05/05/05

LC050505

Val Zavala>> Tonight on Life and Times --

What would Southern California have been like without the theme
park we all grew up with?

David Koenig>> Without Disneyland, undoubtedly Orange County
would be a different place. It would have certainly grown with
the valuable beachfront property. Eventually people were going
to come, but Disneyland speeded up that process.

Val>> And then, an epic adventure in a time of turmoil. Can
the director of "Gladiator" repeat his triumph with "Kingdom of
Heaven"?

It's all straight ahead on tonight's Life and Times

Life and Times is made possible through the generous support of
the L.K. Whittier Foundation dedicated to improving the quality
of life by supporting innovative endeavors in the fields of
medicine, health, science and education.

And by a generous grant from Jim and Anne Rothenberg.

Val>> It was the mid-fifties and the California Dream was in
full swing when Disneyland burst on the scene, putting Orange
County on the map. Now Disneyland is celebrating its fiftieth
birthday and Roger Cooper looks back at the impact Disneyland
has had on Southern California's economy and culture.

[Film Clip]

Roger Cooper>> Disneyland was born in a different time, a time
when even Californians didn't stop smoking for anything.

Announcer>> "For the past year, this signature has announced
the opening of Disneyland, the show. Now it announces the
opening of Disneyland, the place. The people and eyes around
the world are focused on these one hundred sixty acres here in
Anaheim, California."

Roger Cooper>> An animated filmmaker named Walt Disney had
wanted a nicer place to take his daughters, so he built it
himself on what had been orange groves in Anaheim, California.

Announcer>> "I'm standing here on the railroad tracks with
helicopters roaring overhead and cars parking by the thousands
and I'm in front of the big Disneyland and Santa Fe Railroad
station."

Roger Cooper>> Opening day went out live to the nation in black
and white July 17, 1955.

Art Linkletter>> "Isn't this a riot today?"

Ronald Reagan>> "Oh, it certainly is."

Art Linkletter>> "And, Ron, your first job is down here in the
town square."

Ronald Reagan>> "Well, right out here in front of the depot,
yes, for the Main Street and the parade and so forth."

Art Linkletter>> "We have lots to do. Get busy."

Ronald Reagan>> "Okay."

Art Linkletter>> "So long, Ron. Thanks for coming out."

Walt Disney>> "To all who comes to this happy place, welcome."

Roger Cooper>> People cued up that day to see something that
hadn't existed, the Theme Park.

[Film Clip]

Roger Cooper>> Journalist Jim Cooper was there that day to
cover the opening.

Jim Cooper>> None of us expected to find what we did find, that
you could walk down a street which was Main Street and be at the
turn of the century and you could go to Adventureland or
Fantasyland or Frontierland or the world of tomorrow,
Tomorrowland. So nobody was prepared for the dynamism of this
place.

Announcer>> "Good morning, ladies and gentlemen, boys and
girls. All of us at the Magic Kingdom are glad to have you as
our guests today."

Roger Cooper>> And now, fifty years later, at ten o'clock every
morning, people are still lining up to experience it.

[Film Clip]

Roger Cooper>> For half a century now, Disneyland has worked
its magic on millions of visitors, but all that time it's had a
major impact on the area outside its gates.

Curt Pringle>> The resort area generates about sixty percent of
the revenue to the city's general fund.

Bob Tucker>> Well, in March, we commissioned a study to look at
the impact of the Disneyland Resort not only in Orange County,
but throughout Southern California, and it was determined that
we have a $3.6 billion dollar annual economic impact and that we
help support about sixty thousand jobs in the greater Los
Angeles area.

Roger Cooper>> Do you choose cold Cleveland for your convention
or sunny Southern California with Disneyland next door? Anaheim
tourist officials have been winning that one for fifty years.

Charles Ahlers>> In fact, we had forty-three million visitors
to the county last year and the preponderance of those came
through Anaheim to enjoy Disneyland or the new Disney California
Adventure.

Curt Pringle>> The benefit of Disneyland goes far beyond the
city of Anaheim. Forty-five percent of the tax dollars spent,
forty-five percent of the income spent by people who visit here,
is spent within Orange County. Forty percent is spent within
Los Angeles County. So there is a benefit to the entire region.

