Tonight on Showcase with Barbara Keller, Familiar Faces author Mark Schlachter and community leader Rosemary Schlachter.

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Showcase starts now.

(music) KELLAR: Rosemary and Mark Schlachter, what a wonderful treat to have you come down and talk for a little bit.

You're one of the amazing couples in Cincinnati for your philanthropy and your artistic contributions.

And Mark's an author and a sculptor, and Rosemary runs so many wonderful benefits.

So, ladies first.

Rosemary, tell us a little bit about, you went to NKU?

ROSEMARY: No, actually we're both Indiana University graduates.

KELLAR: Oh!

ROSEMARY: But I did work at NKU.

I was very privileged to fundraise for NKU.

I headed the development shop.

KELLAR: Wow.

ROSEMARY: For NKU, yes.

KELLAR: So that's where you honed your skills?

ROSEMARY: Well, actually, I always told Irma Lazarus, your predecessor in this role, that she was responsible for my whole life.

KELLAR: Oh.

ROSEMARY: Because Irma founded Young Friends of the Arts, as you may remember.

KELLAR: Yeah.

ROSEMARY: I was a Young Friend of the Arts in the late '60s.

KELLAR: Wow, okay.

ROSEMARY: So Irma and Phyllis Weston were my mentors and I met Cincinnati's philanthropic community in Irma's living room.

KELLAR: Yeah, well, she had everybody.

Everybody who was anybody went through that living room.

ROSEMARY: Absolutely.

I was very, very lucky.

And I met Mark at the Art Museum at a Young Friends of the Arts event.

So I would tell Irma she was responsible for my marriage, my career, and our four children.

KELLAR: Yeah.

And if it didn't work out, you could blame her, right?

ROSEMARY: Well -- KELLAR: It did work out.

ROSEMARY: It did work out.

We'll be married 50 years this Thanksgiving Day.

KELLAR: Thanksgiving Day you'll be married 50 years?

ROSEMARY: Yes, we were married on Thanksgiving Day.

And here it's rolled around again.

KELLAR: And so are you planning -- What can you plan in COVID?

ROSEMARY: Exactly.

Yeah, we were going to be at the Rainbow Room in New York City because one of our sons lives in New York.

KELLAR: Yeah.

ROSEMARY: But we may be at the Queen City Club.

We certainly won't be in New York.

But we'll be at the Queen City Club with our family who lives here.

KELLAR: Yeah.

So nobody has to cook on Thanksgiving.

ROSEMARY: Not this year.

Normally we do, but not this year, since it's our wedding anniversary.

KELLAR: Yeah.

You've been involved in so many benefits.

You work for The Chamber Orchestra.

ROSEMARY: Yeah, I chair the board of The Chamber Orchestra.

I'm kind of a board junkie.

And I'm like a boomerang.

It's hard to get rid of me.

I hang around, I come back.

KELLAR: Yeah, I know you're on the Symphony Board, I think.

ROSEMARY: I chaired the Ballet Board.

I chair The Contemporary Arts Center board currently.

KELLAR: Oh, you are?

ROSEMARY: Yes.

KELLAR: Wow, I didn't know that.

ROSEMARY: Yeah.

KELLAR: We haven't seen Raphaela Platow for a long time.

ROSEMARY: She should come back.

KELLAR: Yeah.

She's one of the wonderful, wonderful things about Cincinnati, I would say.

ROSEMARY: We're very, very fortunate to have Raphaela here.

KELLAR: Yeah.

Mark, you're an author, a sculptor.

Tell us about your book.

MARK: Well, for only 25 years now I've been working on this little project of creating an entire new county for Indiana.

Indiana claims there are 92 counties.

I claim there are 93.

It started up writing short stories and a daily minute historical piece that I would read on my show on WNOP when WNOP was still on the air.

And Rosemary one day said, "You're the photographer, why don't you make this real?"

So I started finding people to be my characters, creating costumes, in some cases, highway signs, all sorts of stuff to make it real.

It turned into a 30 image show at the Carnegie.

It's also been at Indiana University in one of their galleries and a gallery in Greenwich Village.

KELLAR: This -- so the pictures that you took initially were in all these galleries?

MARK: Yeah, they were in the show.

Each photograph would have accompanying text to let you know who the person was or what the story was.

And then eventually we found them and included a full 200 years of history of this Ersatz county, which is named Ersatz County.

KELLAR: Right.

MARK: So that's the story.

