Remembering George Romero: His Pittsburgh years

It was in the late 1960s — before“Night of the Living Dead” made him famous — that I discovered George Romero. I was then creative director of a fastgrowing Pittsburgh advertisingagency, and George and his associates were creating local buzz as filmmakers. Our head of broadcast production passed the word to me, triggeringa long and happy collaboration.

When faced with restrictive production budgets — which was much of the time — the agency would often turn to George, knowing he would give any job his all. Over time, he would shoot, direct and edit dozens of commercials for us, the topic ranging from beers, bathrooms and food chains to political campaigns, local and national (one political bio we made was cited by The New York Times as among the best ofits genre).

We traveled with George on location and huddled with him in his makeshift editing room until the job was done. He was meticulous. Sometimes he would work on his Moviola far into the night, slicing and dicing film until the scene felt right. (This was well before video and digital editing.) To stay awake, he chewed — appallingly— hot peppers.

One morning, while we were producing beer spots in his editing room, George took arare break. This was to check on the progress of Tom Savini, the man who created the gruesome zombie masks for “Living Dead” (and launched a nationwide career in special effects). I flinched — prompting George to remark, “Jane, I don’t think this is your cup of gore.”

George was congenial — no tantrums or shouting matches on the set, just good humor. He was also collegial, and through the people he trained, he helped build Pittsburgh’s bank of outstanding film crews, a big plus in luring Hollywood producers to make movies in Pittsburgh.

Working with George Romero was special, and those of us who worked with him were privileged to be in at the beginning of a remarkable career. JANE C. ARKUS Shadyside