Tag Archives: 1950’s

Modernist Architecture: United Nations Building In New York City (1952)

Architectural Digest (January 1, 2024) – Michael Wyetzner of Michielli + Wyetzner Architects joins AD in New York for an in-depth walking tour of the United Nations.

Founded in 1945, the UN now comprises 193 member states, all of whom assemble at their modernist headquarters on the bank of the East River in NYC. The birthplace of international diplomacy, the United Nations became the first major building in New York to represent International Style architecture.

REVIEWS: THE BEST JACK LEMMON MOVIES (MGM)

MGM (September 16, 2023) – Enjoy some of Jack Lemmon’s most iconic scenes in this crafted compilation:

  • Irma La Douce (1963) – Produced and Directed By: Billy Wilder Screenplay By: Billy Wilder and I.A.L. Diamond
  • Some Like It Hot (1959) – Directed By: Billy Wilder Screenplay By: Billy Wilder and I.A.L. Diamond Cast: Marilyn Monroe, Tony Curtis, Jack Lemmon, George Raft, Pat O’Brien, Joe E. Brown
  • The Apartment (1960) – Directed By: Billy Wilder Written By: Billy Wilder & I.A.L. Diamond Cast: Jack Lemmon, Shirley MacLaine, Fred MacMurray, Ray Walston, Jack Kruschen, David Lewis, Joan Shawlee, Naomi Stevens, Hope Holiday, and Edie Adams
  • Avanti! (1972) – Produced and Directed By: Billy Wilder Screenplay By: Billy Wilder and I.A.L. Diamond Based on the Play By: Samuel Taylor Cast: Jack Lemmon, Juliet Mills, Clive Revill, Edward Andrews
  • The Fortune Cookie (1966) – Produced and Directed By: Billy Wilder Written By: Billy Wilder and I.A.L. Diamond Cast: Jack Lemmon, Walter Matthau, with Ron Rich, Cliff Osmond, and Judi West

San Francisco Views: Tour Of Alfred Hitchcock 1958 Movie ‘Vertigo’ Locations

KPIX | CBS NEWS BAY AREA (August 27, 2023) – ‘Vertigo’, one of the enduring classics of American cinema, was Alfred Hitchcock’s love letter to the Bay Area many of the views he recorded in 1957 are little changed 65 years on.

Vertigo is a 1958 American psychological thriller film directed and produced by Alfred Hitchcock. The story was based on the 1954 novel D’entre les morts (From Among the Dead) by Boileau-Narcejac. The screenplay was written by Alec Coppel and Samuel A. Taylor. The film stars James Stewart as former police detective John “Scottie” Ferguson, who has retired because an incident in the line of duty has caused him to develop acrophobia (an extreme fear of heights) and vertigo, a false sense of rotational movement. Scottie is hired by an acquaintance, Gavin Elster, as a private investigator to follow Gavin’s wife, Madeleine (Kim Novak), who is behaving strangely.

The film was shot on location in the city of San Francisco, California, as well as in Mission San Juan BautistaBig Basin Redwoods State Park, Cypress Point on 17-Mile Drive, and Paramount Studios in Hollywood. It is the first film to use the dolly zoom, an in-camera effect that distorts perspective to create disorientation, to convey Scottie’s acrophobia. As a result of its use in this film, the effect is often referred to as “the Vertigo effect”. In 1996, the film underwent a major restoration to create a new 70 mm print and DTS soundtrack.

Classic Cars: The 1957 Jaguar XKSS Sports Racer

RM Sotheby’s (August 4, 2023) – Chosen by Hollywood celebrities and racing drivers alike, the Jaguar brand has long represented the sporting lifestyle. In the second episode of an ongoing series illuminating the origins of exceptional automobiles, RM Sotheby’s Director of Research Michael Squire discusses the origins of a brand-defining Jaguar, the XKSS.

Already made in a limited quantity, this XKSS is one of only sixteen sports-racers to survive a fire at the Jaguar plant in February of 1957. After that, this XKSS led what could be considered a charmed life, first in California, then returning to two noteworthy collectors in the UK, Anthony Bamford and Campbell McLaren.

FILM REVIEWS: THE ‘100 BEST MOVIES OF THE PAST 10 DECADES’ (TIME MAGAZINE)

TIME Magazine (July 26, 2023) – TIME’s Stephanie Zacharek on the top films from the 1920s through the 2010s.

2010s

2000s

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1955 Mid-Century Modern: Tour Of ‘Windemere Tract’ Home In Phoenix, Arizona

Open Space (March 5, 2023) – Ralph Haver AIA was an American Architect who was highly accredited to bringing Modernism to Arizona. Malcolm and Lea weren’t necessarily looking for a modernist home when they stumbled upon their current Ralph Haver home.

