Hollywood Studio Magazine (November 1971)

Artist-author of HOLLYWOOD PANORAMA, Bob Harman, in front of a portion of his cinema bilia collection. (Photo by Cal Phillips) One of the thirty panels of the Panorama. An ocean scene including Ben Turpin, Burt Lancaster, Doris Day, Bebe Daniels, and Carole Landis. Hollywood Panorama...an artist's tribute fMany people like to talk about the old days of Hollywood and the movies, but Bob Harman decided to try and re-create them, (at least a minature version of them), with paint and paper. Harman, a professional artist and ex-actor, began his unusual project on his New York State farm over ten years ago. He started the series of paintings, he recalls, merely to amuse himself. “I had always loved the old movies and I wanted to build a tribute to the world of Hollywood — at least as we, the fans, imagined it.” “It became sort of a tapestry of nostalgia - and it just kept growing and growing.” This past winter the work was completed and even Harman was impressed by the result - a series of thirty tempera paintings containing caricatured portraits of one thousand and one film stars set against a background of “old Hollywood.” The players, many of whom are costumed from a favorite film role, represent a fifty year span from the early silent stars to recent favorites. “The largest number of stars and featured players represented,” says Harman, “are from the Twenties to the Fifties but I did add some recent “nostalgia,” (such as MARY POPPINS by Jim Rose and MY FAIR LADY) for the kids.” “I think that the portraits are “gentle” caricatures - after all, it is meant as a tribute - and rather than a physical distortion, I attempted to paint whimsical interpretation of the actor’s screen image.” Each of the thirty panels represents a studio or a popular Hollywood landmark, such as Beverly Hills, Malibu, and Sunset Boulevard. The panels are designed to be seen separately or may be fitted together to form a large wall mural. Harman began his project by cataloguing his library of over 5000 movie magazines — some dating back to the early 1900’s. Each portrait-caricature meant studying twenty or more photographs of the star from various angles and often from various phases of their career. When assembled, the mural represents a simphfied version of the map of Hollywood with the mountains and canyons along the top, the ocean along the bottom, and each studio and landmark approximately in its’ correct position. The artist claims that there are at least another thousand players who had to be excluded because, he explains, “After ten years I simply had to stop someplace”. Included however are almost every major star plus a generous scattering of character and supporting actors and “B” picture players. Many of the sets, studio buildings, and star’s homes seen in the background were painted on a trip to Hollywood in 1966. The work first received public attention when it was exhibited last year at a New England art gallery. A national news story resulted in an appearance for Harman, with the mural, on the television program, TO TELL THE TRUTH. Now the entire work is being pubhshed this fall by E. P. Dutton under the title, BOB HARMAN’S HOLLYWOOD PANORAMA. The book is soft covered so that the color panels may be removed and re-assembled into a wall mural. Harman has also written a descriptive index identifying the players and backgrounds. Although surprised by all the attention that his ten year hobby has received. Bob Harman, is especially pleased about the Panorama being published. “I hope that it will help young people sense a bit of the excitement of old Hollywood and the stars - and help the rest of us to rernember.” *** 15