THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: TUESDAY, June 7, 1994 TAG: 9406070042
SECTION: DAILY BREAK PAGE: B5 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY MIKE KNEPLER, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: 940607 LENGTH: Long
Another venue, albeit more traditional, is ``Norfolk Reflections,'' a short film that also opened June 1, the launching day for Nauticus.
{REST} The 22-minute 50-second flick not only provides an overview of nearly 400 years of Norfolk history but also many rich nuggets of local lore. Did you know, for example, that:
Before Norfolk, the area was known as Skicoak, home to the Native American Chesipeans.
The Yellow Fever epidemic of 1855, spread from the visiting steamer Ben Franklin, wiped out a third of Norfolk's population before subsiding.
The Allied invasion of North Africa during World War II was planned in the Nansemond Hotel, which once overlooked the Chesapeake Bay from Ocean View.
The film, which emphasizes Norfolk's sea-going connections, plays daily, every half hour, from 10 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. at a new visitors center in the Waterside marketplace. Admission is $1.
The water theme carries forward from Norfolk's founding as a colonial trading outpost through development of the area's shipbuilding industry and Navy base, the city's role in various wars, the famous Ocean View Amusement Park and waterfront redevelopment.
``Water brought disease to Norfolk, water brought the warships, but also water brought trade and the good things to Norfolk, too,'' said Frances M. Lindsay, who led the effort to produce the movie.
A secondary theme is Norfolk's ability to overcome disasters and thrive.
``We are a city of survivors, of caring people who can survive all kinds of tragedy and problems,'' Lindsay said.
Lindsay, a Norfolk native, conceived the idea of the film five years ago after seeing a multimedia presentation about Calgary's history in that Canadian city's visitors center.
``I thought, `We have a lot longer history than Calgary, Canada. We certainly could do this with pictures that we have around Norfolk,' '' Lindsay recalled.
She pulled together a group that called itself the Norfolk Historical Film Committee of the Hermitage Foundation. Cinebar Productions Inc. of Newport News was hired to make the movie.
The result is much more than a compilation of Norfolk's most important events and dates. Despite its brevity, the film weaves together an artful collection of drawings, paintings, photographs and newsreel clips that shows the city's human face as well as its official history.
For example, an interview with 91-year-old Louisa Venable Kyle recalls some early discussions about automobiles taking over the streets of Norfolk.
``One of the conversations was, `Do you imagine that they'll ever have motorized hearses?' And they said, `Of course not! They won't treat the dead with disrespect.''
While the overall mood of the movie is upbeat and progressive, the film also gives a taste of the city's problems and controversies.
The ``Massive Resistance'' against public school integration in the late 1950s is depicted, along with a brief discussion on race relations by Tommy Bogger, Norfolk State University archivist.
``We wanted to stress the idea of Norfolk as a major seaport in the nation's history and stress the idea that Norfolk had its share of problems but has been able to overcome those problems,'' explained Bogger, the only professional historian on the film committee.
``We also wanted to show our diversity, which is more so here than in most other parts of Virginia. We're very proud of the diversity. It's part of the strength of Norfolk.''
Here are a few more tidbits gleaned from the film:
Tradition holds that Capt. Adam Thoroughgood came up with Norfolk's name, after Norfolk shire in his English homeland.
The original, 50-acre ``Norfolk Town'' officially came into existence in 1682 after its land was purchased for 10,000 pounds of tobacco. That equated to $5,600, ``a little more expensive than Manhattan, but the weather was better.''
Norfolk, largely destroyed during the Revolutionary War, was dubbed ``Chimney Town'' because only the chimneys survived on many houses.
A movement to help freed slaves move to Africa had great support here. In 1818, the Norfolk Colonization Society sponsored 50 blacks on the ship Nautilus. Joseph Jenkins Roberts, a Norfolk native, became the first president of Liberia.
As Norfolk rebuilt after the Civil War, oysters and coal became the key exports in the city's reborn shipping trade.
World War II brought a severe housing shortage as sailors and civilian defense workers streamed into Norfolk. Tenants doubled up in homes and learned to ``hot bed'' or sleep in shifts.
It took 12 script changes to condense nearly 400 years of history into less than 23 minutes, said Rich Borenstein, project development director of Cinebar. A greater challenge was in finding the right pictures to illustrate the story line.
The search entailed some detective work and numerous sources. For example, a painting of Norfolk being burned during the Revolution was located hanging over the fireplace in the home of former Mayor Roy Martin, Borenstein said.
The story also is augmented by period music - for instance, the Charleston for the 1920s.
The committee raised about $100,000, including the $60,000 cost to produce the movie. The rest went toward creating the Waterside visitors center and an adjacent 42-seat theater where the film is shown.
This theater, by the way, contains a bit of local history. The seats come from the old Met Park baseball stadium, home of the Tides minor league baseball team from 1970 to 1992.
{KEYWORDS} NORFOLK HISTORY
by CNB