Featured

Robert Rossetti’s script has Worcester in view

Richard Duckett

Worcester Magazine USA TODAY NETWORK

In Robert Rossetti’s screenplay “The Further Adventures of Jimmy Lynch,” a snarky, not-so-nice soccer mom has a husband who receives his medicine in the mail. She is conspiring to have him murdered and blame it on the wisecracking mailman, Jimmy Lynch, who she has hated since school.

Within the storyline the screenplay has lots of Worcester references, beginning with the instructions for the opening scene, “EXT. KELLEY SQUARE — DAY”

It’s “‘Ted Lasso’ meets ‘Double Indemnity,’” but the script is also “a throwback comedy that at its heart is set in Worcester” said Rossetti, who grew up in Worcester and now lives in Shrewsbury after a spell in New York City.

“The Further Adventures of Jimmy Lynch” has been placing well in screenplay competitions along with another of Rossetti’s scripts, “The Grandmother,” but not enough yet to unlock the door into the world of movie making.

Undaunted, Rossetti keeps knocking on doors to make his special delivery, not unlike a good mailman — which he once was in Worcester. And he keeps writing screenplays. “I’m just the guy that doesn’t give up,” he said.

Rossetti is now a salesman for Spaulding Fence and Supply at 70 James St., and the job’s going well, he said. Especially with the pandemic, home improvement and fence sales “have been nothing but crazy for the whole year.”

But when it comes to writing screenplays, Rossetti is not on the fence about his dreams. In his profile on the International Screenwriters’ Association website, he writes he “would like to become a rich and powerful screenwriter so that he can finally be superior to his older brother, give his wife the wedding he promised her over a decade ago, and buy a beach house where dogs are allowed. In the morning when the coffee is fresh and black, he’ll brush his cat, Indiana, off the keyboard and try to write something funny.”

Along with that Rossetti said, “Most of all there is nothing I love more than Worcester. I wrote ‘The Further Adventures of Jimmy Lynch’ because I loved being a mailman and I loved being a mailman in Worcester.”

His father, Stephen L. Rossetti, was postmaster of the main Worcester post office on East Central Street. His mother, Maureen, was a teacher with Worcester Public Schools.

It was a while ago that Robert Rossetti was making deliveries. “I was a mailman in Worcester back when the AkuAku was still in place,” he said of the former Chinese-Polynesian restaurant on East Central Street that was once sort of a landmark and is embedded in comedian Lewis Black’s memory from doing stand-up comedy there. Rossetti has also done stand-up comedy, but that was when he was in New York City.

Jimmy Lynch is “happy-go-lucky, drinks Coors Light, smokes,” Rossetti said.

Indeed, in the script Lynch devotedly smokes Newport menthol cigarettes.

“This is Worcester. This is the capital of smokers,” Rossetti said. Does he smoke? “Yes, I do. Newports — which are banned,” he noted of the state’s proscriptions last year on flavored cigarettes, including menthol (non-flavored Newports are still legal).

“You see a lot of movies now, especially romantic comedies — the main man is kind of wimpy. What’s wrong with a Worcester mailman who smokes butts and watches hockey?” Rossetti asked.

Rossetti said he is drawn to mostly writing comedic screenplays.

“It comes more naturally,” he said of comedy. “Being Irish-Catholic from Worcester, I kind of have that self-deprecatory humor. It’s there, so I use it.”

Also, “You can still be stupid and write comedy,” he said.

Rossetti’s parents grew up on Grafton Hill, and the family lived on Hamilton Street before moving to Shrewsbury. Rossetti graduated from St. John’s High School in Shrewsbury and later moved to New York City, where he earned a degree in film from the prestigious New York University Tisch School of the Arts.

His stand-up comedy in New York was “kind of low-level. Nothing to write home about,” he said.

Rossetti moved back to his home ground and kept at writing while now selling fences by day. He has a wife, Isabel, and three children.

