May 19, 2013 - Chicago Jazz Philharmonic

C Sunday, May 19, 2013 | Section 4
JOHN OWENS/TRIBUNE PHOTO
+
AE
Orbert Davis has written a jazz symphony inspired by the photo book “The Lost Panoramas: When Chicago Changed Its River and the Land Beyond.”
GOING WITH THE
flow
Chicago River’s momentous reversal forms the basis
of Orbert Davis’ new jazz symphony
PHOTO FROM “THE LOST PANORAMAS”
By Howard Reich |
Tribune critic
It was called the “seventh engineering wonder of
the world,” a herculean effort to reverse the flow of
the Chicago River.
Typhoid fever, cholera and other waterborne diseases were running rampant in Chicago in the late
19th century, and for good reason: The river was
being used as a dumping ground for blood and guts
from stockyards and tanneries, and for mountains of
human waste. That toxic stew was pouring directly
into Lake Michigan, the city’s source of water.
Turning the river’s current in the opposite direction could wash the sewage and other detritus away
from the city, via the Illinois River into the Mississippi River, and Chicago could continue its explosive
growth as a modern metropolis.
That story has been told in history books and
classroom lectures, but now it’s coming to life in a
novel way: a jazz symphony composed by Chicagoan
Orbert Davis and inspired by the revelatory photo
book “The Lost Panoramas: When Chicago Changed
Please turn to Page 4
Leslie Zemeckis sashays into the history of burlesque
pest Storm, Candy Cotton,
During the shabby final
Blaze Starr, Candy Barr, Val
days of the last of the burValentine, Tee Tee Red, the
lesque houses that once
list goes on — interviewed
dotted State Street near
at poignant, amusing and
Congress Parkway, three of
enlightening length in a
us — in possession of a few
new book, “Behind the
bucks and self-confidence
Rick Kogan
Burly Q: The Story of Burfueled by fake IDs — enlesque in America,” by
tered the Follies Theater
Sidewalks
Leslie Zemeckis.
and saw a show that feaThe author is a former actress, film
tured, among long-forgotten performers, a
director, mother of three and wife of Robdancer named April Showers.
ert Zemeckis, an Oscar-winning director of
I dust off this memory because Ms.
such films as “Back to the Future,” “Who
Showers is not among the many, many
Framed Roger Rabbit,” “Forrest Gump”
creatively named burlesque stars — Tem-
and, most recently, “Flight.”
He is also a proud child of the Roseland
neighborhood on the Far South Side and
still has friends and relatives across this
area. He married Leslie in 2001 and started
a family that now includes the creatively
named daughter Zsa Zsa (5) and sons Zane
(8) and Rhys (9); he has a son, Alexander,
by a previous marriage. The family lives
most of the year in Santa Barbara, Calif.,
but since 2007 has owned a home and
spent a great deal of time here.
It is a handsome apartment with a lovely
view of the lake, and it is filled with all
manner of artwork and other items, such
as Gypsy Rose Lee’s suitcase, that Leslie
has accumulated in her lengthy relationship with burlesque.
“This was a wonderful place to do research. I can’t remember how many times I
walked over to dig through files at the
Chicago History Museum,” she says. “This
was a very important city on the burlesque
circuit. Everybody played here.”
Indeed, Chicago has a long history with
women who famously disrobed.
Fareeda Mahzar, later to be known as
“Little Egypt,” danced at the World’s CoPlease turn to Page 8
4
Chicago Tribune | Arts+Entertainment | Section 4 | Sunday, May 19, 2013
River reversal inspires symphony
Continued from Page 1
Its River and the Land Beyond”
(CityFiles Press). In effect,
Chicago history will be told
here not by academics but by
writers and musicians.
Co-authors Richard Cahan
and Michael Williams spent
years unearthing 21,834 forgotten photographs documenting in luminous black and white
the reversal of the river — and
its triumphant and disastrous
effects on the world around it.
Their 2011 book in turn has led
trumpeter Davis to tell the tale
in “The Chicago River,” a major
opus he and his Chicago Jazz
Philharmonic will perform in its
world premiere Friday evening
at Symphony Center, with historic photos projected on a
screen.
Neither the coffee-table book
nor the symphony would have
happened, however, if the precious photos hadn’t been discovered more than a decade ago
in the basement of the James C.
Kirie Water Reclamation Plant
in Des Plaines. The stench of
decaying film negatives attracted workers’ attention and
drew them to an even more
precious find: 130 boxes of
glass-plate negatives spanning
1894 to 1928, with written records accompanying them.
