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THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
WWW.KANSAN.COM
FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 21, 2008
VOLUME 120 ISSUE 67
FILM
25 years after 'The Day After'
Ryan McGeeney/KANSAN
BY RYAN MCGEENEY rmcgeeney@kansan.com
Twenty-five years to the day after its initial television broadcast, Armageddon returned to Lawrence.
About 135 people attended the anniversary screening of "The Day After," a two-hour made-for-television drama depicting
the aftermath of a massive nuclear exchange between America and Russia. The film, shot primarily in Lawrence, features many of the city's most recognizable landmarks, as well as a number of local actors who lived in the area at that time.
Bob Swan, Lawrence resident, said he still remembered watching Jason Robards,
actor who portrayed a KU Medical Center surgeon who survived the initial blasts, stagger down Ninth Street as film crews shot a scene that took place only hours after the nuclear strikes.
"I watched it with my friends and my eight-year-old daughter. My daughter asked if we were going to have a war in Lawrence."
"I watched it with friends and my eight-year-old daughter," said Swan, who brought a collection of news clippings from the era related to the film's release. "My daughter asked if we were going to have a war in Lawrence."
Swan said that the film moved him so much that he decided to become involved with organizations dedicated to improving relations with Russia, the country that characters in "The Day After" believe engages the United States in the nuclear exchange.
in the area.
BOB SWAN Lawrence resident
The showing was organized by Kyle Harvey, a doctoral student in modern history studying at Macquarie University in Sydney, Australia. Harvey said that his interest in the film stemmed from dual fascination with politics and movies, and how they are historically intertwined.
Lawrence residents peer over the tent city erected along the banks of the Kansas River during the 1982 filming of "The Day After", which portrays the aftermath of a nuclear strike in the American Midwest. The film was the second-highest television program of all time, behind the MASH series finale.
Michele Johnson, Lawrence resident, whose late mother, Pat Schurer, was an extra in the film, said she had attended the showing in order to gain some perspective
"The most interesting movies, to me, are the controversial ones," said Harvey, who began organizing the showing in August. "And 'The Day After' was one of the biggest controversies, even before it was shown."
"I'm trying to piece together the story of how the town remembers the film," Harvey said. "It was a giant movie, seen by 100 million people, shot in a small town."
Harvey is currently constructing an oral history of the film's production and said he has 15 to 20 interviews lined up
PHOTO COURTESY OF SPENCER RESEARCH LIBRARY
on her mother's stories about the shooting.
Johnson, who was a student at Kansas State University when the film was originally released, and now has two children attending the University, said that while some details have changed, the film
"She said she had had a great time, just standing in line to get the scars and the blood applied," Johnson said.
reminded her that the danger discussed in the movie is still present.
"It still makes you think about what could happen very easily," Johnson said. "It's still very real. It's not like they've made nuclear weapons disappear, they just have different controls on them."
Bob Swan, left, and his grandson Trey, 10, look over some news clippings from 1983, when "The Day After" originally aired on ABC. The film, shot primarily in Lawrence, had a 25th anniversary screening Thursday night at Liberty Hall. The Swans were among about 135 people at the showing.
Allison Watkins, Branson, Mo., senior, said she remembered watching the original broadcast as a child with her mother.
"It scared the crap out of me, as it would anyone, especially when you're five," Watkins said.
Several individuals directly involved with the creation of the film attended the screening, and climbed up on stage after the film's conclusion to answer questions from the audience.
Nicholas Meyer, the director, said it was important to understand how the subject matter transcended the commercial consideration of television at that time.
Meyer said the initial version of the film, originally conceived as a three-hour movie to be shown on two consecutive evenings in order to cost 60 minutes worth of advertising, contained about an hour's worth of padding.
"I told the producers, I don't see anybody tuning in for night two of Armageddon, so why don't you just let me shoot it the best way I know how?" Meyer shared with the
audience. He said, ultimately, it was a moot point — most of the project's commercial sponsors had dropped out once word of the film's subject matter got out.
Robert Papazian, the movie's producer, recalled an event toward the end of the editing process.
"While we were in post-production, we got a message from ABC to send a copy of the movie to the White House," Papazian said.
He told the audience that he later learned that President Ronald Reagan, after viewing it, sent the copy to Mikhail Gorbachev, then the leader of the Soviet Union. Whether the movie had a direct effect on either man couldn't really be known, Papazian said, but noted that the two did sign the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty in 1987.
When an audience member asked Meyer if he had considered re-releasing the DVD version of the movie to include extra footage, commentary or other special features, Meyer was direct in his refusal.
"The short answer is no," Meyer said.
"The longer answer is, I'd prefer not. And
the reason is that catastrophe is so horrible, most people would rather do anything than think about it. So I'm not inclined to include more material that would just be a diversion from the real subject matter."
Edited by Brieun Scott
CAMPUS
Group funding raises questions among Student Senators
BY HALEY JONES hjones@kansan.com
Who knew a weather balloon could cause so much controversy?
Members of the Experimental Balloor
Members of the Exp Society, a student group that launches large weather balloons to take scientific measurements, received $2,500 from Student Senate to fund its project despite concerns that the cost of the project outweighed its potential benefit to students. The funding request passed after 45 minutes of debate Wednesday night.
senator, said although the group was educational for students, engineering projects tended to be expensive. He said he was concerned Senate would not have enough money to fund student groups next semester.
Alex Porte, Great Falls, Va., senior and Student Senate treasurer, said the Senate gave at least 25 percent of unallocated funds to engineering groups. The group's funding request raised controversy among the Senate because $30,000 would be all that remained for other student groups for the rest of this academic year.
"He said he was concerned Senate would not have enough money to fund student groups next semester."
"To tell students they should commit more than the engineering student council seems excessive when a total of $30,000 remains for the next five months," he said.
BRIAN HARDOUIIN Law senator
The balloon project cost about $6,000 and the Engineering Student Council and
Brian Hardouin, Broomfield, Colo., law
Andy Haverkamp. Hoyt sophomore and engineering senator, said if Senate had not approved the group's funding request, the program wouldn't exist.
CONTRIBUTED PHOTO
the Department of Aerospace Engineering each allocated about $2,000 for the project. The School of Engineering also allowed the group to use a building on West Campus for its balloon project.
Members of the Experimental Balloon Society set up a weather balloon, which is used to for scientific measurements. The group received $2,500 from the Student Senate on Wednesday for an experiment to launch a rocket into outer space, about 62 miles above Earth, from a weather balloon.
The group is working on a project in
which a rocket attached to a weather balloon could potentially reach the legal limit of outer space after being launched from the balloon.
Daniel Zehr, president of the group, said the rocket could eventually fly higher than 62 miles, which is the legal boundary of space, after being released from the balloon. Zehr said the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, University of Colorado and Cambridge University were working on similar projects.
The group plans to continue launching the "Rockoon" until May, or until the rockoon reaches a height of 100 kilometers, or about 62 miles.
"We think we have a pretty good chance at beating them to the punch." Zehr said. "At that point, the University would have an actual space program."
Though some senetors expressed concerns that the Experimental Balloon Society was made up of mostly engineering students, Zehr said the 20 active members included two physics majors, two geology majors, an education graduate student and a creative writing major.
index
"It really is multidisciplinary," he said. "We're trying to branch out from engineering."
Senate approved the request 39-18, with one senator abstaining from voting.
Edited by Brieun Scottt
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