Biography Winning Academy Award for His Promotional Purposes
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Saul Bass was a prominent worked as a freelancer for se- American graphic designer veral advertising companies and of the twentieth-century. He agencies, including the illustrious largely designed motion pictu- Warner Bros. re title sequences, corporate He moved to Los Angeles, where logos and movie posters. He he pursued graphic designing as was a pioneer of the modern a commercial artist. title sequence designing. He During 1940’s he took up some enjoyed four decades of suc- Hollywood projects, which cessful career in his lifetime, involved the print work for biography winning Academy Award for his promotional purposes. In fact, exquisite graphic designing. His he started up his own practice iconic title sequences appeared in 1952 and a few years later in the popular films, such as, established his private firm as The Man with the Golden Arm, Saul Bass & Associates. In 1954, Psycho and North by Northwest. Bass finally had his big break as On May 8, 1920, in Bronx, New he was York, Saul Bass was born in the offered a job by the filmmaker household of Eastern European Otto Preminger to design a po- Jewish immigrants. He attended ster for Carmen Jones. the James Monroe High Scho- His work left a remarkable ol from where he earned his impression on Preminger, who graduation. In 1936, he received availed his expertise yet again a fellowship to the Art Students for his film’s title sequence. League in Manhattan. He then With the opportunity, came the went on to study at Brooklyn realization that the title College, attending night classes sequence can not only be served with a famous Hungarian-born as mere static credits but it can designer, György Kepes. Upon enhance the watching completion of his studies, he experience of the audience.1 “What can I tell you? I love the lady. I love her for who she is, and I love her for what she does. When your wife is very talented, very smart and very sen- sitive to the nature of such a relationship, it’s very easy… I’m lucky in more ways than one.” Saul Bass, in Pat Kirkham, Jennifer Bass, Saul Bass: A Life in Film & Design, London, Lurence King Publishing, 2011, p. 382 Elaine worked for 40 years and drawing them, frame alongside Saul Bass, a graphic by frame, on the sidewalk to designer, title designer, and entertain the other children in filmmaker whom she married in the neighbourhood. Her talents 1961. Together, they developed won her admission to the New many projects for directors such York High School of music and as Martin Scorsese and Danny art at the age of twelve, but DeVito. She is one of the main she was unable to attend due designers who helped to ele- to the difficulty of combinating vate the short film and the title her school schedule with that of sequence to an art form. singing professionally with her Seven years younger than Saul, sisters. Similar to the Andrews Elaine’s route to working in Sisters, they san gas the Belmont design and film was even more Sisters (their agent felt “Makatu- circuitous than his. The youn- ra” sounded too ethnic). gest child of Hungarian immi- The group began in vaudeville grants, she come from larger, when Elaine was twelve. She poorer, but more musical New was lead singer and soloist, and York family than Saul. Like him, recordings made when she was she showed early promise at fourteen to eighteen reveal a art and exercised her cinematic surprisingly mature voice singing How Elaine Makatura Makatura Elaine How Bass Elaine become imagination by creating stories swing with touches of Billie. 3 Elaine Bass, in Pat Kirkham, Jennifer Bass, Saul Bass: A Life in Film & Design, London, Lurence King Publishing, 2011, p. 22 During World War II, the group sang in service clubs and enjoyed a regular radio spot, but soon after the war ended the older sisters left to get married. Elaine recalled: “I was eighteen years old and I had lost what I had been doing professiona- lly for six years. I would have loved to continue but was far too shy to sing on my own. I loved music and art but had no clear plan for my future”. Elaine went to work in the New York ready-to-wear fashion industry, producing fashion renderings and sket- ches and working up design ideas for several fashion houses. She first moved to Los Angeles in 1947, setting there permanently in 1954. Soon thereafter she found a job in the design department at Capitol Records. She reca- lled: “after about a year I was looking for something more challenging when someone told me that Saul bass was looking for an assistant. I had enjoyed the credits for The Seven Year Itch much but the name ‘Saul bass’ didn’t