OBSERVING LA PRIDE

As I continue to seek an identity in Los Angeles, I was
exposed to expressions of LA cvic pride at two events.
The Central City Association ( http://ccala.org/http://ccala.org/ )
organized an intelligent and dignified ceremony honoring people
who had contributed to the enhancement of life in Los Angeles.
"How Los Angeles Invented The World," a stupid exercise
in civic boosterism was presented as part of "Pacific StandardTime"
http://www.pacificstandardtime.org/ at The Getty Center.
(See my blog posts regarding this event:)
http://the-reluctant-angeleno.blogspot.com/2011/11/how-los-angeles-invented-world.
htmlhttp://the-reluctant-angeleno.blogspot.com/2011/11/how-los-angeles-invented-world.html

The Central City Association has played a central role in the
revitalization of Downtown LA by representing the interests
of downtown real estate owners and investors. In the 1970s
when New York City was on verge of bankruptcy, Manhattan
real estate owners recognized that the value of their properties
would decline unless neighborhood cleanliness and amenities
were maintained. ABNY, Association for a Better New York,
http://www.abny.org/Content/AboutABNY/History.aspx
was founded to protect Manhattan real estate investments.
Since that time, ABNY has become a paradigm for other cities,
including Los Angeles.

CCA's "18th Annual Treasures of Los Angeles" event was held
in the Grand Ballroom of the Bonaventure Hotel (see above).
I understand that approximately 600 people attended paying
$500 each. This testifies to an endorsement of the CCA's program
and to individual and corporate expressions of civic pride. The
honorees this year were:

Yang Ho Cho, chairman and CEO of the Hanjin Group, whose
subsidy, Korean Air, is constructing a new hotel on the site of the
present Wilshire Grand.

Good News Foundation, a non-profit charity bringing together
the talented women behind television news.

LA Galaxy, the championship Los Angeles soccer team.

Hugh Hefner, the legendary founder of Playboy magazine and
its associated enterprises.

Andrew Meieran, innovative developer of night clubs and other
entertainment venues.

Helen Ziering, arts benefactor, humanitarian and philanthropist.

They join the list of honorees shown above. This constellation of
civic leadership demonstrates that there are cadres of Angelinos
in all walks of life who demonstrate pride in their city and contribute
to its vitality.

As confused and disconnected as I continue to be in Los Angeles,
I can recognize that there is a dedicated constituency of people who
contribute to its emerging role among a constellation of global
cities. I have worked with such people in New York, Paris, and Rome.
Those cities benefit from the legacy of generations of residents who
have contributed to the fabric of city life. Los Angeles does not have
that kind of social and cultural history; however, it clearly has a
group of citizens who view their city with affection and who contribute
to civic endeavors.

Above: Honoring The Last Remaining Seats Committee of the
Los Angeles Conservancy, on the stage at the Orpheum Theatre, 
Los Angeles, June27, 2012.

As a member of the Last Remaining Seats Committee of the Los
Angeles Conservancy, I joined other committee members on the
stage prior to showing "Douglas Fairbanks in Robin Hood." As a
volunteer, I was being recognized for a minor contribution to the
cultural life of Los Angeles.

When I walk around the streets of New York, I am constantly reminded
of when and how I made contributions to the life of that city. Not to
diminish the significance of the Last Remaining Seats Committee, I
hope that I might yet find a niche in Los Angeles and, like the many
Central City Association honorees, contribute something of value to
the lives of others who reside here.

Commenting on "The Rapture of the Silents"

From The New York Review of Books / May 24, 2012

Above: Jean Dujardin (George Valentin) and Bérenice Béjo 

(Peppy Miller) in their triumphant finale in "The Artist." *

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O8K9AZcSQJE

In his article on page 15 of the May 24, 2012 issue, "The Rapture of the Silents," 

Geoffrey O'Brien attempts to analyze the recent success of "The Artist" directed

by Michel Hazanavicius which swept this year's Oscar awards.* * O'Brien describes

it as "an almost entirely black and white film ... made with care so loving as to be

almost didactic in spirit ... a primer in the appreciation of silent movies ... the-run-

of-the-mill movie palace fodder of the late 1920s ... Hazanavicius was determined

to make the old devices work again, and he succeeded."

