The documentary filmmaker John Bishop just posted excerpts of his documentary on the last days of the Connick Studio, filmed in Boston in 1986. The film is called The Last Window, and it documents the making of the Henry Pepper Memorial Window, at All Saint's Parish, Brookline, Mass. All Saints Parish contained the first representational window by Charles Connick, from 1910, as well as this last window made by the Connick Studio, in 1986. The excerpts are only 3-4 miinutes each, while the whole movie is about an hour.
One thing I remember about the film is that it doesn't quite give a sense of the space. It was like a big rabbit warren, with 4 floors, each being some 2,000 square feet. One floor alone was just row upon row of glass racks. There were some big rooms, like the big showroom, but I remember lots of little rooms. Still, this is a nice document of the people and the time, and it is hard to believe it's been 24 years.
Last Window 1 - Louis Cammacho, the Connick Studio colorist, talks about choosing and cutting glass in the first part of this excerpt. The young woman you see in the background is Becky Breymann, who designed the last window. The second half has a real treat showing one of the Connick painters, Harold Nicholson I think, tracing and matting. I'd like to see an hour just of that.
Last Window 2 - Features some historical background on Charles Connick, especially about his relationship with Ralph Adams Cram.
Last Window 3 - Johnny Campbell leading up the last window. Johnny was quite a character. I remember, when I was looking through the racks in the last days when they were getting rid of all their glass, Johnny trying to convince me that green is just no good in stained glass. "Can't do anything with green", says Johnny.
I'm still working off of those scraps I got from when Connick's closed. I kind of hope they never run out. That would be a sad milestone for me.
Posted by Tom at February 15, 2010 12:32 PM