mean anything to me.” ELAINE 5 Once in the office, Elaine found herself developing skills and interests that had lain dormant as well as ones she didn’t know she possessed: “I knew I could draw well but never thought that I could contribute to make film titles or short films. The more my ideas were appreciated by Saul and others, and the more they worked out in practice, the more confident I became about putting them forward” By 1959 Saul was delegating important tasks to elain. When he attended the Word Design Conference in Japan in 1960, for example, Elaine was left in char- ge of producing and directing the Spartacus title sequence. The following year, she and Saul were married. After the birth of their children, Jennifer in 1964 and Jeffry in 1967, she con- centrated on motherhood and filmmaking – short film as well as title sequences. Elaine and Saul, in Pat Kirkham, Jennifer Bass, Saul Bass: A Life in Film & Design, London, 6 Lurence King Publishing, 2011, p. 230 Many people saw Saul and Elaine as soulmates. At first one noticed the differences between them, but the way they com- plemented each other and the balance of their personal and professional relationships soon became apparent. Their close- ness was rooted in similarities and shared interests as well as the joining of yin and yang. She was soft-spoken, serene, more retiring and happiest out of the public arena; he was voluble, energetic and gregarious, with a strong, passionate voice and hugely expressive gestures. Yet when they first met they already shared an intellectual intensity, similar aesthetic sensibilities and views about art and design. Each was extremely disciplined, with a profound respect for hard work, and at the centre was the excitement of creativity and thrill of working together. Indeed, throughout and behind the work, theirs was a great love story. (2) Elaine and Saul, in Pat Kirkham, Jennifer Bass, Saul Bass: A Life in Film & Design, London, Lurence King Publishing, 2011, p. 23 7 Saul and Elaine began to make short films in the early 1960s. For almost a decade, they had been creating titles and internal sequences for some of the most creative directors in the film indus- try. While each movie had presented different problems to solve, one condition had remained constant – the movie belonged to someone else. Their next step as filmmakers was to strike out their own.(3) It would be difficult to image a closer collaboration than the work Saul and Elaine did together on the short films. While their official credits shifted from film to film, their partnership was so reciprocal that the fil should be considered joint work. Discussing their filmmaking, Elaine stated: “One of the wonderful things about working together is that there is no conflict because we are both totally A creative partnership creative A committed to the project. Like parents to a chills, you both want the best for the project. Working as a dup, you sha- re the good and the bad.” Saul and Elaine at work, in Pat Kirkham, Jennifer Bass, Saul Bass: A Life in Film & Design, London, Lurence King Publishing, 2011, p. 297 London, Lurence King Publishing, 2011, p. 257 p. 2011, Publishing, King Lurence London, Saul Bass: A Life in Film & Design, & Film in Life A Bass: Saul With his larger personality, Saul tinued to collaborate on every took more active role in fin- project. In fact, the short films ding projects and pushing them offered the couple more flexibi- forward, but thereafter their lity than was possible with the roles were fluid and depended high-profile corporate design on their schedules. Elaine often project that the Bass office took directed individual sequen- on in this period. Both Elaine ces when Saul was away, and and Saul had workspaces at participated as equal partner in home and equipped the office Bass, Jennifer Kirkham, Pat in family, his and Saul the tasks of producing, writing, with playpens and high chairs cinematography and editing. when the children were small. Elaine had a knack for finding Later, they were allowed to play simple solutions to daunting freely in the studio, borrowing technical problems and always pushpins and typewriters for played a leading role in choosing their own art projects and the music and working with the making towers and forts out of computer, though Saul often plastic film cores. During filming, provided curious vocal effects Saul and Elaine not only brought like the caveman voices in Why Jennifer and Jeffry to the set, Man Creates (1968). but put them to work in small Even after their children were roles in Notes on the Popular born (Jennifer in 1964 and Jeffry Arts (1977), The Solar Film in 1967), Elaine and Saul con- (1980) and Quest (1983).