* See my blog "Why I voted for 'The Artist" as Best Picture
 http://the-reluctant-angeleno.blogspot.com/2012/02/why-i-voted-for-artist-as-best-picture.html
** O'Brien reviews two other films in his article. Since I saw neither, they will not

enter into this discussion.

Unfortunately, O'Brien does not appear to know much about silent films and judges

them by unrelated standards. Regretably, he overlooks the association of silent films

with vaudeville. Vaudeville houses were some of the first venues in which motion

pictures were presented. A vaudeville performance was a precursor to viewing every

silent film through the 1930s and sometimes into the 1940s.

Above: Regent Theater, Harlem, New York, the first American movie palace

opened in 1912. Photo circa 1915

O'Brien misreads the audience and how they experienced viewing films. He

says "... wordy intertitles that brought the film to a dead halt while the slowest

readers in the audience were given time to absorb them - and famously, there

was the style of acting built on a vocabulary of gestures and postures and gazes

... " If he were aware of early film's vaudeville heritage, he might understand

and appreciate these exaggerated actions.

His most egregious omission was failing to recognize the presence of sound

accompaniments. Every silent film was presented with live performers 
(orchestras, pianists and organists) providing their personal enhancements to 

what appeared on the screen. Silent films were not "silent." Although generically
accepted, that is a naive misnomer. They were films without spoken dialogue

having periodic blocks of text appearing on the screen that suggest dialogue.

     

Motion picture music advertisement, circa 1925. 

O'Brien intimates that film audiences were the unwashed and semi-literate new

immigrants and small town residents of the early twentieth century who made

the nickelodeons prosper. There was a connection. Nickelodeons were one the

first forms of successful mechanized mass entertainment.  As cash cows, they

financed early film studios. Adolph Zukor, the owner of a New York nickelodeon,

became head of Paramount Pictures. However, in order to fill the vast new movie

palaces with several thousand seats, it was necessary to attract both uneducated

immigrants, and former farmers who populated the cities as well as the newly minted

middle class second generation Germans, Irish and Jews. In 1913,  Moving Picture 

World, said, “Such theaters as the Regent are what we all hope for... They are the

best friends the motion picture industry has ... We will all  go back to the Regent,

and we are glad to know where to conduct the next stranger who asks us."

Million Dollar Theatre, Los Angeles, interior. Los Angeles' first 

movie palace, it opened in 1918 as the Grauman.

Viewing a film, silent or sound, in one of the grand old movie palaces

was, and still is,  a form of participatory spectacle - perhaps like watching

a football or basketball game where the crowd interacts with the players.

People would clap and stomp their feet when the hero triumphs and boo

when the villan  appears. Since moving to Los Angeles and becoming a

member of the Los Angeles Conservancy's Last Remaining Seats committee,

I have been privileged to experience films shown in historic theatres and to

have been among the audience reacting.

When "Douglas Fairbanks in Robin Hood" was shown recently at the 

Los Angeles Orpheum Theatre, I prepared the program notes which appear
below. I offer this as an antidote to Geoffrey OBrien's inaccuracies. In passing,

it should be noted that Fairbanks began his career in vaudeville. Seeing
his film in this venue with the mighty Wurlitzer bellowing out Robert
Israel's scene and gesture sensitive accompaniment, was an early twentieth
century spectacle brought to life in the twenty-first.

"Douglas Fairbanks in Robinhood" (LRS Program Notes)

   

Everyone who saw Michel Hazanavicus’ Academy Award winning The Artist 

immediately recognized its nostalgic evocation of Doulas Fairbanks and his 

films. Douglas Fairbanks in Robin Hood is the third in a quartet of silent action 

/ adventure films produced by Fairbanks that transformed the motion picture 

industry: The Mark of Zorro - 1920, The Three Musketeers -  1921, Douglas 

Fairbanks in Robin Hood - 1922, and The Thief of Bagdad - 1924.

Although the legendary Robin Hood is famous for stealing from the rich and 

giving to the poor, that is not the theme of this film; it is an action oriented 

romance seasoned with good guy / bad guy plots providing ample opportunities 

for Fairbanks to display his energetic athletic prowess and amazing acrobatic / 

balletic movements.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9cMq2fKqT4M

The plot is set in the court of Richard The Lion-Hearted (England, 1189 - 1199). 

