"The American Revolution" Documentary Film Shoots at Historic Endicott Estate - Iconic Boston Media Figures Interviewed for High-Profile Film on WBCN-FM at Dedham Mansion
“The American Revolution,” a highly-anticipated documentary film in production, is interviewing an A-List of Boston area media, arts and music celebrities from the heady days of the late 1960s and early 1970s against the historic background of the fabled Endicott Estate, in Dedham, MA. The film is being produced by the Peabody Award-winning Lichtenstein Creative Media, and it tells the story of how WBCN-FM and underground media in Boston reflected and promoted the great changes that took place.
Dedham, MA, June 19, 2012 --(PR.com)-- “The American Revolution,” a highly-anticipated documentary film currently in production, is interviewing an A-List of Boston area media, arts and music celebrities from the heady days of the late 1960s and early 1970s against the historic background of the fabled Endicott Estate, in Dedham, Massachusetts.
The film is being produced by the Peabody Award-winning Lichtenstein Creative Media, and it tells the story of how WBCN and underground media in Boston both reflected and promoted the profound social, cultural, and political changes that took place during that era.
The interviews for the feature-length documentary film, which tells the story of how “a radio station, politics and rock and roll changed everything,” are being shot at the historic Endicott Estate in Dedham.
According to the film’s producer, Bill Lichtenstein, the Endicott Estate was chosen as the location to shoot the interviews due to the estate’s “unmatched grandeur and simple elegance, and that there is no other location in the Boston area like it.”
“For filmmakers or photographers, the Endicott Estate is a treasure,” says "The American Revolution’s" Lichtenstein. “We were seeking a way to shoot a couple of dozen interviews in a location where the setting for each interview would be different, but all would have a similar look. To have access to a 15-acre estate and mansion with a fully furnished library, dining room, mirrored parlor, music room and an enormous ballroom in a quiet location to shoot a film in the Boston area is virtually unheard of. It would be as if someone gave you the keys to their Newport mansion for a few days and said ‘it’s yours to use.’”
The list of interviewees for “The American Revolution” reads like a “who’s who” of the Boston media and music scene of the late 1960s and early 1970s. Those being interviewed include Charles Laquidara, Danny Schechter, Joe “Mississippi” Rogers of WBCN, and Ray Riepen, who founded WBCN, the Boston Tea Party and the Phoenix newspaper, as well as musicians from the leading bands to emerge from the era, including Aerosmith and prominent artists, photographers and writers.
The mansion, which is filled with period furnishings, Italian marble fireplaces, mahogany paneling, Oriental carpets, and works of art, belongs to the Town of Dedham, MA. On a regular basis, the Endicott Estate is used for local meetings, weddings, and other gatherings. However, over the years, the mansion has served as a premiere location for films for which producers sought a classic 19th century New England setting in which to shoot.
“We have had many films come through here,” says William Keegan, Town Administrator for the Town of Dedham. “Going back to the 1980s, the hit ABC-TV series ‘Spenser for Hire’ shot here, and more recently ‘The Perfect Storm’ and David Mamet’s star-studded film ‘State and Main’ was shot here. All those scenes with William H. Macy and Alec Baldwin were filmed around the mansion.”
The estate, which features a nearly 1,000 square foot ballroom and a fully functioning kitchen, was built by Henry Bradford Endicott, founder of the Endicott-Johnson Shoe Corp at the turn of the 20th century. It remained in the Endicott family until 1967 when it was willed to the town of Dedham to be used for “educational, civic and recreational purposes.” It is overseen by the town and the Endicott Estate Commission. The house was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 2002.
“The American Revolution’s” Lichtenstein says that his production has a special connection to the Estate, which served as the home to the Endicott family.
“After we decided we wanted to film at the estate, we learned that Bradford Endicott, the son of Henry Bradford Endicott who had built the estate, had been on the board of directors of WBCN at the time when the radio station went from being a classical music station to programming rock and roll and airing news reports critical of the U.S. involvement in Viet Nam. We were told that while some on WBCN’s board objected to the radically different programming, Bradford Endicott supporting the station’s free-form rock programming, which was popular with young people and was gaining great commercial success.”
Producer Bill Lichtenstein worked at WBCN starting at age 14 in 1970, where he was the youngest DJ in station history and he witnessed the incredible power of the broadcaster firsthand. “WBCN and other free-form radio stations across the country gave a voice to young people like me. It is the perfect time to go back and capture the days when rock and roll radio and the underground media changed the world.” The film will be released for festival, theatrical and public TV distribution.
“Just as the era we are chronicling, when you could see Led Zeppelin, The Who and Jeff Beck and Rod Stewart at the Boston Tea Party within weeks of each other for $3 a show, will never happen again, the Endicott Estate is an architectural treasure the likes of which is not being built again. And like the stories in ‘The American Revolution,’ we as filmmakers are passionate about helping preserve it for the next generation.”
