John M. Silah
631 East Bank Street, Fond du Lac, Wisconsin 54935-2853, # (920) 923-1918, jsilah@fdlct.com
| Home | Biography | Image Associates | Résumé | Writings |
John's Biography
This bio is organized in roughly chronological order, although many activities are overlapping. For the reader's convenience, these category links will take you directly to that section.
| Personal | Education | ||
| WFON FM | |||
| "The Maturity Times" | "Foxy Silver's Fashion Showcase" | ||
| "Frankenstein" | Business Experience | Charter Media | |
| Image Associates | PSAV | ||
John Michael Silah was born in Fond du Lac, Wisconsin, the son of Richard P. and Helen P. Silah. Dick Silah was of Lebanese descent, and Helen was of German, specifically the "Volga Germans," who were people of German ancestry who had relocated to Russia in the Eighteenth Century to live along the Volga River. The name, "Silah," in Arabic means "righteousness."
John was the firstborn of three sons. His two brothers are Richard "Rick" Silah of Milwaukee and Gary L. Silah of Fond du Lac. John is married to Karen J. Reginell, and they live in Fond du Lac.
John has been active in various clubs and/or organizations in our area. These have always been related to his interests, hobbies and avocations. Many of these club affiliations and activities have led to other things, so they have become an important part of John's life.
Grade School - John first attended grade school in Beloit, Wisconsin. When the family moved back to Fond du Lac, he went to Franklin Elementary School, then to Saint Joseph's School, and then Saint Louis School.
High School - During Junior High, he was a seminarian for a year and a half at Saint Lawrence Seminary in Mount Calvary, Wisconsin. After that, he attended and graduated from Lowell Pierce Goodrich High School in Fond du Lac.
College - John attended college at the University of Wisconsin - Oshkosh. He graduated with a Bachelor of Science Degree in Media Communications, which was then called "Speech Major, Radio-Television-Film emphasis." In college, John also became an active member of Alpha Epsilon Rho, the national honorary broadcasting fraternity, in the Beta Tau Chapter.
While in college, John wrote and directed two short 16 mm films for classes. The first was "Things," a black-and-white film that was shot on location at the shopping mall in Oshkosh. That film was kept by the instructor to show to subsequent film classes as an example of a well-made film.
Also while in college, the Oshkosh Chamber of Commerce contacted the UW-O Radio-TV-Film Department to find a student to produce an anti-shoplifting presentation. John volunteered to undertake the project. He produced, wrote, and directed a slide-and-tape show. It utilized some stills from the popular TV show, then in syndicated reruns, "It Takes a Thief." John recruited one of the actors from the series, Malachi Throne, to read the narration. The presentation was later purchased by the Fond du Lac Area Association of Commerce as well.
Since college, John has taken three computer courses at Moraine Park Technical College, and has also completed two sales training classes, and the E-Seed Entrepreneurship Training course.
While in college, thanks to a recommendation by fellow student and A E Rho fraternity brother, Tim Freiss, John was hired for a summer at KFIZ TV, Channel 34 in Fond du Lac . He worked as a part-time Floor Manager and Camera Operator.
John worked on many of the television shows that the local station produced, such as baseball games, the Boat Races on Lake Winnebago, and "The Hole-in-One Derby," in which contestants tried to win a Mercedes Benz automobile by sinking a hole-in-one on the show at a local golf course. Lloyds of London reportedly insured the television station against someone winning the car, although no one won it.
For over nine years, John managed his own company, Fondy Trophy Company, Incorporated. Starting out as a division of his father's company, The Fond du Lac Memorial Company, the company was a retailer and wholesaler of recognition awards of all kinds: trophies, plaques, medals, ribbons, paperweights, desk pen sets, etc. The company manufactured the awards they sold, fabricating some of the parts, assembling them, and engraving them.
Designer - John designed most of the awards himself, and created the window and retail displays. He also designed a new, innovative aluminum extrusion for use as a trophy "standard" (column). The column was designed to be inserted seven different ways. Using different colors and styles of inserts, this created a seemingly endless variety of columns without increasing inventory. The column was probably the most versatile in the industry.
John was selected to be the "Business Person of the Week" for the week of 11/29 to 12/5/87, and his picture appeared on the cover of the TV Cable Action Weekly, with a short biography inside.
