Here it is, Richard Gilbert’s 2nd installment
Buffalo Central Terminal September 1992 pt 2 of 2: Franczyk/Telesco Confrontation from Richard Gilbert on Vimeo.
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yeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeess !! I havent even watched it yet ….
Man Dave sure gave to Telesco. I can’t believe that Telesco didn’t care about this great building. I heard if Telesco came back to Buffalo he could get arrested for someting unpaid with the building. I know that some of the CTRC volunteers would love to scream at him for what he did.
scream at him ? id rather beat him with a piece of broken marble till he remembered who he sold everything to.
Canig (sp?) mentions salt lake city and England, what fixtures wound up there ?
i would love to get rolling on reproducing the light fixtures.
I tracked down the lights as much as I could through the local dealer Telesco sold them all to. They are all out of the area, the closest one is in Toronto at the Navarro Gallery on King St. It is not in the best shape but glass can easily be replaced. I believe the price tag last time I was there was $7000 and as of September, he still had it. It’d be a bargain if the exchange rate was better
2 – 7-footers are on a yacht that is based in south africa. 2 3-footers were sold through Christies auction house last year. 2 lobby sconces are/were for sale at a store in London last year, I had a friend stop in to check them out for me. Several others were sold to hollywood movie companies and can be seen in The Secret of My Success with Michael J Fox but we recently found out those were lost in a fire a few years ago.
David Franczyk is now my hero! I gotta shake that mans hand next time I see him and to anyone who called Telesco out on what he did to the building.
…just finished watching it and that is incredible to catch all that on film!
which ones were in “the secret of my success”? im guessing either the 27″ sconces from the main concourse or the slightly shorter versions that were in the train concourse. Anyone that wonders what i mean by that, the train concourse sconces are the framed glass section of the 27″ units, but dont have the vertical section below it, and their bases are angled instead of flat.
Im incredibly curious about the trolley lobby chandelier, trolley lobby wall sconces, bathroom wall sconces, restaurant wall sconces, and train concourse chandelier,
i hink Marty said we have one small wall sconce that might have went in the bathrooms someplace, and i assume the “lobby sconces” you mentioned are the ones Marty showed me pics of that the guys @ Gomack are working on
Oh yea, Sara, when you get a chance can i get the measurements for the 27″ sconces again, along w/ the measurements for the 7 footers ?
Lowrollerchevy@aol.com
I spoke with David at Mike Miller’s funeral, Scott Field was with him. David told me how he and Telesco got into it, and how Telesco physically threw him out of the building, grabbing his arm and telling him ‘get out, you’re on private property’. David’s the one guy in the city of Buffalo government that has always stood up for the terminal, through good and bad, and probably one of the best friends the terminal has had over the years. I have the highest respect for him. As for Telesco, he truly was, in David’s words, ‘The Great Satan’ for what he did to the terminal! (What goes around will someday eventually come around, for Telesco, that is!)
Yea I have a lot of respect for Dave as well. Anyone who can tell off Telesco on how he destroyed the building is a cool guy in my book.
FIGHT THE POWER DAVE!
Uhhh, Ozzy and Nick, if Telesco ever came back to Buffalo I think there are a lot of us here that would like to see him drawn and quartered! Crucifying him publicly is much too humane!
He’s wearing a “Raiders” jacket, how apt.
This is him now if you are curious:
http://www.telescoassociates.com/telesco_team.html
Here it lists his awards as including “Charter Class of Leadership Buffalo” and a
“Historic Preservation award”:
http://www.linkedin.com/pub/thomas-telesco/a/381/60
Wonder if the folks in South Beach care that he is a 2-bit vandal.
Interestingly, this profile of Telesco also brags that he “Owned the New York Central Railroad Terminal in Buffalo NY, a 400,000 sq. ft. National Historical Landmark.” It doesn’t mention that he desecrated that landmark:
http://www.linkedin.com/pub/thomas-telesco/a/381/60
Like the John Conlee song ‘Rose Colored Glasses’ says, ‘they only see the beauty, but they hide all the truth’. That is definitely something to be ashamed of!
I watched it and it is pretty sickening to me. And then you go to his website where it looks like he is pretty successful down in the miami area. He is probably making a pretty penny. Not sure if he checks this site or not, but it looks to me that he could make a nice donation to the CTRC for their efforts. It still amazes me how people get away with things like this in Buffalo like Telesco did.
I have not seen the Secret of my Success but I was told the 7″ lights were in it.
I will send the dimensions soon… I am not on my desktop computer often in the winter because it is too cold in my basement
Keep reminding me.
The restaurant sconces were not very decorative, I think I have a photo of one actually, I’ll look. No clue on the trolley lobby lights. As Nick mentioned, we have one light, I forget where it came from – Ben might remember – which we are assuming was from the waiting room bathroom area.
