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Life & Times Transcript
5/16/07 Val Zavala>> Tonight on Life and Times -- It's changed its name from South Central to South Los Angeles, but when will it get the change it really wants? Manya Anderson>> Excellence. We deserve excellence. We demand excellence. They've proved they can do excellence for other folks. I want to see it here. I want to experience it in this lifetime. Val Zavala>> And then, he was one of the first Chinese American artists to work for Disney. Meet the legendary Tyrus Wong. It's all straight ahead on tonight's Life and Times. Announcer>> 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 Zavala>> For years, South Los Angeles has been plagued by too many liquor stores and community leaders have been trying to reduce the number along with a number of vacant lots that just bring down the neighborhood. But the city doesn't always help and, as Toni Guinyard tells us, community leaders are now putting Los Angeles's planning chief on the hot seat. Toni Guinyard>> South Los Angeles is a community of contrasts where development starts and stops in haphazard fashion and well-established neighborhoods are hidden just a stone's throw away from commercial districts. This is home and has been home to Manya Anderson for nearly her entire life. After watching its decline, she says that something has got to change. Manya Anderson>> Economic empowerment. I want equity. Why would I want less than everybody else? And that's what we've gotten. Toni Guinyard>> Anderson wants the world to see her community as she sees it, not as it is, but what it could be. Manya Anderson>> Hey, we're already proud of our neighborhood. We just want it to reflect the people in the neighborhoods. Like I said, there is light, there is love, there is greatness, there is excellence in our neighborhoods. Toni Guinyard>> But it's over-shadowed by blight. Years ago, residents declared war on what they considered to be nuisance businesses, specifically liquor stores. In 1991, there were seven hundred twenty-eight of them in the area. They systematically set out to shut them down. Their effort gained momentum after the 1992 civil unrest. Marqueece Harris-Dawson>> Liquor stores were one of the major flashpoints for the civil unrest. Many people who became initially involved in the civil unrest and those activities had been loitering around liquor stores here in South Los Angeles. Toni Guinyard>> Marqueece Harris-Dawson is Executive Director of the Community Coalition, the group that mobilized neighbors to fight the rebuilding of many liquor stores destroyed in 1992. Marqueece Harris-Dawson>> After the civil unrest, we had closed about two hundred liquor stores and had been successful in stopping any new ones from coming. We still have way too many. It is a far more dominant impact on our landscape than it should be. Manya Anderson>> The unrest in 1992, right there at the same liquor store that it ignited from, it's still there. Still there, two days before the anniversary, a murder. The community's been hollering coalition, they're still there. Now why is that? That would make me think, well, that's part of the plan. It's part of the plan to keep these sores festering in our community. Toni Guinyard>> Consider Anderson a voice of the community. Her uncensored words alternately sting and inspire. Listening to her, it becomes clear that this fight is not just aimed at liquor stores. It's aimed at changing the way land is used in South Los Angeles. Manya Anderson>> Excellence. We deserve excellence. We demand excellence. They've proved they can do excellence for other folk. I want to see it here. I want to experience it in this lifetime. Not in my grandchildren's lifetime, but in mine so I can still smell, taste, hear and see it. Marqueece Harris-Dawson>> Certain things are allowed to go on here and certain deprivation is allowed to occur that just wouldn't be tolerated in any other part of the city and within any other racial group. So we definitely like to point out that truth. [Film Clip] Toni Guinyard>> And they're pointing it out to Gail Goldberg, Director of the Planning Department for the city of Los Angeles. Gail Goldberg>> Their observation had been in the past that planning resources went to, as they described to me, the richer neighborhoods. Toni Guinyard>> Goldberg was invited by the Community Coalition to meet with residents and listen to their concerns. She did. They provided her with a list of nuisance businesses they wanted closed. Gail Goldberg>> They also asked me to make certain that our resources in planning were appropriately distributed so that there was equitable planning going on in the south part of the city. Toni Guinyard>> And they asked her to encourage the development of vacant lots that dot the neighborhood. Gail Goldberg>> There are other departments that I think could help them with that, but even though it's not our job, I wanted to empower them with the information. Toni Guinyard>> The Planning Department created a map showing all of the