By ROBIN STANTON GERROW
BG Independent News
To hear Kevin O’Connor talk, you’d never know he works all the time. His job, host of “This Old House,” “Ask This Old House” and the podcast “Clearstory,” keeps him busy, but because of the comradery and friendships he has found, it doesn’t feel like work at all.
His talk Thursday as one of this year’s speakers for the Wood County District Public Library’s Foundation Series event, was wide-ranging to include stories of cast members and costumes, the origins of “This Old House,” and the future of trade careers.
O’Connor joined the cast as the third host of “This Old House” in 2003, and at once felt included by regulars Norm Abram, Richard Trethewey, Roger Cook and Tom Silva.
“The guys put me through boot camp, which was fun,” O’Connor said. “It was a little grueling, but a ton of fun. I cannot tell you how appreciative I was that these four strangers, on the very first day, embraced me as one of their own.”
“They put their arm around my shoulder, and Norman introduced me as his new best friend,” he continued. “They were terrific to me and that friendship is one of the most important things to me. It is also one of the most important things about our show.”
O’Connor, who comes from a banking background, was tapped to host the show after he sought out help from “This Old House” for a bit advice on a fixer-upper he and his wife purchased for their first home.
“It was in pretty rough shape,” he said. “I never worked in construction professionally, but I did labor stuff on job sites with my dad and my brothers. The first day we went to the house we were met by the fire department because gas had been leaking for a week or two. It was in really bad shape.”
Working evenings and weekends on their house, the young couple managed to make a lot of progress, but one thing stymied them.
“We wanted to replicate a curved corner on all of the plaster walls, and we couldn’t figure out what to do,” O’Connor said. “We decided to write “This Old House” magazine—we were sure they’d write back—I don’t know why we thought that!”
Unknown to most people, a new show “Ask This Old House,” was in the works. With much of the same cast, they take on short-term projects, not year-long renovations. They didn’t just get a letter back from the magazine, they had a crew, including cameras, show up to work on those corners.
It was only a short time before O’Connor received the invitation to join the cast.
Between the two shows, they create 52 episodes each year, nearly unheard of in television these days; and they’ve been at it nearly 50 years, thanks to creator Russ Morash who also launched “The French Chef” with Julia Child and “The Victory Garden.”
“If you look at television, the most popular shows at the time were “Three’s Company,” “60 Minutes,” and then over on PBS, they’re watching reruns of Julia Child as “The French Chef,” and “Masterpiece Theater.
“And into that mix we decide to throw this in, with the very first project in 1979,” O’Connor said. “And when I say that we threw it in there, I can’t express enough to you how radical this was for television in 1979. Most TV was made in a studio. Most TV was entertainment or news. Most people on TV were professional actors or newscasters. To think that we could make a television show that anybody would watch about a crappy old house fixed up by a bunch of carpenters and just wander around and watch what they’re going to do is kind of a silly idea. And there’s no reason to think that it was going to be successful.”
O’Connor also talked about his favorite house, “The Carlisle House” which the show bought for their 25th anniversary. And, his favorite city, Detroit.
“I actually got kind of emotional when I flew back to the airport this morning because I made that trip many, many times, about 10 years ago,” he said. “Our job was to tell the story, the sad story about what happened in Detroit with all the people leaving, but also the hopeful story, which was, in my opinion, that this is one of the largest, greatest collection of the best middle-class housing that I had ever seen. And for me, it was the spirit of Detroit that reared its head during our renovation in a way that I had not seen before and have not seen since. The kindness of strangers to me is one of the most powerful things that could be out there in the world. And strangers from all over started showing up. They became friends. It was the spirit of Detroit, of the people in that town who wanted their city to have a fair shake, which was overwhelming and a remarkable experience.”
One subject O’Connor and the team are most passionate about is encouraging young people to enter careers in the trades.
“We call it Generation Next,” he said. “We want to show them that this is a viable alternative to college, and you can have a good, honorable, well-paying career within the trades.”
Several cast members have been hired through the show’s apprenticeship program, but he pointed out that to have an apprentice, you need a mentor.
“It’s one of the most important things to us,” he said. “And mentorship is not a one-way street. We get out what we put in. Our job on ‘This Old House,’ aside from fixing old houses is to tell the story. We need more young people to look at these professions as a successful, tangible career they can have, and to know they could be taught by some of the best.
“And I had mentors in spades, both with my own family, but then my adopted family at ‘This Old House.’ I’ve just been told that I’m now the age of being a mentor, which is depressing, but I get it,” he said with a laugh.