KELLAR: How many people do you think start out thinking this is real?

MARK: Many of them start out thinking, then they read the text and say, "No, it has to be made up."

But then they look and see the road sign, which looks like it just came out of the Indiana Department of Transit or City Limits sign, "No, it's got to be real."

KELLAR: So they've changed their minds and they then can enjoy it even more because it's something you created.

MARK: They go out baffled.

KELLAR: They go baffled.

(chuckles) And that's your mission, right?

MARK: Absolutely.

KELLAR: Yeah.

And you also are a sculptor.

MARK: I try that too.

KELLAR: Well, tell us about that.

MARK: Mostly I work in metals, several public pieces in town, including one several blocks from CET here at the Chatfield College.

KELLAR: Yeah.

MARK: I've created a piece for them out of material that was scrapped out of the building when they converted it into the college building.

KELLAR: Yeah.

There's one in front of the literary club, which is sort of interesting because the Lit Club was built in 1835, I believe.

Yeah.

MARK: The group itself has been around since 1849 and there's this abstract piece of metal sculpture in front.

KELLAR: Yeah.

You like to mix things up.

MARK: I do.

KELLAR: And are you only a sculptor?

Do you paint?

MARK: On occasion there's a painting, usually because I'm told, "We need a painting."

KELLAR: Oh, I see.

MARK: This has happened three or four times.

KELLAR: Yeah.

Who has made that request?

Oh, Rosemary.

You have a blank wall and so you say, "I need a painting for this wall"?

MARK: Four feet by five feet -- three feet by four feet.

KELLAR: Oh, okay.

ROSEMARY: Well, and our children will come over and they'll like something, so they'll take it off the wall.

So then that wall's available again.

KELLAR: Oh, I see, so it's a revolving exhibit.

MARK: It can be.

KELLAR: And it should be.

Yeah.

So are you prolific.

Or just once in a while?

MARK: That's once in a while.

KELLAR: Yeah.

ROSEMARY: The painting's once in a while.

The sculpture's all the time.

KELLAR: Yeah.

MARK: We've done two paintings in the last three months.

Yeah.

If you're a metal sculptor, does that mean you've got one of those masks on and a fire thing going?

It does indeed.

And the mask comes in real handy for solar eclipses.

KELLAR: Good, good, good, good.

So you weld things together?

MARK: I do.

KELLAR: And you take the leftovers, like you said, from the one building.

MARK: Yeah.

KELLAR: And then you make them into something interesting.

MARK: The David Joseph Company, which is the country's largest scrap dealer, is based in Cincinnati.

KELLAR: Yeah, I know them.

MARK: And every year they do something called the Scrap Showdown.

Invite 20-30 metal artists to visit the scrap yard and take up to 500 pounds of junk.

KELLAR: Yeah.

MARK: And then they expect it to come back in a new form 30 days later.

KELLAR: Yeah.

MARK: Well this year we got the junk collected and the lockdown came right as we were supposed to get together and see what we had done.

So, this year's still sitting on our front step.

KELLAR: Is it finished?

MARK: Oh, yeah.

KELLAR: Okay, so when it comes, it comes.

Are you -- Is that what you do mainly is an artist or do you have another profession or interest?

MARK: That's the artistic output pretty much these days.

KELLAR: Yeah.

Are you -- I guess I'm trying to say, are you retired from something else?

MARK: Well, we're retired from many things.

KELLAR: Yeah.

MARK: We're retired from teaching high school English and we're retired from teaching high school speech and theater.

KELLAR: Yeah.

MARK: We're retired from being a public library librarian.

Which is what the graduate degree is in.

KELLAR: Yeah.

MARK: We're retired from being in an ad agency executive, retired from being a commercial photographer, and retired from being a radio station general manager.

KELLAR: Is that all you?

MARK: It is.

KELLAR: What is the radio station.

MARK: It was WNOP.

ROSEMARY: Jazz Radio.

KELLAR: WNOP, that still exists, doesn't it?

MARK: Well, unfortunately, not as it was, although I'm sure there are many that argue with me.

It's now Sacred Heart radio.

So it went from being the most profane station in town to-- ROSEMARY: -- being the most religious.

MARK: -- the most religious.

KELLAR: Oh, so it's now a religious thing rather than jazz?

MARK: Yeah.

That's quite a jump.

ROSEMARY: Right.

MARK: Yeah, we signed off the air as a jazz station midnight, December 31st, the year 2000.

