Sisters #1
Content note: the dialogue on this tape contains racial slurs.
These tapes were created for an assignment in a documentary filmmaking class at Governor's State University taught by Marian Marzyński; McNaughton and his classmates were assigned to make a piece about their own families. Jean de Segonzac was Marzyński's teaching assistant and later became a professional collaborator with McNaughton.
The first tape, "Sisters #1," depicts Tillie receiving her sisters and their husbands at her home. They speak freely to their nephew John McNaughton, who is outside of the frame directing the shoot. As they wait for dinner in the living room and kitchen, the atmosphere is casual and conversation is dense. They smoke cigarettes and chat about many subjects: leaf removal, relations between black and white residents in Chicago's Roseland and West Pullman neighborhoods (where the family once lived), Ronald Reagan and Jimmy Carter, issues with health and money, and the Catholic mass earlier that day. Jack McNaughton carves a ham with an electric carving knife.
At around 00:24:00 on the "Sisters #1" tape, the group moves into the dining room, where the table is set. Bill Weglarz says grace and the meal is served. The camera is very present with the meal as everyone serves themselves and eats. Conversation in the group continues to be dense throughout the meal, touching on a wide variety of subjects, including: the integration of the Sauganash neighborhood, the possibility of Chicago having a black mayor, development and foreclosures in the West Pullman and Roseland neighborhoods, European travel and relatives in Poland, relationships between the sisters, and stories about children and grandchildren.
The "Sisters #2" tape is shorter and depicts a photographic portrait session after the meal. John McNaughton's friend Bruce Quist is the photographer. Bruce poses the sisters as a group as they talk about what life was like when they were young, and what "liberated" young women are like today. Bruce Quist takes a Polaroid photo to test out the shot, and the sisters look approvingly at the preview. Bruce shifts to taking individual portraits of each sister, as they coach each other on how to pose. At the very end of the tape, the sisters demand that John explain his project to them. He begins to reply: "it's just going to be a documentary about the five sisters —" as the tape ends.