The company sold awards to Hornung Pro Golf, which distributed them internationally. They also designed awards for the military at the Pentagon, creating and selling Pentagon plaques, desk sets and paperweights for many years. These items were awarded to officers in all branches of the service, and are proudly displayed in their offices all over the world.
When Fondy Trophy Company decided to do some radio advertising on WFON, John wrote some radio spots. He recorded them at the radio station, and the radio station executive liked John's voice and offered him a part-time position as a Radio Announcer / disc jockey. John worked a Sunday morning program for several months, gaining some valuable on-air experience.
With UW-FdL college instructor Mike Nofz as the club's advisor, John co-founded the University of Wisconsin - Fond du Lac Science Fiction and Fantasy Club. To attract members to the club, he showed S.F. films, usually in 16mm film format, at their monthly meetings at the UW-FdL campus. Under John's direction, the club published a newsletter/fanzine, "Fantascan," which John edited. John also initiated the club's involvement in John's convention project, "The Future Fair."
The films at the S.F. club attracted film fans, and with them John co-founded the University of Wisconsin - Fond du Lac Film Club. Like the S.F. Club, the film club showed a film at each meeting.
For some time, the two clubs alternated months, each having bimonthly meetings.
When members of the S.F. Club expressed interest in hosting a S.F. Convention, John conceived the idea of "The Future Fair." In conjunction with Dr. Jack Heil's "Computer, Science and Astronomy Club," and with the help of the Fond du Lac Convention and Visitor's Bureau, they held this two-day event for two years in a row, in 1983 and 1984.
The Future Fair was a combination of Business Expo and S.F. Convention, both with the idea of exploring the future. It attracted thousands of people to the UW-FdL campus where it was held.
At that time, cable television in Fond du Lac was through a company which was then called "Lakeside Cablevision." The University had access to it on a school channel. John suggested that the event be televised during the Fair. Tom Clausen, the University's Audio/Visual Specialist, set up the technical equipment in his A/V work room and used a classroom next door as the studio. The Convention Bureau's Mary Burnett arranged interviews. The Fair was cablecast live for four hours on each day of the event, and then rerun in the evening.
For one of the Future Fair segments, John interviewed film buff Jim Luby, who was running films with his 16mm projector as part of the S.F. Club's participation. They talked about Science Fiction movies.
John's brother, Gary Silah, saw the interview, and conceived the idea for a weekly television series, loosely adapting the basic concept of Gene Siskel and Roger Ebert's show. They titled the show "Cableview," and it became a monthly television series at the University of Wisconsin - Fond du Lac.
For five years, from 1983 to 1988, John and other members of The U.W.-FdL Film Club reviewed movies coming up on the premium movie channels: Home Box Office, Showtime and Cinemax. The thirty minute long program was videotaped at the UW-FdL campus. John designed the set and wrote the show, except for the critiques, which, of course, were written and/or ad-libbed by the co-hosts themselves.
The program was sponsored by Communications Electronics, Fondy Trophy Company, Lakeside Cablevision, the Mad Hatteur, the Video Station and the UW-FdL itself. Each sponsor provided a product or service as their contribution to the show.
Initially, John was co-hosting with Jim Luby. After a while, other Film Club members began to take a turn at co-hosting. Viewers were able to hear the views of Randy Moreau, Matthew Rodenkirch, Gary Silah, and Nathan Wessel. Jeff Lichtenwald was the camera operator and Tom Clausen was the Director.
The Fond du Lac Area Writers club
For at least the last twenty years, John has been a member of the Fond du Lac Area Writers, which he served as President for over five years. This club holds its monthly meetings on the fourth Tuesday of each month, at Moraine Park Technical Institute.
Books - Founded by Catherine Whittier Lewis and Lois Pflum, the club had already published one book before John joined the club. It was called, "For the Love of Writing." During John's tenure as President, the club published one more. John edited that book, and recruited a local artist to illustrate it. John chose the title, "Thoughts and Feelings."
Guest Speakers - John arranged for many published authors to speak to the group during his five years of running the club. Some had written for newspapers or magazines, while others had published books.
