INTERIORS//EXTERIORS//OTHER ROOMS
Mar 31
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“A few years ago, Parsons School of Design in New York held a symposium on the subject of professional enmity between architects and interior designers. The finger pointing got off to an early start when members of Parsons’ interior design department objected to the announcement poster, which featured an archival photo of Mies van der Rohe’s Farnsworth House, with a manicured poodle digitally inserted into that icon of modernist splendor. Protesters denounced the poodle as an antiquated stereotype of decorators as frivolous interlopers in the exalted realm of architecture.” “I was reminded of Poodlegate recently when a friend sent me an old photo of a discotheque designed by Phyllis Morris in the 1970s for Allan Carr. For you sweet, ignorant sprites who don’t know anything about anyone who isn’t on Facebook, Carr was a Hollywood producer and a grand queen of the old school. His producing credits included Grease, the underappreciated Grease 2 and his chef d’oeuvre, Can’t Stop the Music, starring the Village People, Valerie Perrine and Bruce Jenner (back when he was still cute and not saddled with that gaggle of Kardashian harpies). Morris was another colorful character from a bygone era of Hollywood glamour. She began her career by selling poodle lamps from the back of her car, and she was often photographed cruising around Los Angeles in a pink convertible, swathed in a mink coat (regardless of the season) and accompanied by her pet poodles, which were peppermint-dyed to match her supersweet ride.” “Flamboyance paid off for Morris. Her extravagant style was embraced by Joan Crawford, Howard Hughes, Lana Turner, Lucille Ball, Hugh Hefner, Gladys Knight and Totie Fields. Oh, and she also designed a dining room for Lady Bird Johnson. Mercy, that’s some client list!” “As I look around the decorating world today, I have to wonder: Where have all the poodle pushers gone? I realize decorators have struggled to overthrow degrading stereotypes and demand professional respect. Still, I hope the design world always has room for a few insane, over-the-top characters. We need them. If I have to attend one more canape-filled book signing for some restrained, ultraclassy, ultratasteful decorating tome, I might have to pull out my BeDazzler gun and start shooting. For now, I’ll content myself with contemplating the odalisque figure of Allan Carr in his louche harem fantasy. I can almost smell the poppers and the hustlers. Come back, Allan! Come back, Phyllis! We need you now more than ever.” ALL STILLS TAKEN FROM THE FILM “TOO WONG FOO, THANKS FOR EVERYTHING, JULIE NEWMAR”, DIR. BEEBAN KIDRON, 1995; TEXT AS WRITTEN BY MAYER RUS, AS TAKEN FROM “QUEEN FOR A DAY”, VIA LA TIMES MAGAZINE

“A few years ago, Parsons School of Design in New York held a symposium on the subject of professional enmity between architects and interior designers. The finger pointing got off to an early start when members of Parsons’ interior design department objected to the announcement poster, which featured an archival photo of Mies van der Rohe’s Farnsworth House, with a manicured poodle digitally inserted into that icon of modernist splendor. Protesters denounced the poodle as an antiquated stereotype of decorators as frivolous interlopers in the exalted realm of architecture.”

“I was reminded of Poodlegate recently when a friend sent me an old photo of a discotheque designed by Phyllis Morris in the 1970s for Allan Carr. For you sweet, ignorant sprites who don’t know anything about anyone who isn’t on Facebook, Carr was a Hollywood producer and a grand queen of the old school. His producing credits included Grease, the underappreciated Grease 2 and his chef d’oeuvre, Can’t Stop the Music, starring the Village People, Valerie Perrine and Bruce Jenner (back when he was still cute and not saddled with that gaggle of Kardashian harpies).

Morris was another colorful character from a bygone era of Hollywood glamour. She began her career by selling poodle lamps from the back of her car, and she was often photographed cruising around Los Angeles in a pink convertible, swathed in a mink coat (regardless of the season) and accompanied by her pet poodles, which were peppermint-dyed to match her supersweet ride.”

“Flamboyance paid off for Morris. Her extravagant style was embraced by Joan Crawford, Howard Hughes, Lana Turner, Lucille Ball, Hugh Hefner, Gladys Knight and Totie Fields. Oh, and she also designed a dining room for Lady Bird Johnson. Mercy, that’s some client list!”

“As I look around the decorating world today, I have to wonder: Where have all the poodle pushers gone? I realize decorators have struggled to overthrow degrading stereotypes and demand professional respect. Still, I hope the design world always has room for a few insane, over-the-top characters. We need them. If I have to attend one more canape-filled book signing for some restrained, ultraclassy, ultratasteful decorating tome, I might have to pull out my BeDazzler gun and start shooting.

For now, I’ll content myself with contemplating the odalisque figure of Allan Carr in his louche harem fantasy. I can almost smell the poppers and the hustlers. Come back, Allan! Come back, Phyllis! We need you now more than ever.”

ALL STILLS TAKEN FROM THE FILM “TOO WONG FOO, THANKS FOR EVERYTHING, JULIE NEWMAR”, DIR. BEEBAN KIDRON, 1995; TEXT AS WRITTEN BY MAYER RUS, AS TAKEN FROM “QUEEN FOR A DAY”, VIA LA TIMES MAGAZINE

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