As the film opens, Richard is preparing to depart on The Third Crusade. Among 

the nobles who are to accompany him are: the Earl of Huntingdon (good guy) and 

Sir Guy of Gisbourne (bad guy). Richard’s brother, Prince John (bad guy) is 

designated to stay behind and rule in Richard’s absence.

Prior to Richard’s departure, Huntingdon and Lady Marian Fitzwalter pledge lifelong 

devotion. As a consequence of Gisbourne’s treachery, Richard imprisons Huntingdon. 

The entourage departs. Huntingdon escapes. Joining a band of the dispossessed in 

Sherwood Forest, Huntingdon emerges as Robin Hood. With spectacular feats of 

bravura, Robin Hood and his Merry Men defeat Prince John and Gisbourne. Richard 

returns to claim his throne.  Robin Hood saves Lady Marian from the clutches of 

Gisbourne. With Richard again on his throne, with Prince John and Gisbourne defeated, 

the film ends as Robin Hood and Lady Marian enter their bridal chamber.

Douglas Fairbanks in  Robin Hood was made at the Pickfair Studios (Santa Monica
Blvd. and Formosa). Still standing, it is threatened by a real estate developer.

As producer, Fairbanks demanded perfection in every detail. A detailed replica of a
medieval castle was built. Ever-increasing costs caused Fairbanks older brother John 

(production financial manager) to have a stroke. Final cost was $980,042.28 - more 
than the cost of D.W Griffith’s Intolerance; Douglas Fairbanks in Robin Hood grossed
over $1.5 million domestically.

Douglas Fairbanks was one of the founders of the USC School of Cinematic Arts. 
A statue of him in swashbuckler attire rises from a fountain in the plaza surrounded

by buildings inscribed with the names of Stephen Spielberg and George Lucas.
Below: in the courtyard of the USC School of Cinematic Arts.

                        

dwell design at the Los Angeles Convention Center

L

Last week, I was in the domain of a modernist design icon - the Eames

house in Pacific Palisades. This week, I entered the world of a highly 

successful commercial enterprise which purports to represent modernist 

design. Based on my blog, I was able to obtain a media pass to the
dwell show at the Los Angeles Convention Center. (see above)

Having avoided shopping malls most of my adult life, I am a total novice
in the world of present day consumerism. When my wife Mary had a
specialty food business, I would help her set up at the food shows in New
York's Javits Convention Center. There, we were exposed to the underbelly
of the convention center world and learned how to cope with the mafia
controlled workforce there. In Milan, I had attended several big trade
furniture shows and was prepared for the worst - bad design promoted as
good design, with emphasis on commerce at a banal level.

Much to my surprise, I found "dwell on design" to be a reasonable
mix of some interesting designs, some blatantly commercial products
and some innovative designs offering real promise. "dwell magazine"

is a coherent and  tasteful presentation of living with modern. Much as
"Design Within Reach" has created a network of stores where many

 classic examples of modern furniture can be purchased along with work
by younger designers, "dwell magazine" has expanded knowledge of
modern design to broader audiences representing a younger generation.
My taste is more orthodox, so I am never going to be a big fan of popularized
consumer modern.

     

 

Perhaps most significant for me was the discovery of a
brilliant innovative design by students from Woodbury
    University School of Architecture. It is a universal joint
    system that offers incredible flexibility. It is not a replica
    of Buckminster Fuller's geodesic dome system; it goes
    beyond that by making it possible to create shapes of
    infinite variety.
 


    From left to right: Jesse Cabildo, Andre Gharakhanian, and
    Charles Ghiotto. Knowing of his interest in innovative design,

    I contacted Rolf Fehlbaum, head of VITRA furniture in Basel,
    Switzerland, hoping that he might have an interest in this
    innovative concept.

    As the owner of five "Artimede" lamps and four "Luceplan" lamps,
    I am partial to modern Italian lamps.  The "Koncept" LED lamps,
    made in Hong Kong, were a discovery. Selling in the range of
    $250, they are a great design at a great price.



     


    As a footnote, eleven year-old Kenneth Parel-Sewell's prize
    winning Lego house design was sheer delight, as was he.

Revisiting the Eames House after 60 years

On Saturday,  June 16, I was privileged to be invited to view the Eames
House at 203 Chautauqua Boulevard in Pacific Palisades, to celebrate
the nearly completed restoration of the house, and to celebrate Ray Eames'
100th birthday. I had been there often between 1951 and 1955. It was
nearly sixty years ago when I last saw the house.  Sixty years ago, it was
my good fortune to have been a periodic guest in the house, to engage in
illuminating discussions with Charles and to enjoy Ray's culinary treats
presented as beautifully organized visual displays.

