"At Home in Utopia": "The Coops" in the Bronx - a must-see

[ellenkushner]

Just watched "At Home in Utopia" on PBS' "Independent Lens" & was really blown away! More than just a documentary about workers' housing in the Bronx, it's a perfect bite of 20c American history: immigrants, their children, their dreams, the Depression, the War - which united Americans as one people at a time of fragmentation - the Commie witch hunt, and race relations. (Plus, the footage of the guy's mom in her Bronx kitchen looked exactly like my Gramma Rose in hers - same body language, same stuff on the wall....)

It's airing this week (probably repeating tonight) on your public TV station. Record it! Watch it!
You can check local listings & see a preview here.

The filmmaker, Michal Goldman, I knew slightly in Boston, and I really admire her work. Among her other documentaries is Umm Kulthum, A Voice Like Egypt, "about the diva of Arabic song and her country." I made the mistake of taking Delia to see it, and she bonded with Kulthum's dictum "never be late for something that won't wait for you" with the result that I have no leg to stand on when I don't want to leave for the aiport *quite* so early . . . .

Comments

[elissa-carey.livejournal.com]

The timing is serendipitous: this is the era my U.S. History II class is studying. My instructor even fumbled and stammered around one of the reasons Joseph McCarthy was "Tailgunner Joe" aside from his WWII service. (My instructor is rather conservative in manner as well as his politics. I almost felt like patting him on the head.)

[corva.livejournal.com]

There are no broadcasts at anytime before 11:00 p.m. - drat! I wonder if these Coops lead into the Co-op City of my childhood? Off to do some research now and find someone with a working VCR to record the program for me.

[ellen-kushner.livejournal.com]

They did, actually - it comes right at the end!

[nifwitch.livejournal.com]

This sounds great, but I seem to have forgotten what a "TV" is.

From my Uncle Ron

[ellen-kushner.livejournal.com]

He & my dad grew up in the Bronx, on Reservoir Oval. He writes:

"All of the places they mentioned, the Coops, the Sholem Aleichem Houses, and the Amalgamated were within a mile or so of where we lived. In fact, my cousin Sylvia (my father's brother Max's daughter - now 95 or so) still lives in their apartment in the Amalgamated (we used to call it the amalgies). "

DVDs available for "At Home in Utopia"

[(Anonymous)]

Thanks for writing about our film. For anyone who missed the broadcast...or who wants to see over 60 minutes of special features and hear the directors commentary, you can buy a DVD at our website www.filmmakerscollab.org/films/at-home-in-utopia. DVDs for home use are $24.95 plus postage and handling. If you want to buy one for an academic institution- please go to www.newday.com. Take care, Ellen Brodsky (co-producer)