“My wife is my biggest supporter. She listens to me ramble and ramble and ramble,” Rossetti said. “I think she’d rather that I didn’t want to do it (write screenplays), because I can be up and down. To get rejected, it sucks. And to be the spouse of that, I’m sure she’d be happy if I stopped. But I can’t. You’ve got to keep trying,” he said.

Meanwhile, “Besides having a very supportive wife and mother who both continue to encourage me, I would say that the biggest help I have gotten in my life would be from my former drama teacher at St. John’s High School, Patrick Dolan, who for years has continued to stay in touch with me and read my work,” Rossetti said.

Rossetti’s “The Grandmother” has also been getting noticed in screenplay contests. He described it as “an action comedy about a former public school teacher from Worcester who fights off a team of mercenaries at Canobie Lake Park to save her three wily grandsons. I mean, who would be more badass than a Nana from Worcester?”

Rossetti said he’s a “big fan of films that are fun for the whole family to watch,” even if some of the younger members of the family aren’t really supposed to be watching it.

“I grew up watching ‘Caddyshack,’ and George Carlin,” he said.

“The Further Adventures of Jimmy Lynch” has been selected as a semifinalist in the Page International Screenwriting Awards, a finalist in the Stage32 Comedy Contest, a semifinalist in the Stage32 Feature contest, a semi-finalist placement in the Screencraft Comedy contest, and a quarterfinalist placement in the Screencraft Fellowship.

Robert Rossetti’s scripts “The Further Adventures of Jimmy Lynch” and “The Grandmother” both recently became selections in the Austin Comedy Festival.

CHRISTINE PETERSON/TELEGRAM & GAZETTE

Remembering Lester Paquin: historian, editor and advocate

Veer Mudambi

Worcester Magazine USA TODAY NETWORK

If one had a question about rescued Bernese Mountain dogs, the state Vietnam Veterans memorial, car manufacturers, the Barre Historical Society, AIDS Project Worcester, the use of the Oxford comma, ocean liners or local theater — one would expect to look for multiple experts in several of those disparate fields. However, up until his sudden passing on March 11, one could have turned to a single person who may have had all the answers: Lester Paquin, a true Renaissance man.

“I didn’t know anyone like him,” said Worcester Magazine columnist Janice Harvey. “I know people who have their areas of expertise but I’ve never known anyone like Lester, where I can’t think of a subject he couldn’t give an answer on.”

Vast and comprehensive, Paquin’s store of general knowledge radiated outward from his hometown of Barre. Fiercely proud of his town and its history, he raised the flag every morning at the library, doing small — and often big — things that others would not think of doing. At the Barre Historical Society, he took care of so many tasks “that it’s going to take a whole group of us to get anything done the way he would have wanted,” said Stephanie Young, vice president of BHS.

Young recalled how Paquin was one of three people she would go to whenever she had an obscure history question, and she was only one among many others who relied on Lester’s memory for the facts that he had internalized — which some are concerned may have been lost with him. His respect for the past was not just limited to history but the community at large, and Young respected how he crafted beautiful tributes to community members who had passed away saying, “we have big shoes to fill to honor him the way he honored others.”

In addition to his prodigious memory, Paquin is remembered by all as a superlative editor, especially his former colleagues at Worcester Magazine, where he worked as a copy editor from 1991 to 2008. “He was one of the core group of people who were there when it was at its strongest,” said Charlene Arsenault, former reporter whose cubicle was adjacent to Paquin’s. “His name is synonymous with the ‘glory years’ of WoMag.”

His eye for detail, encyclopedic general knowledge and wicked sense of humor made him an invaluable member of the newsroom. His inviting cubicle, complete with floor lamp and oriental rug, was the place to go if a reporter wanted a sounding board or a new take on a story.

Colleagues remember Paquin’s uniform of button down shirt, tie and vest, as he came to work every morning car-

Paquin mans the buffet table at APW’s 2019 holiday party.

