Issue link: https://digital.copcomm.com/i/1507937
S E P T E M B E R / O C T O B E R 2 0 2 3 | P E R S P E C T I V E 5 T H O M A S A . WA L S H is an Emmy Award- winning Production Designer whose career spans feature films, IMAX, documentaries, episodic series and Broadway. Thomas was the initiating partner in the creation of the publications Designs on Film: A Century of Hollywood Art Direction (Harper Collins) and The Art of the Hollywood Backdrop (Regan Arts). He has lectured and led charettes about Production Design nationally and internationally. He founded the ADG Archives, initiated its Backdrop Recovery Project and established the current museum exhibition of historic MGM & 20th Century Fox backdrops. Other passion pursuits include the initiating of the Michelson Cinema Research Library https://www. savethelibrarynow.org, and the Art Directors Guild Production Design Initiative for emerging designers. Thomas is a Co-chair of the Art Directors Film Society and served as President of the Art Directors Guild from 2001 to 2012. www.thomasawalsh.net This issue features the second of three installments of Ben Carré: Parisian in Hollywood, a story about the history of Art Direction for silent films. The understanding of the origins of Art Direction is too abbreviated and misinformed. Hollywood's domination of cinema and its own role must be expanded and updated. Telling Ben Carré's story is an opportunity to explain and celebrate the earliest pioneers of silent film and those who laid the foundations for the creation of Art Direction. Ben was one of a very few accomplished Art Directors to have written a 400-page unpublished memoir about his career. This source material has informed and inspired the project. Ben's recall of details, people and events was extraordinary. Utilizing excerpts from many of Ben's beautifully restored films will allow the reconstruction and reclaimation of the visual mastery of his forgotten cinematic achievements and legacy. Walsh and his collaborators are now engaged in the making of a feature-length documentary. For more information or to contribute to the film, please go to bencarre.com