WLIW21’s new production celebrates the Town of Huntington

Encore Presentation Monday September 13 at 7:00 p.m

Features Host/Narrator Bernadette Castro, Patti LuPone, Ralph Macchio, The Lockhorns’ Bunny Hoest, and other past and present residents

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Donate now for the Hometown Huntington DVD with bonus material — available exclusively through WLIW21.

There is no place like Huntington. With its harbor villages and picturesque towns it has long been a haven for residents and tourists, ripe with glorious beaches, abundant fishing and a sense of place that embraces both the quintessential Main Street and the height of sophisticated culture. WLIW21’s new production, Hometown Huntington celebrates the Town of Huntington, then and now, by giving voice to the shared memories of one Suffolk County community via interviews with past and present residents, including Tony Award-winning singer/actress and Northport native Patti LuPone, actor and Dix Hills native Ralph Macchio, and Huntington resident Bunny Hoest, creator of the syndicated comic The Lockhorns. Hometown Huntington is hosted and narrated by former New York State Parks Commissioner and former New York State Historic Preservation Officer Bernadette Castro, a Lloyd Harbor resident.

Nestled on Long Island’s North Shore, over 190,000 people call the Town of Huntington’s 93 square miles home, from the Villages of Northport, Asharoken, Lloyd Harbor, and Huntington Bay to the Town’s many hamlets – Cold Spring Harbor, Elwood, Huntington, Huntington Station, South Huntington, Melville, East Northport, Halesite, Dix Hills, Centerport, Greenlawn, and Fort Salonga – and five harbors: Cold Spring Harbor, Northport, Huntington Harbor, Centerport, and Lloyd Harbor. Hometown Huntington acknowledges the area’s rich history – The Battle of Long Island, African-American writer and former slave Jupiter Hammon, poet Walt Whitman, William K. Vanderbilt II’s summer mansion, Eagle’s Nest – but focuses more on the regular people who shaped the Town and made it the special place it still is today, from the farmer to the ship builder, the revolutionary to the rum-runner. “Remembering My Hometown…” moments throughout the film feature viewer-contributed stories and photos.

“Hometown Huntington perfectly captures the spirit of WLIW’s ‘21 Weeks of Summer’ initiative,” said Executive Producer and WLIW21 Acting General Manager John Servidio. “It’s a feel-good program that celebrates one of our local community’s accomplishments and offerings, including beaches, harbors and great entertainment.”

Hometown Huntington begins with “The Way It Was,” a look at Huntington’s founding families, including the Primes and the Sammis, Knutson’s Shipyard, Cold Spring Harbor’s whaling history, and Finnegan’s, long considered the “Cheers” of Huntington. Pamela Prime, Vera Sammis Murphy, Tim Finnegan, and Dan, Lillian and TK Knutson all share family stories; Jack Abrams, curator for the Huntington School Museum, recalls what caused the Town’s first gridlock incident back in 1947; and Huntington Town Historian Robert Hughes discusses the dramatic population increase from 1950 to 1960.

The second part of the film, “Happy Days,” spotlights the cherished storybook childhoods and close-knit communities of post-World War II suburbia, from clamming on the beach to sledding behind the Old First Church. Residents remember Huntington Village’s first toy shop, Kiddie City; “Freddie the Shoemaker,” now enjoying his 80th year in business; the joy of a burger served hot off the train at Hamburger Choo-Choo; clothing stores like Ingerman’s and Marshs; Gunther’s Tap Room in Northport, frequented by Jack Kerouac; and many others. Len Totora (deceased February, 2010) recalls opening L&L Camera in 1956 and what’s kept him in business so many years, and Hoest reveals Huntington’s influence on The Lockhorns, the comic which brings the Town’s people and places to more than 200 million readers worldwide every week.

Hometown Huntington’s final part, “Home Sweet Home,” recounts fond memories of school, church and family life, and closes with Huntington’s cultural scene and today’s thriving downtown. Voted the Best Downtown for the fourth consecutive year in Long Island Press’s annual “Best of L.I.” poll, Huntington is loaded with popular attractions like independent film house the Cinema Arts Centre and long-running family businesses, including Finnegan’s Restaurant and Tap Room, the Book Revue, and Reinwald’s Bakery. Hometown Huntington visits them all and interviews the owners to learn the secrets of their success: friendliness, excellence, customer loyalty, community pride, and longevity – all traits Joye Brown pointed to in a recent Newsday column about what makes Huntington’s downtown so popular.

