MEDINA, Ohio -- John Ratzenberger enjoys the distinction of being among the top 10 highest-grossing Hollywood actors in history. But standing before more than 500 students from three Medina County high schools and the Medina County Career Center as keynote speaker at the third annual Made in Medina County Manufacturing Expo on Oct. 4, the Emmy nominated actor, entrepreneur and philanthropist was momentarily at a loss to explain who he was.
“I was Hammy the Pig in ‘Toy Story,’” said Ratzenberger, who rose to TV fame with his portrayal of postman and “bar know-it-all” Cliff Clavin on the 1980s sitcom “Cheers.”
The explanation drew the expected applause, as Ratzenberger added: “They were saying, ‘Cheers? What’s that? Is that a cartoon?'"
Ratzenberger’s acting career, however, made but a cameo appearance at the expo. Ratzenberger, one of Hollywood’s most outspoken advocates of manufacturing and skilled labor, instead spent more time talking about growing up in Bridgeport, Ct., as the son of a truck driver father and a mother who worked at Remington Arms.
Through homespun and hilarious childhood tales, Ratzenberger talked about what led him to become a journeyman carpenter, which launched his somewhat accidental acting career when he took a carpentry job at a theater. All contained a common theme: self-reliance.
“Maybe it comes from being from a place where people all knew how to do something, but I don’t like the term ‘blue collar’ work; I prefer calling it ‘essential’ work,” he said. “The strength of America is manufacturing. There should be a crowd cheering every time someone comes out of a factory.”
Ratzenberger went on to opine that if every actor, athlete and celebrity disappeared, “nobody would care.”
“But think about what would happen if all the carpenters, plumbers, electricians and truck drivers disappeared; civilization would literally grind to a halt,” he said.
A 2017 appointee to President Donald Trump’s Task Force on Apprenticeship Expansion, Ratzenberger said that while a college education has become an almost essential job requirement in many careers, the stereotype -- promoted largely by parents -- that those who pursue a career in the trades are less intelligent or successful than college graduates is being quietly smashed by today’s American economy.
“I look at people who go to Yale or Harvard as the losers, because when they come out, they are going to be working for you,” Ratzenberger told the audience, recounting a speech he once gave where a student was ashamed to admit that he wanted to pursue automotive repair.
“I told the other students, you will have tons of student debt and he will be buying a house,” Ratzenberger said. “And when your car breaks, you’ll be paying him to fix it.”
Ratzenberger also extolled the inventive genius and “eye for detail” at Pixar as another example of the type of self-reliance born of allowing children to find their own career path -- traditional or not.
“We thought we were playing when we were kids, but what we were doing is problem solving,” he said. “Like when you build a treehouse, you learn that the slats on the ladder shouldn’t be attached using finishing nails. Because they are going to pop right out. And then you will have a chance to learn how they do things at the emergency room. Hey, maybe I’ll go into medicine!”
Medina County Career Center precision machining students Andrew Vitko, Wade Klun, Tommy Sword and David Seward were among those in the audience.
“For me, the most important thing I got (from Ratzenberger’s speech) was how you can start off small in your industry and work your way up,” Tommy said. “How some opportunities are not immediate.”
David added that he was impressed with how Ratzenberger’s carpentry career literally put him on the stage that would lead him to success in a field he had not even planned on.
Wade said he was most impressed by the actor’s overall message.
“Manufacturing is the backbone of the U.S.,” Wade said.
Spreading the word
According to Medina County Economic Development Corp. Executive Director Bethany Dentler, manufacturing generates $450 million in payroll annually in Medina County. This year’s expo included more than 50 exhibitors from a wide range of industries.
Kimberly Marshall, economic development director for the City of Medina, said that while the expo is a way to celebrate the success of the county’s manufacturing base, community awareness is another key component.
“Part of why we do this is to bring awareness of the economic importance of manufacturing,” Marshall said. “And we have some of the most generous businesses anywhere; they want to be a part of this community and are always giving back.”
She also echoed Ratzenberger’s opinion that blue collar jobs should instead be considered essential jobs. And with interactive displays at the expo covering areas such as 3D printing, polymer science, engineering and robotics, it was hard not to notice that these “essential” careers are often among the highest paying, as well.
“We are trying to change that mindset that ‘you have to go to college,'” Marshall said. “College is good, but it’s not for everybody.”
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