Roger Cooper>> Can you buy exposure for Orange County like that
place gives here?

Charles Ahlers>> No, no. I mean, Disney is spending millions
of dollars annually to make us all look good and our ability to
hitchhike on their success has been a real attribute not only
for this organization, but for every other marketing
organization that exists in Orange County.

Roger Cooper>> Along the way, Disneyland has provided thousands
of young people with their first jobs. Among them, comedian
Steve Martin, who worked in the Main Street Magic Shop.

Steve Martin>> "So young Steve Martin starts performing magic
here and, lo and behold, they start calling the place the Magic
Kingdom. Coincidence? I don't think so."

Bob Tucker>> There are twenty thousand people who work directly
for the Disneyland Resort and then there are an additional
forty-five thousand who have jobs that are supported by the
Disneyland Resort that work in the Anaheim community area.

David Koenig>> Without Disneyland, undoubtedly Orange County
would be a different place. It would have certainly grown with
the valuable beachfront property. Eventually people were going
to come, but Disneyland speeded up that process and as well
created a more quickly urban environment than may have happened.

Roger Cooper>> David Koenig wrote the book on Disneyland behind
the scenes. It's called "Mouse Tales".

David Koenig>> I've just been fascinated with Disneyland since,
you know, I was a little boy. It was sort of like the villagers
growing up in Orange County and Disneyland was the castle on the
hill. It was a place we'd pilgrimage to once a year and it was
a chance for the family to have the time of their lives.

Roger Cooper>> But not everything Disneyland tries meets with
immediate success. Take, for example, California Adventure
which opened in 2001.

David Koenig>> California Adventure is a slow starter, we'll
say. We had grand dreams that it would double the attendance of
the Resort overnight because now people had two parks to see
instead of one and people would spend the night.

Bob Tucker>> We believe that we've turned the corner on
Disney's California Adventure and that with some of the new
attractions that we've put in, most recently Twilight Zone Tower
of Terror and some of the other things that have come along in
the last couple of years, that we are appealing to all ages.

David Koenig>> The corporate turmoil has made people at Disney
realize they're being watched. They're being watched closely by
their customers and we have to keep things up to traditional
Disney standards.

Roger Cooper>> Can they expand in this area?

Charles Ahlers>> Absolutely, Roger. If you look down the
street, down Convention Way, you'll see the fabled strawberry
patch. You know, Disney owns that and there's an option there
to do something exciting in the near future.

Roger Cooper>> With this year, Disneyland faces a golden
anniversary and a golden opportunity to connect with new
generations. Do you think this is an idea worth keeping another
fifty years?

Jim Cooper>> Absolutely, absolutely. I hope that they can keep
it in the pristine condition in which people find it now. It's
an exciting, charming, dynamic and romantic place.

David Koenig>> What Disneyland sells is magic which is a very
fragile thing. It's not a commodity. You can't stamp out
magic, you know, on an assembly line. It has to be hand-crafted
and tenderly put together with love. Fortunately, they pay the
attention to do that and that's why it's still here and better
than it's ever been before.

Bob Tucker>> Well, Walt Disney himself said Disneyland will
never be completed as long as there's imagination left in the
world. We've been around for fifty years and I'm sure we'll be
around for another fifty more years with that kind of spirit
alive and well here.

David Koenig>> Disneyland can be the same, better than it is
now, in fifty more years if it remembers what it was all about
when it started and remembers what it's done in the last
eighteen months to restore it to that pinnacle of greatness. As
long as it holds fast to that and doesn't get distracted, it
will continue to make lots of money, make lots of people happy
and be here, the big star of Southern California, you know, in
2055.

Roger Cooper>> I'm Roger Cooper for Life and Times.

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Val>> Cesar Chavez is best known as leader of the Farm Worker
Movement. His weapons were boycotts and unions. But what you
may not realize is that he also left a legacy on the air, a
radio station called Radio Campesino. And as Hena Cuevas tells
us, it's still broadcasting decades later even in this era of
media consolidation and rating wars.

[Film Clip]

Hena Cuevas>> For the past twenty-five years, Luis has been
bringing a radio to work.

[Film Clip]

Hena Cuevas>> Music and words combined with the sounds of the
pruning of roses.

