A Rocky Statue Looks For a New Home

A statue of Sylvester Stallone as Rocky Balboa may or may not find a new home at the Philadelphia Museum of Art

I used to live in the neighborhood of Philadelphia where Rocky was filmed. It is a very blue collar, working class neighborhood and was chosen so that the down-trodden Rocky would have a rough neighborhood to transcend. I have to admit that I never saw Rocky or any of it's subsequent movies at the theaters. Rocky is the kind of movie you catch 15 minutes here or there on network TV usually late at night. It never won any Academy Awards and god knows Sylvester Stallone is not Laurence Olivier.

Most Philadelphians make fun of Rocky. Many movies are made in Philadelphia and Rocky seems like one that most people would rather forget. Especially when a mediocre sculpture created as a prop in the movie may find a permanent home at one of the wealthiest and most blue blood museums on the east coast, the formidable and well-staired Philadelphia Museum of Art.

The sculpture has a tawdry past. After the completion of the movie, moviemakers tried to give it to the PMA and it was on view briefly until museumgoers complained about the poor quality of the artwork and the typos that are permanently part of the sculpture. The sculpture was then banished to a sports center in Philly which was deemed a more appropriate venue as the sculpture is probably more about sport than art.

But the power of Rocky refuses to go away. A writer from Philadelphia teamed up with a photographer and spent a year at the steps of the Philadelphia museum interviewing and photographing people who came to the museum, not to see the art, but to run up the stairs ala Rocky in a triumphant victory ascent.

The resulting new book is entitled, Rocky Stories: Tales of Love, Hope, and Happiness at America's Most Famous Steps. The book shows that even thought the movie Rocky is 30 years old the triumphant symbol of his running up the imposing stairs of the Museum to arrive at the top is still inspiring people worldwide. So the next time you're in Philadelphia, forget the Liberty Bell. Go to the Philadelphia Museum of Art, get your running shoes on, put that Rocky go-get-em music in your head and start the climb. The view is fabulous.