MARTHA AKSTIN/AIDS PROJECT WORCESTER Robert Rossetti says his script is also “a throwback comedy that at its heart is

set in Worcester.” CHRISTINE PETERSON/TELEGRAM & GAZETTE

Script

Continued from Page 4D

“The Grandmother” has been a Stage32 Comedy Contest semi-finalist as well as one of the Top 100 Comedies of the Table Read My Screenplay Competition.

“The Further Adventures of Jimmy Lynch” and “The Grandmother” both recently became selections in the Austin Comedy Festival.

“As of right now, between both scripts, I have placed in 25 writing contests. I have not yet placed high enough or won a contest or done enough to break through, but I am close, and I am banging on that door every single day,” Rossetti said.

“I’ve got others (screenplays). I always tell my wife I’ll quit when I don’t have another idea.”

Caitlin McCarthy, an English teacher at Worcester Technical School, wrote several scripts that placed high or won in screenplay competitions over the course of a number of years. She saw her persistency rewarded when it was announced last August that her screenplay “Wonder Drug” will be made into a movie by Rhino Films, the acclaimed independent film company, with Stephen Nemeth the producer and Tom Gilroy directing.

“She’s passed me. I know of her. My mom was a teacher in Worcester Public Schools. Teachers are great,” Rossetti said.

McCarthy has been represented by Barry Krost of Barry Krost Management, well-known in the entertainment industry as a literary manager and producer,.

Rossetti has tried to get “The Further Adventures of Jimmy Lynch” to Worcester native actor and comedian Denis Leary, “but I don’t have an agent,” he said.

“I’m working hard to get an agent or a manager. You really have to get a producer before you can get a manager these days,” Rossetti said.

As he writes, films are being produced and shot in Worcester and the Worcester area at a seemingly ever-increasing rate.

“I’ve seen people making films in Worcester but never seen a film about Worcester,” Rossetti said.

With a screenplay such as “The Further Adventures of Jimmy Lynch,” Rossetti said, “My goal is to have it shot in Worcester where Worcester is one of the characters.”

His experience as a salesman has helped Rossetti get perspective on the screenplay business.

“It’s just like sales, you’ve got to wait for a lot of no’s before you get a yes,” he said.

“I can’t complain. My day job is very good. But that’s my dream. I can’t get it out of me.”

For more information, visit Rossetti’s profile with the International Screenwriters’ Association, www.networkisa.org/profile/robert-rossetti.

HARVEY

Worcester, your best life is within reach

Janice Harvey

Guest columnist

Oh, beloved Worcester. I’m always pulling for you.

Most of my life has been spent living and working in the “Heart of the Commonwealth,” the city where I was born and raised. At one time or another I’ve lived in many of its neighborhoods, from Lincoln Street to Main South, from Vernon Hill to Russell and Fruit streets, to the Summit. I sold cheese and dressed mannequins in the doomed Galleria, wiped the noses of Worcester’s preschoolers and taught English to some of the same kids years later. I’m the third generation of Harveys to traipse its sidewalks, and we’ve left our mark, good or bad, on the city that has done the same to us, in both our our distinctive accent and our sometimes cynical outlook.

I no longer live in Worcester. My hometown outpriced me as I contemplated retirement. That reality saddened me terribly, and forced me to the outskirts. This shouldn’t be, but it is. I still consider myself “from Worcester” when asked. Even after nearly five years in North Oxford, I will always be a Wootown kid, and that’s why I want the best for my beloved home turf.

I feel as if ”the best” is within reach. All of my adult life I’ve watched Worcester start and sputter and too often grind to a halt when it comes to reaching its potential. In 1970, I was too young to realize that the glitzy, exciting Worcester Center Galleria was simply a turd in the swimming pool. What did I know? Starry-eyed, I saw fountains and shoe stores. It would take a while for me to understand that a terrible crime had been perpetrated against Main Street’s small businesses. When former Mayor

See HARVEY, Page 7D

Paquin

Continued from Page 5D

rying a copy of The Telegram under his arm. An avid historian, he himself seemed to have stepped out of a previous era — “an anachronism yet very much a part of this world,” said former senior editor Martha Akstin. He didn’t even own a cell phone, and his vintage car, a Cadillac Seville from the ‘90s, was a common sight around town that everyone recognized.

