10 Capital Journal Building Section, Friday, March 10, 1950
HOLLYWOOD IS AN ARCHITECT
By GENE HANDSAKER
The letter was from Des
Plaines, 111., to a Hollywood
movie studio: "I sat through the
picture three times trying to fig
ure out the floor plan of the
guest cottage it said, "but
couldn't from the area shown.
My wife and T would appreciate
It if you would sent us the
plans.'
That letter, inspired by the
picture, "That Way With Wo
men," is typical. Glamorous
movie sets sometimes get almost
as many fan letters as the stars
People see architectural and
decorating ideas they want to
incorporate in their own homes,
present or future.
The movies' effect on the
world's design for living is not
precisely measurable, but it is
considerable. White furniture
enjoyed a vogue after being
used in a 1941 Norma Shearer
picture. "When Ladies Meet."
Requests still come to the studio
for designs of this early-American
house supposedly remod
eled from a grist mill. The fad
of making over old barns into
houses may have had some
stimulus from this picture.
Jean Harlow talked over a
white telephone in "Wife vs.
Secretary" in 1936, and white
telephones became fashionable
in boudoirs. The movies helped
to popularize the French-type
telephone itself. It left an actor
with one hand free to manipu
late a cigarette, stroke his hair,
or point out the window.
Americans go for early-American
or rugged ranch-type de
signs with beam ceilings and big
ctone fireplaces, judging from
the fans' response. A semi
modern desert ranch house in
"Leave Her to Heaven" brought
from 200 to 300 requests for de
signs and photographs. A doctor
in Quebec built a mountain
lodge like it.
A homey farmhouse in
"Christmas i n Connecticut"
(1945) got a big response. Bar
bara Stanwyck, the picture's
star, cooed when she first saw
it, "Oh-oh! This is the house I
want for myself." GI's in hos
pitals wrote the same sentiment
the sweetest kind of mail an
art director can receive.
The structure was early-
American, with a stone exterior
and a shake roof. The interior
was partly wallpapered, partly
paneled in walnut. - There were
sloping beam ceilings and an
enormous stone fireplace. The
studio sent several hundred re
quested photos all over the
United States and to Germany,
: England and the Philippines.
Folks don't realize or don't
tare that set designs are in
complete. Walls are finished
only on one side; rooms may
have only two or three sides; the
floor plan may lack bath and
bedrooms. It's the general style
mat appeals.
Tara Hall, the Colonial-and
Victorian manison in "Gone
With the Wind," was duplicated
in New Orleans by a wealthy
resident.
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A Glamor Bouse that won movie fans it was snown in
the film "Every Girl Should Be Married." .
Director Howard Hawks was I
so charmed by the early-Amer
ican house in "Bringing Up
Baby," the Katharine Hepburn-
Gary Grant comedy he directed
1938 that he had a virtual
duplicate built to live in.
The stylized early-American
home seen in "The Bachelor and
the Bobby Soxer" brought nu
merous inquiries. So did the
Colonial cottage in "Every Girl
Should Be Married." Fans also
liked the dude ranch house,
with stone fireplaces and raw
hide lampshades, where Jack
Carson and Dennie Morgan ca
vorted in "Two Guys From
Texas."
Studios generally prefer not
to bother sending out plans and
photos, though frequently they
do. Architecture, they point out,
is not their business.
Walter Hagedohm of the Cali
fornia Council of Architects
says: "Were not influenced
so much by pictures as by peo
ple being educated to want bet
ter things. One of our jobs is
to make them see what they're
going to get. Most of them can't
visualize this; movies help them
to do so.
"Pictures also have done dam
age by overemphasizing certain
things that are not always pos-
Curtain Elevators Offer
Easy Way to Hang Drape's
Curtain rods seem to be on
their way out, and along with
them the hazard of teetering on
stepladder or chair while hang
ing drapes and valances.
A new contrivance being dis
tributed through decorators of
fers an easy way to hang cur
tains from the floor. It com
prises rails along the window
frame on which the cross bar
holding the curtains slides up and
down. This makes it possible
to lower drapes, valances and
glass curtains, to change them
or adjust them, raise them
again, or swing them open for
window cleaning and ventila- $
tion, while both feet are planted
firmly on the floor.
