ST. MARYS – Gale Largey, a St. Marys native and director of a
documentary on the Austin Dam disaster of 1911, presented a lecture
on the ins-and-outs of creating the film Sunday afternoon in St.
Marys.

The event was sponsored by the Elk County Council of the Arts as
well as the Benzinger and St. Marys Historical Society.

“This is our second of what we hope will be an on-going series
of these types of lectures,” Bill Conrad, president of the St.
Marys Historical Society said. “Hopefully, the Elk County
Historical Society will become a partner and we can expand. I think
this is something that is important and can be a lot of fun.”

The disaster, which was one of most historical and significant
events to occur in the region, took place on Sept. 30, 1911. It
destroyed much of the community of Austin, and at least 78 people
were killed. It was the headline story in every major American
newspaper and widely reported throughout Europe, including the
front page of the London Times.

He said that at the time, many newspapers exaggerated the amount
of people killed. They had 2,000 or 1,000 dead and each day would
reduce the number until it reached 78.

“I think it was primary to sell papers,” Largey said.

Largey was professor of sociology at Mansfield University for 34
years and he spent more than five years gathering information for
the documentary. It has been aired at film festivals and over a
dozen times on regional PBS stations. He was able to convince
country music legend Willy Nelson, former President Gerald Ford,
former Gov. Tom Ridge and Karl Marx’s great-great granddaughter,
among others, to help narrate the film. All of the voices were
volunteers. He interviewed many survivors of the flood and used
photos from historical societies, including the St. Marys society,
in the film.

He doesn’t take a position on who was responsible for the
flood.

“I tend to take the view nobody and everybody,” Largey said.
“The owner had limited amount of money and tried to do the best he
could. I tried to create this documentary to show that people were
not obviously trying to create a disaster. I don’t know that it
does any good to try and decide who was most at fault.”

The documentary style Largey patterned his after would be from
directors Alfred Hitchcock and Frederick Weisman. He doesn’t use a
lot of simulations (except for one of the dam breaking) and allows
the story to tell itself through the newsreels, photos and
interviews.

Of all the criticism he’s received over the documentary, Largey
said the worst was written by the Coudersport paper.

“The writer said that Willy Nelson was boring. I was really
rather upset about that one. I thought it was a cheap shot.”

The next project Largey plans to do is one about the 1950s in
St. Marys. It was a time of prosperity for the town and he feels a
lot of that is because of the nuns and their influence