KELLAR: Yeah.

MARK: I was the last voice on the air and the last piece of music I played was Tom Lehrer singing Vatican Rag.

KELLAR: Oh.

(chuckles) MARK: And originally the Catholics were going to start their broadcast and immediately at 12:01.

KELLAR: Yeah.

MARK: But I think maybe Rick Byrd leaked to them what our final piece of music was and they let the station go dead or black, as they say, for six hours so that none of their listeners would be offended.

KELLAR: So they could rinse their minds (chuckles) Of all that all that jazz.

Yeah, wow, well, I've heard of WNOP and I certainly I think most Cincinnatians, that was a major radio station.

MARK: Small but mighty.

KELLAR: Of all those professions, what did you enjoy the most?

MARK: Probably the the years at WNOP.

I'd been working up to that since I was a high school freshman, which was exactly when they became a jazz station.

KELLAR: Yeah.

MARK: I spent money Saturday and Sunday afternoons there during high school.

KELLAR: Everything you've done has been with an artistic bent.

MARK: I hope so.

KELLAR: Yeah.

And Rosemary, do you feel like you're a facilitator?

MARK: I do feel that way because every now and then he needs a little motivation, like in publishing, publishing the book, for example.

KELLAR: Yeah, right.

And encourager and chief.

ROSEMARY: Encourager, yes.

KELLAR: Yeah.

MARK: That sounds so much better than enabler.

KELLAR: That's true.

Yeah, well maybe that too, but we won't go into that on this show.

Let's just leave that one alone.

Well, you're both very happy in what you do and very productive.

And Rosemary, everyone knows Rosemary because she's been in charge of something that everybody knows.

ROSEMARY: Yeah.

KELLAR: How is the chamber orchestra doing?

ROSEMARY: They're doing fine.

Like everyone, we're not -- we're not producing, you know, our usual concerts, but we're planning for the festival next August and it will be outdoors.

We'd love to be indoors, if we can, but we'll be outdoors if the pandemic is still problematic.

Maybe we'll all be vaccinated by then and we'll be able to go indoors.

KELLAR: Yeah, that would be great.

And you're chairman of the board at the CAC.

ROSEMARY: CAC is doing beautifully.

Raphaela has been brilliant.

And we've got a great board and great staff.

KELLAR: Has it been open?

ROSEMARY: Yes, yeah.

You can go there and see the exhibitions right now.

You can see Vhils, which he is one of the foremost street artists in the world.

He sells his work for hundreds of thousands of dollars.

And you can see Tania Candiani from Mexico and she has wonderful old posters from Music Hall.

KELLAR: Yeah.

ROSEMARY: And she talks -- the topic of the Candiani Exhibition is Women in Work.

And they're wonderful old posters.

And our good friend Thea Tjepkema, Tom Morris Russell's wife, is doing a panel discussion talking about those wonderful posters of Music Hall.

KELLAR: So Thea is doing talks about the art exhibit taken from the posters.

So were these posters advertising events that were taking place in Music Hall 100 years ago?

ROSEMARY: Exactly, more than 100 years ago, and in the Exposition Center as well as the performance in the auditorium.

KELLAR: Yeah.

Where will that -- Well is that just to talk or will those be displayed somewhere?

Well, held at the Contemporary Art Center.

ROSEMARY: Exactly.

It's part of the exhibition at the Contemporary Art Center.

KELLAR: Yeah, because I know they had wrestling matches at Music Hall.

ROSEMARY: Yes.

Yes.

KELLAR: And all sorts of, as you say, expositions, animal shows.

ROSEMARY: Right.

KELLAR: All kinds of things that became the home.

And now, fast forward, you're an important part of the symphony.

Are you still on that board?

ROSEMARY: I've rotated off currently.

KELLAR: Yeah.

ROSEMARY: But I'm happy to go back on.

KELLAR: Yeah.

Right.

ROSEMARY: I'm a board junky, as I say.

KELLAR: Yeah.

What's -- do you -- Are you attuned with what's happening with the symphony?

ROSEMARY: Yes.

Yeah, in fact I was on a Zoom call with the Friends of Music Hall, listening to Bob McGrath, Robert McGrath talk about the symphony just at noon today.

KELLAR: What was he saying?

ROSEMARY: Well, I think they're going to make an announcement pretty soon, within days, about what's going to happen this spring, but they are performing.

