Katz tackles the reign of Rizzo

Sam Katz believes Philadelphians need to know "who they are and how they got to where they are today" as they work to shape their city's future.

Katz, who ran unsuccessfully for mayor three times, has spent the last 10 years documenting the city's history in a series of films under the heading Philadelphia: The Great Experiment.

At 7:30 p.m. Thursday, 6ABC will broadcast episode four, "The Fight: 1965-1978," chronicling some of the city's most turbulent and contentious years.

The film is the latest in a planned 12-part series documenting how Philadelphians have coped with times of tumult. Previous episodes dealt with the devastating yellow fever epidemic of 1793, violence against Catholics and African Americans in the mid-19th century, and the emergence of the Clark-Dilworth Democratic reform movement in the 1950s after years of corrupt Republican city administrations. In each case, Katz and his team have documented how new leaders emerged and Philadelphia moved forward.

This latest episode might have been more descriptively titled, "How Philadelphia survived the '60s, '70s, and Frank Rizzo."

Rizzo, who died in 1991, was one of the most charismatic and dynamic figures ever to lead the city. As police commissioner and in two terms as mayor, he was a controversial and divisive force. There was nothing subtle about him, and he evoked strong reactions from all who dealt with him. Philadelphians loved him or hated him. During the course of his political career, Katz both supported and opposed him.

But as dominant as Rizzo was during those 13 years, Katz and his team have admirably resisted making this just another profile of the man known to friend and foe alike as "the Big Bambino" and have produced a 26-minute film that provides context and perspective for the events they chronicle.

The film notes at the outset that by 1965, the city had suffered a decades-long loss of manufacturing jobs at the same time African Americans from the rural South were moving into the city in hope of finding jobs, which no longer existed. Racial tension, protests over the war in Vietnam, and a growing crime problem created the climate for Rizzo's move from hard-nosed police commissioner to successful mayoral candidate.

Rizzo swept into office in the 1971 election, promising to crack down on crime and keep a lid on tensions. As mayor, he delivered on that promise with an uncompromising approach that pleased his supporters and enraged his opponents. The policies and practices of his administration also earned him tough scrutiny from members of the news media and vocal opposition from segments of the community who refused to be cowed.

The clash of all these forces made a perfect recipe for conflict, and, as the film points out, the city has never shied away from conflict. Philadelphia was - and is - a tough town as reflected in such sports heroes of the day as boxer Smokin' Joe Frazier and the Flyers, who claimed a Stanley Cup championship with a brawling, physical style of play that earned them the nickname "Broad Street Bullies," giving the city something to cheer in the face of economic adversity.

Working within the confines of a half-hour format, Katz and his team by necessity paint with a broad brush. Using a masterful blend of film clips from the period and interviews with many of the key players, the film captures a real sense of time and place.

Viewers who lived through this period will probably recall events not included in the film. Not to worry: Katz knows better than anyone what's missing and he's already working on ways to get that material online, via webisodes to be posted on the project's website at www.historyofphilly.com.

Katz says Thursday night's episode was originally edited as a 45-minute film, then cut by 18 minutes to fit the half-hour time slot. Those 18 minutes covered the battle over the Cross Town Expressway, the desegregation of Girard College, the origin of the Flyers under Ed Snider, the infamous Rizzo lie-detector test (which the then-mayor flunked), and Ernesta Ballard's impact on the resurgence of the Philadelphia Horticultural Society and its annual flower show. Look for it all on the website soon.

By Rizzo's second term, the city's news media were raising questions about several aspects of his administration, most notably a series of incidents of police brutality. Tensions between mayor and media came to a head in 1976, when labor union supporters of Rizzo surrounded the Inquirer Building and blocked distribution of an edition of the paper.

In 1976, the city also suffered a major blow to its civic pride when the plans for a national bicentennial celebration here became hopelessly entangled in divisive disagreements over which city neighborhood should host the event. Nobody wanted it, and, in the end, nobody got it.

The ultimate indignity was when Rizzo claimed even the minimal celebration the city planned for July 4 was going to be invaded by hordes of demonstrators and he made a headline-grabbing plea for 20,000 federal troops "to protect the city." He didn't get the troops and nobody came to the party, having been scared off by the rhetoric.

As historian Steve Conn notes at the conclusion of episode four, "This city took some of the worst body blows you could imagine . . . and it didn't get knocked down."

7:30 p.m. Thursday on 6ABCEndText