“He sort of had the institutional memory of who was who and how they were connected,” said Akstin, a quality that was invaluable when preparing for interviews. His passion for a variety of things in the Central Massachusetts area was infectious, she said, and writers would soon get as excited as he was about a topic.

“He saved me a couple times from making a complete jack** of myself,” said Harvey. In particular, she remembers a story in which she referred to a vehicle called the Dodge Rambler. However, there was no such thing, as the Rambler was not manufactured by Dodge, but by American Motors Corporation. To Harvey, it was another example of Paquin’s breadth of general knowledge that helped keep the writers accurate, observing that if he had ever been a contestant on “Jeopardy!” he would almost certainly have been a millionaire.

For his part, though his primary job was copy editing, Paquin’s favorite writing topics were human interest, history and issues facing veterans. Co-workers admit that Paquin was something of a mystery at the office regarding his personal life and past, so the source of his zeal for veteran advocacy is not clear. While he had not served himself, he clearly valued military and civic service highly.

Paquin participated in a number of boards and committees including the Board of Directors of the Barre Historical Society, the Barre Library Association and was serving on its Board of Directors as Clerk. For several years he worked as the director of the Barre Senior Center until he resigned in 2017 after a brief suspension for undisclosed reasons. Locally, he was well known for being instrumental in getting the statewide Vietnam Veterans memorial, which stands in Worcester’s Biotech Park, built and maintained. He also served as secretary of the Massachusetts Vietnam Veterans Board of Directors, and played a role in the dedication of the Vietnam Service Dog Memorial in Worcester. “He honored those who served,” said Akstin.

Lucy Allen, fellow historical researcher and schoolmate of Paquin’s, said, “I remember him bombarding me with history questions on the bus, and my having to look up answers the night before.” As a teenager, he started working at the local library, which fostered his love of history. “He was the sort of person who tied all the history and traditions together in the town and worked to ensure we kept history alive and remembered how the organizations were in the past.”

Margaret Marshall, curator at BHS, reminisced about Paquin as well. “He was very meticulous, that’s for sure, and he kept us all in order with his amazing memory and how he always remembered something about people”, as well as all the bylaws. This summer would have marked Paquin’s 51 years of continuous service to the town of Barre.

At the Barre Historical Society, Paquin was relied upon for his editing skills as well. “He demanded excellence,” said Young, “and made me a better writer.” His famous words, she recalled, were “you can’t do it the easy way, you have to do it the right way.” While he held everyone to a high standard, he wasn’t a harsh critic, pointing out errors gently, instilling a care for detail in all of his colleagues. Allen, who wrote a tribute for him on the BHS Facebook page, said she found herself thinking “oh wow, Lester, I hope I got it right!” without their resident editor.

Paquin worked at AIDS Project Worcester for the last five years, once more alongside Akstin, where his kindness was appreciated in a completely different setting. There he functioned as an outreach worker but retained his signature style. Most APW harm reduction specialists wear jeans, T-shirts, and generally more casual clothes, especially when doing street outreach. Paquin on the other hand, would meet clients at the door wearing his standard tie and button down shirt. “He looked like a librarian,” said Akstin. “I’m sure people who came to the door wondered ‘who’s this guy?’”

Clients at APW are marginalized, down and out, struggling with homelessness, substance abuse and more, but Paquin had nothing but patience and respect for all of them. In the five years she worked with him, he never lost his patience or raised his voice, she said. “He always came to work with a smile on his face.”

The absence of Paquin in the lives of his friends, his co-workers, and his community will be hard to bear but his memory will be their solace. “A happy time in my life that Lester was a big part of,” said Harvey, referring to that period at Worcester Magazine.

Akstin sums it up simply by saying, “just a remarkable human and a great loss.”

Allen says the “Lester-shaped hole in my heart,” will be hard to fill.

Paquin at Rota Spring Farm in 2020 enjoying a banana split. MARTHA AKSTIN