Hunting Down Charlie Dunn Bootmaking Videos

General
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I ran into a reference sometime back of their being a videotaped series showing Charlie Dunn making cowboy boots in Austin, Texas:

Charlie Dunn: At Last
Director: Gordon Thomas
Third Coast Video
1983

However, I’ve been stumped trying to find a copy, or even a solid lead to one.

Third Coast Video

Best I’ve been able to piece together, Third Coast Video was a local video production shop in Austin. This page about the advisory board of a Dallas arts charity includes a bio of one Scott Hadden:

Scott Hadden has been a force in the Texas film/video industry for many years. After graduating from UT Austin in 1975, Hadden worked at KERA-TV on Austin City Limits, then at 36 NBC-TV, before helping to build Third Coast Video in Austin. Moving to Dallas in 1981, he directed the Roger Staubach Cowboy Football Show for Channel 21 Productions. In 1983, along with partner Joe Manganello, he formed HaddenManganello& Associates and brought “Entertrainment” to corporate communications. In 1990 as VP of Development & Production for Lessonware, Hadden led the team producing the Study Game, a series of educational programs blending the motivation of big name athletes (Magic Johnson to Chris Evert), the experience of celebrity academics (Dr. Bob Ballard to George Plimpton), and good common-sense study skills. Hadden’s current company Film & Video Direction, formed in 1993, specializes in corporate communications and TV commercials. FVD has produced training and/or marketing videos for companies such as Mary Kay, Texas Instruments and Nortel. Hadden is twice past-President of the Dallas Producers Association and was on the Board of Directors from 1987-2008. He has also served on the board of the DFW Regional Film Commission and the Dallas Communication Council.

Scott’s LinkedIn profile has links to https://www.filmvideodirection.com, but that site seems to have been given up, now replaced by ads in Chinese.

Local Libraries

The Briscoe Center for American History at the University of Texas at Austin has a box of Charlie Dunn materials in its catalog:

https://search.lib.utexas.edu/permalink/01UTAU_INST/9e1640/alma991031719159706011

Tantalizingly, the catalog description mentions a videotape:

Composed of correspondence, newspaper and magazine clippings, plans, certificates, photographs, a report, and a videocassette tape, the Charlie Dunn Collection, [ca. 1970-1985], documents Dunn’s career as a bootmaker in Austin, Texas.

The center offers duplication services: $30 per hour of video, plus $15 fee for individuals. But there’s no hint of what may be on that videotape, or how long it might run. The center also provides a list of proxy researchers, but the job of pulling the box and reading any label on the tape probably isn’t worth their while, or the money they’d have to charge for the time.

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I’d certainly be down to pay for the duplication service if that’d help, although who knows Lee Miller might have a copy?

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I sent a snail-mail thank-you note to Lee for all the work on his video teaching, but don’t have an e-mail address. If you’re in touch, by all means ask!

I ran down where I saw that video referenced. It was on Charlie Dunn’s Wikipedia page, which by the way is a fun, hagiographic hoot that I am in no hurry to flag for objectivity. The quote:

In 1983 Charlie recorded a video showing the making of his kind of boot, explaining the process step-by-step. He shows the skiving, stitching, last-preparing, toe-boxing, and other features that make boots by him or those he taught so prized.[62].

The original reference:

Charlie Dunn: At Last, D: Gordon Thomas, Third Coast Video (1983).

Per WikiBlame, the revision adding that texty to the entry was this one.

At the same time, I wouldn’t start a race to throw $45 at that library, unless seeing whatever’s on a tape in a library box with Charlie’s name on it might interest you that much. I have absolutely no evidence to suggest that tape is the Third Coast recording, or even that the Third Coast Recording exists. It’s just the only other mention of a tape and Charlie Dunn’s name in one place that I’ve been able to find online.

I wouldn’t be surprised if Lee or folks he knows took that stuff to the Briscoe Center or another part of the UT library system after Charlie passed.

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Sure i can send him a message on instagram, i messaged him about something once and he responded.
I vaguely remember that maybe the author of the wiki page was either the author of the shoptalk profile or mentioned in it

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Here, from the shoptalk article

The excellent Wikipedia entry on Dunn, written by former UT professor Richard Ribb, includes a ribald rule Charlie applied to hides.

Steve Wiener produced a 1983 DVD of Charlie detailing his bootmaking methods. Available from Texas Traditions, the video includes Lee Miller and other apprentices in action, and Jerry Jeff warbles his musical tribute to the man dubbed the “Michelangelo of cowboy boots” by Travel and Leisure magazine.

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Meant to update. Despite all the sleuthing turns out you can just email carrlyn miller at texastraditions@mac.com and she’ll mail you a DVD for thirty something dollars

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Want to split the cost?

I wouldn’t assume it’s alright to be sharing it online.

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That’s ok, i assume sharing with one person is alright. I just gotta find a dvd player ha! I’m gonna pick it up along with some second hand TT boots when i go visit in November. If you wanna split the cost of those however id be up for keeping one foot each :laughing:

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I’m good on boots, thanks!

Might see if they want help digitizing the video and putting it up for rent on Vimeo or YouTube. Might make a bit more money on it, with less hassle.

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Good idea actually i bet there are more than just us who think there’s no way to find a copy

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