I think the one for sale in Toronto was a train concourse version.
He never did (and probably still doesn’t) care about Central Terminal. To him it was merely a tax write-off and a source of collectibles to make a quick buck off of. He did not have a vested interest in the Buffalo area’s history, and the sites that gave Buffalo its character. He simply saw ownership of the terminal as a convenient means of increasing his own wealth, while pillaging it and letting it fall apart. It’ll be a very cold day in Hell before the CTRC sees even a penny coming from him! (Unless, of course, he did it only for the tax deduction.)
BTW Sara, do you know offhand, or could you find out just how many of the lights used in the film were lost in the fire? My guess is that none of them were salvageable, and they were all completely destroyed. Bummer!
well why did the City of Buffalo auction it off, i think it was a few times they did that correct? You had to know this was going to happen eventually but at the same time i don’t think the city had a choice at that time to auction off the Terminal…
where the 7 inch sconce came from should be easy, the womens room and mens room sconces were both triangular, but im pretty sure the mens room ones are taller.
My pic of the mens room shows “sconce marks” that are taller then they are wide, and im pretty sure the womens room lights where much closer to equal height and width
found “the secret of my success” on the web, sometimes i love peoples lack of respect for copyright laws
of course its gonna take all night to load fully, but oh well. I’ll report if i find anything or not
I have no idea how many lights were sold to hollywood, or how many they had and lost in the fire. I don’t know who would know that info either, sorry.
Just finished watching “The secret of my success” and i didn’t see anything that appears to be from the terminal. In fact theres really no scenes in the movie that are both well decorated AND used often.
The high end restaurant is only used in one scene as is probably a rental, and the same goes for the estate.
The restaraunt is lit with shorty antique street lights and various hanging lights, the estate is lit with hanging chandaliers, vase style table lamps, and various wall sconces that are obviously designed to mount to a standard electrical box, just like the lights on either side of your garage door.
the rest of the movie is crappy 80′s office decor, a slum apartment, various real locations around nyc.
Sorry folks, didn’t gain any new details about our missing stuff from this movie .
According to the FAQ section of this site: “Our lights have also appeared in the movies “The Hardway”, “For Love or Money”, and “Bullets Over Broadway”.” Unfortunately those movies are terrible as I recall but they may provide you with leads if you can stomach 6+ hours of 1980s dreck.
I was curious and found this on youtube, 13 seconds in to this trailer you will see what looks lamps from the terminal:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I1alCEbBPQQ
Are those the 6′ ones? they seems smaller.
Here’s a pic from that clip…
http://i686.photobucket.com/albums/vv223/terminalfan/Untitled.jpg
Still curious, so here’s more I believe, starting 1:45 in to this section of “For Love or Money”:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ABWNUswLtwE&feature=related
I skimmed through the whole movie (it is fast on the internet) and this is all I found.
Here’s some pics from that clip…
http://i686.photobucket.com/albums/vv223/terminalfan/01-2.jpg
http://i686.photobucket.com/albums/vv223/terminalfan/02.jpg
http://i686.photobucket.com/albums/vv223/terminalfan/03.jpg
http://i686.photobucket.com/albums/vv223/terminalfan/04.jpg
4:37 in to this section of “The Hard Way” (the only scenes with the lamps in this awful movie):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V7EO9DoDrGY&feature=related
Perhaps the person who told me confused one Michael J Fox movie for another, and the Secret of My Success doesn’t have them – sorry you had to suffer through that hahah. But good detective work guys!
I don’t believe there were 6′ lights, only 3′ and 7′, the shot just appears to have cut off the tops of them.
Wait are ALL these movies with Michael J Fox?!?
“Bullets over Broadway” doesn’t have Michael J. Fox, I have never seen it but it might actually be good, Woody Allen directed it and it won an Oscar. I couldn’t find it on the net other than a trailer but it might actually be worth renting. All these movies are from the 1992-4 time period, I wonder if anyone has seen the lamps in anything newer.
I’ll bet you guys have tried coaxing them into giving the lamps back (in exchange for good pub or the withholding of bad pub) so I won’t bother asking. The Michael J Fox films are both NBC Universal, and the Woody Allen film is Mirimax, which is Disney.
Here’s some pics from “The Hard Way”…
http://i686.photobucket.com/albums/vv223/terminalfan/139-1.jpg
http://i686.photobucket.com/albums/vv223/terminalfan/140.jpg
http://i686.photobucket.com/albums/vv223/terminalfan/141.jpg
The secret of my success isnt that bad, at least its got an original plot line.
