2008 INVISIBLE: ABBOTT THAYER AND THE ART OF CAMOUFLAGE:

Abbott Handerson Thayer (1849-1921), a great artist and naturalist, gave up painting the society portraits that earned him fame and fortune so that he could live close to nature and devote his time to studying how animals conceal themselves from predators.  During World War I, Thayer, who was passionate in all he undertook destroyed his health in frenzied efforts to persuade the Allies to adopt his camouflage theories to safeguard troops and ships.  Few listened to him-until long after his death.

Rare archival footage and interviews with historians, artists, and descendants of Thayer are woven together with scenes of the bucolic New Hampshire countryside that inspired the artist to settle in Dublin in Thoreausesque communion with nature.  Character voices (for Thayer, Teddy Roosevelt-who corresponded with Thayer-Mark Twain, and others) and a vibrant original music score help bring to life this fascinating piece of history, never before told to a viewing audience.

2006  A DIALOGUE OF GENEROSITY

A promotional film on the Shakespeare Theatre Company and the new Harman Center for the arts in Washington, D.C.  It includes interviews with Michael Kahn-director, Dr. Sidney Harman, and congresswoman Elenor Holmes Norton;  as well as scenes from various productions with the noted actors Hal Holbrook, Stacy Keach, Harry Hamlin, and Dixie Carter. 

2006 MR. GEHRY GOES TO WASHINGTON

A film profile of the legendary architect Frank Gehry and his radical design for his proposed new wing designed for the Corcoran Gallery of Art, in Washington, D.C.  It includes an intimate look at Gehry’s studio in California, highlighting the new uses of the computer technology which help aid architectural designs. The film includes interviews with the late Carter Brown, past director of the National Gallery of Art, in Washington, D.C.

1999 ROBERT RAUSCHENBERG: INVENTIVE GENIUS

PRP Productions and Film Odyssey co-produced Robert Raushenberg:  Inventive Genius, for PBS’ The American Masters series; it aired on the PBS network from WNET New York. Narrated by Dennis Hopper, the one-hour film features Rauschenberg himself, at work in his studio in Captive, Florida.  It includes interview with many well-known contemporary artists, such as Chuck Close, Brice Marden and James Rosenquist, as well as with noted art dealer Leo Castelli, dancer Merce Cunningham, and others close to the painter. The film aired April 7th, 1999 on PBS stations across the country.

1999 EDITH WHARTON: THE SENSE OF HARMONY

PRP Productions co-produced with Franc 3 Televisions and Frederic Robbes Productions a biography of Edith Wharton that aired on France 3 as part of Bernard Rapp’s series on writers, Un Siecle d’Ecrivains.  The sole American author in the serious, Wharton was included because she spent so much of her life in France and is buried there. The one-hour film features interviews with distinguished Wharton biographers Louis Auchincloss, R.W.B. Lewis and Elenor Dwight. Rare archival footage, never before seen, documents Wharton’s interest in interior design, her work during World War I with destitute children and wounded soldiers, and the beautiful Italian gardens that influenced her own garden design. The film aired on France 3 in March 1999.

1991 AMERICA’S HERITAGE: THE DIPLOMATIC RECEPTION ROOMS OF THE DEPARTMENT OF                       STATE

PRP Productions served as Executive Producer for this film on the collection of American antiques in the U.S. State Department gathered over a period of 30 years by curator Clement Conger. The film features former Secretaries of State James A. Baker III and George P. Shultz. Sponsored by the W.W. Grainger Foundation, Chicago, Illinois, the one-hour documentary aired on PBS stations nationwide.

1985 DOROTHY HOOD: THE COLOR OF LIFE

PRP Productions served as Producer of this one-hour profile of Abstract Expressionist painter Dorothy Hood, from Houston, Texas. Hood’s work is in many museums and private collections across the country, including the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C., the Museum of Modern Art and the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York and the Museum of Fine Arts in Houston. Funded by foundations and individual contributors, the program aired on PBS stations nationwide.

1980 THE FEMALE LINE

PRP Productions served as Producer of this portrait of three generations of women in the Peabody family: a Civil Rights activist, the grandmother, Mrs. Malcolm Peabody; a United Nations ambassador, the mother, Mrs. Marietta Tree; and a Pulitzer Prize winner, the daughter, Ms. Frances Fitzgerald, for her book, Fire in the Lake. Sponsored by Polaroid and individual contributors, the one-hour film aired on the PBS network from WGBH Boston.