vacant lots in South Los Angeles. They also identified the owners of those lots. Marqueece Harris-Dawson>> The vacant lots are important to us because we think the city can provide a leadership role and encourage the owners and builders to come and use this resource, again, to build up our community and shape it in the way that will be nurturing for us. Toni Guinyard>> It's information that residents can use to contact land owners and developers to urge them to invest in the community. Jackie Oglesby>> They don't want to put themselves in a place where they have to lose money. They figure this unrest might start again. They don't want to really give because they figure that the community in that area and certain other areas don't want to participate. Marqueece Harris-Dawson>> I remember when the Starbucks came to South Los Angeles. People said, you know, "These people are not going to buy four dollar coffee." People line up at that coffee shop and it's widely successful, so it's a track record in our opinion. When bankers and investors say that, we think that that's an excuse and not a rationale not to do the right thing here in South Los Angeles. Gail Goldberg>> They are terribly frustrated by the lack of development activity or investment in their communities and I understand that. I understand that we're not talking about the last six months. We're talking about a long history. Toni Guinyard>> Goldberg says that one big part of the problem is that, in the past, planning in the city of Los Angeles was done project by project. Now this vocal group of South Los Angeles residents say that's just not good enough. Not only are they demanding action, but they're also demanding accountability. Manya Anderson>> She did emphasize that Los Angeles has no plan for planning, which to me is the plan. Because if they have no plan, then they have no accountability, no responsibility. Toni Guinyard>> The coalition graded Goldberg on her response to their demands. She passed in her effort to identify vacant lot owners. She needed improvement in the area of funneling resources to South Los Angeles, but failed to close all the nuisance businesses on their list. Gail Goldberg>> I will go back again and again and again. When they tell me I fail, I will try harder. When they tell me I need improvement, I will strive to get a passed grade. Marqueece Harris-Dawson>> We want to work with her. We want to provide her the platform and support and the pressure necessary to move in a positive way. Toni Guinyard>> The communities of South and Southeast Los Angeles have been added to the community planning board program. Now the pressure is on the residents to develop a community plan. Manya Anderson>> You can just -- like Melrose is an event. That's on the list of places to go when you come to Los Angeles. Toni Guinyard>> And that's what you want to see here? Manya Anderson>> Yes. We want to see the same things here, that our neighborhoods and shopping areas like Third Street Promenade. That's on a place. If you don't have anything to do, go down and walk the streets and go into the little bistros and stuff. Well, like that too. Gail Goldberg>> I do believe that I can help them and I feel like I have a responsibility to help them. The challenge for me is to find ways within the system to help them or find ways to help change the system. Toni Guinyard>> And you can bet that the Community Coalition will be pushing the process along every step of the way, unwilling to be left out as development booms in other parts of the city. I'm Toni Guinyard for Life and Times. Val Zavala>> So what are your thoughts on liquor stores and vacant lots in South Los Angeles? You can post your opinion. Just go to kcet.org and click on the Life and Times Blog. Announcer>> Kcet.org is the place to look for the very latest on Life and Times. You'll find previews of upcoming stories, plus transcripts and audio of past episodes and links to some of our most interesting features. Just go to kcet.org, scroll down the page and click on "Life and Times". Val Zavala>> Who would have guessed that a PowerPoint presentation on global warming would end up winning an Oscar? "An Inconvenient Truth" is just one of several politically charged documentaries that is influencing public opinion, but are politics and documentaries a good mix? For a look at documentaries, politics and Hollywood, we brought David Lehrer of CommUnity Advocates to our kitchen table along with Leo Braudy, a cultural historian and professor at USC and Jim Hirsen, an author and conservative commentator from Newport Beach. The Kitchen Table is made possible by Ralph Tornberg. David Lehrer>> "An Inconvenient Truth" was a blockbuster documentary. In the past few years, we've had "Fahrenheit 911", "Roger and Me" and a whole variety of documentaries that really have seemed to affect the American public. Are documentaries different now than they were thirty years ago in their impact? Leo Braudy>> Their impact has certainly changed, but they're not that different. In fact, documentaries started out