- [Announcer] Production of "Applause" on Ideastream Public Media is made possible by funding by Cuyahoga County residents through Cuyahoga Arts & Culture.

(funky upbeat music) - [Kabir] Coming up, a collectible show in Canton celebrates political memorabilia, while another group of collectors shares an enduring love for postcards.

And Northeast Ohio group adds modern flair to traditional Italian folk music.

(funky upbeat music) Would you look at that?

It's time for another round of "Applause."

I'm Ideastream Public Media's Kabir Bhatia.

The American Political Items Collectors are dedicated to preserving, sharing, and appreciating pieces of political history.

Every year in Canton, the group gathers for a convention known as the Big Collectible Show.

The main attraction, campaign buttons, many dating back more than a century.

(jaunty dance music) - I've collected political memorabilia since I was 13.

I now have over a half a century involved in collecting political memorabilia and have been an active member of the American Political Item Collectors since 1968.

- It's a nationwide group of people that love political Americana.

So I joined in 1964 and became number 292, which is one of the lower numbers in the hobby, I must say now, I dunno if that's good or bad.

- I'm the host of the Big Collectible Show in Canton, Ohio, held here in the MAPS Museum.

The MAPS Museum is a deacquisitioned airplane hangar, was deacquisitioned after World War II, that it has turned into a museum of military aircraft.

They have over 40 or 50 airplanes in their collection.

I have helped organize the regional convention when it was in Columbus, Ohio.

Columbus got too big, or we didn't get big enough for Columbus, and we ended up moving it to Canton, which Canton is very rich in history and with the connection of William McKinley, the McKinley Tomb is here, the McKinley Memorial is here, along with the First Ladies Museum.

For those of you that are unaware of Canton having the National Football Hall of Fame, yes, that's here, as well.

- Yeah, hi, I am Ted Hake from York, Pennsylvania, founder of Hake's Americana and Collectibles, now known as Hake's Auctions.

So I guess I've always had kind of a writing, publishing, documentary sort of thing in my background.

And in 1972, I did my first book, it was simply called "The Button Book."

Had both political buttons and what we call broadly non-political buttons, which could be a button for a World's Fair, sports, World War II.

Anything that isn't political, we call non-political.

Those are actually the ones I love, but I did get around to cataloging about 15,000 political items.

I did three books on those in the 1970s, and they've kind of become the Bible.

People use their Hake numbers to refer to different buttons in the books.

- Got some comic books.

Ooh.

Ooh, this is good.

I got a Ted Hake signature.

- [Interviewer] Oh, so I interviewed Ted Hake.

So you're a big Ted Hake fan?

- Yeah.

Everyone here's a big Ted Hake fan.

This is a beauty.

This is what I'm excited about.

Six-inch Kennedy.

Anything Kennedy that you'll have at this size, happy to have it.

I saw this, had to have it.

A few McGovern's in here, I think.

Oh, there's Arnold, Arnold Schwarzenegger.

Always something fun, you just gotta dig.

George McGovern himself appeals to me.

I think, honestly, just the name.

The beginning, the original running mate was Thomas Eagleton.

So I saw, I remember the first time I saw McGovern Eagleton, and I thought, "How are they not president?

"How is that not meant to be?"

- The famous Cox/Roosevelt button, it's the most expensive button there is, not this particular one, but this one will do about 20,000.

It's a little button with pictures of Ohio's governor, James Cox, and he was running in 1920 with Franklin Roosevelt as VP.

The Democrats didn't have much money in 1920.

A button with two pictures on costs more than a button with one picture on, and the parties just didn't order many of these things.

So there's about five or six different designs, but in the world, there's like 50 different known buttons.

So Hakes holds the World Record for one in an inch and a quarter at $180,000.

Now the one we have here, probably only gonna be about 25,000.

It's a little, tiny 5/8 thing, but just as rare as the $180,000 one, practically.

- I come as Theodore Roosevelt and collect, and sometimes sell a few things off.

But, you know, I started my love of history at age five when my parents took me to Gettysburg.

And then about 15 and a half years ago, my background is in elementary education major, I've taught for 34 years.

15 and a half years ago, one of my third graders looked at me and said I looked like Theodore Roosevelt.

So that started my wife and I on an adventure that has been one of the greatest blessings in our lives.

I come around and interact with others and share stories, answer questions.

There's times I've had people actually ask me to autograph the modern books about Theodore Roosevelt.

Not historic ones, I won't autograph that.

