William Morris' Jim Wiatt contemplates next move

 

After pulling off the big William Morris Agency-Endeavor merger, Jim Wiatt is reportedly looking for a new  gig.

The William Morris chairman, who would retain the same title at the combined agency, WME Entertainment, won't leave immediately, according to one source familiar with the situation. He is, however, looking to start his next chapter.

Prior to the merger announcement, Wiatt had vigorously denied claims that he would play an emeritus role in the merged company, handing over day-to-day control to Ari Emanuel. Now with William Morris' future assured, it seems he's got his eyes fixed on the door.

-- Dawn C. Chmielewski

Photo: William Morris Chairman Jim Wiatt. Credit: Stephen Shugerman / Getty Images

Local documentary chronicles WW 2 submarine's last journey

This Memorial Day weekend, WTTW-Ch. 11 airs a documentary that not only sheds light on the Midwestern war effort but provides interesting glimpses of life on a World War II submarine.

"Lost and Found: Legacy of USS Lagarto" (6 p.m. Sunday, WTTW-Ch. 11; three stars) revisits the shipyards of Manitowoc, Wis., which produced dozens of submarines for the Navy during World War II. This well-paced film also chronicles the recent efforts of divers who found one of those submarines, the USS Lagarto, in the Gulf of Thailand six decades after the war ended. And the one-hour film also documents the efforts of family members, some of whom live in the Chicago area, who wanted the Navy to recognize the sub's crew, all of whom perished in the sub during a 1945 battle.

"Lagarto" was made by Chicago filmmakers Harvey Moshman and Chuck Coppola, who produced the award-winning local documentary "The Eastland Disaster." "Lagarto" is a diligent film -- Moshman and Coppola tracked down dozens of family members, World War II submarine veterans and shipyard workers for engaging interviews. But it's also a very personal and even moving tale: There are snippets from the letters crew members wrote to their families and reminiscences from the son of the sub's skipper.

Nancy Mabin Kenney of LaGrange was one of the leaders of the effort to get the Navy to recognize the Lagarto crew's service. Her father, William Mabin, was a signalman on the sub, and Moshman and Coppola followed her to a remembrance ceremony celebrating the crew's contributions. The tribute was held on the same part of the Manitowoc River that had been used for the launching of submarines decades earlier.

Why didn't the crew members escape from the Lagarto, even though the sub was in relatively shallow waters? What happened to the Lagarto in its final moments? And how did subs made in the Midwest end up in the Pacific? These are only some of the intriguing questions that "Lost and Found" explores.

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