From Wharf Rats to Lords of the Docks: The Life and Times of Harry Bridges on KQED TV

“A fascinating look at the pioneering work of labor activist Harry Bridges”.

Scott Dwyer, Program Director, KQED TV

“From Wharf Rats to the Lords of the Docks: The Life and Times of Harry Bridges”, makes its West Coast television premiere on San Francisco’s PBS station, KQED World Channel 190 Comcast or 9.3 digital, Sunday, July 5th at 7pm. On this same day, 75 years ago, chaos grew throughout the waterfront, up and down the Embarcadero, on Rincon Hill and at the San Francisco Ferry Building. The riots resulted in over 400 men gassed, beaten and jailed, and two strikers Nicholas Bordoise and Howard Sperry, killed when policemen fired shots into the crowd at Mission and Steuart Streets. In the aftermath of Bloody Thursday, thousands of people filed down Market Street in a funeral march for the slain strikers. Sympathy for the strikers helped fuel public support for the general strike that followed. See a clip from the film on Bloody Thursday at http://www.theharrybridgesproject.org/battle.mp4. “Harry Bridges is one of the most important labor leaders of the 20th century. Ian Ruskin has captured his persona and his ideas brilliantly” said Howard Zinn, Historian, Playwright and Social Activist. Other airing dates on KQED include the 6th at 1am, the 8th at 8 & 11am. Additional public television stations across the country airing this film can be found at http://www.theharrybridgesproject.org.

This film, directed by Academy Award© winning director and cinematographer Haskell Wexler, produced by Ian Ruskin and Suzanne Thompson for The Harry Bridges Project, is a film of a truly unique event – Ian Ruskin performing his one-man play to a packed house of 1000 longshore workers in San Pedro, California. The result, with appearances by Elliott Gould, Edward Asner and members of ILWU Local 13, and with music by Jackson Browne, Arlo Guthrie, Pete Seeger, Tim Reynolds, Ciro Hurtado, David Mora and including the world premiere of Woody Guthrie’s song about Harry, sung by his granddaughter Sarah Lee Guthrie, is an inspiring story. It is an intimate exploration of the life and times of this extraordinary man – “a hero or the devil incarnate, it all depends on your point of view” – full of the high drama and biting humor that ran through his life. And it is a springboard into understanding the parallel issues – globalization, global responsibilities, wars on terrorism, surveillance and privacy, and the widening gap between rich and poor – that we face today. “It is very exciting to me that KQED is “bringing Harry home” by airing this film. This story not only shows how important and influential Harry Bridges was to the growth and character of the Bay Area, but also the importance of the Bay Area to the entire American labor movement” says Ian Ruskin. To view the film, promo, music or more information about The Harry Bridges Project see: http://theharrybridgesproject.org/booking.html, http://www.netaonline.org/5minutes.htm#Wharf_ or the entire film at http://web.me.com/motionartsinc/harry/FILM.html (user name: harry password: bridges)
Interviews and photos available upon request.