presenting a point of view. The old "March of Time" documentaries, the documentaries that were made to influence the campaign in California of Upton Sinclair. There's a continuity from the past to the present. What's happened now that's different is that there are more documentaries, that people are used to watching documentaries on television, so they're more open to going to a theater. That's a really a new thing. To go to a theater to see a documentary? That is one of the things that has changed. James Hirsen>> You know, also I think that -- and Leo hit on something. It's a principle that falls all the way through in history, but has now been accentuated. That is, the cult of personality, celebrity and fame. Celebrity obsession has increased over time empowering individuals who are famous to have a greater influence not just with their product, but also with their statements. David Lehrer>> So you're saying that's something that's changed? James Hirsen>> It's accentuated. David Lehrer>> That celebrity is more important today than it was forty years ago? James Hirsen>> Yes, it is. Leo Braudy>> That is one of the things that has changed. Part of that is, of course, that so many celebrities are supporting documentaries with their own funds and also fronting for them, that is, being talking heads in documentaries. David Lehrer>> So that increases the audience then? Leo Braudy>> It increases the audience. Look, every magazine and publisher knows that, if you put a celebrity on the cover, that magazine is going to sell out this month more than any other month. So the idea of stamping something, branding something, with a celebrity face is really part of what's happening in the present. James Hirsen>> And what it shows actually, and I would like to underscore what Leo said, that is that the nature of documentaries and what they represent in generic Hollywood has completely changed. The person who changed it is Michael Moore. Michael Moore in "Fahrenheit 911" had a documentary that didn't do documentary box office. It did blockbuster box office. There's never been anything like it. So Hollywood studios view it differently and the documentary was originally a journalistic concept that communicated balanced facts like a news program. Well, now documentaries are advocacy vehicles and "An Inconvenient Truth" is an advocacy vehicle. It's not showing both sides of the debate nor did Michael Moore. The problem with that influence and that power, though, is the choice of subjects. You know, for example, there are wonderful stories to tell about what Hugo Chavez is doing in Venezuela. There are wonderful stories to tell about what Fidel Castro has done in Cuba to basically put dissenters in prison. These stories aren't told. Just to give you an example, HBO has just contracted to do a film and this is perfectly a legitimate subject. The film is titled "Recount". The film is dealing with the 2000 election contest and the people involved in making the film are from, you know, the entertainment industry. David Lehrer>> So you're suggesting that it's kind of a leftward tilt of those who -- James Hirsen>> -- all we have to do is look at the titles. Richard Clark writes a book against the administration. It's optioned. We have a film called "Recount". Now they're talking about doing a film on Susan McDougal. I see a pattern. Leo Baudry>> No, I think that documentaries have always been advocacy instruments. Think back to Murrow, "Harvest of Shame", the documentary on Joe McCarthy. These are all about a certain point of view and, to a certain extent, there are contrary voices included. But the main thrust of them is always in a very particular direction. You have a film like "Good Night and Good Luck" which is a feature film about making documentaries. So documentaries have moved into a more important place in the entertainment spectrum. James Hirsen>> "An Inconvenient Truth" had two shots in the arm that a normal documentary would not get. One was millions of dollars of free publicity with Al Gore on every show promoting this everywhere from the "Today Show" to "Larry King". That just doesn't happen with your typical documentary. Morgan Spurlock's "Super Size Me" doesn't get that kind of promotion. Secondly, if the critics praise it and the awards shows give it attention -- of course, it won the Oscar -- that gives it a big boost. But you do not see, interestingly enough, certain subjects getting that attention. I'll just give you a good example. They aggregate critical ratings on a website called Rotten Tomatoes and Al Gore's "An Inconvenient Truth" is in the nineties. David Lehrer>> For positive reviews. James Hirsen>> For positive reviews. And from a cinematic point of view, you know, that's questionable. He says himself, "I just do a PowerPoint lecture." But if you take a look at a film like "The Nativity" -- it's not a documentary -- but it's a beautifully done Christmas movie -- David Lehrer>> -- it did very well, didn't it? James Hirsen>> No, it didn't do that well. It got on the aggregate critical scale