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Saturday, 04 February 2012 21:22

Written by Barbara Vancheri

A nearly full house sang "Happy Birthday" to George A. Romero, donned paper frames mimicking his oversize black eyeglasses and watched "Night of the Living Dead' – some for the first time – today.

In what proved to be the most successful fund-raiser yet to save the chapel in Evans City Cemetery, fans turned out at the Hollywood Theater in Dormont to take photos of Ella Mae Smith, an Evans City resident who played a ghoul, lighting director Joe Unitas and brothers Russ and Gary Streiner.

Russ is head of the Pittsburgh Film Office board and is famous for playing Johnny, the young man who goes to the cemetery with his sister and is attacked and killed by a ghoul. (The word Zombie is never used in the movie.) Gary, a sound engineer on the 1968 film turned producer, is spearheading the effort to fix the cemetery chapel which appears as a backdrop in some early scenes.

Anyone with $10 could own a piece of the chapel. Plastic coffins about two inches long were attached to cards proclaiming each "contains an artifact collected directly from the chapel in the Evans City Cemetery as seen in the 1968 classic 'The Night of the Living Dead.' " At the bottom is the campaign slogan, "We're coming to fix you, chapel."

That line also appeared on the paper stem of the black cutout frames with "George A. Romero Birthday Celebration, the Hollywood Theater, Dormont, PA, 2-4-2012 on the other." They were being sold along with T-shirts, hoodies and some other goodies.

Ella Mae Smith and her now-late husband, Phil, were accidental "NOLD" extras. They were sitting in their yard in Evans City when someone stopped and asked if they wanted to be "in our movie." She said yes, Phil said no (but relented) and they both landed roles and she has the black-and-white photo stills to prove it. (She's shown below with Unitas.)

Unitas, a onetime Beechview resident now living in Peters Township with his wife, served as "NOLD" lighting director and posed for photos just as Mrs. Smith did. She also auctioned off a necklace she made – for $50, donated for the cause.

An attempt to duplicate a famous photo showing a theater full of people in 3-D glasses was hampered, a bit, by the low lighting in the auditorium but a photographer clicked away at a crowd that included someone who had traveled from New Jersey for the event.

The Streiners thanked everyone for coming and when Gary asked if any of the patrons had never seen "NOLD" before, at least a half-dozen hands shot up. "Are you guys in for a treat," he told them and said they were lucky they had held out this long.

Some of the younger members of the audience left once the movie started, just in case you're wondering.

The one-time showing was part of a Facebook-fueled campaign to get people to watch the movie at 4 p.m. Eastern time to mark Romero's 72nd birthday. Yes, the horrormeister knew about the Dormont event and told Russ he appreciated the long-distance greetings and efforts to save a little piece of his most famous film.

All photos above, by Barbara Vancheri, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.Gary's son, Aaron Streiner, snapped the one below of me with Gary (left) and Russ Streiner in the lobby of the theater.

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