Luis>> It makes the day go by a little faster. I'm not as
tired.

Hena Cuevas>> Maria Villegas has spent nearly thirty years
walking these rows, always listening to the radio in her front
pocket. Her favorite station? Radio Campesino. Translation?
Literally, radio for farm workers.

Maria Villegas>> For those of us who work in the fields, it
gives us a lot of information that sometimes we didn't know
about.

Hena Cuevas>> Five in the morning, Radio Campesino begins its
cycle.

>> "This is Radio Campesino. Stay with us."

Hena Cuevas>> This is Campesino. Wake up, farm worker. A play
on words. Good morning, listener. It's time to wake up to your
rights. Today's topic? What to do if you're laid off.

>> "People who are here illegally, even though they should
receive their salary, don't have the right to receive extra pay
when they're laid off."

Hena Cuevas>> The station is the creation of labor activist,
Cesar Chavez, a way to reach the masses with his message on
workers' rights. Chavez's voice can still be heard through
recordings of his speeches.

Cesar Chavez>> "We share the same future. We are nothing by
ourselves, but together we're worth a lot. Alone, we aren't
respected, but when we're together, they even begin to tremble."

Cesar Chavez>> "We've got to get out there with a picket sign
and get some action going."

Hena Cuevas>> Chavez died in 1993 and left behind a legacy that
includes the United Farm Workers Union. He wanted to help
create a voice for the workers whose life he had shared, so in
order to reach a larger number of people, Chavez bought his own
radio station in 1983. Today, his sons, Pablo and Anthony
Chavez, run Radio Campesino, the flagship station in a network
of nine radio outlets in California, Arizona and Washington
State. Pablo Chavez remembers when it all started in a barn.

Pablo Chavez>> The folks that were running the radio station
were farm workers, people that would work all day picking
oranges and working the grapes and they'd rush home and take a
quick shower and get a quick taco and come in to the station and
do their show.

[Film Clip]

Hena Cuevas>> Case in point, DJ "El Gato", Spanish for "The
Cat".

[Film Clip]

Hena Cuevas>> His real name is Pepe Escamilla and he is Radio
Campesino's most popular DJ. His show is heard on all nine of
the company's radio stations.

[Film Clip]

Hena Cuevas>> Before he found his calling at Radio Campesino,
he worked on a farm harvesting grapes. A friend convinced him
to go in for an interview at Radio Campesino. At first, he was
reluctant.

Pepe "El Gato" Escamilla>> They asked me if I am interested in
working there and I don't know. Besides, I work all day in the
field. I can work in the afternoon seven to ten or something
like that if you want.

Hena Cuevas>> Now he has one of the most successful shows on
the Radio Campesino stations.

Pepe "El Gato" Escamilla>> If I'm number two, that's pretty
good. But we're working hard to be number one. It doesn't
matter that they have the money, they have all kinds of
technology over there at stations. We're working hard as a team
right here at Radio Campesino to be number one.

Hena Cuevas>> His sidekick is Fernando. Their four-hour
morning show blends music, comedy --

[Film Clip]

Hena Cuevas>> -- and information. This morning, it's the
latest Supreme Court ruling on laid off undocumented workers.

>> "Please give us a call if you want to to talk about the
ruling from the Supreme Court that says employers don't have to
pay undocumented workers even if that worker has been unfairly
dismissed."

Hena Cuevas>> The radio station is already number one in five
out of the six markets it's in, but it wasn't always that way.
Anthony Chavez.

Anthony Chavez>> When we first started in the early days, it
was very information rich, but our audience was very, very
small. We were doing a lot of movement stuff that people who
were going to follow us would believe anyway.

Hena Cuevas>> This station started up as a traditional
educational station funded by grants from the UFW.

Pablo Chavez>> And so the classic case of the preacher, you
know, preaching to the choir.

Hena Cuevas>> After their father's death, the brothers decided
to change the station from a more educational station to a
commercial one, the only way they could see it survive
financially and remain relevant.

Pablo Chavez>> We wanted to be commercial broadcasters and we
said, we can't, because dad is looking down on us. We didn't
want to be educators because the audience is too small. So we
were back and forth, but we found the balance now and it's
great.