Williams began digging into
the images in 2000 and spent
the next several years, with
Cahan, studying them. Not until
they had been through everything, however, could Williams
deduce that several of the plates
needed to be viewed alongside
one another, like pieces of a
jigsaw puzzle, to show panoramic views the photographers had shot. That meant
Williams and Cahan had to pore
over everything anew to fit the
pieces together, then travel
along the banks of the Chicago,
Des Plaines and Illinois rivers to
identify the exact locations.
The result, with highlights in
the “Lost Panoramas” book,
documents as never before the
process of reversing the river
and illuminates a critical era in
Chicago’s history.
“You’ve heard stories about
the reversal of the river, but
nobody saw the actual pictures,
the evidence,” says Williams.
“Nobody had seen pictures of
sewer pipes coming out of a
tannery, where smoke is coming
from it too. Or the stockyards,
where it’s just feet and feet of
muck and refuse.”
Adds Cahan: “People read
about Chicago in ‘The Jungle,’
by Upton Sinclair, but there’s
never been pictures of the edge
of the stockyards. Then there’s
this contrast to the beauty of
downstate Illinois. There’s this
amazing connection — people
in St. Louis hate us not only
because of the Cubs, but because we’ve been dropping our
refuse on them for the last century.”
Indeed, the effects of reversing the course of the river
were as negative outside Chi-
JOHN OWENS/TRIBUNE PHOTOS
Orbert Davis, background right, talks with members of the Chicago Jazz Philharmonic during a rehearsal of “The Chicago River.”
Richard Cahan, co-author of “The Lost Panoramas,” listens as the
Chicago Jazz Philharmonic rehearses music inspired by his book.
Pianist Leandro Lopez Varady makes notes on his score. Historic
photos will be projected on a screen during the premiere.
To hear excerpts of Orbert Davis’ “The Chicago River,” watch
video interviews on the making of the piece and see a photo
gallery of historic images, go to chicagotribune.com/river.
cago as they were beneficial
here. By digging the Chicago
Drainage Canal — known in the
1890s simply as the Big Ditch —
the city reversed the river’s flow
and sent away a torrent of
waste. The venture nearly
doubled the size of the Illinois
River, submerged land masses,
deluged nearby waterways and
killed vegetation.
“From 1903 to 1921,” the
authors write, “half the river’s
wildlife habitat was eliminated.”
The photographs, in fact, were
taken partly to be used as evidence in lawsuits, which proliferated once the canal opened
and the waters reversed in 1900.
That’s the story composer
Davis has sought to tell in “The
Chicago River,” in five movements.
“I didn’t consult them,” says
Davis, referring to the authors,
“just the book. The old adage —
a picture is worth a thousand
words — is true. But not only
words — sounds. I can hear the
music by looking at the pictures.”
Not everyone, however,
would hear jazz when studying
these vivid images of a rougher,
more rambunctious Chicago of
more than a century ago. Jazz,
however, stands as the ideal
music for this time and place,
because the turn of the previous
century marked the explosive
beginnings of jazz in Chicago.
Jelly Roll Morton, the first jazz
composer, came here from New
Orleans as early as 1910, followed by Joe “King” Oliver,
Louis Armstrong and a genera-
tion of New Orleans artists,
making Chicago not only the
next jazz capital but the exporter of the music to the rest of the
world.
“Jazz was brewing in Chicago
in the early 1900s, and the
sounds that these very people in
these pictures were probably
hearing were jazz,” Davis says.
The Mississippi River on the
western border of Illinois, of
course, played a key role in the
development of jazz, with New
Orleans musicians working the
riverboats that traveled north
from the Crescent City and
spread the music to riverside
towns like St. Louis and Davenport, Iowa, (home of cornetist
Bix Beiderbecke). Which is a
key part of the narrative that
Symphony Center hopes to
explore with its ongoing series
“Rivers: Nature. Power. Culture.”
“In planning, I kept saying we
had to do something on the
Chicago River — I grew up
hearing from my father about
this amazing engineering feat of
the reversal,” says Jim Fahey,
director of programming for
Symphony Center Presents,
which commissioned Davis’
symphony.
“Over the past couple of
years, I’ve been wanting to
bring the Chicago Jazz Philharmonic to the (jazz) series. … I
mentioned the river idea, and
(Davis) responded interestedly.
The kicker was when this book
came out — I thought that
would be a great thing to bring
to Orbert and ask him to work
from.”
