And now for a little fun news…
This week while production manager Matt Liddy was deep in the WCCO film archives doing research for a story, he became part of the story. As he researched the 1970 Minneapolis Public Schools educators’ strike, Liddy found a real gem: “a treasure lay hidden, untouched, for 52 years.”
As Minneapolis teachers held a strike last month, Liddy learned that the WCCO film archive housed a 13-minute video of interviews filmed during the strike in the same district in 1970. Little did he know, as he watched those interviews for the context of the current strike, that he’d actually stumbled across a rare gem.
“I grew up in Minneapolis, so all I cared about was looking at cool old buildings from the place I grew up,” Liddy said. His curiosity turned to awe when he saw a reporter interviewing a group of kids as teachers picketed in the background next to a school. One young boy, in particular, answered the reporter’s question and left Liddy speechless.
“I immediately just went out to the newsroom and started showing people and saying, ‘I’m not gonna tell you who I think this is, but who do you think this is?’ And every single person [said] ‘Prince,’” Liddy said.
With help, WCCO was able to restore both the video and the audio of the old film footage. Once the young boy could be heard speaking, it left little doubt he was indeed the legendary musician Prince.
With a smile as his friends surrounded him, the boy who looked to be around 10 years old said: “I think they should get a better education too cause, um, and I think they should get some more money cause they work, they be working extra hours for us and all that stuff.”
It sure looked like child version of Prince Nelson, the Minneapolis kid who would turn into an international music icon. But there was one issue. The reporter never asked for the kid’s name.
But Liddy didn’t stop there. After the search for Ronnie Kitchen, the kid who appeared before Prince in the video, turned up nothing, Liddy knew he needed an expert opinion.
We needed an expert, which led us to Kristen Zschomler. She’s a professional historian and archeologist who researches properties and landmarks around the Twin Cities. She’s also a dedicated fan of Prince who wanted to make sure other fans had trustworthy knowledge of where he grew up in Minneapolis, where he went to school, basically his life before he became a superstar.
“They called him Skipper,” Zschomler said, as she showed a Nelson family photo of Prince as a toddler. “I’ve written a big document sort of outlining his historic journey from Minneapolis’ northside to Paisley Park and the world.”
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After viewing the video from 1970, she said, “I think that’s him, definitely. Oh my gosh. Yeah, I think that’s definitely Prince.” Soon a background element of the video caught her eye: “This definitely looks like Lincoln Junior High School where he would have been attending school in April of 1970.”
Liddy still wanted verification by someone who knew Prince as a child, which lead him to Terrance Jackson, a childhood friend and former neighbor who was also in Prince’s first band, Grand Central, when they were teenagers.
“We go far back as kindergarten at John Hay Elementary in north Minneapolis,” Jackson said.
“Oh my God, that’s Kitchen,” Jackson exclaimed as the video began, immediately recognizing Ronnie Kitchen as a teenager. “That is Prince! Standing right there with the hat on, right? That’s Skipper! Oh my God!”
He was giddy with laughter. Then Prince began to speak. Jackson grew quiet, only saying “wow” a few times softly. By the end of the video, he was wiping tears from his eyes and laughing again.
What a gem it was to find an 11-year-old Prince speaking up for his hard-working Minneapolis teachers. Like most Prince fans, I found it amazingly sweet to see the secretive musician as a young city kid who had no idea (or maybe he did) that he had such an amazing life ahead of him.
WATCH the WCCO video footage here:
Keep in mind that the unassuming young boy grew up to be the iconic musician, one of the greatest musicians of his generation. A prolific singer, songwriter, and musician, Prince often played most or all instruments on his musical recordings. Sadly, he died prematurely on April 21, 2016, of an accidental overdose of fentanyl, at the age of 57.
Don’t do drugs, kids, and always support your teachers.
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