Sean C. Morgan
Chuck Stenberg, a former Sweet Home resident, will premiere his new documentary on Comcast Saturday and Sunday.
The documentary tells the story of a Salem math teacher who, in response to pleas from his students, started organizing dances before forming a business and ultimately bringing the biggest groups of the 1960s and 1970s to Salem.
The channel is KWVT of Dallas and on antenna is 17.1 in Salem and the Mid Valley.
Stenberg, a dental hygienist who has lived and worked in Salem for the past 25 years, began making making films in 1992 with documentaries on Oregon’s covered bridges and lighthouses. Later, he filmed a documentary about race car driver Twig Zeigler, the Beatles’ visit to Portland and then Salem race car driver Rich Bailey.
He learned about Waldo Middle School math-teacher-turned promoter Ed Dougherty soon after moving to Salem, where he went to work for Kaiser Permanente in 1989.
He did so much,” Stenberg said. “He started with the teen dances in the early ’60s. His students had complained to him there’s nothing to do on the weekends.”
Dougherty took that as a challenge and started regular teen dances at the Salem Armory, located at the Oregon State Fairgrounds.
He got so involved in that, he quit teaching,” Stenberg said. He started bringing a variety of performers to the Armory. The groups ranged from Three Dog Night, Jan and Dean, and Sonny and Cher to Paul Revere and the Raiders, the James Gang and Steppenwolf.
Dougherty booked shows for the Oregon State Fair and, eventually, for fairs across the Northwest with his company EJD Enterprises. He remained active for more than 40 years.
Stenberg was able to interview Paul Revere for his documentary prior to the performer’s death on Oct. 4.
When Stenberg moved to Salem, one of the friends he got to know early on was Dian Lawrence, he said. She had attended all of those early dances, and she told Stenberg about how much fun they were.
After the Beatles documentary, Stenberg became interested in making another film and thought Dougherty’s story would be interesting to research. He got to know the promoter.
Dougherty wanted to do the documentary too, Stenberg said. Dougherty has a large collection of memorabilia in his basement, posters, fliers, contracts and more – just the sorts of things he would need to fill the camera lens in a documentary about Dougherty.
They are a testament to what attracted Stenberg to the story in the first place.
Probably the first thing that pops into my mind is the large number of artists he’s met and worked with through all the years,” Stenberg said.
He was really smart,” he said. “He created a secure, safe place for the teens. That’s why parents liked it so much.”
Stenberg began making documentaries after he bought his first camera. His first film came out of his early experiments and self-training. He brought his camera to Sankey Park where he started shooting the Weddle Bridge from different angles. He thought it was “kind of cool” and then he started learning what he could do with editing.
He moved on to Short Bridge and eventually to all 54 of the covered bridges in Oregon at the time. He researched the bridges and wrote a narrative. Keith Cantrell, formerly of Sweet Home, narrated the documentary, and Theron Yochelson, a Sweet Home mechanic and musician, provided the soundtrack.
Stenberg graduated from Sweet Home High School in 1978. He played in local bands, including Gin and Wheatstone Bridge. After working various jobs, he began attending Lane Community College in 1987 to become a dental hygienist.
Click here for more information on Stenberg Films.