Hometown Huntington continues WLIW21’s ongoing commitment to locally-focused programming, including the award-winning New York The Way it Was series, the New York War Stories project, Shoreline Sonata: A Long Island Love Story, Going Green Long Island, The Jews of New York, Visions® of New York City, and Leaving Long Island.

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Interviewees

Bernadette Castro, host/narrator
Former NYS Parks Commissioner and Former NYS Historic Preservation Officer

Jack Abrams
Former Principal of Jack Abrams Intermediate School
Curator for the Huntington School Museum

Jon Austin
Lloyd Harbor resident

Susan Degnan
Social Worker, Huntington Hospital

Paul DeOrsay
Executive Director, Cold Spring Harbor Whaling Museum

Nellie Edwards
Lifelong Huntington Resident

Tim Finnegan
Grandson of Finnegan’s Restaurant and Tap Room (Huntington, since 1913) Founder

Tommy Forte
Manager/Bartender Finnegan’s Restaurant and Tap Room

Bunny Hoest
Creator of the syndicated comic The Lockhorns and Huntington resident

Robert Hughes
Huntington Town Historian
Robert Klein
Co-Owner of the Book Revue

Lillian Knutson
Daughter of Thomas Knutson

Dan Knutson
Manager, Knutson Yard Haven Marina and grandson of Thomas Knutson

TK Knutson
Grandson of Thomas Knutson

Patti LuPone
Tony Award-winning singer/actor and Northport native

Ralph Macchio
Actor and Dix Hills native

Captain Moose
Bayman

Vera Sammis Murphy
Daughter of Byron Sammis

Pamela Prime
Author and Huntington native

Richard Reinwald
Owner, Reinwald’s Bakery

Dr. Al Sforza
Author, Portrait of a Small Town

Winston Simone
Music Producer and Cold Spring Harbor resident

Charlotte Sky
Co-Director/Founder at the Cinema Arts Centre

Vic Skolnick
Co-Director/Founder at the Cinema Arts Centre

Dylan Skolnick
Co-Director at the Cinema Arts Centre

Larry Smith
Northport architect and friend of Jack Kerouac

Len Totora (deceased, February 2010)
Owner, L&L Camera (Huntington, since 1956) and Huntington native

Emma Foster Watkins
Huntington resident

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Featured Remembrances

Liza Burby
Carol Cerrato
Lorraine M. Cortina
Susan Danzig
Ruth Schier Hackstaff
Jerry Kessler
Liz Roddin
Patricia Ross
Dot Tarantino
Eric Weiner

Donate now for the Hometown Huntington DVD with bonus material — available exclusively through WLIW21.

A production of WLIW21 for WNET.ORG. Executive Producer: John Servidio. Producer/Writer: Theresa Statz-Smith. Editor/Producer: Charlotte Coté.

Everybody had a neighborhood! Whether you lived in an apartment building, tenement, or a row house, it was home. It was a self-contained world where you lived, worked, and played; a place that gave you your identity.

NEW YORK THE WAY IT WAS: THE OLD NEIGHBORHOOD is a celebration of New York City neighborhood ethnicity: From the Germans of Yorkville, to the Italians and Irish of Brooklyn, Queens and the Bronx, to the Jewish and Latino experience and Harlem life. You’ll revisit the struggles of the immigrant generation who truly believed they would make their children’s lives better. You’ll almost smell the familiar cooking in the family kitchen and remember the neighborhood “characters” who made each block unique.

It’s all meticulously recalled, entwined with interviews of such famed New Yorkers including the late musician Tito Puente, opera singer Roberta Peters, St. John’s University basketball coach Lou Carnasecca and former Mayor Ed Koch. Travel back with them to a simpler time as we stir the embers of life and living…the way it was in the old neighborhood.

The Old Neighborhood is the second installment in WLIW New York’s Emmy Award-winning NEW YORK THE WAY IT WAS series.

