The L.A. Atelier Where George Hurrell Invented the Glamour Portrait to be Honored
THE L.A. ATELIER WHERE GEORGE
HURRELL INVENTED THE GLAMOUR PORTRAIT TO BE HONORED IN A
PHOTOGRAPHY EXHIBITION AND BOOK SIGNING PARTY
Published this month, George Hurrell's Hollywood is a revised, updated edition—with 120 new images--of the 2013 Running Press book. The first edition was honored in 2022 by Esquire Magazine as Number Eleven of the “125 Best Film Books.” On October 28, it was honored as one of “The 100 Greatest Film Books” by The Hollywood Reporter, with a star-studded ceremony at the TCL Chinese Theatre.
Author Mark A. Vieira is a photographer in his own right as well as a filmmaker for the Cecil B. DeMille Foundation. Mark has spent fifty years researching Hurrell’s career, which is inextricably linked with the historic Granada Buildings. On November 2, the unique Spanish Revival structure celebrates its ninety-fifth birthday with a glamorous press party and a book signing of George Hurrell's Hollywood.
The building’s Suite Nine was first occupied by George Hurrell, who would later find fame as Hollywood’s greatest portrait photographer. His subjects included Ramon Novarro, Greta Garbo, Shirley Temple, Fred Astaire, Mae West, Gary Cooper, Jean Harlow, Humphrey Bogart, Bette Davis, Anna May Wong, Liza Minnelli, David Bowie, Diana Ross, Bette Midler, Harrison Ford, Grace Jones, and Sharon Stone—not to mention Hurrell’s patron, Norma Shearer, and his favorite subject, Joan Crawford.
On November 2, the Granada Buildings, now owned by JMF Development, will host a book signing and press party for George Hurrell's Hollywood. Hurrell’s original studio is now occupied by Hawkins New York, and its owner, Paul Denoly, has made the suite available for a one-night exhibition of Hurrell portraits. These are the images of Novarro and Shearer that Hurrell made in this very room in 1929, so this event will honor not only a unique book but also the birthday of the Granada Buildings, which is listed in the National Register of Historic Buildings.
On October 20, 1928, the Los Angeles Times reported the grand opening: “Designed by architect Franklin Harper to evoke a street in Spain, the Granada Studios and Shoppes incorporates ateliers with upstairs apartments, similar to the design of specialty shops in Europe, with twenty-four uniquely designed doorways, a reflecting pool, and a central patio enclosed by stained glass windows.”
Located in the arty Westlake District, the Granada was home to artists, designers, singers, and writers, but even they were impressed when Ramon Novarro, star of the epic Ben-Hur, entered the exotic building and took a chance on a young, unknown photographer. In early 1929, Hurrell had been there for a year, shooting mostly society portraits, when a friend introduced him to the world-famous Novarro. After one session, Novarro knew he’d discovered a gifted artist. “You have caught my moods exactly,” he told Hurrell. “You have revealed what I am inside.”
Novarro showed a portfolio of these portraits to M-G-M’s biggest female star, Norma Shearer, who just happened to be married to the head of production, Irving Thalberg. Shearer was a little vexed. Her husband didn’t think she was sexy enough to star in his upcoming production, The Divorcee. One day in October 1929, a canary yellow Rolls-Royce pulled up to the Granada Buildings and Shearer emerged, ready to pose for Hurrell. “Can you turn me into a siren?” she asked. “I’ll try,” he answered, unusually modest.
The session yielded remarkable images. When Shearer showed them to Thalberg, he gasped and then gave her the role in The Divorcee. The groundbreaking film won her an Academy Award for Best Actress. All this good fortune came from a visit to a quaint Westlake studio. It was lucky for Hurrell, too.
He was hired as M-G-M’s head photographer. Devising new effects in lighting and retouching, he created spectacular, enticing images and perfected a photographic idiom: the Hollywood glamour portrait.
This is not the only story told in George Hurrell's Hollywood. There is the meteoric arc of Hurrell’s career—and a scandalous fall from grace—followed by years of exile. Then, as Hurrell was ready to retire from a dreary job as an on-set photographer, he was rediscovered. Mark A. Vieira witnessed Hurrell’s return from the ashes, and he watched him wend his way through monolithic soundstages at moribund studios, through the lavender-scented living rooms of covetous collectors, through smoky dens of thieves, and into chic galleries. Vieira saw the beauty of Hurrell’s work tarnished by bootlegging, theft, and fraud, but he ultimately became the foremost Hurrell archivist and his biographer. George Hurrell's Hollywood is available for purchase at the venerable Larry Edmunds Cinema Book Shop, as well as online.
The book signing and press party will be catered, and valet parking is available in the building’s security lot. For reservations, please call 213 908 5488 or email: thestarlightstudio@sbcglobal.net
George Hurrell’s Hollywood: Glamour Portraits, 1925 to 1992
Mark A. Vieira – Newly Expanded Edition
Publisher: Running Press
Pub date: September 19, 2023
Softcover: 256 pages, four-color lithography
ISBN-13: 978-0762484607
ISBN-10: 0762484608
Trim Size: 8.5x10
The Starlight Studio Presents:
“Hurrell Returns to the Granada Buildings”
Book Signing and Press Reception • November 2, 2023 • Six p.m.
Book signing by Larry Edmunds Cinema Book Shop in the patio •
Fine-Art Prints Made from Vintage Hurrell Negatives Displayed
in Hurrell’s Original Studio in the Historic Granada Buildings
Hosts: Running Press, Hawkins NY, and JMF Development
672 South La Fayette Park Place • In the Patio and in Suite Nine
Los Angeles 90057-3238
Reservations: 213 908 5488
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Mark A. Vieira is a writer, photographer, and filmmaker. He writes books about the artists, genres, and photographic technique of Hollywood’s Golden Era. He makes glamour portraits in the classic Hollywood mode. He creates documentaries for the Cecil B. De Mille Foundation. He has personally restored every one of the 280 photographs in George Hurrell's Hollywood. His studio is in the Granada Buildings.
Note: The photographs will also be on display through December in Suite 48, The Starlight Studio.