The Eames House was one of John Entenza's landmark Case Study Houses -
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arts_%26_Architecture
a series of modernist homes designed by architects who were engaged in
the  process of transforming American domestic architecture. Los Angeles,
at this time,  was a caldron in which masters and experimenters, among them,
Frank Lloyd Wright, Richard Neutra, Rudolph Schindler, Raphael Soriano
and John Lautner were most visible.

Although Charles was trained as an architect, the house at 203 Chautauqua
Boulevard could not be described as a product of traditional architectural
practice. It was designed to utilize standard, industrially mass-produced
"off-the-shelf" components. These standard elements were orchestrated to
create a non-standard solution. It was a home, a studio, a space in which to
entertain guests and a display area for their latest creations. It served the
dynamic nature of their personal and professional lives.

Viewing it again after a nearly sixty-year hiatus,  I found that the design is
still as fresh (to my eyes), as it was when I first saw it. It falls into the category
of iconic designs, those that possess sufficiently innovative characteristics
to withstand the ravages of time.

About fifteen years ago, through my friend, Jean Dethier, then head of the
Centre de création industrielle at the Centre Pompidou in Paris, I was able to
visit the recently refurbished Villa Savoye, one of the most significant icons
of moderist residential architecture designed by Le Corbusier in 1929 and
completed in 1931.




When I visited the Villa Savoye, the interior was barren, as were the spaces
at the Eames house, so that it was possible to appreciate the inherent clarity
of design in both places. There is no direct connection between these two
structures; however, there is a symbiotic/stylistic association. Both possess
refined organization of space and polished detailing. Both were situated to
harmonize with their settings in nature and to embrace that connection with
what we might call "indoor/outdoor" spaces. My predilection has always
been toward "modernist" design of which these two buildings are outstanding
examples.

We are fortunate that both buildings are being preserved for posterity. The
Villa Savoye fell into disrepair and was being threatened with demolition.

It was designated as an official French historical monument in 1965 (a rare 

occurrence, as Le Corbusier was still living at the time). It was thoroughly 

renovated from 1985 to 1997. Today, it is under the care of the Centres des

monuments nationaux and the refurbished house is open to visitors year-round.

The Eames House is owned and maintained by the Charles and Ray Eames
House Preservation Foundation and administered by family members.
http://eamesfoundation.org/eames-foundation-mission
According to Lucia, Charles' daughter, " We have to make the work of
Charles and Ray relevant to the future. The house will always give a feel
for their approach."



As I continue to struggle attempting to find both a niche and an identity
for myself in Los Angeles, making this connection with Charles and Ray
provided me with the opportunity to draw on pages from my past and to
associate them with my present.

I often describe Charles as my mentor. I wanted to reside within the domain
of his perfectionist standards. I recall sitting in the living room alcove as he
lamented errors that he had made in the design of the sofa compact. He said,
"As soon as I have finished designing something, I can see all of the mistakes
that I made." With regard to the sofa compact, we had one in our home for
many years and I never found any detail that was not perfect.

My unforgettable experiences with Ray revolve around food. To have her
serve breakfast, was a gustatory and visual delight. Her soft boiled eggs
were always perfect as were the breads, pastries and jams which she served.
Flowers and Mexican candelabra, perfectly orchestrated in size, shape and
color complemented the tastes and textures of the food.

If Charles and Ray found living in LA to be a hospitable, exciting and
rewarding experience, perhaps I can,  yet, learn another lesson from them.

FOOTNOTE

Kevin Roderick of LA Observed wrote and I responded:

______________________________________________________________

On Jun 22, 2012, at 8:56 AM, Kevin Roderick wrote:

Thanks, Allon. interesting. 

I guess you don't want to say what you were doing there in the 50s?

Best,

Kevin

____________________________________________________________

Dear Kevin,

From 1950-1955, I was a curator at the then San Francisco Museum of Art (now SFMOCA). I created a series of tv shows presenting the museum and local artists to a new and different audience - 300,000 people - four times the museum's annual attendance. There was no cultural programming on tv in the early 1950s. 