How well Davis’ “The Chicago River” addresses its subject remains to be heard. At the
very least, Davis will have added
to the ever-growing repertoire
of his Chicago Jazz Philharmonic, and he will have explored a key moment in our
history.
“This is the Chicago story,”
says Cahan. “If not for this, we
all wouldn’t be here.”
How fitting that the tale will
be told in a music bound up
with the meaning of Chicago:
jazz.
Orbert Davis’ “The Chicago
River,” and other works, will be
performed by Davis and the
Chicago Jazz Philharmonic at 8
p.m. Friday at Symphony Center,
220 S. Michigan Ave.; $23-$54 at
312-294-3000 or cso.org
hreich@tribune.com
Twitter @howardreich
LITERARY
DIRECTORY
A synopsis of literary events & happenings
TODAY’S EVENTS
(SUNDAY, May 19)
Chris Healy, Soman Chainani, Jarrett
Krosoczka, Tom Watson, Eric Gale, and
Chris Rylander with their
Class Acts program.
2 p.m. at Anderson’s Bookshop
123 W. Jefferson Ave.
Naperville
(630) 355-2665
MONDAY, May 20
Dr. Judith Wright and Dr. Bob Wright
for a discussion about their new book,
Transformed! The Science of
Spectacular Living.
6 p.m. at Cindy Pritzker Auditorium (Lower Level)
Harold Washington Library Center
400 S. State St.
(312) 747-4050
TUESDAY, May 21
Author Greg Borzo with Chicago Cable Cars
12 p.m. at University Club of Chicago.
For reservations call (847)446-8880. www.thebookstall.com
BOOKS
WANTED
Yale French literature professor
Alice Kaplan with her new book,
Dreaming in French
12 p.m. at The University Club of Chicago.
For reservations call (847) 446-8880. www.thebookstall.com
Edward Lee with his debut cookbook,
Smoke and Pickles: Recipes and Stories
from a New Southern Kitchen
12 p.m. at The Standard Club.
For reservations call (847)446-8880. www.thebookstall.com
Anchee Min discusses her new book,
The Cooked Seed: A Memoir
6 p.m. at Cindy Pritzker Auditorium (Lower Level)
Harold Washington Library Center
400 S. State St.
(312) 747-4050
WEDNESDAY, May 22
Special Author Night with readings and
signings from Terese Svododa, Rob
Roberge, Sheri Joseph
and Ru Freeman.
7 p.m. at The Book Cellar
4736-38 N Lincoln Ave. 773-293-2665
(773) 293-2665
Author Edward McClelland with his
latest novel, Nothin’ But Blue Skies
7 p.m. at Anderson’s Two Doors East
111 W. Jefferson Ave., Naperville
(630) 355-2665
Children’s author Rick Yancey celebrates
his new ya novel, The 5th Wave
7 p.m. at Anderson’s Bookshop
123 W. Jefferson Ave., Naperville
(630) 355-2665
Wisconsin writer Dale Kushner with her
debut novel, The Conditions of Love
7 p.m. at The Book Stall
811 Elm, Winnetka
(847) 446-8880
THURSDAY, May 23
Miriam Karmel reads and signs her
debut novel, Being Esther
6:30 p.m. at The Book Stall
811 Elm, Winnetka
(847) 446-8880
Drew Magary returns to sign copies of
his book, Someone Could Get Hurt
7 p.m. at The Book Cellar
4736-38 N Lincoln Ave.
(773) 293-2665
FRIDAY, May 24
Former Bulls coach Phil Jackson talks
about his memoir, Eleven Rings:
The Soul of Success
12 p.m. at The Union League Club.
For reservations or to order an autographed book
call 847 446-8880. www.thebookstall.com
UPCOMING EVENTS
Meet author Joyce Selander at her book
signing, reading and question answer with
her book, Joyce, Queen of the Mountain
Tuesday, June 4 at 4 p.m.
Barnes and Noble (DePaul University)
1 E Jackson Blvd
(312)362-8792
WORKSHOPS
Jerilyn Miripol, Self Discovery
Through Creative Writing.
jmiripol@gmail.com
Creative Writing Workshop
St. Francis Hospital
(847) 251-6721
BOOKZELLER/BOOKZONE
Buys nonfiction used books, CD’s, DVD’s, professional libraries & large collections preferred. Home visits within 2 hours. 630-499-8127
JEFF HIRSCH BOOKS
House Calls Made for Large Collections: Seeking Photography, Art, Architecture, Design, Fashion, Poetry 1st Editions, Drama, Signed
Books, Easton Press, Franklin Library, Folio Society - Jeff Hirsch Books - 847-570-9115
For a full listing of weekly Literary Events and Offerings, please turn to the Books section every Saturday in the Chicago Tribune.
