[Studs Terkel archival interviews]

Studs Terkel interviews Richard Hunt, Vin Rosenthal, Theodore Sherrod, and Sterling "Red" Quinlan.

00:17Copy video clip URL Opening scene footage of Richard Hunt’s studio, which resembles a junkyard, cutting to different sculptures and a wooden crate labeled “Works of Art.” Hunt, the renowned African American sculptor, appears, walking into his studio. Piano music plays in background.

00:53Copy video clip URL Camera zooms in on Hunt, who begins working with a blowtorch on one of his pieces. The music stops and a voice over of Hunt explains how he uses car bumpers as the metal for his art, and fashions the shapes by wielding together different pieces of metal to form a sculpture.

03:07Copy video clip URL Hunt talks on the voice over about his technique behind his art, “I like the idea of making somehow organic forms out of mechanical material and techniques. The same thing is to get this feeling of making machine and organic at the same time.”

4:07Copy video clip URL Studs appears in a tuxedo, a stark contrast to the metal sculptures and casual look of Hunt. He begins the interview in Hunt’s studio, asking the artist what the sculpture before him represents, since to Studs it resembles a type of bird, a condor perhaps. Hunt calls them “minor monuments.”

6:20Copy video clip URL Hunt rotates the statue to demonstrate how viewing the sculpture at another angle gives the audience a different impression of the object. Now, Studs remarks, “This particular part looks to me like the head of a prehistoric animal.” Hunt explains, “Works of art should generate these things. It wouldn’t be much if people couldn’t see any more than the artist saw.”

7:56Copy video clip URL The interview continues as a voice over as several of Hunt’s sculptures are displayed on a rotating surface.

8:23Copy video clip URL Camera jumps back to Studs and Hunt in the studio.

8:52Copy video clip URL Studs moves the interview onto the subject of race, asking Hunt what role being a “Negro” played in him becoming a sculptor, and if it was an obstacle. “Well it’s sort of hard to tell because I’ve never been a white sculptor,” Hunt replies.

10:03Copy video clip URL Hunt talks of the business aspect of his art, selling his work, being a full time sculptor and the reception of his art. He prefers using metal to any other medium and remarks, “In any given society or in any given time the tools that were most used by society were used by artists to make art.”

14:03Copy video clip URL Studs and Hunt discuss the moods and feelings that go into Hunt’s sculptures.

14:28Copy video clip URL Camera cuts to Hunt seated on the sofa with his wife in their living room. Studs sits in a chair to the side of the sofa. They are drinking coffee.

15:44Copy video clip URL Camera goes to wide shot, and you can see someone’s hand in the bottom left corner of the screen. Studs discusses with the Hunts the increase in overall art sales, something Hunt calls “injecting a commercial element into fine art.”

16:46Copy video clip URL The camera cuts back to wide angle shot and the Hunts’ small child, perhaps three or four years old, is playing next to Studs. He holds the child’s hand for several moments, while continuing with the interview.

18:25Copy video clip URL Hunt cites his former teacher at the Art Institute of Chicago [Nelly Barr] as the most influential force driving his work.

20:00Copy video clip URL Studs talks with Mrs. Hunt about how she views her husband’s work. She tells Studs, “I have this difficulty with art, there’s always this clump of thinking done in one form and then done over again in words and it’s nearly impossible.”

20:45Copy video clip URL Camera cuts to more of Hunt’s art displayed on rotating pedestals, while the interview continues as a voice over.

21:08Copy video clip URL Camera cuts back to interview in living room.

21:30Copy video clip URL Cut to footage of Hunt back in his studio sculpting.  Studs calls the young Chicago artist “Something of a phenomenon … one of the most gifted and assured artists.”

21:54Copy video clip URL Footage of Hunt in studio fades into credits.

22:02Copy video clip URL Screen is black.

22:15Copy video clip URL Studs’ interview with clinical psychologist Vin Rosenthal begins with close up of Rosenthal in his office, then panning out to reveal Rosenthal and one of his patients, a young man seated on the other side of Rosenthal’s desk. They are discussing therapy.

22:52Copy video clip URL Rosenthal’s voice over starts, “My feeling is nothing will take the place of two people sitting down and talking together about something that is of painful concern because basically people’s problems are interpersonal problems … and nothing will take the place of sitting down with somebody and talking with somebody who cares.”

23:19Copy video clip URL Camera cuts to Studs sitting where the young man sat and introducing Rosenthal to the camera. They are talking about what a clinical psychologist does. Rosenthal explains he does not administer any type of drug or shock therapy: “I’m a talking and listening guy.”

25:54Copy video clip URL Studs compares the patient talking to the therapist as one conversing with an “old pal.” Not true, says Rosenthal. “What’s different about therapy than in a friendship relationship is that the therapist isn’t really important. My needs need to be second to yours.” He goes on to explain the path one needs to take in order to become a clinical psychologist and the type of psychologist is determined by the type of person who is studying to be one.

30:25Copy video clip URL Clinical psychology, Rosenthal explains, is a profession where one has to get to know oneself. As someone in therapy he felt that being analyzed facilitated him in his job (although it is not mandatory). “It’s not like surgery where you cut and sew. It’s not a mechanical process its an experience in living and as much of an experience for the therapist as it is for the patient … the goal of therapy is not to make you a perfect little statue and put you on a shelf.”

33:38Copy video clip URL Patients have to discover their self worth for themselves, Rosenthal explains, “I can’t cram what I know down anyone’s throat.” And that therapy is a very time consuming, sometimes disappointing process.

