All Things Bakelite

The Age of Plastic

All Things Bakelite: The Age of Plastic Screening + Q&A at Bedford Playhouse 11/3

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On Sunday, November 3rd, 2019, at the Bedford Playhouse Theater, in collaboration with the New Castle, Bedford, and Mount Kisco Historical Societies, will show the award-winning 2018 documentary “All Things Bakelite: The Age of Plastic.”

Following the screening, Executive Producer, Hugh Karraker, and Director, John Maher will discuss the making of the film and answer questions. A Baekeland/Bakelite display of family heirlooms and vintage items will be available for viewing at the event. Please click the link below for tickets. 

https://bedfordplayhouse.org/special_events/ll-things-bakelite-the-age-of-plastic-screening-qa/

Spring Holidays & Earth Day 2019

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Team ATB wishes you a joyous Easter and Passover. 

  • Sherry Karraker bought this Bakelite egg container at a flea market in Berlin in 2014

Earth Day is this Monday, April 22nd. For the sake of future generations, it’s imperative we live sustainably. 

To view our film on public television on Earth Day, April 22 in the greater New York City area –  see flyer below. For the state of West Virginia – tune in to your local PBS station.

Please visit our website for additional airings: 
https://bit.ly/2HZNeA9

David Schwartz and Dolly Curtis welcome Team ATB on WPKN…

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Hosts David Schwartz and Dolly Curtis,
Executive Producer Hugh Karraker and Director John Maher

Thank you Dolly Curtis and David Schwartz for hosting the ATB Team on David’s show, Railroad Dave Radio, featuring Dolly’s Backstage Buzz at WPKN studios in Bridgeport, CT Sunday night. 

It was a fun time for all. David and Dolly brought up some good points about the first wholly synthetic plastic and its inventor, Leo Baekeland. There was also discussion about the plastic problems of today (waste and toxicity), of which Baekeland had no foreknowledge. 

We hope our film inspires a new generation of inventors and innovators to come up with solutions to the plastics problem. During the interview, a 71 year old caller recalled many uses of Bakelite from the past.

To hear the interview, click https://bit.ly/2WVL5bZ. Our segment is the first ½ hour of the two hour recording. 


ATB Interview on WPKN 89.5 FM Tonight

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Director John Maher, Executive Producer Hugh Karraker
and Media Manager Marc Huberman

Dolly Curtis, host of Backstage Buzz, welcomes members of the Connecticut-based production team from the documentary film, All Things Bakelite: The Age of Plastic. 

Hugh Karraker, executive producer, John Maher, director and media manager, Marc Huberman will join Dolly to talk about the movie at WPKN 89.5 FM tomorrow night, April 7 at 10 PM. To listen from your computer, tablet or mobile phone, visit http://www.wpkn.org, then click the “LISTEN NOW” icon in the upper left margin.

If you miss the live in-studio interview, it will available as a podcast on http://www.wpkn.org, under Engineer David Schwartz and on YouTube under Dolly Curtis Interviews Hugh Karraker for Backstage Buzz.

They will discuss the making of the film and its worldwide distribution as an educational tool to tell the story about Hugh’s great grandfather, Leo Hendrik Baekeland, the inventor of Velox photographic paper and the first wholly synthetic plastic – Bakelite.

The film has been airing on Connecticut CPTV Spirit Channel this week and has three more airdates next week.
Monday, 4/8 4pm
Tuesday 4/9 12am
Wednesday 4/10 11am

Simply click the link to find the corresponding channel number, listed by town and cable provider. https://cptv.org/schedule/cable-channels/

To learn more about our national public television screenings, click https://bit.ly/2HZNeA9. Please share with your colleagues, friends and family. Throughout the year, we will post additional public television airdates and times as they become available to us.

We thank Dolly Curtis, David Schwartz and everyone at WPKN for this interview opportunity. 

Learn more about your local neighbors and their achievements on Backstage Buzz.


