Eames: The Architect & The Painter Page #16

and forgotten and leftthere.

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It was dense,

1393

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and it was complex,

1394

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but there was a mind at work

1395

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placing it there.

1396

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Whether you as the recipient

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were willing and able to accept

that is another question.

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ALBRECHT:
They're pushing up

against the envelope

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of what technology could do,

1400

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because they're trying to give

the visitor

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a hypertext experience,

1402

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but they're doing it

in physical space.

1403

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And it doesn't work.

1404

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They are anticipating

1405

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what the computer can do today

very easily

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with layering text and giving

you at different levels.

1407

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So it's a failure,

but it's an honest failure.

1408

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The criticism of

"Franklin and Jefferson"

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hit Charles hard.

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DEMETRIOS:
The

"Franklin and Jefferson" show

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was an exhausting show

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because it was huge,

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and I think sort of

the machinery of doing that

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was just tiring.

1415

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TONDREAU:
I saw Charles

at his happiest

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TONDREAU:
I saw Charles

at his happiest

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when he was getting to do

a lot of photography.

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And he was very engaged directly

on the creative process

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of doing the photographs...

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which led me to the idea

that maybe he felt

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he was missing something,

you know,

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because he had had

the transition

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to more of an executive

position at the Office.

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BEEBE:
It was very hard for him,

because he didn't really have

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a successor,

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and for the years

that I was there, he was always

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looking for the perfect person.

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It was a battle one day

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with the IBM representative,

Mike Sullivan,

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and Mike said,

"Why don't you shut this down?"

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And he said, "I'd like to."

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And Sullivan said,

"What would you do?"

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And he said, "I'd just travel

and shoot."

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"But," he said, "I don't know

what to do about Ray,

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and closing the Office."

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BEEBE:
He was tired, and he was,

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I don't know if it was his

heart, but he was cold a lot.

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I brought him one morning...

it was a Saturday morning,

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and I'd made applesauce cake

or something,

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and I brought it to the office,

1441

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and I handed it to Charles

wrapped in tin foil,

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and it was still warm,

and he took it,

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pressed it to his chest,

1444

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and he was thrilled

to have that warmth

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just sort of on his chest.

1446

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JOHN NEUHART:
I was out of

the office the day that he died.

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It was, in a way,

it was expected.

1448

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SUSSMAN:
It just didn't

seem possible.

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I mean, I knew that some people

that Charles worked with,

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men in the East, wept.

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He was such a dominant force in

the lives of designers that...

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it was like there was suddenly

a big empty hole.

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OPPEWALL:
There are still days

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when I'm driving

down the highway,

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thinking about things,

and I think,

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"Why did you die?

1457

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I'm not through with you yet!

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I haven't finished asking you

the questions I wanted to ask."

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He was the most important person

in my life.

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I mean, he could be, he could

really be tough, you know,

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but he...

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he was an extraordinary

person.

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BEEBE:
After Charles died,

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suddenly Ray was

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the head of the Office.

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She gathered everybody around,

1467

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and she talked about her goals

and what she wanted to do,

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and how she needed

our help.

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And it was really very powerful,

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because she had never

done that before.

1471

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But she felt this huge burden

about carrying on the name

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and carrying on the Office.

1473

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And I think it was killing her.

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And I said, "Come on, Ray,

why don't you

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just close the Office,

and let's go and paint."

1476

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And she said

"No, that's all in the past.

1477

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I can't do that anymore."

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FRANCO:
Without Charles,

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activity in the Eames Office

dwindled,

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until itwas time

to finally close 901.

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Ray focused

on the painstaking work

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of cataloguing the voluminous

40-year output

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of the Eames Office.

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Nearly 350,000 photographs

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