For advertising rates and deadlines, please call Amir Burke 312-527-8061.
Chicago Tribune | Arts+Entertainment | Section 4 | Sunday, May 19, 2013
Expanse of the Illinois River, at Buffalo Rock State Park, just west of Ottawa, on Sept. 24, 1907.
Movement No. 1: ‘A Lost Panorama’
“When I look at this picture,” says Williams, “I think of
how Rich (Cahan) and I were trying to go to this point and
discover where it was … (but) this entire island no longer
exists — it’s under 7 or 10 feet of water. And it illustrates the
whole idea of the impact our reversal (of the Chicago River)
had on the environment downstream.”
Says composer Davis — who was born in Chicago,
grew up in Momence and often practiced his trumpet at
water’s edge — “This is similar to my scene (growing up)
at the Kankakee River, the concept of looking … at the
past of what has happened here.”
Photos set ‘River’s’ course
Composer Orbert Davis has drawn inspiration for movements of “The Chicago River,” his new jazz
symphony, from particular images in “The Lost Panoramas” by Richard Cahan and Michael Williams.
Here is a guide to the five movements of Davis’ work, and a key image Davis drew upon for each one,
with commentary from Davis, Cahan and Williams. — Howard Reich
The excursion boat Theodore Roosevelt is towed east toward Lake Michigan under the State Street Bridge in 1910.
PHOTOS FROM “THE LOST PANORAMAS”
K Movement 5:
‘The Seventh Wonder’
“This being the seventh engineering wonder
of the world, this picture (is) about the growth
of Chicago around the river,” says Davis. “This
is the one picture where we now have an audience. It’s basically saying: ‘OK you guys, the
work is over, let’s check out what you’ve done.’
… It’s the culmination. Now we marvel at the
ideas, the work, the vision and even the loss of
what has happened to this point.”
Or, as the authors write in the closing paragraph of the book: “in these lost panoramas, a
part of historic Illinois is documented forever.
Depending on your point of view, these images
may inspire you or haunt you. Or both.”
Movement 4:
‘Fortress of
Solitude’
Discharge flows into the North Branch of the Chicago River from W.N. Eisendrath & Co. Tannery on
July 2, 1907.
K Movement No. 2:
‘Brewing the Toxic Stew’
“This is a stretch on the Near North
Side that was lined with tanneries —
you probably had 10 or 15 in a row
dumping this kind of waste,” says
Williams. “There were no environmental impact studies. Nobody
thought through how this (reversal)
would affect (the ecosystem). This was
solving Chicago’s problem.”
Says Cahan: “The city couldn’t just
come in and say, ‘You can’t use this
(river as a dumping ground).’ They
were dependent on this river and the
distilleries and tanneries — that’s what
was making Chicago the special place
it was. It gave them an outlet for disposal. Build a factory, just get rid of
anything in the factory — there were
no rules against pollution. … ‘Dilution
is the solution to pollution’ was the
saying. (They believed) rivers are
magical — drop it in the river, and it
would go away.”
In composing this movement, Davis
contemplated “all the different factories, what goes into building furniture,
the waste from the paint and turpentine, then human waste and the stockyards’ (overflow). Imagine this being a
stew, all (ultimately) discarded in a
place where we would obtain our
drinking water.”
The composer says he
focused on no specific
image for this movement, instead looking
Davis
inward, to his boyhood. “I
drew my inspiration here
more from my personal experience (by) the
Kankakee River, the concept of the river, just
having water there, the resources of the listener’s mind.”
J Movement 3: ‘Retrograde’
This movement “focuses on images of people,” says Davis. “People working, the mechanics of the process of changing the river. … It
shows man over nature … men and machines.”
Starting in 1893, the first full year of the
engineering project, “People came from all
over the world to see what we were doing,”
says Cahan, with international visitors to the
World’s Columbian Exposition and Chicagoans alike flocking to see the digging of the
canal. “People were thrilled by it and amazed
by it. It was the feeling in those years that
engineers ruled, they knew best.”
Adds Williams, “It was a circus atmosphere.
One person was killed watching. At that time,
anything would go in Chicago. … There was a
human cost.” Indeed, the Tribune reported
that 279 people were killed by the time the
$33 million canal had been built.
George M. Wisner, left, who became chief
engineer of the Sanitary District, and William
Lydon, center, president of Great Lakes Dredge
and Dock Co., with an unnamed man in a power shovel in downtown Chicago in 1899.
