Never Judge a
Book by its Cover - Saul Bass
by Jilliana
Ranicar-Breese
I was about 26
or 27, had long light brown straight hair forever
parted in the middle and wore trendy maxi skirts.
I was passionately in love with my Anglo French
fiancée Philippe Amos an impoverished artist.
Our relationship was turbulent and I was in
crisis when my old friend, the pioneer film
animator Stan Hayward, called to invite me over
to his historic Victorian artist studio in
Talgarth Road, Barons Court for a soirée to
welcome an American graphic designer and film
animator to London. I had met Stan after he had
come back from living in Australia and damaged
his ear drum deep sea diving and snorkelling as a
Club Mediterranean instructor. We met in a French
class when he was teaching animation at Imperial
College and remained lifelong friends.
Stan was the
creator of 'Henry's cat' which became a well
known merchandising character and TV film
programme working together with the film animator
Bob Godrey throughout the 70s and 80s. He was
also one of the judges on the Zagreb film
animation festival board and had contacts
all over the then Communist world. When I went to
Budapest, Warsaw and Prague, Stan would always
generously give me introductions knowing how I
loved and appreciated animation. Eastern European
graphics were so different from the Western and
the difference was visually exciting.
The evening in
question, I was introduced to an 'ugly' Jewish
New Yorker with thinning brown hair, side burns,
and a prominent nose called Saul Bass. I suppose
he was in his mid 50s but to me, in my mid
twenties, he seemed old! Saul wore an expensive
looking light tan leather three quarters jacket
and matching flared leather trousers. He walked
stiffly and Stan explained he had not one but 2
gamy legs!
In those early
days I was not in to the art of conversation. I
didn't bother to ask Saul about his life in LA,
he only seemed to be interested in my ordinary
life in the days when I was teaching English to
foreigners. I confided in him about my hard
up artist Anglo Frenchman who would leave me
alone in the evenings, even though we lived
together, and give girls my phone number as he
didn't have a phone of his own. He didn't tell
the girls he was in a relationship and so they
fell for him because he was so charming and
attractive.
Ooh la la but
when Saul spoke, it was like music to my ears.
His voice was so rich and cultured that I forgot
he was physically 'ugly'. He mesmerised me with
his velvety refined New York accent. I was
enchanted. Saul was very understanding and father-like
and even invited me to Elstree to watch the shoot
in order to cheer me up. Today I would have
asked him to send a car with a driver but then I
had to refuse because I had no idea where Elstree
was. It was easier to get to the Eastern Block by
plane than to catch a train to Elstree! However,
he offered me his business card saying to call
should I ever be in Hollywood!
I kept the
card for 4 years and then did end up in LA
staying at the show business lawyer Tom Pollock's
house in Laurel Canyon. Shrewd Tom had invested
in the hit movie 'American Graffiti' taking a
percentage of the gross turnover instead of his
usual legal fee. I had brought Saul's card with
me. 'He's famous.' was his reaction. The first
time I had showed the precious card was to Ed
Badajos, the American illustrator of 'Filipino
Food' in London and had got the same
comment but Saul had given me his office number
and not his personal number. I never called
because they told me he was famous! What could I
say to someone famous? I forgot that under
the mask of fame there was a real human too.
Decades later,
when I founded and owned my own archive,
Retrograph, specialising in the history of
graphic design, I checked out Saul's famous
iconic graphics for the film posters of 'Psycho'
'The Man With the Golden Arm', 'Anatomy of a
murder', 'Vertigo' 'North by North West' and 'West
Side Story'. I even recall the cat slinking along
with Elmer Bernstein's music in the title
sequence of 'Walk on the wild side' because, like
Stan, I was a cat lover.
If only I had
had the experience I have today meeting
international people, I would have had a
stimulating evening with Saul but we didn't speak
of him and how successful he was, this modest man
advised a damsel in distress, little mixed up me.
Never judge a book by its cover!
Written
on 26.12.17 at St Benedict, Hastings.
References
Wikipedia
- Saul Bass
Wikipedia - Stan Hayward
Wikipedia - Henry's cat
Wikipedia - Tom Pollock
Google - Ed Badajos - Filipino Food 1971
Google - Retrograph.com
Google - Photo Archive News - Retrograph Archive
Broadcasted
on BHCR on 19.1.18.
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