“The Town of Dedham was fortunate to have this great gift, and we are thrilled that the town preserves and supports it in so many ways,” says Keegan. "It’s something irreplaceable that makes Dedham such a great place to live."
To contact the Endicott Estate, please call 781-326-0012 or email information@endicottestate.com
To contact “The American Revolution” please call 617/682-3708 or email LCM@LCMedia.com
For Production Stills Visit http://www.Bit.Ly/ProdStills
The film is being produced by the Peabody Award-winning Lichtenstein Creative Media, and it tells the story of how WBCN and underground media in Boston both reflected and promoted the profound social, cultural, and political changes that took place during that era.
The interviews for the feature-length documentary film, which tells the story of how “a radio station, politics and rock and roll changed everything,” are being shot at the historic Endicott Estate in Dedham.
According to the film’s producer, Bill Lichtenstein, the Endicott Estate was chosen as the location to shoot the interviews due to the estate’s “unmatched grandeur and simple elegance, and that there is no other location in the Boston area like it.”
“For filmmakers or photographers, the Endicott Estate is a treasure,” says "The American Revolution’s" Lichtenstein. “We were seeking a way to shoot a couple of dozen interviews in a location where the setting for each interview would be different, but all would have a similar look. To have access to a 15-acre estate and mansion with a fully furnished library, dining room, mirrored parlor, music room and an enormous ballroom in a quiet location to shoot a film in the Boston area is virtually unheard of. It would be as if someone gave you the keys to their Newport mansion for a few days and said ‘it’s yours to use.’”
The list of interviewees for “The American Revolution” reads like a “who’s who” of the Boston media and music scene of the late 1960s and early 1970s. Those being interviewed include Charles Laquidara, Danny Schechter, Joe “Mississippi” Rogers of WBCN, and Ray Riepen, who founded WBCN, the Boston Tea Party and the Phoenix newspaper, as well as musicians from the leading bands to emerge from the era, including Aerosmith and prominent artists, photographers and writers.
The mansion, which is filled with period furnishings, Italian marble fireplaces, mahogany paneling, Oriental carpets, and works of art, belongs to the Town of Dedham, MA. On a regular basis, the Endicott Estate is used for local meetings, weddings, and other gatherings. However, over the years, the mansion has served as a premiere location for films for which producers sought a classic 19th century New England setting in which to shoot.
“We have had many films come through here,” says William Keegan, Town Administrator for the Town of Dedham. “Going back to the 1980s, the hit ABC-TV series ‘Spenser for Hire’ shot here, and more recently ‘The Perfect Storm’ and David Mamet’s star-studded film ‘State and Main’ was shot here. All those scenes with William H. Macy and Alec Baldwin were filmed around the mansion.”
The estate, which features a nearly 1,000 square foot ballroom and a fully functioning kitchen, was built by Henry Bradford Endicott, founder of the Endicott-Johnson Shoe Corp at the turn of the 20th century. It remained in the Endicott family until 1967 when it was willed to the town of Dedham to be used for “educational, civic and recreational purposes.” It is overseen by the town and the Endicott Estate Commission. The house was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 2002.
“The American Revolution’s” Lichtenstein says that his production has a special connection to the Estate, which served as the home to the Endicott family.
“After we decided we wanted to film at the estate, we learned that Bradford Endicott, the son of Henry Bradford Endicott who had built the estate, had been on the board of directors of WBCN at the time when the radio station went from being a classical music station to programming rock and roll and airing news reports critical of the U.S. involvement in Viet Nam. We were told that while some on WBCN’s board objected to the radically different programming, Bradford Endicott supporting the station’s free-form rock programming, which was popular with young people and was gaining great commercial success.”
Producer Bill Lichtenstein worked at WBCN starting at age 14 in 1970, where he was the youngest DJ in station history and he witnessed the incredible power of the broadcaster firsthand. “WBCN and other free-form radio stations across the country gave a voice to young people like me. It is the perfect time to go back and capture the days when rock and roll radio and the underground media changed the world.” The film will be released for festival, theatrical and public TV distribution.
“Just as the era we are chronicling, when you could see Led Zeppelin, The Who and Jeff Beck and Rod Stewart at the Boston Tea Party within weeks of each other for $3 a show, will never happen again, the Endicott Estate is an architectural treasure the likes of which is not being built again. And like the stories in ‘The American Revolution,’ we as filmmakers are passionate about helping preserve it for the next generation.”
“The Town of Dedham was fortunate to have this great gift, and we are thrilled that the town preserves and supports it in so many ways,” says Keegan. "It’s something irreplaceable that makes Dedham such a great place to live."
To contact the Endicott Estate, please call 781-326-0012 or email information@endicottestate.com
To contact “The American Revolution” please call 617/682-3708 or email LCM@LCMedia.com
For Production Stills Visit http://www.Bit.Ly/ProdStills
Contact
Lichtenstein Creative Media
Bill Lichtenstein
617-682-3708
www.LCMedia.com
Bill Lichtenstein
617-682-3708
www.LCMedia.com
Contact
Categories