Hi Brendan: Verrrrryyyy interesting. Big thanks for posting. I tried to
see it earlier, but the link kept crashing my browser. Cheers, Christine
----- Original Message -----
From: "Brendan MacRae" <brendanmacrae1...@yahoo.com>
To: "pdml" <pdml@pdml.net>
Sent: Tuesday, June 29, 2010 11:01 PM
Subject: Quite a Life
After work today, I went over to spend some time with Will Connell, Jr. who
had asked me over to take a look at the wiring on his stereo system. Will is
a great artist who creates incredible wooden sculptures. His stereo cabinet
and speakers were built by him in the 1960's.
After sorting out the wiring he invited me to take a look at a number of
original prints made by his father, "the old man," as Will always refers to
him. I was completely blown away.
The photographs from his Hollywood years when he worked as a studio
portratist were just amazing. Original studio glamor shots of Ginger Rogers,
Myrna Loy, Mary Brian, Irene Dunne, Charles Laughton, Errol Flynn and
others. One was a color photo of a young Mickey Rooney as a promo for "Out
West With The Hardy's" from 1938. Absolutely amazing images. Some of his
Hollywood work is here:
http://www.cmp.ucr.edu/collections/permanent/object_genres/photographers/connell/connell_archive/wc_groEN.html
I also got to see some of his other pictorial work, commercial photography,
and photos and portraits of family friends. Some of these were notable
figures including Lloyd Wright who remodeled Connell's home and back porch
in Los Angeles. The best part of all though was leafing through the original
mock-up that Connell did for his famous book "In Pictures: A Hollywood
Satire" which he used as he was shopping around for a publisher. Seeing as
how first editions of the book go for thousands of dollars
(http://www.abaa.org/books/256477872.html), I'm sure that the mock-up is
worth a pretty penny indeed.
It was a real treat to be able to see all of these original prints and hear
the stories that Will tells of "the old man" and his incredible photographic
life.
-Brendan
"I am a photographer because for me photography is the most satisfactory way
of talking to people. It's commercial photography because I also like to
eat." - Will Connell, 1949
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