Betty Chamberlain, art critic for Time, brought Charles and Ray to meet me and see one of my shows in production. Thus began one of the most important relationships in my life.While I was in San Francisco, I saw a lot of them, here and there. They invited me to stay at the house when I came to LA. 

People search for mentors; mine came to me. About a year after our first contact, we collaborated on one of my tv shows. Charles made a film on the development of the plywood chair for that show. Eames Demetrious found a kinescope (a film of the tv monitor - the only recording device available at that time). Bobbye Tigerman included it in the design show at LACMA and I have a credit - my first museum credit in LA! 

Hope that answers your question

Cordially,

Allon

Why I Voted for "The Artist" as Best Picture

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OK7pfLlsUQM

I have seen it three times:
January 16, 2012, 4:00pm
Landmark Theater

10580 West Pico Blvd. 

Los Angeles, 90064

January 30, 2012, 7:30pm
TV Academy

 5230 Lankershim Blvd.

North Hollywood, 91601

A screening followed by a question and answer with writer/director Michel
Hazanavicius, star Jean Dujardin, actor James Cromwell, costume designer
Mark Bridges, and production designer Laurence Bennett. 

February 7, 2012, 7:30pm

Directors Guild Theater, #1

7920 W. Sunset Blvd.

Los Angeles, 90046

A screening followed by a question and answer with executive producer Richard

Middleton, executive producer Antoine De Cazotte, director of photography
Guillaume Schiffman, costume designer Mark Bridges and production designer
Laurence Bennett. 

"A Masterpiece" 

At the Directors Guild Theater, as I scrambled to permit a dowdy sixty year-old 
woman sitting next to me make her way to the bathroom, she murmured, "As a
member of the Academy, I see two hundred pictures a year." She returned and
we sat in silence throughout viewing "The Artist." When it ended, spontaneously
she exclaimed "A masterpiece." I buy that!

Is "The Artist" a French film or a Hollywood film?  
Because it was made in Hollywood, it qualifies as an American made film
and can be considered for Oscars; however, it clearly demonstrates French
style and sensibility. Film credits abound with American names, but no American
director could have conceived of making a silent film today. When asked why
he chose to make a silent film, writer/director Michel Hazanavicius said that
it was the logical way deal with the film's themes: the end of the silent film
era, the birth of sound movies and the consequences that ensued. Asked if
he would make another silent film, Michel Hazanavicius' reply was emphatically
negative. "The Artist" is not a tour de force nor a gimmick. Hazanavicius sought
to evoke nostalgia during a moment of crucial transition in the history of motion
pictures. Thus, a silent film in aHollywood setting.

Rather than a blunt exposition, he chose to create a credible fantasy in which
we are witness to the vicissitudes of stardom, an often told tale.  Hazanavicius
is a product of the French school of "auteur" filmmaking in which a director
is granted license (generally within the bounds of commercial viability) to
express oneself.

So what do I know about Hollywood films?  
In the 50s and 60s, I managed to have contact with some of the great directors

of that period: Vincent Minnelli, Rouben Mamoullian, George Stevens and Fred
Zinnemann.

Vincent Minnelli got Best Picture for "An American in Paris," in 1951
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FiiaJRXPAm4

and " Gigi" in 1958.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jEofRODHZ1w

George Stevens got Best Director for "A Place in Sun," in 1952
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wEuFNnJSIw8
and Best Director for "Giant" in 1956.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w2x6AT4mr3o

Fred Zinnemann got Best Director
for "From Here to Eternity" in 1953
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_reftTX0Ayg

These films were grand epics, solidly produced and refined in detail. The casts
provided outstanding performances. These films continue to resonate for me as
demonstrations of some of the best that Hollywood has to offer. There is no
question that episodic changes in style occur in every creative medium. Perhaps
my taste in films is stuck in the 50s and 60s, or perhaps films of this era
demonstrate a cohesion seldom found today?

Filmmaking aside, I had a modest impact in Hollywood at this time. Returning
from a trip to Italy with a home espresso maker, I told Rouben Mamoulian's wife
about it. She wanted one. I sent one to her and can make the dubious claim that I
introduced the first home espresso maker to Hollywood.