Hena Cuevas>> And as a tribute to their father, Radio Campesino
broadcasts a daily prayer written by Cesar Chavez in the
sixties.

Cesar Chavez>> "Lord, give me the honesty and patience so that
we never tire of the struggle."

Hena Cuevas>> Pablo Chavez says initially there was opposition
from the old-timers, those who felt the brothers were abandoning
Chavez's vision.

Pablo Chavez>> Our job is to talk to new people, to be relevant
in today's issues and not to become a relic of the past. You
know, the last thing I want to do is have this old radio station
that has five or six hundred listeners who are old-timers
talking about the old days.

Hena Cuevas>> Of course, the Farm Workers Union is still key to
the station.

Anthony Chavez>> Even though we play music, it's only an avenue
to get people to listen about what's happening with the union.
It's a tool.

[Film Clip]

Hena Cuevas>> At this second official celebration of Cesar
Chavez Day, Radio Campesino is there. Morning DJ elicits
viewers to come and participate.

>> "We invite you to come down and join us. We're going to
have a great time and also learn more about our great leader,
Cesar Chavez."

Hena Cuevas>> For farm workers like Luis, Radio Campesino is
the quickest and sometimes the only way to get information about
the UFW.

Luis>> We get messages from our union, messages on when we're
going to have meetings and other things.

Hena Cuevas>> For Maria Villegas, it provides a link to home.

Maria Villegas>> For those of us who come from far away, they
play nice music that reminds us of our country.

Hena Cuevas>> Reminders of a land far away and of the legacy of
Cesar Chavez and his efforts on behalf of farm workers.

To send a comment or a question to our program, you can reach us
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Larry Mantle>> Welcome to FilmWeek on Life and Times. I'm
Larry Mantle of 89.3 KPCC. Our first film this week is set
during the Crusades, directed by Ridley Scott and stars Orlando
Bloom. It's "Kingdom of Heaven".

[Film Clip]

Larry Mantle>> I'm joined this week by film critics Andy Klein
of City Beat and Valley Beat, and Jean Oppenheimer of New Times.
Andy, what did you think of "Kingdom of Heaven"?

Andy Klein>> I really liked this film, with some problems. I
think that it's set in the Crusades, or actually between the
second and third Crusade, and the historical situation has been
modified to make it kind of more symbolic. Orlando Bloom plays
a knight who doesn't realize he's a knight until the beginning
of the film who goes to Jerusalem and gets involved trying to
preserve the reign of a king who believes in tolerance and has
Jews and Muslims and Christians all living together in peace.
In real life, that was probably three seconds, but it did
happen. Most of this film is kind of dragged-out historical
stuff until the last forty-five minutes where there's a battle
scene that's just like the stuff in "Lord of the Rings". It's
great with all sorts of towers and clever strategies.

Larry Mantle>> Jean, do you agree?

Jean Oppenheimer>> Well, I was really mixed on this film. I
think that Ridley Scott's strength as a director really is his
ability to create a whole new world which he did in "Blade
Runner" and "Alien" and "Black Hawk Down" and he does a great
job of that here. I mean, the production design, the
cinematography and the action, as Andy said, is all terrific. I
didn't think that Orlando Bloom, however, really worked as a
protagonist and only because he doesn't change at all. He's
expressionless from the beginning to the end. I don't know if
this is how he was directed or how he interpreted the character,
but you don't see enough of a change in him. So I think that
leaves a hole at the center of the film.

Larry Mantle>> Next up is a film from the man who wrote
"Million Dollar Baby" for the screen, Paul Haggis. His film is
titled "Crash" and it has quite a large ensemble cast. It's set
in Los Angeles and stars Sandra Bullock, Thandie Newton, Matt
Dillon and the always great Don Cheadle.

[Film Clip]

Larry Mantle>> Jean Oppenheimer, what did you think of "Crash"?

Jean Oppenheimer>> Well, I think this is a film that audiences
are either going to love or hate. I think it's the best film
I've seen all year. I think it's, in fact, the best American
film I've probably seen in the past two years, so I'm very high
on it. And I say this despite what I think are the film's
obvious contrivances in the plot and where I consider some its
excesses, but what worked is so strong. I mean, this is a
really powerful film that really shows how there is racism just
below the surface, but of everybody. You know, not just whites,
not just blacks. I mean, it's everybody, and how this
intolerance affects their lives.