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Brava Italia: The Beautiful Life salutes the profound cultural legacy of the Italian people with an in-depth exploration of what it means to be Italian. Celebrating Italy’s exquisite creativity in all its diverse expressions, the second program in WLIW21’s Brava Italia series, presents this traditional and innovative culture as it has never been seen before.

Since Roman times, Italians have been recognized as architects of remarkable style and ingenuity. They built roads, bridges, fortresses, magnificent churches, and Romanesque cathedrals that also showcase the work of extraordinary artists, including Michelangelo, Raphael, Titian, Il Perugino, and Caravaggio. But Italy is not only a rich European culture; she is a revered and respected world civilization as well. She is a link to the past, from the daring spirit of early explorers like Amerigo Vespucci and Christopher Columbus to well-known ports of embarkation like Genoa – where the sea has long influenced economic fortunes – and to fashionable seaside Italian resort towns like Portofino.

Experience Italy’s renowned cities from the streets and the sky as Brava Italia: The Beautiful Life highlights the special qualities of each: Milan and Rome for their industry and high fashion, Venice for romance, and Florence for illustrious art. Enriched with museums, statues and churches, Florence’s Basilica of San Lorenzo, begun by Brunelleschi, decorated by Donatello and graced with some of Michelangelo’s most famous statues, represents all three. Literary legends Dante Alighieri (The Divine Comedy) and Giovanni Boccaccio (The Decameron) also hail from this great city, their master works have been an influence on countless authors. The ability to tell a good tale has shaped Italian culture. From the shipping town of Bari, Padre Gerardo Cioffari tells the fantastic tale of San Nicola, or Saint Nicholas, better known as Santa Claus, becoming a Christmas icon in the 11th century. “They had stolen the bones of San Nicola and brought them here to Bari,” Cioffari recalls. “Right from the beginning, the news spread around Europe and the saint’s feast day in December became a festival for all the children.”

Superior craftspeople, Italians have taken the art of making accordions – very complicated instruments – to new heights, as Francesca Pigini from the small hill town of Castelfidardo describes. Seventy-nine-year-old Murano glassmaker Boreno Cigni speaks about his trade, passed down from his father and soon to be continued by his apprentices, who will create new prized crystal designs. The birthplace of the Slow Food Movement, Italy creates cuisine that is at the heart of its traditional culture. Meals recall a time when food was pure, carefully produced and enjoyed slowly with good local wine in communion with family and friends. This is the quintessential part of Italian living.

Brava Italia: The Beautiful Life features narration by actor Paul Sorvino and a rich regional soundtrack. Part one, The Proud Tradition, premiered October 2008 and illustrated how Italians make an art out of everyday living. The final program, The Eternal Country, will celebrate the historic cultural diversity that makes modern Italy so vibrant, and premiere in 2010.

A production of WLIW21 for WNET.ORG. Executive Producer: Roy A Hammond. Producer/Writer/Editor: Sam Toperoff.

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THE POLISH AMERICANS applauds the spirit, determination and solidarity of an immigrant success story like no other. Using vintage film footage, family photos, personal recollections and experiences, this documentary special embodies Polish pride in a televised “family album” of the Polish-American experience. Singer Bobby Vinton, actor Stefanie Powers, former U.S. National Security advisor Zbigniew Brzezinski, U.S. Senator Barbara Mikulski (D-Maryland), author Suzanne Strempek Shea and others share their stories in this tribute to Polish Americans. Actor Casey Siemaszko narrates.

In America, families gave the cultural identity of a divided homeland new life. THE POLISH AMERICANS takes viewers to the little Polska across the United States, from New York City and Schenectady to Cleveland and Chicago, where parents instill in their children the virtues and values of their native land and a love of its traditions, like the pierogi so many mothers filled and pinched just right.

While strongly American and part of the larger culture, Polish Americans maintained a desire to keep their heritage alive — with rewarding results. As a Harvard student, Brzezinski, decided to make a name for himself “in spite of” his difficult Polish name. Vinton tells how he revived his recording career with “Melody of Love,” a song whose lyrics came from a Polish term of endearment his mother used. Powers describes her greatest thrill as the “privilege” of leading New York City’s Pulaski Day Parade as 1995’s Grand Marshall. And Mikulski embodied the “norms” of excellence she was raised to achieve when she became the first woman elected to a U.S. Senate seat in her own right. THE POLISH AMERICANS celebrates these proud achievements and the ultimate expression of cultural and religious pride — election of a Polish Pope.