When John stepped down as President several years ago, Frank Scotello took over. Under Frank's leadership the club is currently working on its third book. John has since served as the guest speaker to the club on a few occasions. His topics have included newsletters and play writing.
John wrote five feature articles for "The Maturity Times" magazine for senior citizens, during the time that Mr. Paul Sylvester was the owner. Two were about local people: artist Dik Butler and Congressman Bill Van Pelt. Two were about local businesses: The Frank Net Company and J. F. Ahern Company. Another was about an upcoming event, Foxy Silver's Fashion Showcase.
Foxy Silver's Fashion Showcase
In 1989, John was asked to write the script for the fashion show that the Fond du Lac Senior Center was putting on. John's script was performed by the celebrity hosts, Tom Milbourn and Mary Smits, Green Bay television newscasters who were both working for WFRV TV, Channel 5, at that time. The event, Foxy Silver's Fashion Showcase, was held at the Holiday Inn in Fond du Lac on Thursday, May 4th, 1989.
To help publicize the event, John wrote an article about the show for "The Maturity Times" and also appeared on a local talk radio show, using a comical character voice that John created to personify Dik Butler's cartoon fox, "Foxy Silver."
In 1989, John turned Fondy Trophy over to his brother Gary, in order to accept a position at the Fond du Lac School District as the Audio/Visual Specialist and Theatre Lighting Technician at Goodrich High School. As a large part of that job, John managed the Goodrich Little Theatre.
Tech Crew - In order to handle the technical aspects of the job, John reestablished Tim Freiss' technical team, Fondy Tech Crew, making it into an official Goodrich club. As the club's official Advisor, John recruited the volunteer students, trained and supervised them. Together with his crew, he handled virtually all of the technical aspects of the productions staged at the Little Theatre.
Those technical duties included lighting design and implementation, sound reinforcement, special effects and video operations..
CCTV -- Soon after taking over the job, John designed and installed a closed-circuit television system in the theatre. A TV camera in the light booth originated a live TV picture, which was then boosted and fed to ten television sets strategically located all over the theatre -- one in each of the two stage wings, one in each of the two dressing rooms, two in the orchestra pit, one in the storeroom, one in the AV office, one in the light booth, and one on the balcony between the light and sound boards. Sound was fed from the theatre's sound mixing board, and added to the TV signal using a VCR to combine the video and sound signals. One of the Fondy Tech Crew students volunteered to operate the camera, so that everyone could see and hear everything that was happening on stage during every show.
330 Shows -- At least thirty shows were staged at the Little Theatre each year. That adds up to approximately 330 productions on which John worked during the eleven years that he was at Goodrich. Those productions included plays, musicals, concerts, recitals, and other presentations.
Independent Study Class -- In order to give the students credit for their hard work and dedication, John created an Independent Study course in Technical Theatre, for which he wrote the curriculum. Several students took that course, which was co-supervised by one of the Goodrich teachers.
John worked on Scott Huelsman's cutting edge multi-media novel, "Convictions." Now retitled "Wizard Reborn," the production is available on CD ROM over the Internet through Scott's site.
The concept and its execution were both ahead of their time. "Wizard Reborn" is a novel that is "burned" onto a CD ROM. Readers read it on their computer screens, where the text is augmented with artwork (by local artist Steve Wirtz), music, sound effects, audio clips and even video clips.
John helped to facilitate the production. He arranged for the auditions, donated the space for the studio, and acted in the story, portraying the character, "Rex."
"Fond du Lac County, the Gathering Place"
John volunteered to help on the Fond du Lac Historical Society's video documentary, "Fond du Lac County, the Gathering Place." He worked as a grip, a cord wrangler, assisted in the lighting, and acted in the production, portraying Fond du Lac pioneer, Colwert Pier.
Over a period of thirteen years, from 1990 through 2003, John wrote nine theatrical reviews of Fond du Lac Community Theatre shows. These critiques were all published as an exclusive by the Reporter newspaper. Most of them have also been added to FdLCT's production page for each of these shows on their Web Site. A complete list of these reviews is on John's Writings page.
For a couple of years, John worked part-time as an office and production assistant at Bok's Top Productions (www.bokvideo.com). For their two television series, "Community Showcase" and "A Better Life," John performed various jobs, working as a timer, computer graphics operator and camera operator. John appeared as the main guest on "Community Showcase" twice, once talking about the Writer's club, and another time talking about the Goodrich Theatre work.
