'Office' hoopla prompts first TV show convention in Scranton, Pa.

Renate Wildermuth, Albany Times Union

Thursday, October 11, 2007

Television viewers have been clamoring to spend more time at "The Office" ever since NBC made the workplace hilarious. And that's why some of them will end up in Scranton, Pa., the setting for the Emmy Award-winning comedy, which follows the exploits of employees in a struggling (and fictional) paper company called Dunder Mifflin.

To meet the demands of the self-proclaimed Dunderheads clocking in for visits to the fictional home of the series, Scranton is planning an "Office" Convention from Oct. 26 to 28.

Al Roker will broadcast live with "The Today Show" from the University of Scranton to inaugurate the convention. Nine cast members from "The Office" will be in attendance, including Angela Kinsey (Angela), Brian Baumgartner (Kevin), Mindy Kaling (Kelly) and Creed Bratton (Creed).

Getting there is like being part of a convoy of tractor-trailers. Truck traffic can be heavy on interstates 80 and 84, but unwrap the ribbons of pale expressway that surround the city, and downtown Scranton is utterly navigable. With a population of just 76,415, it has the feel of a big neighborhood rather than a city, with locally owned businesses and restaurants because big chains have not yet made big inroads.

Viewers might be disappointed to learn there is no Hooters in Scranton, even though the boss of "The Office" lunched there in Season 2. The show is written and filmed in Southern California, which explains the disconnect.

With the show now in its fourth season, the writers are much more conscious of mining the former anthracite capital of the world for nuggets of lore and local flavor. References to Hooters and Chili's, for example, have been replaced by mentions of legitimate Scranton landmarks such as Cooper's Seafood House or Poor Richard's Pub.

Working in Scranton is not as tough as it used to be. The city built its reputation on iron ore, selling iron rails to the Erie Railroad in nearby New York in the late 1800s. Industry leaders Seldon T. and George W. Scranton lent their last name to what was formerly known as Slocum Hollow. Things were going so well by 1886, it became known as the Electric City, with the first commercially successful trolley system in the United States. (Period trolleys will be in use during the convention as shuttles.)

But by 1901, Scranton already started to lose industry as ore sources dwindled. Coal then became king, and it was an unforgiving despot. Miners, many of them Polish immigrants, worked under harsh and dangerous conditions.

On "The Office," Dwight Schrute, played by Rainn Wilson, has Pennsylvania Dutch roots, but a name of Polish descent like that of actor John Krasinski would more likely be found in a Scranton phone book. On "The Office," Krasinski plays Jim Halpert, the cute boy next door (or rather in the next cubicle).

Scranton missed out on the post-World War II boom as oil and natural gas displaced coal as America's fossil fuel of choice. Then in 1959 the Knox Mine Disaster killed 12 miners and an entire job base, when workers were ordered to drill too close to the bed of the Susquehanna River in nearby Pittston. The river flooded the mines, and the coal industry never recovered in the Scranton area.

There followed a period of severe cave-ins. (Today the earth still swallows the occasional basement or section of road.) The city was down and out in more ways than one.

Scranton bashing became a hometown and national sport. In 2001, humor columnist, Gene Weingarten of the Washington Post put Scranton in the running for his Armpit of America contest, but spared it because "Scranton has a certain likable pugnacity that comes from knowing you are famously crummy and not giving two hoots."

It's taken a long time to shore up a city that was quite literally sinking. Those who couldn't hack it left. Those who stayed behind went on a campaign against dilapidation that had marred this now pretty city. Scranton is on the rebound, although a basketball metaphor is the wrong one to use for a place that's scored farm teams for major league baseball and the National Hockey League: the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre Yankees and the Wilkes-Barre Scranton Penguins.

With heavy industry gone, the city now produces a lot of love. Since 1974, local company Paper Magic has been creating the well-known boxed Valentine's Day cards featuring licensed characters such as Spider-Man or Scooby-Doo. And that had something to do with making Scranton a star.

Greg Daniels, executive producer of "The Office," was looking for a small city when adapting the British show for this country. He liked Scranton's proximity to New York, and was also aware of Paper Magic's presence and their products.

"I liked the idea that such a common thing has 'made in Scranton' printed on the back," Daniels wrote in an e-mail, adding, "I didn't actually remember that fact from my own Valentines, probably because I got so few Valentines as a child."

The paper company in Scranton most viewers associate with the show would be Pennsylvania Paper & Supply. Its 225,000-square-foot headquarters with landmark tower is featured in the opening credits. In another town, this brick industrial monument from the 1800s would have been converted into expensive condos. In Scranton it employs 135 people in a facility management company. And yes, that includes supplying paper products to offices.

The former terminal for the Delaware, Lackawanna and Western Railroad has also earned a mention on "The Office." Built in 1908, it was renovated into a hotel in 1982 and is now a Radisson. This memorial to a lost industry (passenger rail service ended here in 1970), is also a stunning showcase of pre-Depression opulence with its vaulted Tiffany stained-glass ceilings and has earned a spot on the National Register of Historic Places. Its other claim to fame? "Office" cast member Rainn Wilson once slept there. It will be the official hotel of "The Office" Convention.

The obit-gossip columnist who reported on the watermark scandal on "The Office" was portrayed as a Scranton Times reporter. The Scranton Times building seems nondescript, but only from the outside. Peer into its windows to see the colossal machinery of the printing press. Its rich wood and marble lobby is as lofty and venerable as journalistic ideals should be.

Even the Steamtown Mall, which gets more than a few nods on "The Office," doesn't detract from the charm of downtown Scranton. It's more a covered pedestrian zone than a shopping complex. And it's become a draw for many college-age fans of the show who come through on spring break to get their pictures taken in front of the "Welcome to Scranton" sign seen in the show's opening credits. The sign was moved to the mall (just outside the Harry & David store) from the Scranton Expressway.

A popular-culture expert, Professor Robert Thompson of Syracuse University, has seen many of his own students make the pilgrimage to Scranton. " 'The Office' is one of the few network shows they still talk about," he said. "It's clearly the hippest and youngest show on television, with the ethos of the office resembling a college dorm or fraternity house."

Whatever the reason for its popularity with a part of the population that has yet to begin to work, "The Office" is having a ripple effect. "Scranton has become a hip city," Thompson said. And it just might be in danger of becoming a tourist attraction.

For details on "The Office" Convention and Scranton visitors information, visit the Lackawanna County Convention and Visitors Bureau Web site, www.visitnepa.org.