THE POLISH AMERICANS is co-produced by WLIW21 New York, producer of other PBS heritage specials that promote understanding of the ethnic diversity of America, including THE ITALIAN AMERICANS, MAY THE ROAD RISE TO MEET YOU (on Irish Americans), and A LAUGH, A TEAR, A MITZVAH (on Jewish Americans).

THE POLISH AMERICANS is part of the PBS commitment to showcase the cultural history of the United States.

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Underwriters: Acquisition funding provided by Public Television Viewers and PBS. Co-producers: WLIW New York, WMHT Schenectady and WVIZ Cleveland. Executive producer: Roy Hammond. Senior producer: Vivian Ducat. Producer: Sharon Kay. Writer: Sam Toperoff.

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Across 2,000 miles of border and hundreds of years of history, the Mexican-American story has been woven like a vibrant serape of timeless traditions and cultural connections. Actor Ricardo Montalban, comedian Paul Rodriguez, singers Vikki Carr and Tish Hinojosa, former U.S. Secretary of Energy Bill Richardson, director Luis Valdez (La Bamba), activist Dolores Huerta, artists, politicians, journalists, community leaders and others from a broad spectrum of cultural experience share their personal stories in an exploration of Mexican culture north of the border in THE MEXICAN AMERICANS (originally produced in 2000).

Nurtured under the sacred canopy of their religious faith by families who embraced both the opportunities of their adopted homeland and the remedies, superstitions and rituals of their ancestors, Mexican Americans defended this nation in every war in the 20th century, becoming among the highest decorated ethnic groups. THE MEXICAN AMERICANS proudly showcases this incredible culture, backed by the irresistible sounds of the mariachi and fortified by the flavors of authentic Mexican cuisine.

THE MEXICAN AMERICANS looks at the Mexican diaspora and its various waves – the “accidental immigrants” who found themselves on the other side of the California and New Mexico borders at the end of the U.S.-Mexican war; the miners and railroad workers who came after the Mexican Revolution; the migrant farmers who came to the United States when their Mexican ranchos were taken from them – the challenges they overcame, and the changes that their children have affected in the United States, including the institution of Chicano Studies programs in many American universities.

For the migrant farmer, travelling up and down the United States following crop seasons or a wage increase of as little as two cents a bushel, playwright/director Luis Valdez recalls in the program, home “was a question mark.” But as many in the program recognize, this sacrifice reaped the American Dream, and when the children of these laborers did succeed, they never forgot where they came from. Comedian Paul Rodriguez shares an emotional account of the day he handed his father the deed for the 40 acres of farmland his parents worked to provide for the family when he was a small boy – a purchase he was able to make from a level of success they never imagined possible for themselves.

Most notably, the Mexican-Americans’ ability to improve the quality of their experience in the United States within a generation is demonstrated in the program in the work of the United Farm Workers toward improved labor conditions during the 1960s. Led by the late Cesar Chavez and Dolores Huerta, who relates in the program their efforts for La Causa, these second generation Mexican-Americans, with the Aztec eagle as their symbol, made great strides for civil rights and economic opportunities for laborers that are finally today reaching their culmination.

Mexicans living in the United States – whether calling themselves Chicanos, Tejanos, or Mestizos – share the distinction of descending from the original melting pot, Mexico’s rich cultural blend of influences as varied as the indigenous Yaqui and Apache nations, ancient Aztecs and Mayans, and Spanish aristocracy. Using archival film and photos blended with modern footage of communities in California, Texas, and New York, THE MEXICAN AMERICANS celebrates this unique American experience and the men and women whose hard work, determination, strength, and faith have preserved and built upon the ideals of la familia mexicana for generations to come.

THE MEXICAN AMERICANS is the twelfth program in WLIW New York’s series of cultural documentaries celebrating the diversity of America, which also includes THE CUBAN AMERICANS and THE PUERTO RICANS: Our American Story.

