Actor Played Ford At Northwest State

Actor Hank Fincken portrays Henry Ford on stage of the Voinovich Auditorium at Northwest State Community College. - photo by David Pugh It was the Voinovich Auditorium at Northwest State Community College, Thursday, June 4, but it could have been a 1932 meeting of Ford dealers in Detroit.

Hank Fincken, an actor from Indianapolis, Ind., brought the character of American industrialist Henry Ford to life on the stage.

Fincken, as Ford, alternated between the stage and the audience, touting Ford's accomplishments and those of the Ford Motor Company. He talks about the new Ford V-8, first produced in 1932.

Fincken portrays Ford's good and bad sides. Ford discusses his company's first-in-the-industry $5-per-day wage, and Fincken reveals Ford's tender relationship with his wife; but he discusses Ford's attempts to stop the unionization of his factories.

Fincken is one of five scholaractors who will recreate historical characters for Ohio Chautauqua.

Chautauqua comes to Archbold, July 7-11. It is sponsored by the Ohio Humanities Council, The Black Swamp Arts Council, Northwest State Community College, Archbold Rotary, Archbold Lions, and the Archbold Area Foundation.

The event is being organized by the Archbold Area Chamber of Commerce and Archbold Parks and Recreation.

Chautauqua features a variety of programs and workshops, culminating with evening programs under a traditional redand white striped tent in Ruihley Park.

This year's program, titled "Inventors and Innovators," features the characters of Andrew Carnegie, industrialist; Thomas Edison and Alexander Graham Bell, inventors; George Washington Carver, plant scientist; and Mary McLeod Bethune, educator.

The scholar-actors will portray their characters, and the audience will have an interaction opportunity with them.

Fincken As Ford

Fincken said it took 14 months to research the character of Henry Ford, and he wrote the script for the 75-minute one-man show presented at NSCC.

"I'm not a re-enactor. I'm an actor, and as an actor, my goal is to be historically accurate.

"You can't cheat the history, but here's how I do it. Ford would have never spoken in public for an hour and quarter. But he did have dealer meetings, and these were his own people. He was a shy man in public, but he would have opened up to them."

Ford began tinkering with mechanical things, fixing watches as a teen. He began working on internal combustion engines, eventually developing a horseless carriage, and later the Ford Model T.

Fincken admits he's not a mechanic.

"If you had a Model T at home, you would never let me touch it. But Ford would have had a ball taking it apart and putting it together," he said.

When he's portraying historical characters, Fincken doesn't become completely absorbed in them, although he said his ex-wife once said "when I did Thomas Edison, I got grouchy."

Edison and Ford are two of the six characters Fincken portrays. He is currently working on a script for comedian W.C. Fields.

Fincken said he's been researching Fields for six months, including working with the Fields family.

History

Internet research reveals traveling tent Chautauquas were a combination of entertainment and education. They lasted from 1904 until the early 1930s, when the Great Depression and the advent of radio and movies brought them to an end.

Chautauquas were recreated starting in the 1970s by the National Endowment for the Humanities and various state humanities organizations, to provide education in the humanities in an entertaining format.