43
Area filmmaker looking for photos, videos for Boots Bell documentary
By GUY D’ASTOLFO
YOUNGSTOWN
A local filmmaker is seeking photos and videos of the late Boots Bell for a documentary on the legendary Youngstown radio DJ.
Bill Scheetz said he approached the Bell family a few years ago about the project.
“It got put on a back burner, but I ran into Chris Bell [Boots’ son] a couple years later, and we started talking seriously about it,” said Scheetz.
The filmmaker has already taped about 15 interviews with current and former radio and television personalities and musicians who started their careers with Boots Bell. These include Cornell Bogdan, Thomas John, Del Sinchak, Gary Rhamy and Fast Freddie.
“Some really fascinating stories have come of this, many never heard before,” said Scheetz, who began making documentaries as a hobby several years ago.
He is seeking visual mementos of Bell, and can be reached at leftofcenter@yahoo.com.
The self-funded film, tentatively titled “Boots Bells: Larger than Life,” is expected to be complete in the spring.
“We have so much material to go through, and I don’t want to rush,” said Scheetz, noting that it’s too soon to talk about public screenings or DVD sales.
The DJ’s fame was limited to the Mahoning Valley, so there wouldn’t be much interest beyond this market, said Scheetz.
Boots Bell – his real name was Ralph Bellito – worked at WHOT and other local stations in the area from the 1960s to the ’90s. He wielded power in an era when radio was the gatekeeper of pop music and Youngstown was a strong market.
“He was the local Dick Clark,” said Scheetz. “He was able to get bands’ careers off the ground, like Blue Ash and Left End and the Human Beinz. He was as big as any local TV personality, and probably bigger.”
Bell made frequent appearances at dances at Idora Park Ballroom and other local venues, and was also an instructor at Youngstown State University. He died in 1993 at age 60.