Documentary Premiere at University of Pittsburgh Show How Many Contributed to the 'Shot Felt 'Round The World'

who, along with Dr. Jonas Salk and his team of researchers at the University of Pittsburgh, waged a battle against the Polio virus, which culminated in the announcement of the Polio vaccine on April 12, 1955.

The premiere screening of the documentary was held at the Twentieth Century Club on the campus of The University of Pittsburgh, just blocks away from Salk Hall, which once was Municipal Hospital, where Salk and his research team developed the Polio vaccine by isolating the live Polio virus from a stool sample of a patient in the Polio ward.

Many stories just like above are highlighted in “The Shot Felt ‘Round The World,” stories of the ‘every day heroes’ - from patients at Municipal Hospital, to residents of the D.T. Watson Home for crippled children, to the thousands of parents who allowed their children to take part in the first test trial of the vaccine in the Pittsburgh public schools - whose stories have not yet been heard by the general public.

The film also gives audiences a fresh insight into the character of Dr. Stalk, who as a boy had “prayed that he could do something good for humanity.” And who worked tirelessly, along with his team of researchers, to bring an end to the ‘summer plague’ of Polio.

Steeltown Entertainment Project’s Executive Producer, Carl Kurlander, who was also Executive Producer of the documentary said that although there have been other documentaries about the development of the polio vaccine,” no one else has focused on those seven years (1947-1954) in Pittsburgh.

“He (Salk) didn’t spend a lot of time talking about Pittsburgh, and Pittsburgh hasn’t spent a lot of time talking about Salk,” Kurlander said. “There have been other movies about polio, but we (Pittsburghers) were the ones who were actually there.”

Kurlander and the production team of “The Shot Felt ‘Round The World,” including producer Laura Davis and her husband, director Tjardus Greidanus, hope that the premiere event, which was sold out, and attended by over 600 guests, will be a springborad for the film to find a larger audience.

Said Kurlander, “We hope that ‘The Shot Felt ‘Round The World’ is a call to action for the many challenges we face today.”

To read further media coverage from the premiere:

For the Jewish Chronicle article, click here

For the Pitt Chronicle article, click here

For the Tribune Review article, click here