PHILADELPHIA (CBS) — You may have walked by and never noticed it, but there is the coolest little museum at Broad and Walnut Streets in center city.

The Wells Fargo History Museum, at 123 South Broad Street, features a number of exhibits including a full-sized stagecoach!

“You can get inside of it and it rocks back and forth,” Candice Helgeson (top photo), the museum manager, says of a replica you can climb into.  “It gives you the motion that you would have felt if you were actually going out on a 24-day journey across the country.  You can also get your picture taken in front of it.”

(The bank has a full-sized stagecoach in its lobby at Broad and Walnut.)

Hear Lauren Lipton’s full interview with Candice Helgeson in this CBS Philly podcast (runs 11:57)…

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Helgeson says that the Wells Fargo name dates back to 1852, but it started as a much different company than it is today.

“With the westward migration and the gold rush era, they really saw an opportunity to be able to take business out west, so Henry Wells and William Fargo began the company, and they began shipping people, goods, and money by stagecoach.”

(Exhibits include a strongbox, a guard’s uniform, and samples of products that were carried on stagecoaches. Credit: Lauren Lipton)

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Lots of things to see, do, and learn here.

“We have a lot of interactives,” Helgeson says.  “This one is actually a gold-panning game; it’s an interactive touchscreen, you have two different gold pans, and you can push the gold into the pans and rock it back and forth.  One of our other interactives is that you can get your face printed on old money.”

Helgeson says the museum includes artifacts from Wells Fargo’s early days.

“This is a treasure box, an example of what would have been put under the driver’s seat or the shotgun guard’s seat to transport the gold, the money.  You’ve heard the term, ‘I want shotgun’ when you’re getting in the front seat?  It actually comes from the stagecoach days.”

(Credit: Lauren Lipton)

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The exhibits also track the history of banking  in Philadelphia.

The Wells Fargo Museum is open to 9am to 5pm, Monday through Friday, and is free.

And that’s “Positively Philadelphia!”

“Positively Philadelphia” main page

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PHILADELPHIA (CBS) — Finishing touches are being put on a six-month, $4-million makeover of the tour at the US Mint in Philadelphia, which reopens to the public on July 3rd.

The last time the mint tour was updated was in 1969, and public affairs director Tom Jurkowsky says it showed.

“It really was… I hate to use the term embarassment, but it was an embarassment,” he said today.

But now, Jurkowsky says he’s proud of the new tour, which he says does a better job of telling the mint’s story.

“What we do touches every American, and the people who work here have pride and passion in what they do,” he says.

(These pennies really are “mint condition.” Credit: Pat Loeb)

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The tour includes historic artifacts such as very old coins, medals, and documents, and a bird’s eye view of the production floor, where coins are made.

“And, with the assistance of videos and displays, (it) explains what they’re seeing down there.”

The old tour drew a quarter of a million people a year.  Jurkowsky is hoping even more will see the new one.

“We’re excited,” he admits.

Next week on KYW Newsradio 1060 and CBSPhilly.com: special reports on the reopening of the US Mint tour!

By Bill Wine
KYW Newsradio 1060

PHILADELPHIA (CBS) — It’s difficult to defend this documentary from the accusation that it has a case of the cutes.

But once its central character shows up, how could it not?

The orphaned ape Oscar won’t win an Oscar, but he may run away with the “Cutest Movie Character of the Year” award.

Neither champ nor chump, this chimp is the young title character and focus of Chimpanzee, a G-rated, real-life nature doc with a child-friendly nature set in the African jungle (the Tai Forest National Park in Ivory Coast, to be exact), where we get up close and personal on the chimps’ home turf.

(2½ stars out of 4)

From his birth on, adorable Oscar, and his mother, Isha, must navigate the survival-of-the-fittest wild.

But when his mother dies, vulnerable Oscar is left on his own to fend for himself — without a brother or sister to take care of him, which is usually the case in orphan situations — until he is befriended by improbable father figure Freddy, a fully grown alpha-male chimp who is the leader of their group and who more or less adopts him.

The playful narration by Tim Allen is generally appropriate, but the film squanders the opportunity of being as informative as it is entertaining by playing down to, and sanitizing for, its youthful audience.

Surely the kids would not have ignored the visual buffet just because it played to their heads as well as their hearts.

The directors, documentarians Alastair Fothergill (African Cats) and Mark Linfield, who co-directed Earth, shot Chimpanzee over a four-year period in the tropical jungles of Ivory Coast and Uganda.

Their visual accomplishment is undeniable, but you get the feeling that they have undercut it somewhat with the anthropomorphic description they have endorsed, which seems forced into generic movie-narrative shape.

The cinematography, routinely breathtaking and often downright eye-popping, is sometimes magical in its intimacy, leaving us to marvel at the captured animal behavior that modern moviemaking equipment makes possible, but then still wonder just how the folks behind the lenses managed to insinuate their way in so astonishingly close.

Which leads to the film’s most striking limitation, one which won’t bother the kids, but might annoy the grownups in the audience.

At film’s end, during the final credits, the “making of” footage is displayed and the filmmakers articulate the problems that they had getting all the privileged-moment footage, which included not only extreme weather but confrontations with cheetahs, snakes, spiders, and ants (oh my!).  To say nothing of local civil wars and problems with the dark, thick rainforest itself.

“That,” you’ll find yourself thinking, “would have made for a far more interesting movie.”  And it’s true: as it stands, the 78-minute film seems closer to an afternoon at the zoo than a satisfying narrative journey.

Call it a wasted opportunity of sorts, but tell yourself that while you’re watching that photogenic little ape do his thing and young viewers respond to him.

