Issue link: http://digital.copcomm.com/i/916056
A. Photograph of the back the Catalina Island vista, showing the transluscency used to allow backlighting of the drop. B. THE GLASS BOTTOM BOAT, 1966, Designed by Edward C. Carfagno and George W. Davis. 35-feet x 20-feet. An exterior vista of Avalon on Catalina Island, CA. The drop was painted to be backlit for a nighttime effect and has color gels backing the windows and cellophane in the water ripples for a shimmering effect. This endeavor made possible the hiring of ADG members to assist in the sorting, photographing, transporting and archiving of the backings. Unique among the many treasures now preserved is the "Fit as a Fiddle" Vaudeville drop from Singin' in the Rain (1951), the United Nations lobby backings from North by Northwest (1958) and many recreations of Italian frescos, including Michelangelo's The Last Judgment, painted for the Sistine Chapel set built on an MGM stage for The Shoes of the Fisherman (1968). Among the oldest and smallest backings are a number of tapestries created for films such as Greta Garbo's Camille (1937) and Norma Shearer's Marie Antoinette (1938). Because they were once designated as "recoverable assets," many of these smaller artworks reappeared in hundreds of subsequent MGM and other studio films over the years. Among the largest backings is the 76-foot long flying saucer landing site from Forbidden Planet (1955) and the 100-foot long ancient city panorama of Baghdad created for Kismet (1955). While some backings, like the Parisian café created for Reunion in France (which is a painting of a backlot set used in An American in Paris [1953], are associated with significant film titles, many others like the beautifully rendered trailer court backing from Two Loves (1961) are more obscure. The one thing shared by all of these backings is that they are exemplary in their design, rendering, lighting and color schemes. Most importantly, the majority of these backings were created during a time that we now appreciate as the high-renaissance period of the art of Hollywood scenic painting. A B