[Drew]

Does anyone have details of why Philco and Norman Bel Geddes parted ways after only one year of a five year contract the two had signed. The 1931 models he designed were so inovative and great looking, models 112, 112H, 370 & 212. The 112 was even chosen by the Metropolitan Museum of Art in their contemporary Industrial art exhibition in 1931.
I just submitted some photos of my model 112 to a architectual trade publication who is doing a piece on 1930's design. I think the 112 is a striking console, hope they include my pictures.

[Chuck Schwark]

My guess is The Depression, lagging sales, and a high-priced outsourced designer may have been some of the reasons. Bel Geddes may have had a short-term contact so Philco could test the waters???

Ron can give you a better insight, I believe.

[Ron Ramirez]

Drew - where did you hear that Bel Geddes signed a five year contract with Philco? I don't have John Okolowicz' fine article on Bel Geddes from the March 1996 Antique Radio Classified in front of me, but I don't recall his mentioning that. I could be wrong, though - after all, that article was published ten years ago...

I would otherwise concur with what Chuck said. The Depression, lagging sales...Philco hired Clyde Shuler to redesign their cathedral models, and all of their 1932-33 cathedrals look identical as a result. Ed Combs continued to design many of their consoles. I think the Bel Geddes connection was a marketing ploy for the 1931 season that did not work as well as intended, again, for the reasons Chuck mentioned.

[Drew]

Yes, it was in John's 1996 ARC article that he wrote "Bel Geddes signed a very lucrative five year contract with Philco providing far an annual retainer of $25,000 plus costs not to exceed $49,000 a year."
That seems like a lot of money for the design of radio cabinets, $49,000 in 1931 is the equevalent of over $400,000 in 2006 dollars. Maybe Philco decided it was too costly to work with Bel Geddes, after all, 1931 was the worst year of the depression. I've also read the he was very demanding and was known to have conflict with clients over details, and in the end wanted the product the way he wanted it.

[Poston Drake]

Hi Drew,

I can't really add anything regarding the Philco-Bel Geddes connection, except that I am personally fascinated with it. I agree your model 112 is a striking console, well designed. I own a Philco model 370 chairside, designed by Bel Geddes, which I think is also an excellent example of his work, and one which truly reflects the very best of American art deco industrial design of the early 1930's. Mine still has the original silver/black paper label under the lid, designating design by the "Bel Geddes Studios" with their logo which is a work of art in its own right. You can see a good period photo of the model 370 chairside (and a pretty lady listening to one) by scrolling about midway down on this page from Ron's website:
http://www.philcoradio.com/history/hist3.htm

By the way, my personal favorite Bel Geddes work is his "Manhattan" cocktail set, which can be seen here:
http://www.metmuseum.org/special/america....537.R.htm

And for anyone who is interested, here is a brief biography of Norman bel Geddes:
http://new.idsa.org/webmodules/articles/...&print=yes

Poston

[Drew]

Poston, Thanks for those links. My 112 also has this label. One further observation I wanted to make, Bel Geddes also designed the model A clock timer seen on page 26 of Ron's book. this timer looks very much like models 54C and 57C radio's of 1932-33. I haven't heard if they are the work of NBG, but they sure l look like it. My 57C does not have a NBG label.

[Ron Ramirez]

Poston - that is a shockingly revealing dress for the time (1931), isn't it?

[Ron Ramirez]

Drew

Nope, the 54C and 57C were designed by Clyde Shuler, not Bel Geddes.

[Poston Drake]

Ron--yes, she looks pretty good in that dress and it is revealing for the times. But she is definitely high-class. And high-class anyone would had to have been in the early 30's to be able to afford to purchase that Philco 370 chairside.

By the way, Philco was not the only radio manufacturer who engaged Norman bel Geddes for design services. Check out this example of a truly great catalin radio which bel Geddes designed for Emerson:
http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/ho/11/na/h...722.11.htm

And bel Geddes did some great furniture design as well. Check out this example of his work for the Simmons Furniture Company:
http://www.brooklynmuseum.org/research/l...?id=115140
He did lots of other work for Simmons in the early 1930's, all of which were executed in all-metal furniture in the very best examples of American art-deco design of that era.

If you want to see another example of bel Geddes' work for Simmons, and just how much in demand the few remaining pieces can command in the current marketplace, check out this current eBay listing:
http://cgi.ebay.com/7409109776

While the $1,795 asking price of this bedroom suite might seem high, I suspect it might be less than its original price from Simmons in the early 1930's, after adjustment for inflation over the past 70+ years.

Norman bel Geddes was one of the "big three" who were the established leaders in American industrial design in the 30's and 40's, the heyday of the so-called "art deco" and "streamlined" era. The other two being Raymond Loewy and Henry Dreyfuss. Only in recent years have the works of these three men become truly appreciated. And proof of the old saying "Quality remains long after price is forgotten."

Poston