OPINION|
For lovers of old buildings and Springfield newspaper lore, fear not, the stone carving of the largemouth newspaper boy is not leaving his post on the former Springfield News-Leader building.
Old “Screams McGee,” as my former News-Leader colleague Alissa Zhu named him in 2016, will remain looking out on Boonville Avenue, haunting passers-by for years to come. Zhu now works in Baltimore.
The building was finished in 1948 — with the news boy there from Day 1 yelling, we assume, “Extra! Extra!”
He holds a copy of the News Leader and Press. The sculpture is in bas relief.
Gannett purchased the paper in 1977. In August 2021, Gannett sold the cavernous building of 105,920 square feet to a company transforming it into a self-storage facility. The newspaper staff moved to office space on the 11th floor of Hammons Tower.
I visited the building Tuesday because earlier this month I attended a gathering of some 60 former (and one current) employees of the News-Leader, including Steve Koehler, a reporter and editor who left the paper in 2008.
Koehler mentioned the news boy and urged those in attendance to protect him from extinction, even if it meant raising funds and moving the figure. A few others in the room apparently saw this as a noble cause, which surprised me.
First, how would you move it?
It might take an orchestrated effort of cranes to lift it, for example, onto the third floor of the Springfield History Museum.
No one on earth has a mouth that big
But why? Only to have him drop like a rock through a web to the first floor?
Also, the news boy is creepy.
He's the type of news boy who in a “Twilight Zone” episode would throw you a paper with your obituary in it. You would read it and then drop dead.
His eyes are dead pools and — as my Hauxeda colleague Jack McGee has pointed out — no one on Earth has a mouth that large.
For the record, Jack McGee is not related to “Screams McGee.”
Even when Gannett owned the building, “Screams McGee” was not well maintained in the waning years when the news staff was there. Neither was the rest of the building, for that matter.
Former News-Leader reporter Giacomo Bologna, who now works in Baltimore, had plans for the news boy in 2016. He had approval from persons in management to paint it.
The civic-minded Bologna thought a paint job would make it “less creepy.” But he came to a stark epiphany.
“We realized that if we did paint him, it would actually be more ghastly,” Bologna said.
News boy has never had a body
Back in 2016, reporter Zhu posted a photo of the news boy on Facebook and asked for suggested names. Responses included Colin Ghost, News Spirit, Grimly McReaper, Amorphous Smog Bro, Ye Ghastly Sprite of News Past and Ya Booi.
Colleague Jackie Rehwald, who worked with me at the News-Leader and works with me now, for years was under the mistaken impression “Screams McGee” had a body.
He has never had a body.
What happened is this: During the almost 10 years we worked at the News-Leader, the lower half of the carving was covered by shrubbery.
The removal of shrubbery made it clear “Screams McGee” has no body.
Maybe that’s why he’s screaming.
Now that the shrubbery is gone, you can see three items on the bottom of the artwork. I'm not sure what they are, so I asked two people who just might be — in journalism lingo — “knowledgeable sources.”
Tom Tate, a Gannett employee since 1988 who once oversaw the printing press, said this:
On the left is a gear that “represents the efficiency and precision of the newspaper production process.”
Center: “A fountain pen (India ink style) that is a tribute to the written word.”
Right: “A linotype, which was cutting edge technology”
Linotype machines were used up until the 1980s to set hot type for newspapers.
Mike O'Brien, a former News-Leader editor and columnist, thinks the image on the right is either a linotype machine or a typewriter.
“I believe the middle image represents an old-fashioned ink pen, standing on end, handle down, writing point at the top,” he said.
He said the gear-like image represents the printing press and is a symbol of industrialism.
‘Look at that kid's face. I'm sorry but that's creepy.'
In my opinion, if “Screams McGee” at any point in the future were to be moved, it should be to a place that has an appreciation for soulless eyes — a place like the nearby Hotel of Terror.
He shouldn’t be moved, first, for security reasons. I believe his ghostly presence will ward off evil-doers plotting to break into the storage spaces inside.
Also, his rightful place — historically speaking — is right where he’s at. The news boy, now 75 years old, should stay on the former newspaper building.
Where else would you place him? Certainly not at the new Buc-ee's. They've already got a beaver. Although they both wear caps.
The news boy will stay where he's at, said Steve Daly, site superintendent for EV construction, which is remodeling the building.
Daly saw me taking photos Tuesday and asked if he could help me in some way.
Sure, I said, and ended up getting a tour of the inside of the building, including what was once the news room.
Daly, a straight-talking man of the people, referred to “Screams McGee” as “creepy as s**t.”
“He’s a cross between a news boy and that face in the painting ‘(The) Scream,’” he said. “Look at that kid’s face. I’m sorry but that’s creepy.”
He’s staying where he's at because the new owner — Springfield QOZ Self-Storage, LLC — realizes the boy means something to people in the community, Daly said.
The remodeling project should be completed near Labor Day, he said.
The rental office will be in the southeast corner of the building, where the publisher’s office used to be. There will be a drive-thru — going south to north — through the Press Hall, the tallest part of the complex, where the five-story printing press once hummed late at night.
This is Pokin Around column No. 113.