5
8
Chicago Tribune | Arts+Entertainment | Section 4 | Sunday, May 19, 2013
Zemeckis’ trip ‘Behind the Burly Q’
Continued from Page 1
lumbian Exposition of 1893
and was acknowledged as
“the first of the sensational
girlie dancers.” At the 1933
Century of Progress, Sally
Rand caused a sensation
with her ostrich feather fan
dance and balloon bubble
dance. She was arrested
four times in a single day
during the fair, due to perceived indecent exposure,
but a reporter/critic for the
then very prim and proper
Tribune deemed her act
“graceful, handsomely
staged, and free from any
suggestions of vulgarity.”
Both of these women are
featured in “Behind the
Burly Q,” a book that is the
logical, if who-knew-itwould-be-so-much-work,
outgrowth of what started
nearly a decade ago.
That was when Zemeckis created a one-woman
show for herself called
“Staar: She’s Back and
Mistresser Than Ever!”
(She later wrote and produced a “mockumentary”
based on the character that
starred Carrie Fisher, Jeffrey Tambor and Fabio.)
Staar was a showgirl
who strutted her stuff in a
cabaretlike revue in various
Los Angeles clubs, including a six-week residency at
The Conga Room in 2005.
The show featured four
male dancers, a band and
such songs as “You’ve Gotta
Have Boobs.”
In reviewing The Conga
Room show for Variety,
Joel Hirschhorn wrote that
Zemeckis was “a contradiction in terms — a restrained burlesque queen.
… Echoes of breathy Marilyn Monroe seductiveness
and all-knowing Mae West
vulgarity appear, but the
attractive Zemeckis lacks a
style of her own. … The
evening, despite butt-slapping and crotch-grabbing,
feels like G-rated naughtiness, a dated production
that might have been titillating half a century ago
and has lost all power to
shock.”
Says Zemeckis, 44: “I
AMANDA EDWARDS/GETTY PHOTO
Author Leslie Zemeckis struts her stuff in her cabaretlike revue “Staar” at The Conga Room in LA during a 2005 show.
called it burlesque, but I
didn’t really know or
understand what that really
meant. I began to do some
research, and in so doing
began to meet some of the
people who were part of
the world. I was fascinated
by their stories.”
She sponsored a 2006
reunion of former burlesque performers at the
then-soon-to-be-demolished Stardust hotel in Las
Vegas on the condition that
those attending agreed to
be interviewed on camera
about their lives and careers. More than 50
showed up.
Working with her “dear
friend, co-producer and
cameraperson Sheri Hellard,” Zemeckis’ weekend
grew into a two-year project “crisscrossing the country interviewing everyone I
could find that had worked
in a burly show.”
“During some of the time
“I am a history
buff. I can’t
stand to see stories get lost.”
— Leslie Zemeckis
I was pregnant with Zsa
Zsa, but Bob was so supportive,” Zemeckis says.
“After we had shot all we
could shoot, Bob helped
with the editing.”
The film version of “Behind the Burly Q” was
released in 2010 and played
at the Siskel Film Center
here. It was not reviewed
by any of our major newspapers, but New York was
all over it, The Village Voice
calling it “utterly entertaining,” and film critic Manohla Dargis of The New York
Times writing that it was
“charming. … It’s great that
Zemeckis, center, in leopard print, with a group of former
burlesque performers, is also a mom and a former actress.
titled “Striptease: The
Untold History of the Girlie
Show,” but it does not provide the intimate oral history that Zemeckis’ book
does.
Burlesque, loosely defined as a variety show
punctuated by raunchy
comedy and female striptease, thrived into the
1960s, and though some
performers continued to do
their things after that,
Zemeckis’ aim was, as she
writes, “in some small way
… (to) change the many
misconceptions of burlesque and the performers
themselves — men and
women who spent their
careers marginalized, dismissed, and stigmatized.”
Yes, there were men in
the business, a few of them
featured in the book. Alan
Alda? His father was a
singer/joke teller on the
circuit, and Alda says,
“Early burlesque was a
family business. That’s hard
(Zemeckis) immortalized
these women.”
It was also reviewed by
Joan Acocella in The New
Yorker when it was released as a DVD in 2011.
She wrote: “Zemeckis likes
fun, but she asks important
questions.”
Zemeckis was pleased by
the reviews, but there was
greater satisfaction for her.
