Laughing in Leelanau author, legendary storyteller Scott Craig dies
Photo of Scott Craig and Carol Bawden by David Brigham
From staff reports
Leland resident Scott Craig, an award-winning documentary filmmaker who worked for CBS, NBC, PBS, Turner Broadcasting and HGTV—and later moved to Leelanau County where his plays, radio features, and stories have been omnipresent on the airwaves, in his two books, at local restaurants and cafes, and on stage at the Old Art Building—died on Thursday, April 18, at age 89 in Traverse City. By his side were his loving wife Carol Bawden and his daughters, Jennifer Knight and Amy Coleman.
A celebration of Scott’s life will take place on his 90th birthday, Monday June 24, at 4 pm at the Old Art Building, a place where he “helped create a lot of theater magic.” According to Scott’s wishes as expressed in a letter, local virtuosos Paul Koss, Patrick Niemisto, Tim Sparling and Norm Wheeler will perform the song “I’ll Fly Way”; pastor Robin Carden will officiate.
A native of Ohio who attended the College of Wooster, Scott moved to Chicago in 1963 and began producing and directing documentary films for NBC and CBS-owned television stations, forming his own production company in 1975, according to his obituary. Scott Craig Productions created programs for PBS, Turner and HGTV. Throughout his illustrious career, Scott made hundreds of documentaries for local and national broadcasts. His work earned him more than 100 awards, including the Peabody Award, a National Emmy and 32 regional Emmys, more than anyone in the history of Chicago television. His programs were honored by the Chicago, New York, San Francisco, and Atlanta Film Festivals, as well as the Film Festival of Italy. He was inducted into the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences Silver Circle in 1997.
Tackling hard-hitting topics like world population growth, ecology, education, politics and social justice, Scott was not just a gifted storyteller, but his groundbreaking films were the catalyst for change and made lasting impacts. His exposé on hospitals in “Let’s Hear It for the Patients” established the concept of patients’ rights before anyone was talking about it. He even turned the lens on his own profession. With “Watching the Watchdog” a scathing indictment of reckless investigative journalism, the phrase “ambush interview” was born.
After falling in love with Leland, Scott bought “Roundtop,” a historic and beautiful home atop a hill overlooking Lake Michigan. His Scottish heritage and family history were sources of great pride, and Scott loved creating new traditions for his daughters. From annual ski trips to Snowmass to Manitou Island camping trips, Scott made lasting memories for his girls. Sundays were especially sacred, starting with “The Sunday Morning Picnics” on his Gill’s Pier beach property, where family and friends would gather each week in the summer for a mouth-watering and sandy breakfast cooked over an open fire. In Chicago, he hosted his famous “Sunday Night Dinners,” welcoming his children and their friends with open arms and honing his skills as a gourmet chef.
He met Carol at The Painted Bird in 1999 while producing a program for HGTV on craftsmen in the north that featured Carol Duvall. They ran into each other again a year later after the show aired at the annual fundraiser at Leland’s Old Art Building; they decamped to the Leland Lodge for a quiet dinner and conversation, and made plans to play golf several days later. Scott and Carol were married at Roundtop on July 21, 2002—the day after a knockdown storm on Lake Michigan with winds of 60-80 miles an hour and one of the fastest Chicago-to-Mackinac boat races in history.
After selling his production business and retiring to Leland in 2004, Scott returned to the air waves and hosted a local show on Interlochen Public radio called “The Story Next Door.” He compiled those vignettes about Northern Michigan folks into his first published book, and eventually wrote and directed and performed in a theatrical adaptation at the Old Art Building. His next book Laughing in Leelanau or I Swear It’s True, a collection of some of the county’s funniest local lore, was illustrated by his grandson Henry Coleman. He then fashioned it into a delightful stage show that Scott performed in, reviving a bit from his pantomime days with his wife as a sidekick. Scott’s humor was contagious, and he was a mischievous prankster. Just weeks before his passing, Scott was playing April Fool’s Day jokes on his grandchildren.
“I’m never happier than when I’m working on a creative project,” Scott told the Glen Arbor Sun in 2020. “I’ve only been bored a half a day since I retired … because I’ve always found something creative to do.” Scott got to swap stories with lots of locals for Laughing in Leelanau or I Swear It’s True, including Dave Taghon, Phil Deering, Tim Barr, Bill and Mark Carlson, David Grath, Rich Bahle, Lois Bahle and Larry Mawby. Scott Craig brilliantly weaves in old humorous anecdotes and quotes from late nineteenth and early 20th century issues of the Leelanau Enterprise as he chuckles, guffaws, groans, snickers, and belly laughs his way through every town and classical character in the bygone days of Leelanau County. As Scott says, “He who laughs, lasts!”
“The people who know him know this: his finest quality was he made everyone smile. People loved to be around him,” said Carol, herself a fixture of the Leelanau County arts scene. She sold The Painted Bird on April 1 after opening its doors in 1987. Prior to opening the business she was a founding member of the Glen Lake Artists along with Suzanne Wilson, Midge Obata, and Ananda and Ben Bricker and others.
“I loved his incredible discipline, his accomplishments. He was such a methodical, intelligent and purposeful man,” she said yesterday as she walked through Scott’s office and beheld the wall-to-wall images of such luminaries as Judy Garland, Charlton Heston and Chicago Cub great Ernie Banks. On the back of each picture frame, he had written on stickers to describe the who, what, where and when of each picture on the walls. Scott’s proudest picture on his wall features his daughter Amy—a former producer of the Oprah Winfrey Show who now also produces the season finales of the CBS reality show “Survivor” in Hollywood—flanked by Oprah on one side and Nelson Mandela on the other.
