The mural story

Dale Palecek was driving on a Port Washington street three years ago when he saw someone painting a mural.

He stopped, did an interview with the artist and captured some video, hoping to pitch the idea to Milwaukee PBS, where he was program director.

“I never at that time was thinking of a documentary,” said Palecek, who spent years working as a TV producer. “I was trying to get this story.” 

He was so intrigued by the story that he covered it continuously as the Paint on Port initiative, which brought multiple artists to the city to paint more than 10 murals, developed over three years.

And now the documentary that wasn’t planned is a reality. Palecek’s Paint on Port film will be screened at 6 p.m. Thursday, Dec. 4, at Edison Hall in Inventors Brewpub. 

“The first year I just tried to get the murals,” he said. “The second year I really wanted to get the artists and their stories.”

The project had become a passion. Palecek was fascinated with the mural process and the variety of techniques artists used. 

One artist from Mexico would talk but didn’t want his face shown. Another was inspired by work of the late local painter Shirley Gruen, some of whose paintings grace the walls of Palecek’s home.

Palecek spent time with James Barany every day for three weeks as the noted muralist and professor at the Milwaukee Institute of Art & Design created his dramatic rendition of Port Washington’s maritime history on a Jackson Street retaining wall.

“People would bring him pictures and show him, and he would adjust his art,” Palecek said.

Palecek grew up in Kenosha hoping to be an underwater archaeologist, inspired by the famous dolphin named Flipper and the great diver Jacques Cousteau.

But Palecek was one of eight children, and scuba gear cost too much money.

He went on to earn a degree in broadcast television from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, which led to a 42-year TV career. 

Palecek’s TV work took him to four cities across the country with varying roles, including broadcast news producer. He is responsible for some of the catchy jingles people remember and shows people watch today.

He wrote the “Just 10 Minutes” promotional tune when CBS 58 launched its news division — putting the most important news and weather in the show’s first 10 minutes to compete with the other stations, and he bought the rights to air “Jeopardy” and “Wheel of Fortune” for the station after WTMJ 4 had them for years.

Palecek started at WISN 12 in Milwaukee with “Dialing for Dollars,” then fell became entranced with the concept of producing when he worked on the Bobby Rivers talk show.

“It’s kind of like being the conductor of a symphony. A producer touches everything. I’m just intrigued by that,” Palecek said.

The first producing job he found was in the Dallas/Fort Worth market at an independent station like the old channel 18 in Milwaukee. Palecek came up with concepts for promotions, working with editors and the art department and produced Geraldo Rivera’s talk show.

He made stops in Las Vegas and Minneapolis before returning to Wisconsin. He and his wife Pru had lived in Port Washington — they met while working as house parents at a group home, “so we’ve lived together since the very first date,” Palecek said — and 20 years ago returned to the same house built in 1880 after renting it for 15 years.

“We always knew we were going to come back,” Palecek said.

At Milwaukee PBS, Palecek co-produced a documentary on the Great Circus Parade and was content producer for a show on the 65th anniversary of PBS.

Palecek, who once dreamed of a career in music, got a taste of it cowriting a song about Bart Starr in 1982 that he said was on every jukebox in the state. He also did the song, “The Brewers Have It All” that plays during the end credits of “Just a Bit Outside,” a documentary on the 1982 team that played in the World Series.

Palecek and his wife earned national fame when they rewrote lyrics of traditional Christmas carols to honor the Green Bay Packers. ESPN got wind of the CD, and had Palecek do versions for teams in Pittsburgh, Denver and Chicago.

Palecek also returned to his love of going underwater. He earned his scuba instructor license several years ago. That led to filming “Digging Deeper,” a documentary about the USS Cobia, the submarine in Manitowoc that took 80 hours of film editing.

He is working on documentaries about Gordon Kent Bellrichard, the diver who found the wreck of the Rouse Simmons, known as the Christmas tree ship, and on the SS Eastland, which capsized in the Chicago River in 1915, killing more than 800 people.

Locally, Palecek did the training video for the summer lightkeeper program at the Port Washington Light Station and  films on the Port Garden Walk and its participants, and he is working on a documentary about the rededication of Port Washington’s World War II Memorial.

Palecek spends about four to five hours a day on his retirement profession crafting documentaries. While it’s work, he doesn’t have to meet deadlines and he can already see stories coming together with his camera in hand.

“I really know how to put it together. I know how to tell the story when I’m shooting it,” he said.

Palecek is entering his Paint on Port documentary in film festivals that will determine some of his retirement plans. If his documentary gets selected for a screening, “That’s how I’m going to choose where I’m going to go on vacation.”

His Paint on Port film has been entered in Blind Walls Film Fest in the Netherlands that focuses on graffiti and murals and in a festival in Montreal.

Palecek is thankful for the access he was granted to the Paint on Port artists, and he is happy he considers himself lucky to be able to tell the story.

“I think they’re a pride in our community,” he said. “I just see this as a celebration of Port.”

Palecek planned to do work for nonprofits he cared about in retirement, and that is working out nicely for him and those good causes.

“I want to meet people and create stories and help people,” he said. “It’s been a really nice way to retire. I’ve made a lot of friends.”