WPKN 4/7 interview

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Dolly Curtis, host of Backstage Buzz, welcomes members of the Connecticut-based production team from the documentary film, All Things Bakelite: The Age of Plastic.

John Maher, Director. Hugh Karraker, Executive Producer. Marc Huberman, Media Manager

Hugh Karraker, executive producer, John Maher, director and media manager, Marc Huberman will join Dolly to talk about the movie at WPKN 89.5 FM tomorrow night, April 7 at 10 PM. To listen from your computer, tablet or mobile phone, visit http://www.wpkn.org, then click the “LISTEN NOW” icon in the upper left margin.

If you miss the live in-studio interview, it will available as a podcast on http://www.wpkn.org, under Engineer David Schwartz and on YouTube under Dolly Curtis Interviews Hugh Karraker for Backstage Buzz.

They will discuss the making of the film and its worldwide distribution as an educational tool to tell the story about Hugh’s great grandfather, Leo Hendrik Baekeland, the inventor of Velox photographic paper and the first wholly synthetic plastic – Bakelite.

WPKN interview with Dolly Curtis, WPKN

The film has been airing on Connecticut CPTV Spirit Channel this week and has three more airdates next week.
– Monday, 4/8 4pm
– Tuesday 4/9 12am
– Wednesday 4/10 11am

Simply click the link to find the corresponding channel number, listed by town and cable provider. 
https://cptv.org/schedule/cable-channels/

To learn more about our national public television screenings, click https://bit.ly/2HZNeA9. Please share with your colleagues, friends and family. Throughout the year, we will post additional public television airdates and times as they become available to us.

We thank Dolly Curtis, David Schwartz and everyone at WPKN for this interview opportunity.

Learn more about your local neighbors and their achievements on Backstage Buzz.

NYU Review

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Lights, Camera, Bakelite!

The Office of Student Affairs Hosts a Fun and Informative Movie Night

NYU Tandon School of Engineering
December 5, 2018

If you don’t think of chemistry as an exciting enough topic for a movie, you probably don’t know much about the life and work of Leo Baekeland, the Belgium-born scientist who produced Bakelite — the very first thermoset plastic — and in the process changed the world.

On November 29, the NYU Tandon community was treated to a showing of All Things Bakelite: The Age of Plastics, directed by filmmaker John Maher and executive-produced by Baekeland’s great-grandson, Hugh Karraker. As a bonus, the two were on hand (along with chemist Louis Pilato) to field questions about the iconoclastic scientist; the revolutionary substance he created; and the process of filming a picture that would engage and entertain as it enlightened.

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Glenn Beall shows film at Rotational Molding Conference

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Glenn Beall shows film at Blow Molding Conference
Photo credit Russ Broome

During the Society of Plastics Engineers’ Rotational Molding Conference held June 2 – 6 in Warrensville, Ohio, our film was presented by Glenn Beall of Glenn Beall Plastics, Libertyville, Illinois.  Glenn and Hugh first met at an exhibition of Bakelite at the Mark Twain Library in Redding, Connecticut in 2008. He has been a mentor to Hugh and two years ago introduced us to Russ Broome, formerly President and Managing Director at SPE, now Sr. Director, Business Development at PLASTICS Industry Association.

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NJ SAMPE Screening on June 7

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John and Hugh before the screening

 
On June 7th, Dr. Louis Pilato, appearing in our film, organized a screening during the monthly meeting of the New Jersey Chapter of SAMPE (Society for the Advancement of Material and Process Engineering). The event was held at Evonik Industries Applied Technology Center in Piscataway, New Jersey.

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Hugh Presents ATB in China

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Hugh and Sherry at the Summer Palace
Hugh and Sherry at the Summer Palace

After touring the Summer Palace and The Great Wall in Beijing, Hugh and his wife, Sherry flew to Shanghai where Hugh presented our film at the Baekeland 2018 Symposium. The next day the couple traveled to Hangzhou for the light show and gondola ride on the lake. 

 

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