When Hollywood needed vintage diving gear, it turned to a Third Ward firm that is the sole remaining maker of the classic helmets. An old Milwaukee manufacturer is literally hanging its hat on a Hollywood production hitting theaters this weekend.
DESCO Corp., a 1937 company in the Historic Third Ward, makes the bulbous metal deep-sea diving helmet used by the U.S. Navy for nearly 50 years and featured in the historical drama "Men of Honor," starring Oscar winners Robert De Niro and Cuba Gooding Jr.
This is more than a story of a local product landing on the silver screen. It's the tale of a business born here from happenstance and sustained here by a small community of Milwaukee metal workers that has endured the rise of cheaper, lighter, higher-tech materials.
The movie, which coincidentally is directed by Milwaukeean George Tillman Jr., is based on the real-life story of Carl Brashear, the son of a sharecropper who persevered racism to become a Navy diving hero.
© Copyright 2007 by Joel Dresang
