Eames: The Architect & The Painter Page #8

hanging from the ceiling.

653

00:
33:13,691 -- 00:33:16,319

Well, now you can see a lot of

tumbleweed around

654

00:
33:16,394 -- 00:33:18,225

in people's houses,

but in those days,

655

00:
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it was [Gasps].

656

00:
33:19,564 -- 00:33:22,897

And near the tumbleweed

hanging from the ceiling,

657

00:
33:22,967 -- 00:33:25,094

there were two

Hans Hofmann paintings

658

00:
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suspended from

the deck of the roof.

659

00:
33:32,443 -- 00:33:34,673

The floor was just another

canvas for Ray,

660

00:
33:34,746 -- 00:33:36,714

the ceiling was

just another canvas,

661

00:
33:36,781 -- 00:33:40,717

a sofa was a canvas

for a collage of objects.

662

00:
33:40,785 -- 00:33:45,813

She would have entirely

all of herfamous

663

00:
33:45,890 -- 00:33:47,824

blue and white dishes

stacked up.

664

00:
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But she would have little red

hearts or little red accents.

665

00:
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And itwas all perfect.

666

00:
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MAN:
I went to dinner

667

00:
33:58,269 -- 00:34:01,170

at Ray and Charles's house

one night,

668

00:
34:01,239 -- 00:34:04,731

and it came to dessert.

669

00:
34:04,809 -- 00:34:07,141

So what they had arranged

for dessert

670

00:
34:07,211 -- 00:34:10,009

was three bowls of flowers

671

00:
34:10,081 -- 00:34:12,675

thatthey put in front of you

672

00:
34:12,750 -- 00:34:15,913

to admire,

so it was a visual dessert.

673

00:
34:15,987 -- 00:34:18,820

I was really [bleep] off

with that,

674

00:
34:18,890 -- 00:34:20,790

I can tell you.

675

00:
34:20,858 -- 00:34:24,191

I was really...

because I hadn't eaten much.

676

00:
34:24,262 -- 00:34:26,856

I was saving up for the...

so I'm looking

677

00:
34:26,931 -- 00:34:29,161

at these stupid flowers,

you know,

678

00:
34:29,233 -- 00:34:32,168

and I'm saying, "What the hell

is wrong with these people?"

679

00:
34:32,236 -- 00:34:33,863

You know, so I got in my car,

680

00:
34:33,938 -- 00:34:36,429

and I drove out to the nearest

Dairy Queen.

681

00:
34:36,507 -- 00:34:41,137

FRANCO:
"Take your pleasure

seriously," Charles said,

682

00:
34:41,212 -- 00:34:44,010

and that's exactly

what they did.

683

00:
34:44,082 -- 00:34:46,209

[Circus music playing]

684

00:
34:48,753 -- 00:34:51,119

OPPEWALL:
Every time

685

00:
34:51,189 -- 00:34:52,816

the Ringling Brothers

and Barnum & Bailey Circus

686

00:
34:52,890 -- 00:34:56,348

would come to town, we would all

get out our cameras

687

00:
34:56,427 -- 00:34:58,258

and our ectochrome, and we'd go

688

00:
34:58,329 -- 00:35:01,423

running downtown, and we'd

photograph the circus.

689

00:
35:05,002 -- 00:35:07,027

MAN:
And he said, "Photograph."

690

00:
35:07,105 -- 00:35:08,265

"What?"

691

00:
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He said, "Anything you want.

Just photograph."

692

00:
35:10,842 -- 00:35:13,242

And a couple of people

of the audience

693

00:
35:13,311 -- 00:35:14,539

were there to feed you.

694

00:
35:14,612 -- 00:35:15,943

It's like a machine gun,

695

00:
35:16,013 -- 00:35:18,311

somebody was feeding you

the cartridges.

696

00:
35:18,382 -- 00:35:21,977

And I took a lot of pictures.

697

00:
35:22,053 -- 00:35:25,318

MAN:
What impressed him was

how everybody knew their place,

698

00:
35:25,389 -- 00:35:27,118

and sometimes they had

699

00:
35:27,191 -- 00:35:29,716

two or three different tasks

that they had to do.