The entire device is easily put
up wiht two screws on each side,
top and bottom. Shrinkage, or
stretching of curtains after
cleaning can be compensated for
by lowering the support bar a
fraction of an inch.
sible to put in a home. Ex
tremely modern things, for ex
ample. Pictures also give the
appearence in a lot of cases of
a sumptuousness that's difficult
to obtain on the average fam
ily's budget.
No trends have been intro
duced by the movies. But they
have augmented trends started
by architects."
Why People Have
Wide Windows
Windows are no longer mere
ly a means of providing light
and ventilation. In both the new
and remodeled house they form
dramatic decorative focal points
blending the outdoors and indoors.
Today's trend toward wide
floor-to ceiling window wall is
dictated by a variety of factors.
The sweeping view that gives
a picture window its name is
one of these. The capturing of
breezes through French doors
and awning type upper panes
that siphon off ceiling heat is
another advantage. But the dec-
oratorative appeal through light
color and draperies is not to be
disparaged.
A smart California idea that
is gaining popularity in every
state is a big window made up
Furniture Big
Item When New
Home Is Bought
It is necessary to carefully
budget furniture purchases and
payments in relation to payments
on the house mortgage, it is
pointed out by the Construction
Research Bureau, New York
clearing house for building in
formation. There is no rule-of-thumb as to
how much to spend for furniture,
but many new home - buyers
budget an expenditure of about
one-fifth to one-fourth the cost
of the house. For a $10,000
home, this means $2000 to $2500
worth of furniture.
Because of the need by most
families to meet furniture in
stallments along with mortgage
payments, it becomes more im
portant than ever to economize
in home operation wherever pos
sible, the bureau declares. One
important economy comes if the
house is insulated with mineral
wool because animal fuel savings
in an average home will more
than equal one month's mortgage
payment.
Another economy often over
looked is that furnishings are
exempt from taxation in New
York, Delaware, Mississippi.
New Hampshire, Ohio, Oregon
Pennsylvania, South Carolina
of mullions and muntins of 2x4
construction. Sturdy and func
tional, this design offers sev
eral attractions. It simplifies the
use of insulating panes in small
er sizes. It forms a picture win
dow with upper panes that can
be opened for ventilation. And
its framework provides nifty
shelf space for the display of
American glassware, pott e d
plants and other bhic-abrac.
Washington and Wisconsin. Sei
eral other states offer exemp
tions under certain limits, and
a homeowner is advised to in
vestigate the law in his own
state in order to save money in
this manner.
How to Estimate
For Painting a House
In estimating the quantity of
paint needed for the outside of
a house it is better to figure
liberally than to run short of
material.
For this reason no deduction
is made for the area of windows
and doors.
The number of square feet of
surface to be covered is deter
mined by measuring in feet the
distance around the house and
multiflying by the height in
feet to the eaves line.
The area of a gable is found
by multiflying the width of its
base line by half of the height
from base line to peak. Add this
to the area of the outside walla.
Cornices, trim and other ex
tra details usually call for about
one-sixth of the quantity of
paint needed for the main part
of the house.
Where to Place
Your Food Freezer
Some architects contend that
food freezers, unlike refriges
ators, are opened so seldom that
they might be well located to
the cellar, thereby saving that
space in a kitchen.
One advantage of having the
food freezer in the kitchen, how
ever, is the proximity of the
sink and range, both of which
are needed in the freezing proc
ess. By planning work surface
next to the freezer you can pre
pare foods and store them in the
unit with a minimum of steps.
BLINDS AND DRAPES CAN DO TRICKS WITH WINDOWS
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Before These two prosaic windows at the end of a room
f. .bleed. iadces. if. you, don't know .what .to do. ......,..
In modernizing interiors, a
Mick bit of decorating magic can
Ibe achieved with Venetian
blinds. To all appearances the
shape and size of windows can
Ibe changed and the proportions
lof a room can be altered merely
toy the way in which Venetian
tblinds and draperies are used.
A lonely single window can
Itake on all the grace and charm
lot a full length French style win
dow, a broad picture window,
or even a set of three windows
Iby using dummy blinds.
For the illusion of a floor-
uength window, merely hang an
nversize blmd over the window
frame and let it fall to the floor.
ID rapes to the floor are hung so
Khey cover only wall spaces
with their center edges merely
jcovering .the edges, of. the blind.
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After This window wall effect ean be achieved from the
same .two. windows with .Venetian, blinds and. drapes.,