Norman Bel Geddes was an American theatrical and industrial designer.
Background
Geddes was born Norman Melancton Geddes on April 27, 1893 in Adrian, Michigan, the son of Clifton Terry Geddes, a businessman, and Flora Luella Yingling. In 1899 the family moved to Pittsburgh, where Clifton Geddes had invested in real estate; however, by 1901 he lost all of his money and they moved back to the Midwest. When Clifton Geddes left his wife, she and young Norman moved to Newcomerstown, Ohio, to live with her parents. Norman sold newspapers and worked in his uncle's grocery store. When his mother was able to rent a small house, he set up a studio in an attic room and began to paint.
Education
Geddes was expelled from Newcomerstown High School at the age of fourteen for having drawn a caricature of the principal. When he later moved to New Philadelphia, Ohio, where his mother had moved, he was again expelled for sketching caricatures of school officials. A newspaper cartoonist, James H. Donahey, who had been through a similar experience at the same school, heard of the incident and invited Geddes to Cleveland, where he enrolled him in the Cleveland School of Art. Geddes remained in Cleveland for a few months and later attended the Art Institute of Chicago for about two months. In Chicago he first became familiar with the work of Matisse, Picasso, Cézanne, and Van Gogh. He also studied portraiture with the Norwegian Hendrick Lund.
Career
After high school Geddes worked during the summer as a bellboy on a Lake Erie steamer, where he was taught magic by Howard Thurston, a professional magician. In 1913 he toured the Sun Gus Vaudeville Circuit as "Zedsky the Boy Magician"; and in 1914-1915 he toured the same circuit as Bob Blake, the "Eccentric Comedian. " These brief forays were the full extent of his career as a performer. In 1912 Geddes became an apprentice at the Peninsular Engraving Co. in Detroit. He won several design awards and was named director of the art department. He became general manager of Barnes Crosby Company, an advertising firm, in 1914. His work failed to satisfy his creative ambitions, so he wrote a play, Thunderbird, and went to New York City to try to get it produced. Producer David Belasco turned Geddes away, but referred him to Aline Barnsdall. She bought the play, and in 1915 Geddes quit his job in Detroit and moved to Los Angeles, where he planned to assist in the play's production. In Los Angeles Geddes worked with Barnsdall's Little Theater. Although Thunderbird was never produced, Geddes designed scenery, costumes, and lighting, and was able to put some of his innovative ideas into practice. His new techniques for stage lighting included eliminating footlights and installing high-intensity bulbs on the front of the theater balcony, a method that later became standard. In 1917 Geddes heard about Otto Kahn, the wealthy banker who often financed promising young artists. He spent $4. 80 of his last $7. 00 to wire Kahn and ask for a $200 loan. Geddes used the money he received from Kahn for a trip to New York City. On Kahn's recommendation, Geddes was hired by the Metropolitan Opera Company the following year to do the costumes and scenery for Shanewis, an American opera by Charles W. Cadman. During the next twenty years Geddes designed about a hundred operatic, dramatic, and musical comedy productions. Some of his early productions included Erminie (1920); The Truth About Blayds (1921), starring Leslie Howard; and The Rivals (1922). Geddes' lighting for these productions was so successful that he was commissioned to redesign the electrical system of the Little Theater and the Booth Theater, both in New York City. He installed 1, 000-watt lights in each house and hung some of his lamps on the front of the balcony. Despite some battles with older actresses who preferred the more flattering glow of footlights. Geddes continued with his innovative lighting. Historian Sheldon Cheney called his work "daring, inventive and flamingly imaginative. " Along with Robert Edmond Jones and Lee Simonson, Geddes revolutionized the American theater by using costumes, scenery, and lighting to intensify the mood rather than merely to decorate the set. In 1923 Geddes collaborated with Max Reinhardt to stage The Miracle. Around 1927 his interest turned to industrial design and by 1932 he had established Norman Bel Geddes & Co. - one of the first of such firms. He designed streamlined automobiles, passenger trains, and yachts; a vacuum cleaner; and a gasoline pump that registered prices. His philosophy was that function should determine form; as with his theatrical work, design effects were not merely decorative. By 1929 Geddes was also involved with architectural and landscape design. He designed about twenty-eight theaters in America and Europe and advised architects on exterior illuminations of buildings and grounds. In 1935 he went into partnership with the architect George Howe. Also in 1935 Geddes produced the play Dead End, creating a starkly realistic set of a New York City street leading into the East River. A pier was constructed on the stage, and the orchestra pit was filled with water. This was his most commercially successful production. In 1938 General Motors had Geddes design its 1939 New York World's Fair exhibit, which contained "Futurama, " a futuristic design model of superhighways and cities. In the years 1940-1942, he modernized equipment and designed a tent without poles for the Ringling Brothers and Barnum and Bailey Circus, and his architectural firm designed a building for the Hayden Planetarium in New York City. During World War II Geddes designed equipment for the Armed Forces and served on the National Inventors Council. A restless, gregarious individual, Geddes worked continually. He died in New York City.
Achievements
Connections
On March 9, 1916, Geddes married Helen Belle Sneider. They had two daughters, one of whom, Barbara, became the well-known actress. This marriage ended in divorce. On March 3, 1933, he married Frances Resor Waite. On December 20, 1944, he married Ann Howe Hilliard; they were divorced in 1950. On June 7, 1953, he married Edith Addams Lutyens Taylor. These two marriages were childless.