One thing i am wondering though is if the 7′ lights were / are owned by a PRODUCTION company or a PROP company. The credits to any of those movies might be ANOTHER good place to look for information.
maybe if someone wants to look at what companies produced all of the movies the lights are in, and trace back which production companies are related to which that might help also.
and the small lights are 27″ and the big ones, based on my measurements from the terminal, are right about 7′
Here’s some pics from “The Hard Way”
http://i686.photobucket.com/albums/vv223/terminalfan/139.jpg
http://i686.photobucket.com/albums/vv223/terminalfan/141.jpg
http://i686.photobucket.com/albums/vv223/terminalfan/140.jpg
Are these:
http://i686.photobucket.com/albums/vv223/terminalfan/02.jpg
one of these?:
http://buffalocentralterminal.org/pics/album/72157605312119556/photo/2533410232/the-1970s-weterminal09.html
The ones in the film somehow look thinner.
I heard a rumor that someone had saved the lights from the train concourse that was dismantled. It would only make sense too that you wouldn’t destroy priceless lights or even the chalkboard so I’m betting that someone had to have saved them. The square lights from the train concourse are the same that outlined the concourse. If we could look into this rumor we could easily reproduce the 18 we would need for the concourse.
The lights from the train concourse… http://i686.photobucket.com/albums/vv223/terminalfan/Untitled-1.jpg
The lights from the main concourse… http://i686.photobucket.com/albums/vv223/terminalfan/463.jpg
I don’t think there is much point in tracking down the production companies, or asking for them to be returned, since they burned up….
When the train concourse was severed from the rest of the building, those fixtures were sold as well. That is how one of them ended up in Toronto.
So they were sold by Fedele? right? I overheard Mark talking to some rail buff about having one of those fixtures but maybe I was mistaken. I even heard a rumor that some guys who were allowed to play hockey in the waiting room were given a light fixture by the owner and it was one of the 7′ from the concourse but that of course turned out to be false.
Wow, thanks for the train concourse and main concourse photos, Mr. Vester: Those are the first I had seen of those. Close up, too, the main concourse ones seem to have been taken from a scaffold.
No it wasn’t on a scaffold as far as I now, just zoomed into the lights on the concourse. I believe I got that one from the CTRC’s facebook page. lol
Nick I think I found a photo of what kind of light use to be in the trolley lobby. Or at least something similar. The light they used in the train concourse just before the bridge over the tracks right up in the ceiling before the cinder block wall. The photo I have isn’t the best but I think there the same. Hopefully you haven’t made this obvious assumption by now. lol
Here’s the outline of the light in the trolley lobby…
http://i686.photobucket.com/albums/vv223/terminalfan/DSCN5837.jpg
And here’s what light may have been there…
http://i686.photobucket.com/albums/vv223/terminalfan/01-3.jpg
I wonder if the story of the lamps “burning up” isn’t a throwaway excuse like “the dog ate my homework”. I’ll bet they were borrowed from the “owners” on the condition that no one ever know their identity. I have heard stories of people watching films and jumping up and screaming when seeing pieces of art that they grew up with in their homes but were looted during WWII. Ms. Etten has mentioned here that art dealers are “dodgy” about telling where the lamps ended up (they would lose business if their customers were hounded to give back their decorations). I’ll bet the same phenomenon would go on with these “property masters”: if they talk it will be harder for them to do their jobs. BTW I am poking around in films by the same art directors/ property masters or whatever their titles are to see if I can’t come across more recent views of the lamps.
Nate, when Fedele left he took pics of everything still intact. Fedele would NOT have given away such a major piece of the terminal to anyone.
all the lights came up missing AFTER Fedele left the building.
one interesting thing i HAVE noticed that Fedele did ….he turned the buffalo statue around so it faced the exit lobby, lol
Sorry guys but Fedele was responsible for selling the lights from the train concourse when it was severed. I talked to people who bought them directly from him. I don’t blame him either, why leave these fixtures in a building that was going to be completely open to the elements and thieves? He left everything in the concourse intact, as we know.
The hollywood fire, while I don’t know which production company it was (I want to say Paramount), is very well known. I don’t think it’s a “dog ate my homework” excuse…they were stored with the rest of the companies props which all went up in flames. Investigate if you want, I just think it will be fruitless.
Yeah, I see no point in repeating the legwork you guys have already done (I found the fire in about 3 seconds on the net, it was at Universal last June). It probably is everyone’s dream that one or more of them will be found forgotten in some warehouse somewhere. I think the only practical alternative for the big lamps is Nick’s idea of just crafting new ones. I am a bit surprised that the square lights from the concourses are in demand for collectors, I don’t know where you would put those in your house.
BTW I just received my February 2010 issue of “Trains” magazine and on page 62 there is a photo of BCT taken in December 2007 during a snowstorm. The caption says the building looks “so bleak, yet so proud.”
The November 2008 issue of Trains Magazine also featured a short story and a photo of the building…
http://i686.photobucket.com/albums/vv223/terminalfan/scan0001-1.jpg
…I can’t wait to go get that new issue now!
Ill be looking at that issue at Tops to come in soon, can’t wait to see it!