A few 90’s people

Various segments with people featured on The 90's. Robert Demella talks about being a cab driver in New York City. Ruth Handler, creator of the Barbie doll, talks about how she got into the business of prosthetic breasts and her business "Nearly Me." "On Our Land," about Appalachians struggling against mining corporations trying to take their land. Erika Becker talks about having Cerebral Palsy. John Parker distributes drug needles to addicts in a controversial effort to prevent the spread of disease. Andrew Jones documents the Iraq human peace camp.

00:00Copy video clip URL Black.

00:22Copy video clip URL Start of Video. The 90’s introduction.

1:01Copy video clip URL Robert Demella talks about being a cab driver in New York City. “You don’t pick up drunks. You don’t pick up teenagers. You don’t pick up people who look like they’re high or on drugs. You don’t pick up people who look really seedy. Don’t go by the color of the skin. It’s not the color of the skin of the person who’s hailing you it’s the way they’re dressed the way they comport themselves on the street.”

1:46Copy video clip URL Demella describes the rewards of being a driver. “It’s like free psychology. People spill their guts out to me.” He says he gives pithy advice, getting to the core of the problem. He tells the videographer, Skip Blumberg, that if someone is watching this footage they are watching it on TV and the only thing he suggests TV is used for is watching the news. Otherwise, “you should take a sledgehammer to your TV and smash it. The TV set, I think, is the downfall of western civilization. It’s lobotomizing you.”

4:20Copy video clip URL Demella complains that the news people he ferries aren’t even aware of current events. “I am not in an ivory tower. That is a great thing about this job. You’re not insulated from society or the outside world.”

5:05Copy video clip URL Black

05:14Copy video clip URL Start new segment. Ruth Handler, creator of the Barbie doll, talks about how she got into the business of prosthetic breasts and her business “Nearly Me”. “I got into this business when I was at the lowest point in my life. I was in retirement. I hate retirement. I was miserable. I was a mastectomy searching for a prosthesis.”

6:28Copy video clip URL Handler tours her factory where they make prosthetic breasts. She demonstrates how the prosthetic works.

6:53Copy video clip URL B-roll, an employee makes the prosthetic with a mold. Handler notes that the difference between the toy business and her “Nearly Me” business is that one toy can easily sell millions of pieces. Nearly Me will never sell 100 million dollars worth of artificial breasts.” She adds though that “One out of every nine woman will have breast cancer within her life and our market is growing by many thousands of woman every year. So in that respect, this is a growth industry. And I am not happy that  it is.”

08:30Copy video clip URL Handler shows her own prosthetic breasts.

10:15Copy video clip URL Handler talks about consumer need. She explains that the creation o the Barbie doll came after seeing her own daughter playing with paper dolls. She could see they were projecting themselves into how they would be if they were adults. They talked the way they interpreted their parents talk. This lead to creating Barbie.

11:15Copy video clip URL Black

11:25Copy video clip URL Start new segment, “On Our Own Land.” Large explosion in the backwoods of Kentucky. Overhead shot of Kentucky wilderness being mined. The piece talks about mining companies taking over private property owned by a citizens without power to stop them.

13:15Copy video clip URL Interview with the land owner who says of the mining corporations offer to take their land, “we were to remove our father who is buried out here on the hill. We were to remove him to a public cemetery because they wanted to completely devastate the land once they owned it. That was the first offer. The second offer was, if you don’t accept the offer we just made you of $150,000 then we are going to strip mine it anyways. One of dads last request was that we not allow anyone to strip mine this land if we could possibly prevent it.” Everett Akers, former State Representative, says he tried to stop them from blasting the land. He notes he was thrown in jail after trying to prevent his land from being mined.

14:45Copy video clip URL An unidentified man says the land has been in the family since 1896. Standing in a wooded area, the man notes this area would make a great wildlife refuge. The mining company wants to destroy it. He shows an area being mined, “against my will.” He says he brought federal agents out to the site and they agreed the company was in the wrong. But, he adds, federal and state let the company continue tearing up the land.

16:49Copy video clip URL B-roll of bulldozers at work. A company representative pulls up in a truck and confronts the land owner and the video crew. He assaults the cameraman and tries to stop him from taking pictures. He insists the landowner is trespassing. The landowner holds his ground. They eventually disperse.

18:50Copy video clip URL Akers says cries that the mining companies have taken their freedom. “Who gave you permission to kill our land!? Shame on you. Shame on the courts of Kentucky.”

20:00Copy video clip URL Black.