- This is a really one of the largest shows, because it goes beyond the American Political Items Collectors and takes in so many other categories, you know, sports and comics and just anything pop culture and collectible.

Jack's been a mainstay, Jack Dixey, who runs this show.

The slogan is it's always fun in Canton.

So anyway, that seems to be true.

- The one nice thing about collecting political memorabilia is that there's a new interest every four years.

With another election coming up, you always have new collectors who are collecting whatever is being used in the current election, and many of those people will turn to parents or family members saying, "Do you have any old political buttons?"

And all of a sudden, yes, the memories of generations before them end up being part of their collection and a renewed interest in all of such.

(jaunty dance music) - [Kabir] Another group of Northeast Ohio collectors is all about postcards.

The Western Reserve Postcard Society celebrated its 50th anniversary recently, and currently has about 100 members.

Our "Applause" cameras caught up with a few of them to take a peek into their vast collections.

- [Harlan] They probably have one of the most extensive Cleveland postcard collections.

I wouldn't say it's the most, but I'd say I'm up there.

- [Shirley] Everybody always enjoys looking at postcards and finding that one that they've been searching for years.

Or if someone will say, "You made my day, "I'm so thrilled that I found this postcard."

(gentle music) - My name is Harlan Ullman.

I am the newly-elected President of the Western Reserve Postcard Society.

I've been a collector a long time, and it took me a while before I joined the club, I'd probably been a member about 20 to 30 years, probably closer to 30.

- I'm Shirley Goldberg and I you welcome to Western Reserve Postcard Society.

Many people that enjoy collecting postcards of every subject matter, even part of their life, their history, different hobbies that they have.

- When I was kind of towards the end of my first decade, about somewhere in 8 to 10 years old, I developed two of the great interests in my life, the Cleveland Indians, now Guardians, and then Cleveland history.

And that latter one evolved into postcards, and then I, you know, I found there were a lot of them of Cleveland with all the various buildings, many of which still exist, and many of which are gone.

And that led to a almost lifelong love of postcards.

- When I started looking for postcards for my children, then I noticed my stack was getting larger than what I was picking out for them.

Collecting postcards is very educational.

I started my children trying to learn what is grown in America, what the manufacturers were, what the climate was, where the oceans and the rivers are, and to know a bit about geography.

(gentle music) - The postcard, as we know it, was created by an act of Congress, I think it was 1898.

Before postcards, they were called private mailing cards or PMCs, and they were developed as a quick, easy way to communicate with people.

The postage rate was cheaper, and you would have a photo of where you were or something.

And the intent was to people to mail these things, quick little note, the so-called wish you were here thing.

But I think what unexpectedly happened was, you know, people didn't have cameras then, and they would use postcards to have pictures of what they were seeing, you know, 'cause they couldn't capture those images any other way.

- Then there are also postcards of circus, or different entertainment, or movie theaters that are no longer around.

And there's all postcards on those memories.

You were there, you didn't have a camera at the time, but you certainly could buy a postcard and save it for those years.

- [Harlan] That led to what was called the Golden Age of Postcards, which, you know, millions of cards were created and bought, and many of which are brand new.

I mean, you find cards all the time from over 100 years old that were never sent.

And the reason most people bought them, because that was their photo album of their trip.

- One might find a folder that consists of 12, or 16, or 18.

This one's more like a book, and this was on Rome.

- Then the Brownie camera was invented by Kodak, and that put cameras in most people's hands.

And that kinda led to the decline of postcards in terms of modern usage.

But the reason the hobby is still strong in some cases is that people like the history part.

You know, the images, the old images, the artwork that's on them.

You can buy a postcard at a postcard show for a few dollars, and you have a nice piece of artwork anybody can afford.

- For me, as an artist, the postcards are a very good reference for me to create a painting.

My name is Jim Sens.

Well, I've been an artist, seems like almost all my life.

When I would be on the road traveling, I would make postcards to send to my grandkids.

And I'd be looking out the window and maybe I might see whatever landmark in town that I happened to be in and then I'd say, "Man, I gotta send this to one of my grandkids."

So that's really how I started doing postcard art.

And I've been doing postcard art for quite a long time.

The postcards, the finished product, starts out in here as a sketch, and then I refine it as time goes on.

I've been to New Orleans three times, okay?

So I've done some paintings of New Orleans.

I've been out west a lot.

It took my wife and I 30 years to visit all 21 of the Spanish missions.

I sketched and painted each and every one of them.

Everybody has different specialty that they might wanna collect.

I never declared it, but I think now that I think about it, starting a collection of carousels, things like that, that I can use as a reference, but create an original piece of art myself.

