Tragic

I'm not sure whether to thank my contact in Denmark or not with his links about Baby Roger. They included a trove of newspaper clippings that it astounds me I hadn't found during my year's research on Roger.
They chronicle his deteriorating circumstances at the zoo and are ripping my heart out. Although the city was aware of how bad things were, they didn't know what to do with their "Baby" and life became unbearable all the way around.
The articles that I had read only referred to the famous fishook incident, but there was so much more going on.
This, of course, means the end of the booklet has to be changed, and the movie has to be recut as well.
More when I recover...

Bombshell!!!

I had an unexpected email from Joachim Endres of the European Elephant group asking for info on all the Alices at RWP Zoo here in Providence. I told him I would go through my info as soon as I returned home. But, in our conversation he was able to give me some dynamite info on Baby Roger that I hadn't tracked down.
According to him, the species survival plan studbook shows- Baby Roger (from 12.05.1893 to 1903; transfer to Sig. > Soutelle Circus due to aggression)
. I had no idea what happened to him after he went to Wm. Bartel's exotic animal holding pens in Yonkers, NY.
In his next email, Endres gave me this bombshell link fingering Roger's last days... They came sooner than I had thought.
http://news.google.com/newspapers?id=inVcAAAAIBAJ&sjid=M1cNAAAAIBAJ&pg=4625,2091275&dq=elephant+roger&hl=en
Providence's "Evening Tribune" announced that "Baby Roger now listed as Murderer".
He also listed a number of links with records of Roger's misbehavior before the incident. Obviously this will require revising the Roger book and even the end of the film...
More as the story progresses...

Another chance for the kids?

I've continued research on Fanny's story, and ran across a series of letters by Pawtucket's 12 year olds lobbying to either keep or give away their beloved elephant.
Now, I'm a sucker for kiddies reading stuff in movies, just as I am for archival footage (of which I am luck enough to have a bunch for this film). So I'd like to shoot a bunch of kids reading these letters into the camera. No costumes needed- it was 1993, after all, and the readers all need to be around 12 years old. Before I put the call out to the general public, I thought I'd ask the readers of this blog to contact me if they know/have any children who would be interested and available to read a letter for me. It would only take about 20 minutes or so, and I'll do all the readings in a day.
Thanks

Trailer!

At last! The moment everyone has been waiting for!
The trailer for Fanny (Uproar in Pawtucket) is done! You can see it at our indiegogo site (http://igg.me/p/29594?a=3933&i=shlk) or on youtube at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wDpym4XGQSg
Please let your friends, neighbors, and local librarians and barkeepers know about this. Fanny was so special, and since this is the year of the elephant in media, it would be a shame to let it go by unnoticed.
Thanks!

We're live!

It's been an exciting month with Genevieve in the producer's seat. Here are the highlights-
We now have a facebook page (go to "Uproar in Pawtucket" at facebook and "like" us...).
We're on twitter at @uproarpawtucket.
And we are live on indiegogo.com ("Uproar in Pawtucket")!
This crowdfunding site gives everyone a chance to be part of the project! For contributions from $10 up, you can get any number of perks, from postcards and updates, to credits, dvds, private production clips, and invitations to our premiere party. Though the site just gives the bottom line of each increment, you can help us with any amount and we'll love you to death.
I have the trailer almost finished and you'll be able to see it both here and on the indiegogo site as soon as possible.
We're really working hard on bringing the story of Fanny to a wider audience than Roger because it says so much about elephants and our love for them, and what to do with an old elephants when a zoo closes. Please tell everyone you know about the project, and, as usual, share your stories and pictures of Fanny or the Slater Park Zoo with us.
Don't forget- our new email address is- elephantsinri@gmail.com
More later...

More updates- and a new adddress

Elephants in Rhode Island, or, specifically, Uproar in Pawtucket, now has a producer!
Meet Genevieve Belcher, everyone. She's an amazing woman, who is making some real forward motion possible in the project.
For one thing, we now have a single address for all communications. It's elephantsinri@gmail.com. Now why didn't I think of that?
Soon, we'll be having a fundraiser through both kickstarter and indiegogo to pay for archival footage, for voiceover actors, editing, scriptwriting and music, etc. We'll certainly let everyone know when all of this goes live.

The Latest

Elephants seem to be on a lot of people's minds these days. Water for Elephants has opened wide, and, more to the point, The Ballad of Baby Roger has been scheduled for broadcast on RI PBS (WSBE) at 7PM on June 18th. Hooray!
Yesterday I received an invitation from the Ashaway, RI Public Library to be their guest speaker for "National Elephant Appreciation Day" on September 22 this year. Of course, I was thrilled to accept, and will be winding my way to far off Ashaway (about 30 miles, as the elephant flies)that day with my speech and my DVD of Roger in hand. Be there or be square!
But that's not the only exposure Roger will be receiving. At 3.30PM on May 27th, Roger will be dancing his way into the hearts of one and all at the Providence Athenaeum in Providence. I've been invited by the children's librarian there to chat about him and show the movie, so it will be a story straight from the children of 1893 to the kiddies of the 21st century.
In the meantime, I am working (slowly) on Fanny. I have engaged a fundraiser to help me get some bucks together and we'll meet this week for a strategy and policy session. If you would love to help on the project, get in touch with me through this blog or at tapit@care2.com