700

00:
35:29,794 -- 00:35:34,857

CAPLAN:
The circus looks

like a free-for-all

701

00:
35:34,932 -- 00:35:38,060

and is absolutely

a model of constraints.

702

00:
35:38,136 -- 00:35:44,041

OPPEWALL:
And for Charles,

this was one supreme example...

703

00:
35:44,108 -- 00:35:47,009

"the performance."

704

00:
35:47,078 -- 00:35:52,038

"Never let the blood show,"

he would say.

705

00:
35:52,116 -- 00:35:55,244

And this went back

to his philosophy

706

00:
35:55,319 -- 00:35:58,618

of no good design,

no good performance

707

00:
35:58,689 -- 00:36:01,886

without restrictions, without

restraints, without rules.

708

00:
36:01,959 -- 00:36:04,985

ASHBY:
He goes to the circus,

and hejust

709

00:
36:05,062 -- 00:36:07,189

is overwhelmed by the richness

710

00:
36:07,265 -- 00:36:08,789

of everything, you know,

711

00:
36:08,866 -- 00:36:10,299

the costumes and the wagons

712

00:
36:10,368 -- 00:36:11,733

and the tent.

713

00:
36:11,802 -- 00:36:13,133

And he comes back,

and he's trying to...

714

00:
36:13,204 -- 00:36:15,832

you can't turn a circus

into a piece of furniture,

715

00:
36:15,907 -- 00:36:18,398

but he's desperately wanting to.

716

00:
36:18,476 -- 00:36:22,640

FRANCO:
Charles and Ray did not

turn the circus into a chair,

717

00:
36:22,713 -- 00:36:26,046

butthey did turn

the Eames Office into a circus.

718

00:
36:26,117 -- 00:36:27,846

[Drum roll]

719

00:
36:27,919 -- 00:36:32,083

[March playing]

720

00:
36:39,363 -- 00:36:41,024

ASHBY:
He wasn't

embarrassed at all

721

00:
36:41,098 -- 00:36:43,760

about what it is

that he was doing.

722

00:
36:43,834 -- 00:36:45,734

You know, he felt really

confident about,

723

00:
36:45,803 -- 00:36:47,464

"Yeah, this is a toy shop.

724

00:
36:47,538 -- 00:36:48,937

This... I'm just

having fun here.

725

00:
36:49,006 -- 00:36:51,304

And, you know, somehow or other,

you guys bring me money

726

00:
36:51,375 -- 00:36:53,707

and tell me to go ahead,

and I'm going to."

727

00:
36:53,778 -- 00:36:58,215

FRANCO:
Royalties from

Herman Miller gave Charles

728

00:
36:58,282 -- 00:37:01,615

the freedom to move beyond

his reputation

729

00:
37:01,686 -- 00:37:04,484

as a designer

of modern furniture.

730

00:
37:04,555 -- 00:37:06,785

SCHRADER:
Herman Miller

was always after him

731

00:
37:06,857 -- 00:37:10,190

to do more chairs, and he would

do chairs every now and then,

732

00:
37:10,261 -- 00:37:14,095

but I don't think he liked

to think of himself

733

00:
37:14,165 -- 00:37:15,530

or have others think of him

734

00:
37:15,600 -- 00:37:18,398

as the chair designer.

735

00:
37:18,469 -- 00:37:21,097

[Trumpet playing]

736

00:
37:37,788 -- 00:37:39,847

SCHRADER:
I was a film critic,

737

00:
37:39,924 -- 00:37:44,384

and that gave me an excuse

to go down to 901.

738

00:
37:46,230 -- 00:37:50,064

I fell in love with

the whole concept of 901,

739

00:
37:50,134 -- 00:37:51,396

which was a kind of

740

00:
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Renaissance art workshop,

where they did everything.

741

00:
37:54,872 -- 00:37:57,306

At the time, he was considered

742

00:
37:57,375 -- 00:38:00,970

a kind of cutesy,

pass little filmmaker,

743

00:
38:01,045 -- 00:38:04,242

but no one had ever written

about the films.

744

00:
38:21,132 -- 00:38:24,192

FRANCO:
Eames films

are their own genre,

745

00:
38:24,268 -- 00:38:27,726

the product not of a film studio

concerned with profits,

746

00:
38:27,805 -- 00:38:30,296

but of a curious mind

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