forty percent. Now why would that be? That's bias. If the critics are bias and the award-granting organizations show bias, the fifteen films that were picked on the short list for documentaries -- well, almost all. I would say were all left of center themes. "An Inconvenient Truth" arguably, from a cinematic point of view, from a filmmaking point of view, shouldn't have won, but it won. I talk to lots of members of the Academy and, to a person, what they said was, "It's so great that he's brought attention to the issue. I'm so happy about that." That's why they gave him the Oscar. Leo Baudry>> I don't see this as any different than giving Scorsese the Oscar for one of his not very good movies. You know, the Oscars always have a sentimental tinge to them. They always have that kind of focus. David Lehrer>> Is there a bias? Leo Baudry>> Well, I think there's a bias. There certainly is in terms of the people who are making the films. I don't know if it's a bias, but more of them are on the left. Certainly a lot more of them are on the left than are on the right. Another factor in that is that celebrities are less afraid of speaking out about their political beliefs than they used to be certainly in the black list period in the Cold War. And in the 1930s when they were under the thumb of the studio system, it was very difficult for them to speak out. As a movie star, you weren't supposed to say anything political at all. David Lehrer>> Well, we can't say anything more now either (laughter). Thank you both, James and Leo, for joining us today. Leo Braudy>> Happy to be here. James Hirsen>> Thanks for having us. Announcer>> To send a comment or a question to our program, you can reach us by mail at this address: Life and Times 4401 Sunset Blvd. Los Angeles, California 90027 You can also call our viewer comment line (323) 953-5555) or contact us the fast way by e-mail at kcet.org. Val Zavala>> Every now and then, we encounter somebody who is so engaging and uplifting that we have to share him with you. Tyrus Wong is one of those people. He's ninety-three years old and, once a month, you can see him out near the Santa Monica Pier flying kites. They are kites that he himself designed and built, though he knows nothing about aerodynamics. But he knows a lot about art. In fact, his artistic career spans fifty years of doing everything from painting to Christmas cards to working for major movie studios. I had the pleasure of meeting Tyrus Wong at his studio in Sunland. He was born in Canton, China in 1910 and, if he'd stayed there, chances are he would never have created this -- or this -- or this. Instead, Tyrus Wong came to Los Angeles. He was nine. His father was hoping his children would find a better future in America, but he could never have foreseen that his son would grow up to be one of the most influential Chinese-American artists of his generation. He did, however, notice that the young Tyrus had a knack for drawing. Tyrus Wong>> You know that every night, he made me to paint calligraphy with a brush and we can't afford ink. Then we used newspaper and painted with water and, when that thing dried, use it over and over again. Val Zavala>> Tyrus's teacher at Benjamin Franklin Middle School in Pasadena also noticed his talent and suggested he apply for a scholarship to the prestigious Otis Art Institute. Tyrus Wong>> I said, "What is a scholarship?" He said, "Oh, that means that if they like your work, that means you go there for free." Val Zavala>> You'd never heard of an art scholarship? Tyrus Wong>> No, no. I heard the word scholarship, but I don't know what the word means, you know. Val Zavala>> And you were very young. You'd quit junior high and you didn't go to high school? Tyrus Wong>> Yeah, I was I think thirteen or fourteen, somewhere around there. Val Zavala>> And you never went back and finished junior high or high school? Tyrus Wong>> That's why my English is so bad. Yeah, I had a good excuse. Val Zavala>> Wong worked in the cafeteria for his meals and took on small commercial jobs. He remembers interviewing with a garment company that needed a drawing of a brassiere, something he had never seen. Tyrus Wong>> No, I never seen one. He asked the lady, a heavyset lady, a secretary, "Why don't you put one on and show this young man what one looks like?" She came fully dressed and put that brassiere on top of it, you know. Val Zavala>> Oh, so she put the brassiere on top of her clothes? Tyrus Wong>> Oh, yeah, yeah, on top. She was fully dressed. She put that on top of it. I said, "Oh, yeah, yeah." I needed the money, you know. So I went back to Otis and looked at a real model, put a brassiere on it and painted it. Black on white, white on black, that's what he want. They said, "Oh, that's great." So it got painted on the side of a building on Hollywood Boulevard. I remember I took my father there to look at it. He said, "Son, you did a good job." (laughter). Val Zavala>> Lesson number one, just because you've never seen something doesn't mean you can't draw it. After graduating from Otis Art