Pittsburgh Post-Gazette from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania • Page 23

Apr 8 2008 cia Magaz ne ARTS, ENTERTAINMENT LIFE WEDNESDAY, APRIL 9, 2008 Section ONLINE Tuned In Journal executive producer John Wells discusses the future as it winds down toward its February 2009 finale at Tuned In Podcast TV editor Rob Owen and restaurant critic China Millman discuss food shows, and at HEALTH SCIENCE PAGE C-8 Comedian Behrendt has a lot of fun with just the truth By Samantha Bennett Pittsburgh Post-Gazette Greg Behrendt think ever been to Pittsburgh. that I he said. did a college at some Then, by way of explanation, used to that kind of nonchalant honesty, applied to his own life and that elevated him from stand-up comedian to relationship guru. back to his stand-up roots for three nights at the Improv starting tomorrow. Of all the things been TV writer, author, talk show host stand-up comedian is his favorite.

Behrendt grew up in California and started in comedy there, and his mate- rial on how men and women deal (and fail to deal) with relationships led to a writing gig on and the was he said. you spend four years in a room full of women, going to learn something, unless an But what he taught them that put him on the best-seller list. always been a pretty honest person, and when asked my opinion about a dating situation, say, I think that guy likes you, otherwise have sex with Or at least pick up the phone. guy call you because he like you, or else call you, he? how get a hold of I to make it less compli than Observation and trut stock in trade I knew I was onto because I was with a women, all of whom were prised. And I was very sur their arguments kn he could be really An well, a possibility, but really look at the idea that if I busy and I liked you, still fi way to reach out to you and let yo Remembering Jane(s) By Patricia Lowry Pittsburgh Post-Gazette In death, Jane Holmes resides in Allegheny Cemetery much as she did in life, in the semi-circle of her family, gathered not around a hearth but a shrouded urn raised high on a granite column.

Not far away, on another hillside in the same cemetery, lies another Jane Holmes, this one at the end of a row of granite sarcophagi under which she, her parents and siblings are buried. The two Janes were first cousins in 19th-century Pittsburgh, women who shared a name and a passion for giving away family money. Collectively, the Misses Jane Holmes donated at least $1.5 million equivalent to about $43 million in dollars to agencies that served the poor, aged and sick. They founded, or were present at the creation of, at least a dozen charitable institutions including Hospital, the Western Pennsylvania School for Blind Children and UPMC Shadyside The Holmes women never married or worked outside the home; the money they gave away was earned by their fathers and brothers as merchants and bankers, men who shared their commitment to improving the lives of Pittsburghers in need at a time when government often did not. But while one Jane, born in Ireland in 1805, is remembered in a historical marker in front of the Western Pennsylvania School for Blind Children and an internship there, the other, born in Baltimore in 1814, is mostly forgotten.

To distinguish between the Janes when referring to them, mutual friends called them and But after their deaths and as the decades passed, the two Janes often were conflated into a single person. Clues, sometimes misleading ones, to who did what long lay buried in forgotten books. But today, with the digital Historic Pittsburgh Web site as a resource, possible to untangle the Misses Jane Holmes and their good works and uncover something of their family, homes and bustling, diverse Downtown neighborhood, where not a trace remains of the lives they lived. Antrim to Pittsburgh a friendly neighborhood it Agnes Hays Gormly wrote in her 1922 memoir of Old Penn Street just before and during the Civil War, in which her father, Gen. Alexander Hays, had died.

As a child, she lived with her grandparents in the same block as Pittsburgh Jane, who lived on Penn near Hay (now Stanwix) Street, on the spot where retailer Joseph Horne, whose daughter Susan married another Holmes cousin, would build a department store Baltimore Jane lived just a few houses away, also on Penn but in the next block, closer to the Point, and on the opposite side of the street. Pittsburgh Jane, her older brother William and their parents, David and Eleanor Kells Holmes, left County Antrim, Ireland, for the village of Pittsburgh in 1807. Thomas Jefferson was president and Meriwether Lewis had pushed off on his Western adventure from one of the riverbanks just four years earlier, when Pittsburgh had about 400 houses. Most of the streets were unpaved, hogs and dogs ran loose and on days without wind, a black cloud of smoke from ever- present coal fires hung in the air. The arrival date of brother James Baltimore father is unknown, but a third Holmes brother, Nathaniel (who also had a daughter named Jane), also immigrated in 1807 and by 1826 was established as a broker and porter (liquor) merchant on Market Street.