So we’ll survive 2½ stars out of 4.  If there is such a thing, the kidflick Chimpanzee is perhaps too kid-friendly.  But try telling that to a kid.  Or a chimp.

More Bill Wine Movie Reviews

CBS Philly Entertainment News

PHILADELPHIA (CBS) — Grab your best Easter bonnet, and head to South Street on Sunday for Philadelphia’s 81st annual Easter promenade and parade.

As always, the public is invited to show off their Easter finery.

If you want to participate in the parade, registration is at 12:30pm on Sunday at the corner of Passyunk Avenue and South Street.

Then, around one o’clock, you can get a pair of rabbit ears and join a big brass band, some Mummers, and some vintage cars as they make their way down South Street toward the Headhouse Shambles, at 2nd and Lombard.

And there will be contests for all.  Kristal Souvanlasy, acting executive director of the South Street Headhouse District, runs down the categories:  “Best dressed. Best Easter hat. Best dressed woman.  Best dressed man.  Best dressed child.  Best dressed family.  So, it’s all ages.”

First place winners get gift certificates to several businesses in the district.

There  will be plenty of Easter candy, and word is that the Easter Bunny himself will make an appearance.

Photo Gallery:  Philadelphia’s 2011 Easter Parade

At your next family meal, have a box of hats available and everyone tries on a different one. It could be a very silly meal – a Mad Hatter Meal!

You’d be surprised how many hats you have at home. And, I don’t know mean just different color Phillies hats! How about scarves or a bandana? Or, go to the nearby party store or dollar store. I bet you could find very inexpensive paper or plastic hats there to keep handy in case a Mad Hatter experience is calling! Perhaps, you can find a chef’s hat, sailor hat, pirate or cowboy hat. How ‘bout a tiara or ladies hat with a large brim? You can even wear a boa or a cape … if you want to stretch this experience just a bit!

The idea is to share fun with the kids at the most unexpected moments!

About Sharla Feldscher

Sharla Feldscher, the longtime “kid expert” in Philly, is the author of several books on creative activities to do with young children. HarperCollins published two of her KIDFUN books that were translated in Russian and German (available on amazon.com). Years ago she had the KDIFUN Page in the Philadelphia Daily News and produced KIDFUN for KYW Newsradio. Find more creative ideas on her current KIDFUN blog at www.kidfunandmore.

Sharla is happy to share readers’ ideas, giving credit to the originator whether it be individuals, families, schools or organizations.  The owner of a public relations business in Philadelphia, she also writes for L.A. Family Magazine, New York Family Magazine and womanaroundtown.com (NY and Washington, D.C. editions)

Ya ‘know why you need the brush? To paint, of course! But, what do you do for paint? It’s simple. It’s the lather on her head! Imagine, your child begging to have her hair washed because the more shampoo, the more lather! She squeezes the lather from the top of her head, holding it in one hand and then dabs the paintbrush into the lather to “design” the walls of the tub!

It works every time. My granddaughter Ryan, who is now 3 ½, has a stack of paintbrushes in her tub, just in case that artistic moment arrives! Oh – and keep a couple cleaned out squeeze bottles handy. One important rule – if you paint it, you clean it! She fills the squeeze bottle with water to wash away her lathery design!

About Sharla Feldscher

Sharla Feldscher, the longtime “kid expert” in Philly, is the author of several books on creative activities to do with young children. HarperCollins published two of her KIDFUN books that were translated in Russian and German (available on amazon.com). Years ago she had the KDIFUN Page in the Philadelphia Daily News and produced KIDFUN for KYW Newsradio. Find more creative ideas on her current KIDFUN blog at www.kidfunandmore.

Sharla is happy to share readers’ ideas, giving credit to the originator whether it be individuals, families, schools or organizations.  The owner of a public relations business in Philadelphia, she also writes for L.A. Family Magazine, New York Family Magazine and womanaroundtown.com (NY and Washington, D.C. editions)

With a little preparation (very little), try this tip that the Schlessinger family shared with me years ago. It’s  practically guaranteed to have everyone in the car giggling with laughter!

Before going on your next car trip, make a little sign that says “WAVE IF YOU’RE FAMOUS.” With computers today, you can type these words – make them big and bold – and print them out. We taped ours to a piece of cardboard so it was sturdy, but it’s really not necessary.

Hide the sign under your car seat and wait for that moment to arrive. Ya’ know, that moment when you know this trip is just taking too long. Pull out the sign from under your seat, read it to the kids and give them directions. They simply hold the sign at the window so the “world” can read it, the world they drive by. How much fun would that be if you were a passerby with your kids and you read it. “Hey kids! Wave! We’re famous!”

Then, before you know it, all these people are waving at your kids, most likely with big smiles on their faces. AND, somehow you arrived at your destination, and – even better – with sounds of giggles filling your car!

This KIDFUN game was shared with me years ago by Blanche Schlessinger who told me how much fun it was for her family. Do you have an idea that is easy-to-do that other families might enjoy? I’d love to hear. Visit my blog www.kidfunandmore.com and share it as a comment and I’ll make YOU famous, too!

About Sharla Feldscher

Sharla Feldscher, the longtime “kid expert” in Philly, is the author of several books on creative activities to do with young children. HarperCollins published two of her KIDFUN books that were translated in Russian and German (available on amazon.com). Years ago she had the KDIFUN Page in the Philadelphia Daily News and produced KIDFUN for KYW Newsradio. Find more creative ideas on her current KIDFUN blog at www.kidfunandmore.

Sharla is happy to share readers’ ideas, giving credit to the originator whether it be individuals, families, schools or organizations.  The owner of a public relations business in Philadelphia, she also writes for L.A. Family Magazine, New York Family Magazine and womanaroundtown.com (NY and Washington, D.C. editions)