Always intrigued with design and making a space into their own, they saw the potential through their designer Joel Contreras who at the time was one of the few people redesigning historic homes in Arizona. Ralph Haver was known for his use of affordable and practical building materials, such as concrete block and plywood, which allowed him to create affordable postwar homes. Malcolm and Lea are a part of a small tract of Ralph Haver homes with only 30 homes in their neighborhood.

Throughout the past several years, they have seen a new generation of buyers coming into the neighborhood and lovingly caring/restoring/ remodeling the homes. Ralph Haver homes are reminiscent of the Cliff May homes in Southern California, similar construction, design elements and die hard homeowners that are uplifting the legacy of these architects.

Architecture & Design: Frank Lloyd Wright’s 1952 ‘Carmel-By-The-Sea House’

Hexagonal living room with expansive windows. Views of the ocean.

Architectural Digest (February 22, 2023) – Designed in Wright’s Usonian style, the 1,400-square-foot and single-story home overlooks the Pacific Ocean, and is the only home designed by the architect in a coastal setting.

View of a stone facade home along the ocean

Like the nearby coast, Carmel’s allure has ebbed and flowed, though Wright’s assessment of it as a community full of upper-middle class residents has, for the most part, remained true. 

Located on Carmel Point near Carmel-by-the-Sea—a celeb-favored California enclave—the one-of-a-kind home just sold for $22 million, according to the Wall Street Journal. 

World’s Best Classic Cars: 1955 Porsche 356 Pre-A

ClassicDriver (December 6, 2022) – This stunning piece of automotive sculpture is a 1955 Porsche 356, and as the eagle-eyed among you will notice, this particular car is a very rare Pre-A model. As some of the earliest cars Porsche ever built, these Pre-A 356s were once disregarded by enthusiasts in favour of the faster and more modern 356 B and C models. However, what the Pre-A 356s lacked in outright pace, they made up for with their undeniable purity of design. We think you’ll agree, this particular example is quite the looker. 

Classic Italian Cars: 1955 Ferrari 410 Sport Spider

The American sports car racing scene of the 1950s was a time like no other, when fiercely independent, deep-pocketed men could acquire ex-factory racecars and campaign them with some of history’s most legendary drivers. Admirably pure in its essence, this was a golden era of racing that fielded some of the decade’s most beautifully sculpted and ferociously specified competition machines.

One of the most significant purpose-built Ferrari “big block” sports-racing prototypes from the 1950s, this 1955 Ferrari 410 Sport Spider by Scaglietti is one of just two factory-campaigned 410 Sports equipped with a 24-spark plug 4.9-liter V-12 and is one of a select few Ferrari models with coachwork both designed and built by Sergio Scaglietti.

0598 CM was the Scuderia Ferrari team car driven by Juan Manuel Fangio at the 1956 1000 KM Buenos Aires and later piloted by Carroll Shelby during his landmark 1956 and 1957 seasons when driving for the renowned Southern California-based team principal John Edgar. Shelby won more races as a driver in 0598 CM than any other car in his racing career, with eight wins and ten podium finishes.

There seemed to be no race it could not win as Shelby told a Los Angeles Times reporter, “Nothing can touch this Ferrari if it runs” and decades later he added, “It was the best Ferrari I ever drove.” Also raced in-period by legendary drivers Phil Hill, Eugenio Castellotti, Masten Gregory, Richie Ginther, Joakim Bonnier, Bruce Kessler, Jim Rathmann, and Chuck Daigh, 0598 CM is, without exaggeration, one of the most important and colorful Ferraris to compete in racing during the 1950s. It is among the most successful of all even-numbered sports-racing Ferraris, entering nearly 40 races in-period with 11 victories and 19 total podium finishes from 1956-1958.

As it remains a highly original example retaining the matching-numbers engine, chassis, and body, and fitted with the original fuel tank inscribed by Shelby, “Mr. Ferrari told me that this was the best Ferrari he ever built,” this example offers an unparalleled opportunity to acquire a purpose-built, even chassis-numbered racing sports car of unequaled provenance. Faithfully presented in its period livery and desirably maintained, including the recent engine rebuild by a team of Ferrari experts, this 410 Sport can expect an enthusiastic welcome at the most exclusive vintage racing and exhibition events worldwide and will go to its new owners with the first (1956) and last (1958) trophies won by Shelby driving 0598 CM, along with the original 1957 Nassau racing license plate.

Like the famed men who rode it to such success in-period, the illustrious John Edgar and the inimitable Carroll Shelby, this Scaglietti-built spider is a powerful and nuanced character that cannot be repeated—and will never be forgotten.

Classics: A 1951 Ferrari 500 F2 Exhibited At Lake Como

Envisioned by Enzo Ferrari and driven to victory by Alberto Ascari, this modest Ferrari 500 F2 paved the way for Maranello’s racing glory. Once gifted by ‘Il Commendatore’ to the MAUTO museum in Turin, the iconic race car will star at this year’s FuoriConcorso Open Museum exhibition at Lake Como.

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