(gentle music) - This is one of the holy grail cards of Cleveland.

It's certainly the holy grail card of amusement parks.

Puritas was the lesser-known of the parks.

And I go to postcard shows and I always hear people saying, "Do you have Puritas Park?"

This photo here of the original or first carousel at Puritas Springs Park, and this is that very same photo made into a postcard.

- And it's hard to find postcards now.

Used to be in a pharmacy, a drugstore, or a 5 and 10.

Well, where are the 5 and 10s?

They're not around anymore.

Where are those postcards?

They're in somebody's shoebox by now.

- [Interviewer] Probably your shoe boxes.

- Or an album, or an album.

- And I think nostalgia is something that people will always be interested in.

People want to, they wanna see where things were, they wanna see what it was like for their parents, their grandparents, their great-grandparents.

It'd be a shame to see the hobby become extinct.

And I don't think it will in my lifetime, but a lot of things people think are gonna be there forever are not there, but these postcards will be here for a long time.

You know, even when we're gone.

- [Kabir] The Western Reserve Postcard Society's Annual Postcard Show takes place each April in Rocky River.

♪ Swallow tail morning ♪ - [Kabir] He's been known throughout northeast Ohio as the Low-Tech Troubadour.

On the next "Applause," singer-songwriter Alex Bevan reflects on a career in folk music, spanning more than 50 years.

- The guitar and music has been very good to me.

People have embraced my music.

- [Kabir] Plus, a studio in Canton provides a safe place for self-expression.

All that and more on the next round of "Applause."

♪ Good night to this magic, this silhouette scene ♪ (gentle music) - [Kabir] Let's turn our attention now to an artist in Columbus, Ohio.

Henry Hass is based in the Franklinton Arts District, and he uses art to communicate.

He draws inspiration from 20th century classic movies, especially musicals.

Meet Henry and the people supporting his art.

(gentle bright music) - When he was very young, Henry got a diagnosis of autism, you know, and with that diagnosis, there came limitations, there came, you know, treatment pathways, medication pathways, like, all of these things that come with it, and it had a very medical orientation to it.

When he became an artist, and I say he got his arts diagnosis and he became an artist, it changed, like, it became, you know, an opportunity for community, and expression, and having adventures and experiences that he would've never had if we would've stayed in just one world.

I often introduce myself and I'm like, "Oh, hi, I'm Henry's mom," and they're like, "Oh, what's your name?

"I've never met you."

And I'm like, I love that, because this is who he is, this is his community.

I'm just here, here to support him in being the best Franklinton artist that he can possibly be.

I think one of the impacts that I may have on Henry with his artwork, which I think is very little, 'cause it's really all from him, is that I make sure he has all his supplies.

He has the items he needs to work with, the things that he really wants to, you know, paint with or draw with.

I feel like I'm in the background always like, watching inventory to make sure he has things.

And I think it's one of the fun things that we do, is to go to the art store together and let him pick out whatever he wants to pick out, 'cause he loves to do it.

And I'm always amazed that, I'll think he has every blue color, every shade of blue he needs, and we'll end up with four other blues, you know, and we'll come home and he'll use them, 'cause in his mind, he already knows what he wants to make.

- I am Henry Hess' sister.

That's how people know me in Franklinton sometimes, and I love it, I will always be happy to be referenced as Henry Hess' sister.

He's so amazing and I get to hang out with him, and it's a really great opportunity for me to be in Franklinton.

He doesn't really communicate with his words very often, so a lot of time, it is with his art.

And I think that being his sister, I'm always around him and I can kind of pick up on how he feels really easily.

So I am one of the people that can sometimes prompt him into doing certain projects or working on certain things, but not everyone can.

Henry's very inspired by old classic movies.

So he really loves musicals, he loves, you know, "The Wizard of Oz," "Chitty Chitty Bang Bang," "Mary Poppins."

He loves a lot of the old classics.

I think there's a lot of color, there's a lot of style and influences in there that you don't necessarily see in modern day movies.

And they were what he gravitated towards when he was little, and I think that watching people be expressive in certain ways helped him figure out how to express himself, on his own and through his art.

(gentle music) - My interaction with Henry was to broaden that scope, to kinda pull him outta that world and show him the reality, you know, like, "Hey, why don't we draw from reality a little bit?"

Like, do portraits or plein air, that sort of thing.

Him attending the Sunday Figure sessions that we do has really made a huge impact on the way that he views even, you know, the scenes from the movie, he's adding more background elements to it.

