[Vito Marzullo raw #5]

Raw tape #5 for Vito Marzullo documentary. Ward Office. Continuation of previous footage that chronicles a day in the alderman's office.

00:00Copy video clip URL Marzullo chats with an unnamed man in vague terms. They discuss the man’s failed attempt to get a young woman he knows hired, presumably in a political office. The man also reminds Marzullo of his plans to sponsor a baseball team, and Marzullo calls County Commissioner Matt Ropa over to write him a check.

03:17Copy video clip URL A Spanish-accented resident, clad in a suit and tie, meets with Marzullo and asks for four or five applications for citizenship to distribute to people in his area who have requested the forms.

04:11Copy video clip URL “What’s new on the western front?” Marzullo asks his next guest, also a precinct captain, who requests services for his Western Avenue domain. After agreeing, Marzullo dismisses him with a curt, “That’s why you had to come down here? Couldn’t you call on the phone? Goodbye. I don’t have time to mess with [this].”

06:10Copy video clip URL Marzullo next meets with a man concerned about street sweeping and snow removal in the ward, as well as with an associate updating him about an asphalt re-paving project and various other neighborhood issues.

09:56Copy video clip URL An off-camera voice announces that a certain group of men with whom Marzullo wanted to meet have arrived and are “in the back room.” Marzullo asks the camera crew to wait outside and the picture cuts to static.

10:23Copy video clip URL Not permitted into the meeting, the camera crew instead shoots the alderman’s waiting room and the “usual cast of characters” that frequent it.

13:08Copy video clip URL The introductions begin. A sweep of the room reveals the man who had requested immigration forms, multiple precinct captains, supporters of Marzullo, and others who came to “talk to the boss.” The camera zooms Hyman Schmidt, a precinct captain, holding “the best book in town” — a booklet for a meeting of the 25th Ward Regular Democratic Organization featuring Marzullo’s picture on the cover.

15:06Copy video clip URL Permitted once again into Marzullo’s office, the crew shoots a nervous-looking youth asking to talk privately with the alderman about a personal matter. Once again, the camera shuts off.

15:45Copy video clip URL An acquaintance of Marzullo’s introduces a man to him, who presents a job application of some sort to the alderman. Marzullo reads the application and then writes down their contact information.

18:52Copy video clip URL A young woman enters Marzullo’s office. Pointing to the video crew, he jokes “If they send you to Hollywood, we want you to come back.” She reveals that she works for West Town Medical Center on the North Side of Chicago. “I was up for a promotion and my boss said to talk to you,” she says, though Marzullo doesn’t seem to recognize her. “You wrote a letter for me once before, and I called and said they needed another letter and you were going on vacation.” After an aide refreshes his memory, he agrees to make a call on her behalf the next morning.

19:52Copy video clip URL Marzullo stops to introduce his official secretary to the video crew, but director Tom Weinberg seems to be missing. “Where’s Weinberg? What’d he do, [is he] talking with the Jews?” Marzullo says. Weinberg comes over and the two exchange jokes. Weinberg declares that “this is an education for me,” and Marzullo complains about the office’s busy pace.

21:36Copy video clip URL Marzullo finally reveals that in the closed-door meeting earlier, he was speaking to members of rival ethnic communities in the neighborhood. “You’d be surprised how difficult you’d find… The Poles can’t get along with the Latinos, the Latinos can’t get along with this…” he said sarcastically. “I say, ‘Why can’t you people just forget about this goddamn stuff and make up your mind. You’re either American or you’re nothing. For Christ’s sake.” With the camera zooming in on his American flag lapel pin, Marzullo says, “I told them, ‘Either get together or get the hell out of here.’ I don’t have to have this goddamn stuff, for Christ’s sake.”