That was the pickup line that Will Ferrell's character used in the movie "Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy." His delivery, made while wearing an orange bathrobe at a pool party with his colleagues, was part of a crowd-pleasing sendup of 1970s television journalism, which was dominated by heavily sprayed hair, huge egos and newsrooms with a paucity of racial and gender diversity.
Now "Anchorman" is at the heart of what might seem to be one of the unlikeliest exhibitions at a serious museum.
On Thursday, the Newseum, an interactive museum dedicated to news and journalism in Washington, opened an exhibition built around the 2004 film, with props — which Newseum employees call "artifacts"— like the burgundy polyester suit worn by Ron Burgundy and the flute on which he plays jazz to impress his love interest, Veronica Corningstone. Visitors to the exhibition can create their own "Anchorman" television spot, introduced by Burgundy. Displays playing up the film's slapstick humor also are included. After a sequel, "Anchorman 2: The Legend Continues," opens Dec. 20, the Newseum will add props from that film.
On a more serious note, the exhibition explores the history of sexism and racism in television newsrooms in the 1970s. (In the movie, Ron Burgundy refers to diversity as "an old, old wooden ship that was used during the Civil War era.") Jonathan Thompson, a Newseum spokesman, said that it would address those subjects with programs and panels that include an appearance Saturday by two Washington news anchors, Wendy Rieger and Arch Campbell.
The exhibition chronicles a time when women made up only 11 percent of local television anchors, according to a survey by the Radio and Television News Directors Association, and at one Seattle television station, the anchor Jean Enersen was advised to drink whiskey and smoke "so her voice would be lower and more appealing to viewers," according to the exhibition.
The exhibition also features an eight-minute film called "Anchorman: Real News Teams of the 1970s" with television personalities like Connie Chung and Maury Povich reminiscing about 1970s newsrooms. Povich recalls how much hair spray anchormen used and how they would jockey with co-anchors to bid viewers good night.
Chung is more sober in her recollections, describing a work environment of "sexism, racism, boys' club, all of the above" and how "the guys pitted us against each other, and they put us through a rough hazing period." She noted that Burgundy's personality was not such a stretch from some real newsmen.
"There were the boisterous types, the sort of Will Ferrell character, the self-absorbed true egomaniacs who could not stop talking, loved the sounds of their own voices, would go look at themselves in the mirror and go 'Good evening,' " Chung said, while mimicking her former colleagues' deep-voiced greetings.
Cathy Trost, vice president of the Newseum's exhibitions, said the idea for the show had been born when Ferrell visited the Newseum in 2012 to promote his film "The Campaign." Ferrell's colleagues followed up and proposed an "Anchorman" exhibition and, in the months that followed, Paramount worked closely with the Newseum staff to lend props from the original film.
Trost emphasized that the Newseum was not paying Ferrell for an appearance he is making there Dec. 3, nor did it receive any payments from Paramount. The museum will, however, keep the profits from a Dec. 17 screening at the Newseum and is selling souvenirs tied to the movies. She compared the arrangement to its collaboration with the FBI on a separate exhibition.
"There's no sponsorship. There's no payments," Trost said. "We don't operate like that."
Ferrell and Adam McKay, a screenwriter, director, comedian and actor, came up with the idea of the original film after Ferrell saw a documentary about the anchorwoman Jessica Savitch. McKay said in a phone interview that, when he and Ferrell were researching the movie, they talked to many anchors from that period. "The stories they were telling us were crazier than what we had in our script," McKay said.
The exhibition has been a welcome change for Newseum employees accustomed to working on exhibitions that explore much graver topics. Last month, Carrie Christofferson, director of the Newseum's collections, led a reporter through the room filled with props where a craftsman was preparing Corningstone's shoes and Burgundy's wallet, which includes an American Excess card. Christofferson noted that the room usually was filled with very different types of artifacts, like a map tracking the homes lost in a Mississippi town during Hurricane Katrina, and a drum beaten during President John F. Kennedy's funeral. She said the "Anchorman" exhibition should be refreshing break for visitors as well.
"People need a little levity," Christofferson said. "You need a moment to breathe, or you can't take it all in."
0 comments:
Post a Comment