The bank founded in 1822 N. Holmes Sons financed an early Pittsburgh steel wrote the Pittsburgh Bulletin Index in 1935 and in time occupied a one-story, temple-front Greek Revival building at the corner of Fourth and Market. The Bulletin Index story reports Nathaniel also was partner in a cotton mill with Thomas Arbuckle, father of coffee king John Arbuckle. The Holmes name interwoven with business interests and there were few lines in which it was not wrote George Fleming in his 1922 of Two women who shared name and commitment to people in need quietly changed the face of Pittsburgh By Barbara Vancheri Pittsburgh Post-Gazette Movie gives fuller picture of a staple It must be one of the longest running gigs in show business: Playing Mr. McFeely on and off the set of And belonged to one man for the past four decades: David Newell, focus of a new documentary called showing tomorrow at 8 p.m.

at Regent Square Theater. Newell, who also serves as public relations director for Family Communications is clear-eyed about his role as Mr. McFeely. not saying that Hamlet or Macbeth. not what it is.

I think a heightened version of Director Paul Germain treats Newell, his family, colleagues and fans with respect. He makes excellent use of key clips, evocative music and wisdom. They prove illuminating and as comforting as a red cardigan sweater. With a budget of $4,000, which would cover the bite-size candy bars on most sets, Germain has done wonders. My only quibble: Too little on PR work.

He had the joy of watching Rogers meet Mister Robinson (Eddie Murphy) and the thankless job of serving as gatekeeper when the world wanted Rogers as commencement speaker or interview subject or even wedding officiant. Newell also had to staunch his grief as he stood outside WQED the day after Rogers died and do interviews. But, as Rogers suggests in an excerpt from the program, important to look for what people are able to do and once you find it, appreciate Germain did, and now we can appreciate him, as well as Newell. Not rated but in nature. Barbara Vancheri SEE HOLMES, PAGE C-2 This portrait of hangs in a conference room at the Western Pennsylvania School for Blind Children.

E-mail: Phone: 412-263-3859 Web: Editor: Steve Massey Questions about delivery or service? Call 1-800-228-NEWS (6397) learned that you have to go through every door that is opened for says author Greg Behrendt. Charley Getty Images David Newell as Mr. McFeely SEE BEHRENDT, PAGE C-2 Documentary follows Mr. McFeely as he continues to carry the message of Fred Rogers hen Paul Germain says was done on favors, not kidding. the only way you can make a 75-minute documentary (and a fine one, at that) on $4,000, with most of that money going to equipment and two tanks of gas.

premiering tomorrow at 8 p.m. at the Regent Square Theater in Edgewood, looks at David Newell, the Pittsburgher who has played Mr. McFeely from for the past 40 years. a well-deserved valentine to Newell, who has become the public face of the since Fred McFeely Rogers died in 2003. The movie also doubles as a salute to the TV host, the show and the people who continue its mission of supporting children and families.

In a blue delivery uniform that changed much, thanks to tailor Nino Petrocelli Newell regularly glues on a mustache, slips on a wig, tugs on his boots and carries puppets, autograph cards and a seemingly endless supply of energy and goodwill to appearances far and wide. He makes sure Purple Panda wilted under his hot costume and that a little boy named Lorenzo gets a memento with his name properly spelled. As a woman says in the film, nice to have a connection back to Mister Rogers, since no longer with us. At least we still have Mr. The woman is sitting on a porch swing on a replica of the set that is part of a traveling museum exhibit that happened to be in Baltimore.

Whether a pregnant woman whose eyes well up when she sees the Daniel Tiger puppet or a preschooler in a Superman T-shirt who may not realize the evergreen nature of the show, museum patrons and millions of others know and love the It was during one of many public appearances that the seed was planted for SEE SPEEDY, PAGE C-6 Greg Behrendt Where: Pittsburgh Improv at the Waterfront, West Homestead. When: Thursday through Sunday; Thursday, 8 p.m.; Friday, 8 and 10 p.m.; Saturday, 7 and 9 p.m. Tickets: $22 (full-menu showroom), 412-462-5233 or www.symfonee.com/ COMEDY PREVIEW.