ADG Perspective

January-February 2018

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A. Detail of a backdrop from THE CLOCK, 1945. Old Pennsylvania Station, New York City. Design by William Ferrari and Cedric Gibbons. B. Crew setting up a second backdrop from THE CLOCK, detailing the top of the stairs in the old Penn Station, NYC. C. Recovered backdrops stored in the ADG storage facility, awaiting relocation to museums and academic institutions. D. Thomas Walsh cataloging backdrop information. E. Crew photographing part of a larger backdrop for NORTH BY NORTHWEST, 1959. Designed by Robert Boyle. Backdrop Recovery Project In the motion picture business, screenplays are referred to as "properties," and all things created or acquired to turn screenplays into physical realities are called "assets." There once was a time when these assets were valued and considered "recoverable," ensuring that they would be saved, repurposed or recycled for reuse in many subsequent productions. Most of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer's collected assets, its treasures, and historic legacy were sold at auctions or disposed of in the early 1970s. One significant exception was its thousands of custom-painted backdrops, referred to in the trade as "backings." They survived, literally, while hiding in plain sight stored within the cavernous area located within MGM's historic and still state-of-the-art scenic paint building. Enter J.C. Backings, one of the oldest and most established scenic backing companies in Hollywood. In 1972, they leased MGM's scenic paint building and purchased the studio's complete inventory of MGM- era backings. Appreciating the value and potential of these creative assets, J.C. provided a safe home for them during what was to become a protracted period of downsizing by many of the major studios of their physical assets—an unregulated divestment of their historic film legacies for pennies on the dollar. For the last forty-five remarkable and productive years, J.C. Backings has successfully continued to paint, restore and preserve backings for our industry. Making and renting painted backings is, and will always remain, an important and central part of who they are, but as the entertainment industry evolves, so must its vendors and service providers. After much deliberation, J.C. Backings resolved in the spring of 2017 to relocate its studio operations to a new facility off the MGM lot, one that will allow it to expand its digital backing technologies while providing it with a centralized storage space for an ever-growing inventory. B C D E

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