I’m going to miss Florence Henderson, whom I associate less
with The Brady Bunch than with the forays into musical theatre she made
early in her career. As a youthful fan of all things Broadway, I listened
repeatedly to the singing of Mary Martin on my Sound of Music cast album. But when
I was taken to L.A.’s creaky old Philharmonic Hall to see the show for
myself, it was a young Florence Henderson who wore the wimple.
Paul Sylbert, unlike Florence Henderson, became far better
known for his work than for his sparkling personality. But in the course of his
long career he was revered throughout the industry as one of Hollywood’s
premiere art directors and production designers. He brought imagination and
craftsmanship to such big-name films as One
Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, Kramer
vs. Kramer, and The Prince of Tides. For
creating a misty celestial waiting-room and other more earthly locales in Heaven Can Wait, he was awarded an Oscar
in 1979.
Once upon a time Paul was married to Anthea Sylbert, a
costume designer who nabbed Oscar nominations for her striking period work on Chinatown and Julia. But the relationship that most interests me is the one he
had with his identical twin brother, Richard. They were born on April 16, 1928.
A close-knit duo, the two Sylberts served together in the same Army infantry
unit in Korea, and then studied art together at Philadelphia’s Temple
University. Sylbert’s L.A. Times obit
notes that “when [Paul] Sylbert landed a job at CBS in New York, his brother
found work at NBC.
I don’t know of any other Hollywood art directors who came as
a matched set. Their big break arrived when Elia Kazan hired them both to re-create
a steamy Southern town in the controversial 1956 film, Baby Doll. Eventually, though, they learned to work apart. While
Paul was busy elsewhere, Richard created designs for such powerful dramas as The Manchurian Candidate and The Pawnbroker. Then he was lucky enough
to hook up with Mike Nichols for his very first film, Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? This 1966 assignment won Richard an
Oscar, the last ever given for specifically black-and-white set design and
decoration. It also won him the job of production designer on Nichols’ second
film, The Graduate. To capture the
narcissism and sterility of Southern California living, the two decided on a
limited color palette dominated by lots of murky blacks and stark whites, and they
tricked out their sets with all manner of glass and mirrored surfaces. They
also played with the idea of water, choosing as a visual metaphor that bedroom
aquarium that seems to reflect Benjamin Braddock’s place as a prize specimen in
his parents’ world. The film’s striking visuals were surely Oscar-worthy, but
no nomination was forthcoming. Nonetheless, The
Graduate won Richard a reputation as
a masterful interpreter of California living. He would go on to re-create L.A.
on screen in such powerfully atmospheric films as Chinatown and Shampoo. But
he also made intensely New York films, including Rosemary’s
Baby and The Cotton Club. And his
second Oscar honored a movie that captured the look of the Sunday morning funny
pages: Dick Tracy.
Richard Sylbert was working almost until his death in 2002. (Aside
from his design career, he spent three years as chief of production at
Paramount.) Paul, who also tried his hand at writing and directing films, left
Hollywood in 2008 for a teaching post at his Philadelphia alma mater. When he died, at 88, he’d outlived his twin by
14 years. Right now I’m mourning them both.
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