WKSU News: "My Tale of Two Cities"

Friday, July 16, 2010 "My Tale of Two Cities" Pittsburgh vs Los Angeles relates to Ohio cities by WKSU's MARK URYCKI	Senior Reporter Mark Urycki

In The Region:

The answer to all of Cleveland's problems will be shown on the silver screen tonight at the Cleveland Museum of Art. It may be the answer for Canton, Youngstown, and Akron too: namely, be more like Pittsburgh. The film, "My Tale of Two Cities," was made by a Cleveland native who moved to Pittsburgh, made it big in Hollywood, and decided to move back to Pittsburgh. His struggle to make it in Pennsylvania has some parallels to Ohio. WKSU's Mark Urycki has the story...

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(l-r)Franco Harris, Carl Kurlander, David "Mr. McFeely" Newell

“Stop telling people it’s a Pittsburgh movie!”

That’s Carl Kurlander, who lived in Cleveland until he was eight-years-old. When his parents divorced, he went to Pittsburgh with his mother and brother.

“Most of my childhood was spent between going between Pittsburgh and Cleveland,” Kurlander said. “As you know, [those cities] hated each other. Until you move to L.A., you don’t see how much they have in common.

During his time growing up in Cleveland, Kurlander took classes at the Cleveland Museum of Art.

Now he’s on the screen at the Cleveland Museum of Art on Friday night and again Sunday afternoon.

It’s not his first time on screen. In Pittsburgh, he wrote a story that became the Brat Pack movie “St Elmo’s Fire,” and he went on to write “Saved by the Bell” and other TV Sitcoms.

But “My Tale of Two Cities” -- the LA's and the Pittsburgh's -- is a documentary, and one he never planned to make.

It started when he and his wife wanted to move away from Hollywood so they could raise their daughter in a more “normal” environment – in Pittsburgh.

“We came back East and I walked my daughter around the block,” Kurlander said. “I kicked leaves. I didn’t even know they made leaves anymore. We knew our neighbors. … They cared about you, not because you were on a show or you could do something for them, but because they were more genuine. We loved it.”

Much of the documentary is comedic, including arguments between Kurlander and his wife.

“Throughout the movie, Anna continues to move back to Los Angeles and make me commute with our daughter. Basically the only antagonist we had was my wife, who you can see in the movie continues to yell at me. …Amazingly enough, not only are we still married, we have outlasted every couple seen [in the movie].”

But Kurlander, the “designated victim” in the film, also ventured out to ask people around Pittsburgh what could be done to pull the city back from the edge of bankruptcy and despair.

“Lots of things make you stop being revved up,” said philanthropist Teresa Heinz Kerry. “One is affluence. Another is the opposite – depression. …I think we need an infusion of dreamers coming here for the first time, because it’s contagious. Dreaming is contagious.”

Former Pittsburgher Richard Florida suggested holding on to young talented people, the creative class. Kurlander said how many of these now-old cities were born. And he says the Pittsburghs and Clevelands need to market themselves.

“Frankly, if you go to L.A. or New York and you’re a young person, you’ll never own a house unless you get lucky. Pittsburgh and Cleveland offer alternatives now.”

Pittsburgh has been seeing success. Kurlander is working with a non-profit group to promote the city as a film location. He said five movies are in production this summer.

“We’re starting to create a model that I think will be a perfect model for Cleveland and a lot of these cities,” Kurlander said.

“By the way, LeBron James leaving Cleveland is the best thing to ever happen to Cleveland. The entire world sympathizes with this city. …Hopefully, that energy can be put into things that really change the city, because sports teams do not bring in the revenue.”

City officials around the country have asked Kurlander to come show his film. It seems Northeast Ohio and Western Pennsylvania aren’t the only places looking for revitalization.