Directed by Ed Bok, and produced and hosted by his wife, Mary Bok, the interview format show spotlights local people and organizations who make a difference in the Fond du Lac area. The program is cablecast on Charter Communications Channel 14.
John has been an active member of Fond du Lac Community Theatre for eighteen years. John began with FdLCT in 1989 when he was hired by the Fond du Lac School District. His job was two-fold. His main duties were to provide audio/visual support for the staff and students at Goodrich High School. His secondary duties were to provide technical support for the users of the Goodrich Little Theatre. This led to his involvement with FdLCT, since all of their productions at that time were being staged at Goodrich.
John served on the FdLCT Board of Directors for seven years, from 1990 to 1996, and in 2002. For two years, John was the Newsletter Editor. Currently he serves as their Webmaster, Librarian and occasionally assists with publicity.
While taking computer courses at Moraine Park Technical College, John created the official Fond du Lac Community Theatre Web Site at www.fdlct.com. Starting out as his four-page class project for his Microsoft Front Page course, John has built the site up over the past several years to over a hundred pages. The large size of that site is due mostly to the 96 pages devoted to the individual shows (see FdLCT Productions on the FdLCT Site.)
"Frankenstein, a Gothic Romance"
In 2003, John utilized the skills that he gained in the Writer's Club, along with those acquired with FdLCT, to write and direct his own play, "Frankenstein, a Gothic Romance." The play was a dramatic, and very liberal re-telling of Mary Shelley's 1818 gothic romance novel, "Frankenstein, a Modern Prometheus."
Lorrie Hull, who was in town at that time for her daughter Dianne's class reunion, graciously agreed to read the script and critique it. Lorrie is an acting teacher and the author of the book, "Strasberg's Method, As Taught by Lorrie Hull." She liked John's play, and encouraged him to pursue it.
John did, agreeing to direct it for Fond du Lac Community Theatre's Fall, 2003 show. It was the first time that any Fond du Lac resident had written and directed his own play for a FdLCT regular season production. The show was performed at the North Fond du Lac High School's theater.
The show was a new and different take on the Frankenstein mythos. Mary Shelley's story was a cautionary tale, inspired by a nightmare she had of a pieced-together monster of a man. John's story focused on a more contemporary view. Doctor Frankenstein is portrayed as a caring, benevolent physician who is drawn into his experiments as a means of finding better ways to treat his patients. Although he struggles with the ethical dilemmas, he always has the best interests of people at heart. In this way, he reflects the more modern view of medical science, rather than the older model, which viewed scientists as tampering with forces beyond their control.
For a few years, John worked for a few different companies, gaining further business experience in a variety of different capacities.
George May -- In 2003, the George S. May International Company hired John as a Special Sales Representative in Field Service. John worked in the central Wisconsin area, introducing qualified businesses to services that G.S.M. offers. The May company sends in an analyst to analyze a company, and then make recommendations to improve the company's profits. After 9 months working for G.S.M., John resigned to accept a position at Charter Media, in an attempt to get back into the communications field for which he studied in college..
Charter Media -- In 2004, Charter Communications hired John as an advertising Account Executive. John sold cable TV spots (TV commercials) to businesses and other organizations in the Sheboygan County area for seven months.
Target -- In December of 2005, Target hired John to work full-time as a Remodel Team Member to help remodel the Fond du Lac Target store.
Schwan's -- In January of 2006, John resigned from Target to accept a position as a Customer Service Manager with the Schwan Food Company / Schwan's Home Service, Incorporated, where he worked for a few months.
In 2005, John created another business, this time in the advertising and promotion industry. Image Associates works for small-to-medium-sized businesses and organizations in the Fond du Lac area. The company specializes in business communications. Image writes press releases, designs logos, and performs many other business services. For details, see the Image web page.
Since 2006, John has been employed as an Event Technology Specialist by PSAV Presentation Services, John works under the D.E.T. (Director of Event Technology) primarily at the Osthoff Resort Hotel in Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin. PSAV sets up and operates the audio and visual equipment for the meetings, conventions, weddings, shows, and other events that are held at the resorts and hotels that PSAV serves.