And Robert will tell you how you can go to the hall and hear the symphony live.

KELLAR: Oh, go through the hall?

ROSEMARY: Go to the hall.

Yes.

KELLAR: And they're performing live?

ROSEMARY: Yes.

KELLAR: And where -- what do you -- You don't sit down?

ROSEMARY: No, you can sit down.

You can sit down, but they'll -- Everyone will be socially distanced.

KELLAR: Yeah.

ROSEMARY: And wearing masks.

KELLAR: Can you get a ticket ahead?

ROSEMARY: Yes.

KELLAR: And so they just distance you and they stop selling tickets when they've got their capacity?

ROSEMARY: Yes.

KELLAR: And will they be doing that on like Friday and Saturday nights or...?

ROSEMARY: No, I think they'll be special performances.

KELLAR: Yeah, well, it's good for them because they have to practice.

ROSEMARY: Right.

KELLAR: Yeah.

And they need -- they need to -- And having an audience really makes a difference in any performance, wouldn't you agree with that, Mark?

MARK: Absolutely.

KELLAR: Yeah.

An audience -- you feed on the audience.

ROSEMARY: Yes.

KELLAR: You feel how you're doing, and if you're not doing well, (chuckles) You can usually tell you're not getting any remarks.

Do you lecture, Mark?

MARK: I try not to you.

KELLAR: But have you?

ROSEMARY: Yes.

Yes.

MARK: Sure.

KELLAR: Yeah, you have.

I know you gave a great talk to this Cincinnati McDonald Society about your sculpture, and we enjoyed your home and all your wonderful art, not just Mark's art, but other people's art.

Do you do anything like that, Rosemary?

ROSEMARY: No, no.

I just applaud, I'm audience.

KELLAR: Yeah.

ROSEMARY: I'm audience.

KELLAR: Yeah, you and I are cheerleaders.

ROSEMARY: That's right.

KELLAR: Yeah.

Although you do a lot more than I do.

ROSEMARY: No.

KELLAR: You're still still young and energetic.

ROSEMARY: Well bless your heart for saying so, but you'll never get any older or any less energetic.

KELLAR: Oh, well let's hope we can at least stand still.

That's great.

That would be great.

Do you ever do projects together?

ROSEMARY: Oh, yes.

MARK: Frequently.

KELLAR: Like what?

ROSEMARY: We both volunteered for Chatfield College together.

KELLAR: Uh-huh.

ROSEMARY: My brother taught there for many years.

He was a professor at Chatfield.

KELLAR: Yeah.

ROSEMARY: Mark has a sculpture in front of the library we dedicated to my brother.

And he also has a sculpture, a bicycle rack, at Michigan and Erie.

KELLAR: Oh, Michigan and Erie.

MARK: Right across from the firehouse.

KELLAR: Oh, my gosh.

Why have I not-- Well, I only go to the Echo, so I'm on the other end of Hyde Park and I don't venture that far away.

That's a whole block.

Oh, my goodness.

Yes.

ROSEMARY: Once Thea and John Morris Russell sent us a photograph of them with their children and all four bicycle's all tied up to the the bicycle rack.

KELLAR: Oh, my gosh.

Yeah.

Tell us about Chatfield College.

Where is that?

MARK: Well, it's bifurcated.

It's a two year college and the original campus is in Brown County, Ohio.

It was started by the Ursuline sisters.

And then they opened the Cincinnati campus, originally at St. Pius Church in Fairmount, North Fairmount.

Then that campus moved to Lower Price Hill and then into a building that I believe the Sisters of Mercy had in Over-the-Rhine.

Part of it is now Jean-Robert's The Crust.

KELLAR: Oh!

MARK: And did not have adequate space or facilities.

So they bought two buildings across the street from the ballet offices on Central Parkway right up at Liberty Street.

KELLAR: Yeah.

MARK: And did a marvelous job of repurposing the inside.

Part of it was actually up from the 1800s and the I guess the stables for the brewery draft horses for the brewery across the street.

KELLAR: Wow.

ROSEMARY: Windisch Brewery where the Ballet has been.

KELLAR: Yeah.

Yes.

So Chatfield, it's a two year college.

What do they focus on?

MARK: Well, part of the interesting thing is the student mix there.

I told you there are two campuses.

Well, the campus in Brown County is 100% white and very Republican.

And the campus here is probably 90% black students and politically the opposite.

KELLAR: Right.