And like, his portraits are starting to take like, a more accurate shape, right?

And that's just through practice, that's not me telling him how to do it, because like, for somebody like Henry, or just like, any artist, like, you can't tell an artist how to make their art.

Like, it's a process of failures and successes that allow us to do that.

And Henry's always bucked against that.

And I learned that when he was 15 years old, 14 years old.

- My role as it pertains to Franklinton has always been Henry's dad.

That's what I answer to, that's what I'm most proud of.

And just being Henry's dad in Franklinton and carrying heavy things and hanging artwork is what I do.

- I remember like, walking past Henry's studio frequently and seeing him face down in, you know, paper, just working all the time.

The term we say is like, committed lines.

Like, he'll dive in, he draws what he feels, he draws, like, he's not trying to make it look exactly like what the object is.

There's more, it's a motion, it's movement.

His lines are quick and they show movements.

So he thinks in a three-dimensional way, instead of just like, a still from a thing.

He wants to capture the essence of that.

He starts with a flat piece of paper, and then as he works through, let's say Dorothy's house, folds it all up, one piece of paper, he has the interior design and the exterior design of Dorothy's house.

Or it could be, you know, any number of things, like a car from "Chitty Chitty Bang Bang."

He pays attention.

Not every single piece is like that, but the pieces he cares about the most will have all of that.

Like, the floor plan is there.

Like, who thinks of that?

And then he took that from a film, he took that from a film.

And that's like where his brain is, is like, "Oh, I will construct her house "and this is what I remember it looking like."

It's so cool.

It's like, I don't know anybody that does that, except for Henry.

(gentle bright music) - Henry's artwork is just very unique and it's completely inspired by what he wants to do and how he feels and how he sees the world.

And I think that's something that's really unique is that when you walk into his studio, it's almost like walking into a storybook and walking into a cartoon and seeing the pictures and the characters really come to life, and that's one really amazing aspect of his artwork.

- What I've always wanted, just like, for everybody, is like, we all should be able to do it.

Like, we should all be able to navigate this world, and some of us need a little help.

My goal for Henry is that because he has a difficult time communicating, I wanted to help him build his network.

So like, introducing him to young people, introducing him, taking him into the community so he could see, because he's not gonna ask questions about like, "Hey, I'd like to learn welding."

And so it's like, well, why don't I reach out to artists that I know in the community and say, "Hey, would you be willing to just hang out with us?

"Show us what you do and talk about it a little bit?"

And so by doing that, they meet Henry, the young people are meeting Henry, and then when they have workshops or they have exhibitions, they're going to think of Henry and invite him to be a part of it, you know, because he may not be able to go, "I wanna be in that show," but somebody's gonna be like, "Henry should be in this show."

So I think that that's really just to expand his network.

- When we talk about Henry's future, we talk about things that are important for him.

His friends from grade school come up and they say, "Is Henry still drawing?

"Is Henry's still doing his artwork?"

And they get so engaged that they're so excited to hear that that's what he's doing, that he's an artist, because that's what he needs to be doing for his career and what makes him happy.

So when we talk about a meaningful, happy, fulfilled life, it's gonna include art and it's gonna include artists.

It's kinda what we've discovered, right?

The people that are in this community, in Franklinton, how they interact, how they communicate, they see themselves in Henry and Henry sees himself in them.

And that's a pretty unique environment for him.

- Autism changed his life in one way, but his artistry changed his life in a path that we never saw coming.

That has been one of the best things that's ever happened to him and to our entire family.

(gentle music) - [Kabir] It's time to wind down this "Applause" with some local music.

I'm Kabir Bhatia, saying so long until next time.

Enjoy the sounds of Alla Boara performing their song, "U Leva Leva" at the BOP STOP.

They play live at the Cleveland Museum of Arts on January 24th.

Caio!

(funky upbeat dance music) (performer singing in foreign language) (performer singing in foreign language) (performer singing in foreign language) (funky gentle dance music) (soulful guitar) (funky gentle dance music) (soulful guitar) (funky gentle dance music) (soulful guitar) (funky gentle dance music) (soulful guitar) (funky gentle dance music) (soulful guitar) (funky gentle dance music) (soulful guitar) (funky gentle dance music) (soulful guitar) (funky gentle dance music) (soulful guitar) (funky gentle dance music) (soulful guitar) (funky gentle dance music) (performers vocalizing) (bright music) - [Announcer] Production of "Applause" on Ideastream Public Media is made possible by funding by Cuyahoga County residents through Cuyahoga Arts & Culture.