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This 209-page book by Howard Mandelbaum and Eric Myers is a sequel to
their previous book Screen. Deco In this 1989 book, all of the 218
illustrations are in black and white, a bow to the time when the standard
studio publicity release was an 8 x 10 glossy. With the exception of
complex expensive Technicolor and Kodachrome systems, color movie films
until well into the 1960’s were of such poor archival quality that color
movies of that era are now lost forever. |
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As early as page 8, the authors declare Art Deco passé, quoting a interior
design publication of 1947, “The first Modern furniture to appear in the
United States made such a complete disavowal of the past, was so utterly
unlike anything we had seen before, that is was not acceptable…a gawky
infant, precocious and over-startling. (2)…’ Though Art Deco touches
persisted after the early 40’s in autos, kitchen appliances or isolated
architectural examples, art critics from New York to Hollywood had turned
their backs on it. |
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The
Art Deco style developed because the social, political and historical upheaval
at the end of WW I eclipsed even the French Revolution in implication for the
future. Art Deco burst forth after World War I with that abrupt break from the
old ways, radiating from a naughty and rambunctious Paris, France, the City of
Light. The infusion of newness, Art Deco, was as profound as it was vulnerable. |
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Vulnerable because at its core it was founded by a society entering a bright
modern world, free of the scourge of war. Art Deco declined first in Europe,
and then, after the 1939-40 World’s Fair in the US, when WW II had begun, it
(Art Deco) ended hope too. |
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The
movie moguls and closed-contract studio entities, of the ‘40s scrambled to meet
the violent changes of their times by either refining successful formulas of
past days such as Warner Bros’ Humphrey Bogart and Lauren Bacall pictures or big
studio musicals, or by seizing on styling boomlets that had been abandoned and
updating them, such as science fiction and ‘heaven’ pictures. |
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Mandelbaum and Myers name this widely eclectic style “High Pastiche” and
suggest it is the blend of motifs and design factors that the movies elaborated
into the architecture of dreams. |
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Six
major categories or elements of High Pastiche are given in the introductory
chapter: |
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1.
Early
American settings
inspired by the Williamsburg, VA colonial restoration of 1937. This is
illustrated in the Astaire-Rogers musical Carefree (1938), which signaled
the end of the series’ Streamline Moderne look. |
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2.
Victorian styles and themes
were seen in movies such as in Gaslight (1944), The Picture of Dorian
Gray (1945) and The Adventures of Mark Twain (1944). A great
number of films set around the turn of the century. |
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3.
Tropical,
sometimes called Tropical Deco because of its carryover from pictures of the Art
Deco period, was seen in the movies
Down
Argentine Way
(1940)
and. Moon Over
Miami
(1941),
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4.
Surrealist Worlds
showed
how fantasy crossed into delightful silliness, Dali-esque limp
pocketwatches, and lobster claw telephones, and sexual symbolism were seen in
films such as Busby Berkeley’s The Gang’s All Here (1943) with Carmen
Miranda, in Technicolor and Spellbound (1945). Carmen Miranda can best be
remembered for wearing her gigantic fruit hat for her “Lady in the Tutti-Frutti
Hat” number. Many surrealistic touches were used to accent sophisticated
interior designs. |
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5.
Contemporary settings,
seen in Returning GI movies often showed moderately prices single family
homes; the precursor to Suburbia that soon modified American culture away from
the old limits of having to choose between city or country. In commercial
architecture the modern American office high rise (L. Mier van der Robe, others)
comes of age. Fountainhead (1949) with Gary Cooper and architecture
inspired by Frank Lloyd Wright is mentioned. |
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6.
Period
Revivalism (or Neo-Baroque)
was an
intentionally anachronistic style, mixing Classical Greek with swirling drapery,
Victorian bric-a-brac, and Chinese elements. The authors discuss “Historic Chic”
and the work of Elsie de Wolfe, who is credited with launching Period
Revivalism. In1937. Syrie Maugham, her rival, designed sets in varying shades
of white. A Louis XVI Period Revival championed by Elsie de Wolfe was seen in
Mazie Goes to
Reno
(1944)
Ann Southern. |
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This
section of the book concludes with: “High Pastiche sucked in style elements like
a vacuum cleaner. In movies of the forties, there were always decorative
surprises. Would settings be homespun, elegant or flamboyant? Whatever they
were, they certainly reflected the tastes and dreams of a society shaped by war
and its aftermath.” |
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Living
in a Big Way'
explains
that the extrovertly showy sets as we saw in Top Hat (1935) are no longer
‘in’. “Rich is never having to buy slipcovers.” This chapter expands upon the
Contemporary elements while admitting that Hollywood will be Hollywood so that
where extravagance creeps into movie set, it is subdued, more believable than in
Art Deco sets. Mildred Pierce (1945) with Joan Crawford, and Sentimental
Journey (1946) are good examples, as is. Mr. Blanding Builds His Dream House
(1948). All of the movies have an upper middle class feel to them, an
achievable standard for many.
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Manpower
discusses wartime issues with some remarkable stills from anti-Nazi films 1939
to 1944, Escape (1940) with Robert Taylor at Gestapo Headquarters is
shown anxiously awaiting interrogation in a set by master designer Cedric
Gibbons. The clean white walls, modern indirect lighting, and immaculately
uniformed armed guards contrast with a shabby looking bare wooden bench where
Taylor and another prisoner await their fate. |
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On the
Town
touches upon the influences nightclubs in the films of the time. Who wouldn’t
like to own and manage Rick’s Café American or even the rival Blue Parrot? With
plenty of defense plant money and military pay but no TV or gasoline or new car,
nightclubs flourished as never before or since the 1940s. Ciros, El Morocco,
Stork Club, 21, and the Rainbow Room evokes memories of the liveliest social
activity of the period. Closely related hotel rooftop clubs and ballrooms were
venues for big bands of the swing era.
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Where
Do We Go From Here?
reminds us of the wonderful railroad system Americans once enjoyed, before cheap
and safe jet airlines were developed for longer trips or Interstate highway
systems were developed for shorter distance motor trips. Both trains and ocean
liners made great ‘location’ sets for romantic adventure or sinister mystery.
Suspicion (1941) with Cary Grant and Joan Fontaine plus I’ll be Seeing
You (1944) with Joseph Cotton and Ginger Rodgers are two of the better
remembered movies that incorporated train travel as plot vehicles.
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The
authors touch briefly on the treatment of the ‘40s revision of the’30s style
musicals, surrealism (and exotic location movies like Ali Baba and the
Forty Thieves (1944) with Maria Montez and Sinbad the Sailor (1947)
with Douglas Fairbanks Jr. and Maureen O’Hara. Great stills highlight both.
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Mandelbaum and Myers save the best for last. The concluding chapter Bring on
the Girls is a collection of stills of the female movie stars of the era.
Rita Hayworth, Esther Williams, and Betty Grable were just a few of a bevy of
American beauties who reminded GIs why they were fighting and who was waiting
for them back home. Over 25 pages of photos give one a clear feeling of the
style of the time.
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Screen Deco and
Forties
Screen Style
together provide us with
a glimpse of Hollywood and also a feeling of what life was like, both in reality
and fantasy. This remains true today in our films.
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