What do I know about French films? 
I am a fan of Godard and am familiar with the films of the other directors of
Nouvelle Vague fame. Over the last forty years, I have probably seen twice as
many French and Italian films than American films. Rather than knowledge
of films, my expertise regarding France stems more from everyday experience.
While in graduate school, I would hang out in Paris, sitting in Deux Magots
on the Boulevard St. Germain with a Galoise dangling from my lip, waiting
for Sartre or Simone de Beauvoir to appear. Over the years, I got to know Paris
well enough to lead a group of New York architects, planners and city officials
around examining Paris as an evolving global city. I even wrote an article in
French that appeared in Libération.

What do I know about French sensibility as it applied to "The Artist?" 
This has to be a personal and subjective judgement, but I am willing to take a
shot at it. I see "The Artist," not in universal terms, but as a manifestation of
French style in its ability to elevate the mundane to more "heroic" terms.
Perhaps this might explain the enduring universal appeal of Antoine de St.
Exupéry's novella The Little Prince. For me, "The Artist" resonates a similar
appeal; however, its appeal is not in fantasy. Rather than fantasy, its appeal
can be seen as a parable (success is ephemeral) for everyone.


Art Versus Commerce / Commerce Versus Art 
When the Weinstein Company enters the picture, the fine line between art
and commerce frays; however, that is not to say that is necessarily bad.
The flood of newspaper ads, the multiple screenings, the tv appearances,
and YouTube trailer all contribute to selling "the product."

My Oscar predictions
It is an irresistible masterpiece. It is going to get Best Picture and Best
Director (Michel Hazanavicius), Best Leading Actor (Jean Dujardin),
and possibly more.

Footnote
I am not a member of The Academy nor any of the guilds. However, I fit
the LA Times' recently published demographic for Academy members. I
am Caucasian and over sixty.

My Take on How Los Angeles Invented the World

On November 19,  2011, a program entitled "How Los Angeles Invented the World," was presented at The Getty Center as an event associated with Pacific Standard Time: Art in LA. 1945-1980.
http://www.pacificstandardtime.org/
A shuffled replay of this event can be seen: 
http://zocalopublicsquare.org/thepublicsquare/2011/11/20/was-ever-a-city-more-bewildering/read/the-takeaway/

 In a previous blog post, I criticized the organizers of "How Los Angeles Invented the World" for presenting a program without significant content that veered toward boosterism.

So, here's my take. There is no question that Los Angeles has and continues to make contributions to our global society in two principle areas: the entertainment industry and the space program.  Being more familiar with cultural history, I will begin with the entertainment industry.

LA Invented the Academy Awards

In 2010, approximately 41,300,000 people watched the Academy Awards in the 
United States.  One night, once a year, lasting 3.5 hours, the eyes and ears of  the
world  are focused on Los Angeles. There is no other place on earth commanding
that kind of attention on an annual basis.  It is in the arena of mass communication
culture that LA has invented a new world. So, what are the Oscar attractions? It 
offers mesmerizing presentations of fashion, glamour, fame and celebrity. Did LA 
invent fashion,  glamour, fame and celebrity? No, they have been around for a long
time; however, LA has turned them into global mass market commodities.

Suggested panelist: Dawn Hudson, CEO, The Academy of Motion Picture of Arts and Sciences.

Fashion, glamour, fame and celebrity in Ancient Rome 

Ancient Rome was awash with all of these personal attributes. The most famous person of this era and its most enduring celebrity was Cleopatra, a Hellenistic Egyptian woman of noble heritage whose life was entwined with, among others, two Roman leaders: Julius Caesar and Marc Antony. In their Preface to the 2001 catalogue of The British Museum exhibition, "Cleopatra of Egypt," Susan Walker and Peter Higgs ask, "Who's my Cleopatra?',  for it is abundantly clear that there are many Cleopatras (an ambivalence encouraged in her lifetime by the queen) ..." For the less historically minded and more Hollywood influenced, the answer to "Who's my Cleopatra?" would be Elizabeth Taylor.

Top image: Cleopatra, bronze 80 drachma coin, Alexandria, 51-30 BCE.  Below: Elizabeth Taylor as Cleopatra, 1963.

Suggested panelist: a curator from the Getty Villa.

The Movies Come to Hollywood

Cecil B. DeMille on the running board with some of the actors in his movie, The Squaw Man, 1914.  DeMille left New York with cast and crew prepared to make the film in Flagstaff, Arizona.  When they arrived, they found the scenery unsuitable, so they headed for Hollywood, thus accelerating the development of the motion picture industry.


