Omeboy - Posted - 03/20/2017:  09:16:52

The Richelieu / Kuralt connection:  Back in 1977 when I was much younger and far more optimistic, I had very good intentions of producing a short documentary on the banjo: specifically how fine banjos were handcrafted by small a handful of dedicated artisans.  Having known Rich Richelieu since 1971, I told Rich about my lofty idea and he agreed to let me come in and shoot several hundred feet of color 16mm film of his shop in Oregon, Wisconsin.  So a small group of us spent two days at Rich's shop and covered every aspect of fine banjo making.   At that time CBS newsman, Charles Kuralt, was still very big on CBS with his On The Road segments.  As you'll recall, those segments specialized in the folksier side of "Americana."  I thought Rich, with his great engaging personality and his shop, would make a perfect subject for Kuralt.  So I committed the 16mm film to a 3/4 inch video cassette and sent it to the CBS news headquarters with a nice letter of explanation.  I finally got the standard response with the assurance that Mr. Kuralt would look into it.  Months and months endlessly dragged by and then one day Kuralt and  On The Road crew showed up in Oregon unannounced.  They spent some time with Rich, but unfortunately Kuralt decided not to do the segment.  He told Rich that the shop was "too commercial" for his particular folksy genre.  (I guess he wanted something more towards a "Ma and Pa Kettle" situation where backwoods people made banjos out of old car parts----Who knows.)  So the boys went next door to the adjacent "liquid libation" shop, bought what they needed  and faded into the sunset. End of story.  And here's the kicker: the following week, Kuralt aired a segment about a guy who could catch grapes in his mouth when thrown from a distance.  So I told Rich to forget about making banjos and dedicate his afternoons to learning how to catch various food items in his mouth his shop-hands could throw at him.  I still have the 16mm film and pleasant memories of a great gentleman who was completely dedicated to his love for the banjo.