“I am a history buff,” she
says. “I can’t stand to see
stories get lost. I had so
much material that wasn’t
used in the documentary
that I just had to write this
book.”
It is, in its fashion, an
important historical document, capturing an era and
entertainment all but buried in history’s dust and by
fading memories. Chicago
author Rachel Shteir
(something of a lightning
rod after lambasting Chicago a few weeks ago in
The New York Times Book
Review) wrote a 2005 book
Orbert Davis’
CHICAGO JAZZ
PHILHARMONIC
Friday, May 24, 8:00
Orbert Davis’ Chicago Jazz Philharmonic makes
its Symphony Center Jazz debut as part of our
RIVERS exploration in a newly commissioned work
celebrating the Chicago River and the impact
it has had in making our city a great American
metropolis. “Bristling innovation and mainstream
melody-making, classical modernism and free jazz
improvisation—all these elements, and others,
converge when CJP takes the stage” (Chicago Tribune).
Orbert Davis
artistic director
SYMPHONY CENTER PRESENTS
312-294-3000
•
CSO.ORG
The SCP Jazz series is sponsored by:
Artists, prices and programs
subject to change.
Media Support:
to believe, but it was.”
Many of those in the
book have died since Zemeckis interviewed them,
and the others are getting
older by the day. But a few
undoubtedly find it interesting and perhaps even
ironic that “Behind the
Burly Q” arrives amid a
rebirth of burlesque.
In the April 25 issue of
The New Yorker, the aforementioned Acocella wrote
about the “new burlesque,”
trying to make the case that
this “rebirth is due partly to
politics. Again and again,
artists and commentators
of the new burlesque say
that it is a feminist enterprise, enabling women
to enjoy their sexuality and
take pride in their bodies.”
That is not news here,
where Michelle L’amour
has been at it for nearly a
decade, being joined by an
ever-increasing number of
burlesque shows.
As a girl growing up in
Orland Park she studied
ballet and jazz dancing.
But, encouraged by her
parents to get a “real job,”
L’amour was majoring in
finance at the University of
Illinois at Urbana-Champaign when she was persuaded by husband-to-be
Franky Vivid to perform a
striptease before a concert
by his rock band.
“I was terrified at first,”
she says. “But there was no
going back.”
Since then, she has been
named Miss Exotic World
in 2005, dubbed by Chicago
magazine the “Reigning
Queen of Bump and Grind”
and operated Studio
L’amour, one of only two
known burlesque instruction schools in the world. A
couple of years ago she and
her husband opened the
Everleigh Social Club
(named for the world’s
most famous brothel,
which did business here
from 1900 to 1910), featuring a wide array of arts and
entertainments (everleigh
socialclub.com).
“A lot of burlesque these
days is about feminism,
politics, performance art,”
L’amour says. “I am not
interested in that sort of
thing. I want to entertain.
Burlesque is all about the
tease. I want to do something that is artistically
pleasing for myself and for
the audience.”
In that, she shares the
philosophy of nearly all of
the women in Zemeckis’
book, which will be celebrated at a release party
Sunday at 7 p.m. at Sheffield’s, 3258 N. Sheffield
Ave.
In the midst of all this
movie/book/three-youngkids whirl, there is another
film. “Bound By Flesh” is a
documentary about Daisy
and Violet Hilton, Siamese
twin sisters joined at the
hip who went from appearing at carnivals to becoming big stars in vaudeville.
“I guess I am just drawn
to outsiders and underdogs,” Zemeckis says. “I
discovered the subject of
this film while I was researching this (‘Burly Q’)
book.”
She is the director. Her
husband is the executive
producer. The film has
been playing the festival
circuit for the last few
months, taking the best
documentary prize at the
inaugural Louisiana Independent Film Festival in
April.
“I don’t think of myself
as a filmmaker. Bob is a
filmmaker,” she says. “But I
do think I am a very good
documentarian.”
The film played here
during the Chicago International Film Festival last
fall. The critic for the Hollywood Reporter, Duane
Byrge, wrote: “Scrupulously researched from a
wide array of sources (such
as the Circus Museum in
Baraboo, Wis.), ‘Bound by
Flesh’ mesmerizes with its
full-fleshed portrait of the
two gentle souls confined
to a life of outrageous spectacle.
“Told with crisp clarity
and buttressed by compassion, ‘Bound by Flesh’ is a
masterful movie, certain to
touch the hearts of all audiences.”
Says the author/documentarian, “I hope the
(‘Burly Q’) book does the
same thing.”
It does, April Showers or
no April Showers.
rkogan@tribune.com