csus grant funds film project

Wed., Jul 29

Derek Taylor (pictured at right) and Michael Bay (pictured below, on left), both assistant professors of communication, recently gained considerable media attention in central New York state with their documentary film project about a notorious murder that occurred there in 1906. The project is funded by a Connecticut State University Research Grant. Taylor and Bay are working on the film along with two communication students, Jason Forsyth and Alex Frank.

The 1906 murder of Grace Brown by Chester Gillette in Herkimer, N.Y., inspired at least two well-known versions of the story: Theodore Dreiser's novel An American Tragedy and the 1951 film A Place in The Sun, starring Montgomery Clift, Elizabeth Taylor, and Shelley Winters. Taylor and Bay's documentary looks at the various sides of a complicated set of events, which included Gillette's declaration of innocence in Brown's death, a highly publicized murder trial, and Gillette's subsequent execution.

The extensive media coverage Taylor and Bay have received -- accessible through the links below -- was prompted by the historical re-enactments being filmed.

Herkimer Evening Telegram: "Making of A Documentary"

WKTV: "Infamous 1906 Local Murder Case the Subject of New Documentary"

Utica Observer Dispatch: "Documentary Filmed in Central New York"