This text will go in Part II of the finished book.
Continuing on the subject of Richard Avedon’s commercial work is this reminiscence of the trips we took for one of his major advertising clients, Clairol hair products, represented by the Foote, Cone & Belding Advertising Agency (FCB). It was work like this that made possible his world-famous portraiture by providing the income that supported it.
For their advertising campaigns Clairol had inaugurated the taglines “Does She…Or Doesn’t She? Only Her Hairdresser Knows For Sure” and “Is It True Blondes Have More Fun?” These called for wholesome, girl-next-door types often accompanied by a child with the same color hair. Photography of this sort requires lots of natural light, clear skies, and attractive surroundings, three virtues in which the New York area is decidedly deficient — although Dick had previously done several Clairol ads there during the warm seasons. After close calls with iffy weather he finally decided to go to where the sun shines most. The first stop, in late December 1961, was to Montego Bay, Jamaica. This little excursion did not involve me.
In early April of 1962, shortly after I was promoted to studio manager, we did a four-day trip to Miami for another Clairol session. At the end of this Dick, his young son John, and I stayed on to discuss future plans for the studio, and to make a quick trip to Cape Canaveral for a private tour of the space installation. The latter came about as a result of the photographs he did a year earlier of the original astronauts, on which I also assisted. (see Chapter 00).
There was only one problem with Miami — or Jamaica. Humidity. Hair styles and humidity do not mix well, necessitating constant touchups. So for the next session Avedon chose dry, warm, sunny Arizona.
On November 27, 1962, as New York was getting chilly we took off for ten days of desert sun, staying at the Mountain Shadows resort between Phoenix and Scottsdale. The first five days were devoted to scouting possible locations and generally having fun. Dick had always wanted to visit Frank Lloyd Wright’s architectural studios and school at Taliesin West (photo, right) in Scottsdale, so I drove him there and we got a private tour. It was here that some of Wright’s greatest works were designed, including the Guggenheim Museum in New York.
He also heard about a wonderful opportunity for horseback riding in the desert, and made arrangements. A group of us took off long before dawn, driving across miles of unpaved desert roads to an isolated cabin lit only by kerosene lamps. There we were met by our cowboy guide, and had a real manly breakfast of steak and brandy. At the first light of day we mounted our horses. I had only been on one of these beasts once before, and didn’t really know how to drive it. Nevermind. The horse knew the way, and showed me who was boss by getting as close as possible to every cactus plant we passed, short of stabbing me with those prickly needles. But we survived, and it was great fun. The photo above shows part of our group at the crack of dawn. The one below shows the country we rode through. I snapped this from horseback as the sun rose.
Finally, we got to work. Our locations for photography, as I remember, were around the grand old Arizona Biltmore Hotel in Phoenix and in a public park. All of the work, spread over five days, was done with Rolleiflex 2.8 TLR cameras loaded with 120 size Ektachrome E-3 film. The emulsions had been carefully tested by our color lab before the trip, as different batches of this film varied slightly in color balance and were affected by aging. White reflectors were used to control the daylight, and exposures determined by a Norwood Director meter.
The badly damaged photo above was snapped by Avedon during a lunch break. The guy at the bottom is the famed hairstylist Enrico Caruso. Behind him, from the left, are assistant Jim Houghton (who later became my business partner), me, and Eric Lunden, the art director from the FCB ad agency. I do remember asking him why we were being so extravagant with the client’s money, and he answered that if we didn’t spend it the budget for the next trip would be lower. Oh, those were the days!
The next trip for Clairol took us to Las Vegas for five days in April 1964, again for the dry desert air and plentiful sunshine. We stayed at The Sands, long associated with the Rat Pack and sadly torn down in 1996. Our first full day was spent sitting around the pool, practicing a sure-fire system of winning at Blackjack. I memorized all the moves, then tried my luck in the casino that evening. And wound up two hundred dollars ahead! In those days they didn’t use chips; instead it was done with those big old silver dollars, so my pockets were really bulging with the night’s winnings. Unfortunately, I lost it all the next evening, but at least broke even and had two nights of free drinks.
Wherever we went on location, if there was a Trader Vic’s restaurant we had to visit it. Avedon just loved the tacky atmosphere, the phony “Polynesian” dishes, and the crazy rum drinks. Like the others we went to in San Francisco, Palm Springs, Miami, and elsewhere, this one was dripping in South Seas décor and bird-call music. After that we took in a floorshow at The Sands.
A local mob boss invited Dick to his home. He was a bit nervous about this but also excited, so he went. I drove him there and met the gang. As it turned out they were very cordial, and treated him as a celebrity.
After a few days the work began. Not in town, but well out in the desert. Again, we used Rolleis loaded with Ektachrome E-3 film, and controlled the light with white reflectors. Assisting us on this trip was Richard Kaperka, who had previously worked for photographer Irving Penn. Others present, besides the models and the art director from FCB, were Dick’s wife Evelyn, his sales representative Laura Kanelous, and her husband John.
Everything turned out well on all of these trips, but after that budgets were reduced and trips became more Spartan.
Copyright © 2009 Earl Steinbicker
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