Wallpaper on the big screenPosted on | January 4, 2009 | 3 Comments Maybe its a consequence of working in the industry, but I can’t seem to watch a movie anymore without noticing the wallpaper in each scene. Of course, sometimes the wallpaper is integral to the scene in which it appears, which is great because then I don’t have to ask my wife “what just happened?”. To me the most memorable in such scenes was the “lickable wallpaper” from the 1971 classic “Willy Wonka & The Chocolate Factory”. Then there are the old classics, like the role that a combination of wallpaper and paste could play in a slapstick comedy. The Marx Brothers, for example, made a comic mess of an already suitably decorated room in the 1937 “Day at the Races”.
Our own patterns have shown up in dozens of movies over the years, one favorite being when Dustin Hoffman, (as Captain Hook) slashed our Victorian fill paper “Roland” while descending Wendy’s staircase in the 1991 movie “Hook”. Laurel at “Finger Lakes Notes” recently cited yet another example of a Bradbury & Bradbury “supporting role” (this time a combination from our “Anglo-Japanese” Roomset). So, do you have any favorite silver screen wall patterns? Category: Events, Misc., Our History, Victorian, Wallpaper Stories
Tags: Anglo-Japanese > Captain Hook > Day at the Races > Finger Lakes Notes > lickable wallpaper > Marx Brothers > Roland > Willy Wonka The art of “Termite Terrace”Posted on | December 27, 2008 | No Comments Yeah, I know, this is a blog that is focused on historic interiors and architecture, so why am I writing about Bugs Bunny, Porky Pig and the rest of the stars of Warner Bros. Animation Studios, (affectionately known as “Termite Terrace”)? Having always been a tremendous fan of the early years of animation I had to catch the exhibit over at the Crocker Art Museum in Sacramento entitled “The Art of Warner Bros. Cartoons“. It’s a rare display of cels, (short for “celluloids” the transparent film that animated drawings were “inked” on to), development drawings, character model sheets (very beautifully drawn), and even some of the great “Looney Tunes” and “Merrie Melodies” themselves playing on monitors throughout the exhibit halls. It was a great treat to see the incredible draftsmanship displayed in many of the animators drawings, particularly those by Robert McKimson, an animator and director who apparently had his visual abilities enhanced after a concussion he suffered from an accident as a young man, (don’t try this at home). I loved watching these animated shorts as a kid (like millions of other people young and old), but it was the first time I had seen such a collection of original work all at one time. If you’re in Sacramento don’t miss this show, Doc! OK, Porky, let’s wrap this post up in the vintage Warner Bros. style… Category: Events, Misc., Products We Like
Tags: animation > Looney Tunes > Merrie Melodies > Termite Terrace > Warner Bros. Studios Wallpaper flashback: Sears, Roebuck, & Co. 1907Posted on | December 16, 2008 | No Comments When you think of wallpaper styles common to the Arts & Crafts era these popular patterns from the 1907 Sears, Roebuck & Co. Wallpaper catalogue might not be the first to come to mind. Almost “hangovers” from the late Victorian era, these profusely patterned paper combinations were really the antithesis of the simplicity and aesthetic repose that the Arts & Crafts reformers were advocating. And yet, thousands of self-respecting American bungalows and “four-squares” as well as other Edwardian vernaculars were ultimately adorned with elaborate “Rococo” ceiling, frieze and wall fill combinations just like these.
Incidentally, it was just one year later that Sears developed their first specialty catalog issued for complete prefabricated houses, the “Book of Modern Homes and Building Plans”, featured 22 styles ranging in price from $650–2,500. Raymond McGrath’s “Aeroplane”Posted on | December 13, 2008 | No Comments
A wonderful example of the clean, streamlined design of the Art Deco era is this pattern by Irish architect Raymond McGrath. This elegant design for a wallpaper was only one element in an entire design scheme presented by McGrath for a house called “Rudderbar”, commissioned by a British female pilot of the 1930’s. Although I haven’t learned as yet why the project was ultimately cancelled, I do know it was extremely unfortunate since the finished product would have been an architectural treasure! It had been conceived as a combination “house and transport hub” having “an aircraft hanger and a garage built alongside domestic quarters surmounted by an observation/control tower”! It was to be built nearby the historic Hanworth Airplane Field, Feltham, Middlesex, England. And all of this in McGrath’s signature Modernist style!! This imaginative pattern, (to which we gave the vintage label “Aeroplane”) existed for over 70 years as a conceptual painting only, until we began to manufacture it as a wallpaper for the very first time in 2005, after having received the kind permission of the architect’s surviving son, photographer Norman McGrath. Category: Art Deco, Wallpaper Stories
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Tags: Aeroplane > Art Deco Wallpaper > Norman McGrath > Raymond McGrath > Rudderbar |
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