24:10Copy video clip URL Although they are patients, Rosenthal tells Studs he does not think of them as “sick.” Rosenthal explains, “It’s not like you’ve got a pain in the kidney because what you do about a pain in the kidney is you take a pill, or someone cuts you open and they do something to you. In therapy you do something. I think it would be fair to say that a lot of people think about mental illness in the same way they think about physical illness. I don’t.”

35:02Copy video clip URL Camera cuts to Rosenthal and Studs in a living room. Rosenthal is smoking a pipe. They are discussing Rosenthal’s childhood and he recalls the death of his father, feelings of worthlessness, being lonely and carrying a gun for protection at 15.

43:29Copy video clip URL Camera cuts to Studs outside with Rosenthal and his wife Mary and two daughters, Lisa and Kara. Mary discusses the early years of their marriage. Studs asks Rosenthal’s daughters what they want to be when they grow up and what they think about what their dad does. “He helps people,” answers Kara.

44:35Copy video clip URL Audio cuts out for a few seconds.

46:19Copy video clip URL Rosenthal, now living a satisfied life, ends the interview by saying, “I’m getting paid for being myself with people, and that’s pretty fantastic.”

46:26Copy video clip URL Credits.

46:32Copy video clip URL Black screen.

46:43Copy video clip URL Camera focuses on a beaker, and pans out to the rest of the laboratory. Voice over begins of pharmacologist Theodore Sherrod, a professor at the University of Illinois Medical School, talking about the basic science of pharmacology (not pharmacy) and the development of new drugs.

47:27Copy video clip URL Camera fades to Studs and Sherrod at a table in his office and Studs introduces Sherrod to the camera. Sherrod further explains the nature of pharmacology, and says that it is the newest and one of the most dynamic branches of the six basic medical sciences (anatomy, biochemistry, physiology, microbiology, pathology and pharmacology).

51:32Copy video clip URL Sherrod’s chief interest is in cardiovascular pharmacology and he teaches several graduate students working with the mode of action of drugs and how they work to fix faulty circulation to the heart. Sherrod explains, “We don’t know exactly how [the drugs] do it … I think if one knows exactly how a drug goes about correcting a bit pathology, this is much more important than given the drug empirically, because it helps then discover something about the disease itself.”

53:00Copy video clip URL Sherrod discusses his qualifications, professional background and interest in teaching.

55:38Copy video clip URL Studs asks Sherrod to explain the different charms and medals on his watch chain. Sherrod points out his instructor awards.

57:19Copy video clip URL Studs and Sherrod talk about his hobbies amidst his very busy schedule. Sherrod turns out to be an avid fisherman an vegetable gardener.

57:33Copy video clip URL Camera cuts to footage of different fishing awards and memorabilia of Sherrod in his garden. His voice over continues over the tape. Of gardening, Sherrod says, “I think it’s good physical exercise and, knowing what I know about the relationship of lack of exercise to cardiovascular diseases, I think this is very therapeutic too.”

58:40Copy video clip URL Camera pans across Chicago to Sherrod in his living room with his wife and son. Sherrod recalls his childhood, walking three miles to school and growing up during the Great Depression. His wife tells of her youth in Birmingham and her current vocation of social worker.

1:04:15Copy video clip URL Sherrod’s son Fred, just finishing high school, is thinking of a career in either history or political science, though he recognizes that his parents both chose professions with an “emphasis on social service.”

1:05:00Copy video clip URL Sherrod explains that he is far happier teaching than practicing medicine because money is not the object of his happiness.

1:05:39Copy video clip URL Credits.

1:05:43Copy video clip URL Black screen.

1:05:54Copy video clip URL Camera fades, pans over the Chicago Sun-Times building to different street scenes. Voice over of Sterling “Red” Quinlan, a television executive, speaking of his love for the city of Chicago. Camera cuts to Studs and Quinlan in his office as Studs introduces Quinlan to the camera.

1:08:35Copy video clip URL Studs and Quinlan discuss the set up of the new network, the use of new technology and groundbreaking design. Quinlan says he is throwing out the old rule book and building a station aimed at adults and those with high taste, which will include community affairs, documentaries, news programs aided by a collaboration with the Chicago Daily News and The Chicago Sun-Times.

1:13:10Copy video clip URL Quinlan describes his “new man” employee, young men to work at his network who will learn new technology. He encourages these types of people over those who wish to work with more conventional stations which Quinlan has “mixed feelings about.”

1:15:00Copy video clip URL Studs asks if he ever felt like giving up, or “tossing in the sponge.” “I’m a man of action and can fly off the handle pretty easily,” says Quinlan, “I think everyone has it you just have to resist the temptation to be stupid, that’s what I call it.”

1:15:20Copy video clip URL Camera cuts to view of Quinlan’s living room. He sits on the couch with his wife Mary and baby son Tommy. Mary, who worked in television management for a number of years, tells Studs she is very interested in hearing about the new station.

1:16:43Copy video clip URL Quinlan talks of his childhood, being a boy actor, never going to college, his five years in the Navy, riding the railroads and finally finding his way into television.

1:18:06Copy video clip URL Audio cuts out for a few seconds.

1:23:50Copy video clip URL Quinlan describes achieving his own happiness,”What more could I ask for? Give me another twenty years to knock around you won’t find me in jail and you won’t find me in the bread lines you won’t find me in trouble you’ll just find me as a good American working visibly … You’re a success if you feel you’re a success.”

1:25:22Copy video clip URL Cut to credits.

1:25:34Copy video clip URL End.