By Jennifer Dockery
While making the Emmy-winning documentary The World’s Greatest Fair, directors Bob Miano and Scott Huegerich kept things local: They recruited volunteers through the 1904 World’s Fair Society and Stlfilmwire to help research and write the script, and the resulting team ransacked public and private collections, compiling more than 10,000 images. Famous and not-so-famous St. Louisans gave voice to fairgoers’ letters. In all, more than 150 people contributed to the film.
Experts, mostly from local universities, provided background information in short interview segments, and St. Louisan John David narrates the film. Listening to KDHX (88.1 FM) one day, Miano heard David in an ad and called the radio station, which put the two in touch. David agreed to do the film for free.
For added color, the directors had volunteers—not voice actors—read more than 100 quotes from fairgoers and organizers to offer myriad perspectives on the fair. The result is an unpolished and authentic sound.
Local celebrities—including Stan Musial, Mary Strauss and Ozzie Smith—also lent their voices to the production. “Ozzie Smith has a softer, kinder voice,” said Huegerich, so he and Miano matched Smith with a letter from Tom Bass, a famed African-American horse trainer who was known for his gentle way with animals.
Produced here in St. Louis by Civil Pictures and Technisonic Studios, the film was released on DVD and video by PBS Home Video in September.