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Produced by WLIW New York in association with KOCE Huntington Beach; Executive Producer: Roy Hammond; Producer/Director: Roman Brygider; Producers: Robin Llompart and Blanca Santos; Format: CC STEREO.

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THE GREEK AMERICANS II: Passing the Torch explores how the modern Greek American experience has ignited a cultural identity that burns brighter than ever before. Actor Melina Kanakaredes (Providence), former Massachusetts Gov. Michael Dukakis, author Nicholas Gage (Eleni), E*Trade Chairman and CEO Christos Cotsakos, Pablo Cruise musician Cory Lerios, educators, community and business leaders, entertainers, and others share their personal stories in this WLIW21 Production. Broadcast journalist Ike Pappas narrates.

Second and third generation Greek Americans are preserving a sense of community with an industriousness and warmth that has marked the Greek American experience since the first wave of immigration. THE GREEK AMERICANS II: Passing the Torch celebrates the ways in which this group has built upon the legacy their parents and grandparents established and forged a future for Hellenism by sending their children to Greek language school, socializing at YAL and AHEPA events, and making their Greek heritage a priority and the focal point of family life. Cory Lerios of the pop group Pablo Cruise composed the original song “You are the Candle, We are the Flame” for the production and performs it on the soundtrack.

THE GREEK AMERICANS II: Passing the Torch follows the success of 1998’s THE GREEK AMERICANS and is the tenth program in WLIW21’s series of cultural documentaries celebrating the diversity of America.

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A WLIW New York and Veras Communications, Inc. production. Executive Producer: Roy Hammond; Producer/Director: George Veras. Underwriters: The Elios Society and Red Apple Group/Gristede’s Supermarkets, Inc.

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THE CHINESE AMERICANS visits generations of Chinese families who came to the United States from the mainland, Taiwan or Hong Kong and with characteristic understatement forged an American dynasty. The program tells an inspiring success story of amazing achievement built on a 5,000 year-old legacy of tradition, integrity, and familial honor.

Using film, photographs and personal recollections from world renowned architect I.M. Pei; prize-winning AIDS researcher and 1996 TIME Man of the Year Dr. David Ho; television journalist Connie Chung; PBS cooking show host Martin Yan (“Yan Can Cook”); playwright David Henry Hwang; community and business leaders, artists and others, THE CHINESE AMERICANS explores the diversity and rich cultural history of the Chinese American experience in a televised “family album.”

Anchored on each coast by Chinatowns in New York and California, thriving Chinese neighborhoods across the U.S. recreated the close-knit villages in China where every elder was called ‘auntie’ or ‘uncle’ and, as Master Chinese Chef Martin Yan remembers, perseverance, endurance, flexibility and hard work were passed from one generation to the next. THE CHINESE AMERICANS examines the roles Chinese schools, family and district associations, and religious organizations – whether Buddhist, Taoist, Confuscist or Christian – played in transforming Chinese immigrants into Chinese Americans while maintaining the traditions of the culture. As architect I.M. Pei explains, these families became just as American as anybody else, but “still Chinese.” The program explores this yin and yang of the old and the new, a balance between the archetypes so eagerly embraced by mainstream America and the desire to assimilate.

Though the Chinese represent barely one percent of the U.S. population, the power of their contributions to American arts, sciences, medicine and education has been tremendous. As television journalist Connie Chung discovered, this success has not always translated into acceptance. Chung relates how as a young reporter for CBS News in Washington, she endured comments from colleagues about “yellow journalism” and fought the stigma of being hired as part of a network minority quota by proving it was her ability and not her ancestry that justified her position. THE CHINESE AMERICANS celebrates the extraordinary individuals whose destinies were determined not by the Chinese lunar calendar as the ancestors believed but by the sheer determination of a new American dream.

THE CHINESE AMERICANS is produced by WLIW New York, whose other PBS specials celebrating the diversity and ethnic character in America include A LAUGH, A TEAR, A MITZVAH (Jewish Americans); MAY THE ROAD RISE TO MEET YOU (Irish Americans); THE ITALIAN AMERICANS; THE POLISH AMERICANS, THE GREEK AMERICANS and THE PUERTO RICANS: OUR AMERICAN STORY.