In the 19th century, traditional culture, theatre and symphony performances, found
an audience in the educated upper class and arriviste bourgeoisie. With the emergence
of an industrial consumer society in the late 19th century, the birth of  the urban
working class heralded a new social phenomenon; there were no precedents providing
entertainments for this expanding population. Vaudeville and its companion, burlesque,
first seen in store front theatres, emerged as low-priced forms of entertainment accesible
to all classes. Vaudeville theatres catered to the broad masses as well as to audiences of
traditional theatres and concert halls. Penny arcades and nickelodeons, where primitive
motion pictures were shown, catered to similar audiences. All four, served as incubators
for the motion picture industry which initiated the era of industrialized entertainments.
As a footnote, throughout the 1930s, films, as attractions, did not stand on their own;
vaudeville acts served as an introduction to film showings.

Suggested panelist: David Nasaw,  Arthur M. Schlesinger, Jr. Professor of History,

The Graduate Center, City University of New York, author of  Going Out: The Rise and

Fall of Public Entertainments.

The Creation of Celebrity Culture

                                  Clark Gable and Vivien Leigh, Gone With The Wind, 1939. 


Celebrity, as we know it today, is a product of our consumer oriented industrial society. Each new technology has made its contribution: telegraph, telephone, motion pictures, recorded sound, radio, television and the internet. As new forms of entertainment have evolved, they have spawned an army of supporting promotional entities: agents, publicists, columnists and fan publications serving intoxicated public appetite for identification with fame.

                                    The Walk of Fame, Hollywood Boulevard, Los Angeles, 2011. 

 A Hollywood product, Desi Arnaz and Lucille Ball in their highly successful sitcom television series,  "I Love Lucy," 1955. At the time, it was one of the most watched tv shows in America. Reruns are still seen by 40 million Americans each year.

 Michael Jackson personified, the ultimate "pop music star."  This album was issued in 2008 on the  occasion of this 50th birthday. It was released in 26 countries.

American Idol: The Search for a Superstar, is currently the most-watched show on American television. It began in 2002.  As an adaptation of a British tv program, it did not originate in Los Angeles; however, it was identified with Los Angeles in its infancy. 

Suggested panelist: Maureen Orth, author, critic and Vanity Fair columnist.  In her book, The Importance of Being Famous,  she talks about "The DNA of Fame," and "The Celebrity - Industrial
Complex."

Space Technology 

                                   Landing on the Moon, 1969 


The Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), headquartered in Pasadena, is managed by the California Institute of Technology for NASA. The Jet Propulsion Laboratory was the birthplace of the American space program and plays a prominent role in its continuation.  http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/

The Laboratory's primary function is the construction and operation of robotic planetary spacecraft, though it also conducts Earth-orbit and astronomy missions. Among the Laboratory's current projects are a mission to Saturn and the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter. 

Suggested moderator: : K. Anthony Appiah, is currently the Laurance S. Rockefeller University Professor of Philosophy at Princeton University. He is a philosopher,  cultural theorist and novelist. 

CONCLUSION: I believe that above panel addresses the issue of  "How LA 

Invented the World," and would provide the audience with some thoughts 

worth considering and discussing further. It is not planned as an entertainment, 

rather as encouraging intellectual speculation.

Occupy LA Rebounds Mightily

I just returned from the post-police raid Occupy LA General
Assembly which convened, with permission from the mayor,
at 7:30pm on the west steps of City Hall. Approximately 200
people sat on the steps in clusters of ten, forming some 20
affinity groups with the same agenda: "what do we do next?"

When it came time for reports from each group, there was
no rehashing the events of the previous day. Every person
who spoke was clear, focused and articulate. They accepted
dismantling the City Hall encampment as signaling the need
to move forward in different directions. One common theme
emerged from virtually every report - the need to decentralize
and reach out to neighborhoods across LA taking the "we are
the 99%" message to as many people as possible.

Because some familiar faces were missing, there must have
been a previous decision for certain people to get arrested
while others did not in order to have a core group who could
maintain momentum. Apparently, the need for horizontal
decision-making must have been  abandoned temporarily.

I left this meeting more hopeful than ever before recognizing
that the Occupy LA movement is not only resilient, it is dynamic.