20:08Copy video clip URL Start new segment. Erika Becker talks about having Cerebral Palsy. “It’s where my brain tells my legs that I should walk a funny way. Before I had my operation I would walk really crooked and funny, and people would laugh at me, and I would get really hurt.” She contemplates the people who make fun of her for her condition. “If you really think about it, they have a problem, too. If they didn’t have a problem I don’t think they would be calling me names.” She observes that even grown ups treat her different, but that’s because, she deduces, she is different. She demonstrates how she walks now, post operation.

24:10Copy video clip URL Erika describes the operation. “They opened my back and cut the nerves in my back. They split them in half and it was a really dangerous operation because you could get paralyzed.”

25:15Copy video clip URL Erika give advice to people facing difficult times. “We’ll, its really hard. I think once you get through it, once its over, you’ll feel much happier.” When asked by others why she walks funny, Erika says at first such questions made her mad, but now she understands why they ask. She gives a tag for The 90s and runs off.

26:39Copy video clip URL Black.

26:50Copy video clip URL Start of new segment. John Parker drives with Skip Blumberg through New Haven, Connecticut, as he distributes drug needles to addicts in a controversial effort to prevent the spread of disease. ABC Nightly News is also on hand videotaping Parker.

27:47Copy video clip URL As Parker sets up his traveling distribution center in front of a school, Blumberg asks, “so whats more important the publicity or the act of giving out the needle?” Parker: “both. Both are related.” He lays out a “message quilt” a quilt where people can write their thoughts on drugs. B-roll as ABC records an interview with Parker. B-roll of volunteers helping to set up the distribution and the quilts.  Parker notes he was once a drug addict and that he doesn’t distribute needles to condone drug abuse, he does it to try and prevent the spread of disease.

28:55Copy video clip URL Parker hands out clean needle kits to drug addicts as ABC news and Blumberg videotape the action.

29:55Copy video clip URL Footage of Parker on ABC news explaining why he chooses to hand out needles and care packages in addition to bleach.

30:30Copy video clip URL A struggling drug addict explains the benefits of the program. “They got a shot not to use the same works over and over. A lot of people are catching AIDS now. It’s a big help.” He says she’s been with Parker for two years and tries to help whenever he can. He adds it’s not legal to pass needles out, but the police have been somewhat lenient and they will disperse when the police tell them to move out.

32:10Copy video clip URL Parker tells the ABC crew, “We are breaking the law but we’re trying to save something more important. We’re trying to save lives.”

32:32Copy video clip URL Blumberg asks the ABC producer, Tom, if he gets involved in the stories he covers. Tom says that he emotionally gets involved, but that ethically he can’t get physically involved.

33:07Copy video clip URL Parker is surrounded by a group of kids. He tries to engage them in a dialogue about AIDS and drugs as another youth spray paints messages on a quilt. Parker encourages a customer of his to talk to ABC news about the benefits of what he’s doing. He says he thinks Parker’s work is helping and not encouraging people to use drugs.

36:00Copy video clip URL Parker says he is fired up about the publicity. “We’re getting media support,” and that’s, “making people think about the issue.” He says drug addicts relate to him because he himself was a drug addict. He says he is writing a thesis on the affects of needle exchange. He says right now he and his members pay out pocket for supplies. He adds he is part of National AIDS Brigade. He adds that it’s not easy. He owes a year-and-a-half rent on his place and has shut off notices for all his utilities.

39:05Copy video clip URL Black.

39:15Copy video clip URL Start new segment. Andrew Jones describes what got him involved in the Iraq human peace camp. “I saw an article in the Globe. As I was flipping through the pages, I thought I saw something about somebody going into Iraq and sitting between armies. So I flipped back and I read it and it was fantastic… a human shield in the desert.” I’m a black American and Bush had astutely put the deadline on Martin Luther Kings birthday. Bush was assaulting an idea of peace.”

42:32Copy video clip URL Jones plays the violin. B-roll of the camp.

42:58Copy video clip URL Japanese protester says, “I think this is a very critical moment in history. And I am honored to be part of this camp.”

43:20Copy video clip URL An Indian woman speaks in Hindi.

43:44Copy video clip URL Iraqi citizen says, “all we love peace and we wish war not to happen. I am very happy here.”

44:04Copy video clip URL An English woman says she has three sons who are with her in spirit.

44:20Copy video clip URL Jones interviews a man who says everyone involved in this dispute are responsible for the crisis so we couldn’t alley ourselves with either party. Another man notes that the people in this peace camp are not prone to suicide, but they are prepared to take risks with their lives for this experiment in non-violent revolution.

45:39Copy video clip URL B-roll of camp activity such as soccer. Jones notes we came here for peace.

46:22Copy video clip URL Black.

48:54Copy video clip URL END