The Bituminous Coal Queens of Pennsylvania - one of best Appalachian docs ever
The Bituminous Coal Queens of Pennsylvaniais definitely one of the top ten documentaries I have ever seen on the world of small-town Appalachia. It is hilarious, touching, fast-moving, beautiful - it has it all! I have been reading about it for a while, and while checking out the new DVDs at the Kanawha County Public Library saw it listed, and reserved it on-line. ( I also received “Venus” from KCPL - also one of the best films I have seen recently, and one of the most poignant films ever made about the life of a man facing death after a life as a famous actor - perfectly played by Peter O’Toole.)
Sarah Rush, the star of the film is a remarkable Sally Fields-lookalike who happens to be a Hollywood actress of some kind. She returns home for the 50th anniversary of the beauty pageant. The film cuts from showing her doing things including going on a tour of a local underground coal mine with other past winners, the current bevy of competitors, the town’s people including the owners of the local coal museum, and most funny, the tech man for the theater who is often asked if he knew what he was doing…..
This film is as good as any of the mockumentaries out there including “A Mighty Wind,” or “Best in Show” or any of the others. You can tell from its website that it got quite a bit of publicity on national TV shows, etc. but somehow I did not read it about it being shown anywhere in WV.
The film includes some great historic footage from the early days of TV, showing how the coal industry was promoting itself even then. Many people including Robert Hansell from Appalshop (”The Electricity Fairy,” soon to be shown at The South Charleston Museum) and others have been using similar footage lately to show that perhaps the age of Big Coal has caused more damage than the commercials have revealed.
The film made me recall a national column by Chicago columnist Bob Greene who came to Charleston to write one of his columns about the Kanawha County cheerleading contest. This film also shows the intense pressure that the young women are under - just as young men are as athletes. Rush says that all of the girls competing in 2003 (when the competition took place) know how to walk, turn, etc. better than she does now -after working as a Hollywood actress. I also noted that the young women competing in 2003 are virtually all much better looking than the previous winners. The make-up, teeth work, clothes, and especially the emphasis on fitness make the current girls look much more photogenic. I also thought that the girls all were amazingly talented for being so young.
I noted in the extra footage that most of the girls attended local universities after graduation from high school. One went to WVU. I also was amazed that many of the girls wanted to head out for bigger cities as soon as possible. This understandable focus is contrasted to the comments of the famous 60s singer Fabian who lives in their local town, Carmichaels (population 556), Pa, married to a previous Coal Queen winner. He loved living in the small town - as I do myself after growing up in Minneapolis. I believe that the film “Bull Durham” best expressed the corruption and evils of living in the “major leagues,” and how some sincerity can only be found in the “minor leagues.” Hopefully more people will join Fabian and myself, leaving the megalopolis for much more livable, smaller towns. Watching this film will definitely encourage anyone.