Institute, Wong began exhibiting his work and winning awards. He was noticed by a small but growing animation company, Walt Disney Studios. At age twenty-eight, Wong was hired for a tedious and strenuous job called "in-betweening". Tyrus Wong>> And I hated the job. I got home and I told my wife, I said, "Boy, this job is terrible. I feel my eyeballs are popping out of their sockets, you know." Val Zavala>> But then, Wong heard the studio was working on a full-length animated feature based on a book, "Bambi". So he read the book and did some landscape backgrounds, drawing from his Chinese traditions. They caught the eye of Walt Disney himself. Tyrus Wong>> He said, "Gee, I kind of like this. This is different from "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs" because drawings were very ornate, you know. But this has kind of a dreamy quality. I like that." So that's how I got to be doing the three and a half years of "Bambi". Val Zavala>> Wong's next job was with Warner Bros. He was a sketch artist, drawing backgrounds for movies like "The Wild Bunch". [Film Clip] Val Zavala>> He was there for twenty years and worked on scores of movie classics including "Camelot", "Gypsy" and "Rebel Without a Cause". [Film Clip] Val Zavala>> Along the way, Wong explored other media. He painted murals, lithographs and Christmas cards. In the mid-1940's, he was asked to decorate vases and dinnerware for the Winfield Pottery Company in Pasadena. The owner was a former classmate and strong supporter of Wong, but other employees harassed him with racist insults. He eventually quit. It was the fifties and he had encountered anti-Chinese sentiment at Warner Bros. as well. Tyrus Wong>> We had about six sketch artists doing the same work. I was there for about a week. There was only one man by the name of Fritz Willis. He was the only one. He said, "Tyrus, what did you have for lunch?" Oh, I brown-bagged it. "I'll tell you what, tomorrow why don't you join us?" He's the only one that asked me to join them for lunch. I never forget him for that reason. Bill Stern>> "As you probably all know, I'm Bill Stern." Val Zavala>> It's a Sunday afternoon in the mid-Wilshire District and Wong is being honored at the home of Bill Stern, a ceramics collector. Bill Stern>> "As you have seen, his work today has every bit of the spontaneity and liveliness and confidence that his work had more than half a century ago." Val Zavala>> Wong, who hardly does any painting anymore, agreed to paint some ceramic pieces to support the Museum of California Design. Tyrus Wong>> "Do you ever see so many pottery in your life? (laughter). Every place. Pull out the drawer and see maybe linen or something like that. Pottery." Val Zavala>> When he's not charming audiences, you'll find him in his studio just a few steps away from his house on a hill in Sunland. He spends long quiet hours here working on his latest endeavor, kites. Wong's wife of sixty years passed away about ten years ago. She had had a stroke. Tyrus Wong>> Finally, I had to put her in a convalescent home. Oh, it was sad. I would like go in there, you know, bring something in there. She look at me blank, you know. I say, "You know who I am?" She just look at me and not say a word. She won't talk, she won't say yes or no. Very, very sad. Val Zavala>> Making kites is a meticulous, but meditative, process and Wong admits he knows nothing about aerodynamics. Lesson number two, just because you don't know how something works doesn't mean you can't build it. Tyrus Wong>> The first time I built a swallow, I take it way up on the hill there, see nobody around and try it out. It didn't fly. I tried three or four times. I finally get it airborne. I finally get it painted with oil paint and it was off-balance, so I tried over and over again. So finally, I usually get twenty-five of them up on one line. [Film Clip] Val Zavala>> Wong is ninety-three years old, but he still heads out to Santa Monica Beach once a month to put his designs to the test. Tyrus Wong>> "Keep your fingers crossed (laughter)." >> "Oh, yeah, we will." Val Zavala>> He and his kites have spawned an informal fan club. Tyrus Wong>> "Did you cross your fingers?" Val Zavala>> His youngest daughter, Kim, comes out to help. Kim works for Bon Appetit Magazine. His middle daughter runs a bookstore at a museum and his oldest is a second grade teacher. Of all your paintings, do you have a favorite painting that you've done? Tyrus Wong>> No. I'm never satisfied with my own painting. When I finish it, oh, it's okay, it's okay. My greatest achievement is my three girls. They are my masterpiece. They're wonderful girls, they're wonderful girls. I consider myself very, very lucky now, very lucky, very lucky. A guy says, "Gee, you consider yourself a great artist?" I say, "No way, I'm a lucky artist." Val Zavala>> And that's our program. I'm Val Zavala. Thanks for watching. We'll see you next time. Announcer>> 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. Sponsored in part by:  | |
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