Issue link: http://digital.copcomm.com/i/686925
14 P E R S P E C T I V E | J U LY / AU G U S T 2 0 1 6 news R.L. GROSH & SONS Michael Baugh, Editor R.L. Grosh & Sons Scenic Studio has been in their same location on Sunset Boulevard for more than eighty years. It was founded in 1932 by Robert Louis Grosh, born in 1891 in Columbus, Ohio, where he grew up, working first in vaudeville theaters as an assistant and a curtain boy. When he was sixteen, he got a job at the famous M. Armbruster & Sons Scenic Studio, at that time, the largest scenic design studio in the United States, as an assistant to the Scenic Artist. He performed various duties while learning the intricacies of scenic design and set construction, eventually earning his journeymen status professionally. In those days, it was necessary for an artist to mix his own paints, which he did by heating the glue on the home stove when working on extra projects, evenings and weekends. He would often set up frames in his garage and paint scenes for road shows and conventions. In 1915, he married and started a family. Over the years, the couple raised four sons, who would eventually join the family business. Mr. Grosh worked at Armbruster's studio until 1926, when the owner of Los Angeles Scenic Studio offered him a five-year contract. Accepting the contract would mean moving to California, so he and his family embarked on their journey to Los Angeles. Mr. Grosh served his contract as the Vice President of Los Angeles Scenic Studio, and in 1932, started his own business, R.L. Grosh & Sons Scenic Studio, at 4114 Sunset Boulevard in Hollywood. He was an accomplished artisan, painting backdrops and scenes for stage as well as nightclubs, restaurants, shows and conventions. Technological advancements in film, coupled with Americans' increased personal income and leisure time, fueled the fervor in Hollywood. The rising popularity of movies in the 1930s impacted both audiences and the entertainment business. Eight major American studios dominated the film industry throughout the world—MGM, Warner Bros., Paramount, United Artists, Universal Film Manufacturing Co., 20th Century Fox, RKO and Columbia. R.L. Grosh & Sons worked with them all. To this day, the company still paints custom drops on the six high-ceiling paint frames that allow the backdrops to be lowered by a counterweight down two flights through openings in the floor. The rental division handles draperies and rigging, in addition to painted drops, and they seem on track to thrive for at least another eighty years. Mary Pickford poses for a publicity still as Lady Godiva on horseback in front of a painted backdrop from the silent era.