Now the script starts with a character, something happens there,
it goes to the next character and the next and the next. That's
obviously rather contrived, but I think it works partially
because the acting is so strong. The characters themselves are
very complex, some of them very conflicted. Matt Dillon gives
what I think is his best performance ever. Thandie Newton gives
her best performance ever. Don Cheadle is good as always. I
think there's real depth to the characters.

Larry Mantle>> What did you think of it, Andy?

Andy Klein>> I'm a little more conflicted about it. While I
was sitting there watching it, I was thinking, yeah, this is a
great movie. Then when I thought about it later, when the power
of the performances wasn't quite so much in front of me -- and
the performances are terrific -- I began to get irritated by the
extent to which Paul Haggis kind of pushes his characters
around. I mean, contrivance is almost not a strong enough word.
I mean, it's like you feel him moving chess pieces on the board
in order to get to certain points. Having said that, it does
really just dive right into the issue of racism in a very, very
perceptive way.

Larry Mantle>> And finally this week, we have a French film
from writer-director, Yvan Attal. His real-life wife, Charlotte
Gainsbourg, stars in the film "Happily Ever After".

[Film Clip]

Larry Mantle>> Andy, what did you think of "Happily Ever
After"?

Andy Klein>> I really liked this film, with a few reservations.
Charlotte Gainsbourg plays a young woman in Paris who's married
and her marriage is kind of on the rocks. Her husband is played
by Yvan Attal, who is her real-life husband and he also wrote
and directed this film. We see the dissatisfaction in the
marriage which really is just coming from boredom, I think. At
the same time, it's compared to their friends, another married
couple who are sort of comic relief, and a single guy who's
dating all these, you know, drop-dead gorgeous women, but is
still dissatisfied. Everybody is pretty dissatisfied in this
film.

It's stylishly directed, but I was really bothered by a lot of
trick cutting he did where you sort of have a time lapse that
goes without your knowing it for a few seconds. Suddenly you
realize that you're in a different place and a different time
and I found that kind of disorienting. But other than that, I
thought this was a good movie.

Larry Mantle>> What did you think, Jean?

Jean Oppenheimer>> Yeah, I liked it a lot too and the visual
stuff didn't bother me. There were a few where you were going,
well, what's going on and then you figure out that it's probably
just the thoughts of the character. I thought the camera work
was great. I thought the acting was great. For me, it was
really interesting because the main thing is these three guys,
these three friends. Two of them are married and one of them is
dating all these beautiful women, as Andy said. Just to hear
them talking, you don't see that in many movies today, I think,
or at least I don't. They're really like male friends of a
certain age which is probably right around forty who were
discussing things in their lives and being bored and having
these wonderful women at home, but why aren't they satisfied?
So I really found it very entertaining and also meaningful.

Larry Mantle>> As a man, Andy, did they --

Andy Klein>> -- I was going to say, see, I get that at home
(laughter).

Larry Mantle>> (Laughter) It's not that entertaining for you.

Andy Klein>> Yeah.

Larry Mantle>> All right. Well, thanks for joining us for
another edition of FilmWeek on Life and Times. I'm Larry Mantle
of 89.3 KPCC joined by critics Jean Oppenheimer of New Times and
Andy Klein of City Beat and Valley Beat. As always, we invite
you to join us again next time for another edition of FilmWeek
on Life and Times.

Val>> And remember you can hear a full hour of FilmWeek every
Friday morning at 11:00 a.m. on KPCC public radio. And that's
our program. I'm Val Zavala. For everyone at Life and Times,
thanks for watching. We'll see you next time.

Life and Times was made possible through the generous support of
the L.K. Whittier Foundation dedicated to improving the quality
of life by supporting innovative endeavors in the fields of
medicine, health, science and education.

And by a generous grant from Jim and Anne Rothenberg.

Val>> Next time on Life and Times --

The push is on for universal preschool, but why?

>> When we look at universal preschool and the costs involved
for this state, I think that there are better ways to go about
working with the young children.

Val>> That's next time on Life and Times.