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Show Park City, 1954: Old t.v. film shows the way we were i m by Nan Chalat Last September, Gary Topping, the curator of manuscripts for the Utah State Historical Society, received a dusty package from John Salisbury, a former reporter for KUTV, Channel Two in Salt Lake City. The package contained a black-and-white documentary film about Park City made in 1954. Topping immediately notified the Park City Library about the discovery of the 30-year-old film and the Friends of the Library volunteered to purchase a videotape copy for the library. Thursday, Jan. 19, will mark the first time "The Park City Story" has seen the light of a projector since Nov. 28, 1954 when it was aired on KUTV by John Salisbury. Salisbury is now a senior news analyst for KXL radio in Portland, Oregon. He found the 700-foot film "while going through some old files" and donated it with the . original script to the Utah State : Historical Society. "I hope you will enjoy seeing Park City as it was " nearly 30 years ago," he told Topping. As Park City's few remaining old timers well remember, the town's future didn't look very rosy in 1954. In fact, it was on the verge of becoming a ghost town. According to Salisbury, Park City already had the dubious distinction of being included in the book "Ghost Towns of the West." Park City's snow wasn't considered con-sidered a commodity in 1954 and it was a lot easier to find property than a job. The mines were closed and as Salisbury's documentary shows there was ample evidence that the town was sinking fast. The film begins with footage of an almost deserted Main Street and a dramatic voice-over describing the silent mine tunnels and boarded up businesses. "These stark staring structures are haunting reminders of a better, more prosperous time," the voice intones. But Salisbury also noted a few embers of community spirit which he said were ready to "burst forth like a bright flame from the ashes of hopelessness." The film pans over the old abandoned high school to the new Park City High School (which has since been abandoned for an even more modern facility). There is also footage of "the fine civic center" at the Memorial Building. "This is the new Park City the heartbeat of its people is here," he said. The film includes interviews with a handful of native Parkites who were determined to weather the bad times with the good. Frazer Buck is one of the interviewees who, in 1954, ran a clothing and grocery store which was partially closed off due to lack of business. Buck became better known as the author of Treasure Mountain Home, a history of Park City. The town's barber and former mayor, Lester Taylor, also appears in the film as well as one of Father Carley's predecessors, Father Cul-len. Cul-len. In the melodramatic style of early TV, Salisbury concludes, "The ore buckets of the Coalition Building hang high over Park City and to keep faith in the future of their mining town, the people of Park City must look upward, upward to the buckets and beyond." If only Salisbury could have known! The Park City Story is a tribute to an earlier generation. There will be no charge to see the film at the Park City Library next Thursday evening at 7:30 p.m., but seating will be limited. |