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Photo credits: (second from left) Photo by Eugene Moy, courtesy of Museum of Chinese in the Americas. (third from left) Ellen Crane
Underwriters: The Charles B. Wang Foundation, Public Television Viewers, and PBS.
Executive Producer: Roy Hammond. Producer: Roman Brygider. Director: Roman Brygider. Consulting Producer: Shin Yu Yang.

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That unmistakeably Irish sense of humor, the undeniable Irish work ethic, the emotional tenor of Irish music and dance, a love of education that became the genesis of America’s parochial schools, and, of course, a penchant for politics — these were the foundations of a distinctly Irish America, characteristics that made an indelible mark on the American landscape.

MAY THE ROAD RISE TO MEET YOU is a nostalgic look back, telling the story of the Irish experience in America using vintage film footage, photos and personal memories, including interviews with original Riverdance star Jean Butler, Pulitzer Prize-winning author Frank McCourt (Angela’s Ashes), the late singer Rosemary Clooney, Irish folksinger Tommy Makem and bandleader Paddy Noonan.

Starting out with little more than their faith in God and each other, in scarcely more than a century the Irish had made their way from Ellis Island to the White House, creating an American legacy emblazoned in the American consciousness with John F. Kennedy’s inauguration. MAY THE ROAD RISE TO MEET YOU looks at the Irish experience in America with visits to New York, Boston, Chicago, San Francisco and southern California and examines the roles that family, community and tradition played, and still play, in the transformation of Irish immigrants into Irish Americans.

The Irish-American phenomenon is driven by their ability, in spite of great obstacles, to keep going, to live life to the fullest and to triumph over adversity – qualities that helped them shape a sensibility that remains a strong element of the Irish-American character. As radio host Adrian Flannelly observes in the program, “There’s a tremendous satisfaction in knowing that you can be American and Irish at the same time and that has a great ring to it.”

The program pulses to music that captures the vitality and pride felt at the best Irish ceilis – popular evenings of music and dancing. MAY THE ROAD RISE TO MEET YOU keeps alive the values and traditions of the Irish culture in an experience you don’t have to be Irish to enjoy.

The program is the third in WLIW New York’s series of cultural documentaries, which includes THE ITALIAN AMERICANS and A LAUGH, A TEAR, A MITZVAH.

Underwriters: The O’Sullivan Children Foundation. Producer: WLIW New York. Executive Producer: Roy Hammond. Senior producer/director: Brian Skene. Producers: Leslie McCleave and Susanne Byrnes. Format: CC STEREO.

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Originally produced in 1999, THE PUERTO RICANS: OUR AMERICAN STORY was the first program of its kind, embodying the honor and passion of a rich heritage caressed by warm island breezes and set to an irresistible rhythm. The program explores lives lived in two worlds – a bicultural existence that as many in the program describe it, can be equally enriching and unsettling.
Entertainer Rita Moreno, late musician Tito Puente, actors Jimmy Smits and Miriam Colón, singers Justino Díaz and Ednita Nazario, author Esmeralda Santiago, tennis player Gigi Fernández, former Governor Pedro J. Rosselló (NPP – Puerto Rico) and many others share their personal stories in a dynamic celebration of Puerto Rican life in America.

Filmed on both the United States mainland and the island of Puerto Rico, the program explores the customs and traditions that have bonded Puerto Rican families for generations. And just as the mix of spices, sofritos, is essential in any Puerto Rican kitchen because it not only colors the food but gives it flavor, THE PUERTO RICANS: OUR AMERICAN STORY illustrates how the customs, traditions, dances, and, of course the music that is the pulse of the Puerto Rican culture, are the unique identity of a thriving American community. As Roberto Clemente, Jr., son of the late baseball legend, asserts in the program, “It’s a very good thing to be Puerto Rican right now.”

As Tito Puente explains in the program, “even if you become [assimilated in the United States], your heart is really down there in the island.” These cultural connections are so powerful for Puerto Rican families they exist even for those living on the mainland who have never been to the island. Of course, for those who have been to the island – even for a brief visit – there is an inextricable bond to la Isla. When Jimmy Smits describes the preparations for his first childhood visit at age five as if it were a religious ceremony- complete with starched white shirt, vest, suit and tie – his vivid memory recalls an experience shared by many in the Puerto Rican community.

