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June, 1935
Motion Picture Studio Insider
25
PLASTER SHOP—
FANTASTIC CREATIONS MADE IN SHOPS AT PARAMOUNT FILM PLANT
GALLERY of famous players • — that’s the latest assignment given to Hollywood’s most prolific sculptors.
Paramount studios plan a Hollywood hall of fame.
Busts of William Powell, Warren William, Carole Lombard, Wallace Beery and Eric von Stroheim have al¬ ready been complet¬ ed. To these will be added masks and fig¬ ures of Mae West,
Bing Crosby, Mar¬ lene Dietrich, W.
C. Fields, Claudette Colbert, George Raft, Gary Cooper,
Baby LeRoy, and many others, all exquitely done in plas¬ ter, by the magicians employed in this de¬ partment.
The plaster shop is one of the more fascinating depart¬ ments of the studio and one rarely seen by writers and visi¬ tors.
Its name hardly does it justice, for from there come exquisite wood carvings and marble sculpture, as well as plaster models.
In its spacious, blanched confines, skilled workmen from every part of the world labor to execute the designs of the art department.
There are 175 of them at the peak of production.
“We do every kind of figure and or¬ namental modeling,” says Victor Caccia
lanza, head of the department. “We make decorative columns, rails, moldings, panels, statues, placques, bas-relief, gar¬ den furniture, and intricate wood-carv¬ ings. We duplicate or adapt any design, ancient or modern. Giant gargoyles and hand-carved tent poles for ’The Cru¬ sades’ and moderne statuary for Mae West’s ’Goin’ To Town’ both came from here. And the work is all done by hand.”
Caccialanza then explained how the hall of fame statues will be made.
“If possible, we will have the stars pose. If not, we can work from masks or photographs — as we have before. The sculptors will create a likeness in clay, from which we will make a gelatine glue mould. Plaster, or whatever other ma¬ terial we decide to use, will be poured into the mould and reinforced, if neces¬ sary, with fibre or wire, which hardens into the material and helps hold it to¬ gether.”
Asked if it would take long to produce the individual stat u e s , Caccialanza said no.
“Training enables the men to work rapidly. It is inter¬ esting to see what happens when they ’pour’ a mould. Everybody in the shop rushes over to see if the pour has been fine enough to pick up every detail of the mould, and that there are no cracks or air pockets. We ordinarily can’t af¬ ford to make mistakes both because of the loss of material and the amount of work ahead of us.”
Illustrated on this page are the de¬ tailed processes used in making life masks of the various studio players. These life masks, prepared with the greatest of care, form the nucleus of the completed busts for the hall of fame.