that might just be the first
indoor mall), Kuntz’s Bakery (which just closed in 2003), Westview park (which
did not survive like competitor Kennywood, itself captured in the remarkable Kennywood Memories DVD reviewed
elsewhere on this site),
If you
have ever had a Klondike Bar, the one with the polar bear in the textured foil
from your freezer case, then you have had a taste of the legendary chain
Isaly’s. This was a strong, numerous
series of local eateries that had begun in the late 19th Century in Ohio.
They also became known for some of the first specialty ice cream flavors
ever, then in the 1920s began opening their stores. They also had special ice cream cones called
Skyscrapers that were scooped out with a banana-like metal scoop that gave you
a long single-flavor cone. No need for
stacking balled-scoops. The third thing
they became known for was chipped ham, now also a national standard. The Sweet Williams chain came out of Isaly’s
as well. Pittsburgh is known for many great foods and
the Isaly’s story is one of many, told very well here.
One
phenomenon Pittsburgh is known for is its bridges, but
here, the show covers the many long-gone trolley chains the city had and how
far they once went. Many other cities had those, as well as the kinds of county
fairs and rich music scene the city once had.
The full
frame, color image was shot on analog videotape, but also features a good
amount of great film clips and the newer clips obviously have better videotape
quality. This is another fine picture
transfer of the material to the DVD format.
The Dolby Digital 2.0 is good, but offers no Pro Logic surround
information due to its mix of stereo and monophonic sound. That’s too bad, because that could still be
done, even with so much mono sound.
Otherwise, this is very clear and clean.
The
extras include some updates. The (in
this writer’s opinion, unnecessary) implosion of Three River’s Stadium, which was soon
replaced by two highly (and again unnecessarily) tax payer-funded set of
stadiums that were no major improvement.
It was still reportedly $30 Million in unpaid debt when it was leveled
in February 2001. A clip from The Best of the Pittsburgh History Series
in 1994 about the main program is also included. A piece on celebrating the greatest day in
the history of the long-gone-but-legendary Forbes Field is included involving
an annual October 13th gathering, a very lucky 13 at that. There is an additional segment updating
Isaly’s today, though the national Klondike TV ads are not included, but previews
for twelve other shows in the series besides ones for this are included.
You do
not have to be from the area to thoroughly enjoy what this DVD has to
offer. Now that it and other programs
from the same series are surfacing on DVD, we can only hope more areas will
start to produce and distribute like programming, because having a record of
such great American culture is vital.
Just because great Things That
Aren’t There Anymore are lost in real life, it does not mean they should be
forgotten, it means that they should be treasured.
- Nicholas Sheffo
