Harold is Gone (2024 Preservation Print)
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Harold is Gone was shot in the days following the sudden death of Chicago’s Mayor Harold Washington on November 25, 1987, including his funeral procession and funeral service. Stamets’ Super-8 camera follows the thousands of Chicagoans who lined the streets to watch the procession of Washington’s casket to the Christ Universal Church on Chicago’s South Side. Mostly shot in black-and-white and without sound, the film is somber but does not lack Stamets’ knack for witty observations: color scenes with sync sound include a hawker making a quick buck selling buttons and portraits of Washington, and on a lone out-of-tune bagpiper.; Harold is Gone was exhibited throughout Chicago in the years after Washington’s death, and showed at Los Angeles Filmforum and San Francisco Cinematheque in 1992.
Credits
Bill Stamets (filmmaker); David Orr (depicted in); Amanda Alcock (depicted in); Avis LaVelle (depicted in); Timothy Evans (depicted in)
Complete catalog record
Cfa collection: Bill Stamets Collection
Notes: Footage of crowds waiting for Harold Washington’s funeral procession is intercut with scenes from Chicago’s City Hall, where David Orr is acting Mayor of Chicago. Cars driving. Fast cuts between footage of crowds of people in the city. Harold Washington banner and bust. People buy photos of Harold Washington. Throngs of Chicagoans line the street to watch the funeral procession, armed with many posters and pins. Audio cuts in and out at various times. Bag pipes playing on the street. Cut inside to the funeral proceedings.
Subjects: Funeral rites and ceremonies; Politicians; Death
Places: North America > United States > Illinois > Chicago
Film notes: This 16mm preservation print was made from the Super-8 original in 2024, thanks to a Basic Preservation Grant from the National Film Preservation Foundation.
Cfa elements: Preservation print, 582 feet
Cfa records: https://collections.chicagofilmarchives.org/Detail/objects/41114
Notes: Footage of crowds waiting for Harold Washington’s funeral procession is intercut with scenes from Chicago’s City Hall, where David Orr is acting Mayor of Chicago. Cars driving. Fast cuts between footage of crowds of people in the city. Harold Washington banner and bust. People buy photos of Harold Washington. Throngs of Chicagoans line the street to watch the funeral procession, armed with many posters and pins. Audio cuts in and out at various times. Bag pipes playing on the street. Cut inside to the funeral proceedings.
Subjects: Funeral rites and ceremonies; Politicians; Death
Places: North America > United States > Illinois > Chicago
Film notes: This 16mm preservation print was made from the Super-8 original in 2024, thanks to a Basic Preservation Grant from the National Film Preservation Foundation.
Cfa elements: Preservation print, 582 feet
Cfa records: https://collections.chicagofilmarchives.org/Detail/objects/41114
Sources
- Chicago Film Archives · record ↗ — title, year, creator, format, color, sound, genre, description, credits, catalog record, video
Record added 2026-11-08 21:25:08