MARK: But if you get the kids together, and our kids go into their 60s sometimes, they are exactly the same.

KELLAR: Yeah.

MARK: They have the same economic problems, the same education issues, and our class sizes tend to be -- max out at 12.

KELLAR: Yeah.

MARK: And we've had students that came in to us because they couldn't make it at UC or XU.

KELLAR: Yeah.

MARK: And they drop out before the semester was over.

Well, they were just overwhelmed because they just had had no preparation for that kind of environment.

And they come and spend two years with us in classes of 12 which matters.

KELLAR: Yeah.

MARK: And then they go back to UC, XU, Mt.

St. Joe, NKU and they do very well.

KELLAR: Oh, my gosh.

So you're sort of tutoring, Chatfield is it.

I get literature from them, but I never knew exactly what they -- what, you know, what their mission was.

MARK: We're the farm team.

KELLAR: You're the farm team.

So anybody who wants to go there can go there?

ROSEMARY: Oh, yeah.

KELLAR: There's no tuition?

ROSEMARY: Oh there is tuition.

KELLAR: There is tuition.

ROSEMARY: Yeah.

KELLAR: And what if they -- can they get help with that?

MARK: They are very good.

There are a lot of scholarships, there's a lot of aid.

KELLAR: Yeah.

MARK: Obviously we understand how the loan system works.

KELLAR: Yeah.

And you mentioned something about in their 60s.

Do you mean age wise?

MARK: Yes.

KELLAR: So you have people who drop out of college at age 60 and then come over to you?

MARK: Well the 60s frequently have never been to school anywhere before.

Now it's the empty nest thing and -- KELLAR: Yeah.

And they want to go back?

MARK: Yeah, at our commencements, each student has to read a paragraph they've written about their Chatfield experience.

KELLAR: Yeah.

MARK: And I remember sitting there one year really tearing up where this young woman said, "I was working a full time job.

I was technically a full time student.

I was a single mother with two children.

And there were times at 1:00 in the morning where I would just cry and say, 'There's no way I can do this.'

And then I'd say, 'But if I quit, how will I tell my children?'"

Well, she didn't.

ROSEMARY: She didn't quit.

KELLAR: She didn't quit and she went on then to UC or one of the other schools.

MARK: Quite likely.

KELLAR: Yeah.

Are you a benefactor of that or are you on the board or what?

MARK: Yes.

KELLAR: Both?

ROSEMARY: Yeah, both.

KELLAR: Yes, yes, to all of the above.

MARK: Yeah.

KELLAR: You know, I've seen that sign, but I never knew what it was and shame on me for never asking before.

But that sounds like an incredibly wonderful mission.

And now where in Indiana did you say the other campus was?

MARK: No, no.

Brown County, Ohio.

KELLAR: Brown County.

MARK: Basically Fayetteville.

KELLAR: Okay, and is it basically run by the Catholic Church?

ROSEMARY: The Ursuline Sisters, Ursulines of Brown County.

They also run St. Ursuline.

KELLAR: You have your fingers in so many pies.

Oh, my gosh.

You're doing so many great things for so many different people.

Oh, I know you have your favorites.

And Chatfield, I guess is your number one?

MARK: Well, that -- ROSEMARY: It's hard.

MARK: You have to do the old Duke Ellington thing there.

What's your favorite composition?

KELLAR: Yeah.

MARK: The one I'm working on now.

I knew you would say that.

I knew that.

Well, both of you are incredibly wonderful Cincinnatians and benefactors of so many different organizations.

And I kind of, I think the word passion is a little bit overused these days, but it's still a good word for what you are for Cincinnati and for the arts and education.

And you've put your lives into what you believe.

ROSEMARY: It's been a privilege, Barbara.

KELLAR: Well, it's our privilege to benefit from everything you do.

And I hope there are many more years.

You're not retiring, I hope.

MARK: No.

And you get what you give.

ROSEMARY: Yes.

KELLAR: Right.

And we wish you all the best of everything.

And we look for your leadership and the products of your leadership.

And we love you as Cincinnatians.

ROSEMARY: Well, we love you, Barbara.

Thank you.

MARK: Thank you so much, Barbara.

KELLAR: Thanks for coming.

ROSEMARY: Take care.

KELLAR: Bye-bye.

ROSEMARY: Bye-bye.

ANNOUNCER: Join us next week for another episode of Showcase with Barbara Kellar right here on CET.

Captions: Maverick Captioning Cincinnati OH