According to author Esmeralda Santiago (When I Was Puerto Rican), being Puerto Rican American is “like a child jumping double dutch… two ropes [Puerto Rican and American identity] going in opposite directions very quickly… it is a constant juggling, a constant jumping up and down trying to be in one place or another.” And Jimmy Smits expresses the way many Puerto Ricans experience their world as he describes a favorite recipe, alternating between his two native languages to express it fully, remarking “it’s funny… certain things I have to say in Spanish to know what they are in English.”

This duality put tennis player Gigi Fernandez at a crossroads as she prepared for the 1992 Summer Olympics in Barcelona and had to choose between representing the mainland or the island. Fernandez talks in the program about her personal struggle with the two worlds of Puerto Rican life as “a hard emotional decision… but a very easy career decision” because she knew the only way she would win was on the U.S. team. Representing the United States that summer, Fernandez became the first Puerto Rican woman to win an Olympic gold medal.

The program also pays tribute to Puerto Ricans whose lives and careers left an impact on the Puerto Rican community and brought recognition to the Puerto Rican community in American mainland culture, including the late actors Raul Julia and Jose Ferrer, baseball player and humanitarian Roberto Clemente and singer Tito Rodriguez, described in the program as the “Puerto Rican Frank Sinatra.”

THE PUERTO RICANS: OUR AMERICAN STORY is produced by WLIW New York, whose other PBS specials celebrating the diversity and ethnic character in America include A LAUGH, A TEAR, A MITZVAH (Jewish Americans); THE CUBAN AMERICANS; THE POLISH AMERICANS and THE MEXICAN AMERICANS.

Produced by WLIW New York; Producers: Ron Rudaitis, Sam Toperoff; Executive Producer: Roy Hammond; Format: CC STEREO.

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WLIW21 Celebrates Family, Tradition and Amore in THE ITALIAN AMERICANS

WLIW21 celebrates the fantastic dynamic of a distinctly Italian way of life in America in the WLIW21 production, THE ITALIAN AMERICANS.

Actors Joe Mantegna, Stanley Tucci and Kaye Ballard, author Gay Talese, comedian Pat Cooper, Mary Ann Esposito of television’s Ciao Italia, Baseball Hall of Famer Tommy Lasorda, former vice presidential candidate Geraldine Ferraro and others share their personal recollections and experiences in WLIW21’s tribute to Italian Americans. This one-hour program celebrates the strength, resiliency and connectedness to family and community that enabled Italian immigrant families to bring Old World values to fruition on America’s shores with extraordinary impact. From the glorious tones of the opera house to the familiar gestures that reveal a thousand words unsaid in one motion, it is most recognizable in the range of emotions and means of expression that is decidedly and distinctly Italian. As noted by Geraldine Ferraro, this passion for the possible stemmed from the sense that everyone “belonged to each other.” As Stanley Tucci describes it, “everything always came back to being Italian.” But perhaps Joe Mantegna says it best in his definition of amore in Italian families — “it’s everything, it’s what you feel about life.”

If being Italian defined a way of life for families starting out in “Little Italy”s across the country, many found their allegiance to America tested like no other group of immigrants during WWII, when buying war bonds pitted them against the Italian villages they once called home. THE ITALIAN AMERICANS explores the ties that bound generations of Italian Americans to the glory of their magnificent history and held the promise of their future — honest toil, love, devotion and, above all, la famiglia — family.

THE ITALIAN AMERICANS follows WLIW21’s critically acclaimed celebration of Jewish culture in America, A LAUGH, A TEAR, A MITZVAH, and Irish culture in America, MAY THE ROAD RISE TO MEET YOU, both seen nationally on PBS. This program is funded in part by grants from Bertolli USA, Inc. and Sorrento Cheese Company, Inc.

Executive Producer: Roy Hammond
Producer/Director: Roman Brygider
Producer: Ron Rudaitis
Writer/Producer: Sam Toperoff