Albert Heschong | |
|---|---|
| Born | (1919-02-22)February 22, 1919 Cincinnati, Ohio, US |
| Died | March 1, 2001(2001-03-01) (aged 82) |
| Occupation | Production designer |
Elmer Albert Heschong[1] (February 22, 1919 – March 1, 2001) was an Americanart director andproduction designer, principally for television. In a career that spanned more than 40 years, he worked on over 2,500 productions and was posthumously inducted into theArt Directors Guild Hall of Fame.
A native ofCincinnati, he served in theUnited States Army duringWorld War II and worked in scenic design for the live theater after the war. He began working for theAmerican Broadcasting Company in 1949 and worked on the network's early live drama series,Pulitzer Prize Playhouse andCelanese Theatre. He continued to work on live television drama in the 1950s, working onUnited States Steel Hour,Climax!, andPlayhouse 90. He won anEmmy Award for his art direction onPlayhouse 90's 1956 production ofRequiem for a Heavyweight.
In the 1960s, he worked on multiple CBS series, includingGunsmoke (1961–1973),The Wild Wild West (1965–1967), andHawaii Five-O (1968–1969). During the 1970s and 1980s, he worked principally on television movies, winning Emmy nominations for his work onRascals and Robbers: The Secret Adventures of Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn (1982) andMy Wicked, Wicked Ways: The Legend of Errol Flynn (1985).
Heschong was born inCincinnati in 1919. His father, Albert Heschong, designed and made clothing. As a boy, he enjoyed building model boats and airplanes, drawing, and building things withErector Sets.[2] He attendedWalnut Hills High School in Cincinnati, graduatedcum laude, and was voted "most all-around boy in the class."[3][2] He was also in drama club, where he both acted and designed sets.[2]
After graduating high school, his high school drama teacher contacted the drama department atPittsburgh'sCarnegie Institute of Technology and secured a scholarship for Heschong. In the second half of his sophomore year, he transferred to the architecture department to develop his technical drawing skills. He left Carnegie Tech after two years to work at a playhouse inChautauqua, New York. He next worked for a year at a theatrical company in Cincinnati and then for theBaltimore Museum of Art, where he designed and built sets and exhibits.[2]
DuringWorld War II, he was drafted into theUnited States Army. He was assigned to a camouflage design unit at Richmond Air Force Base, where he worked with Broadway designerJo Mielziner. He was later assigned to interpret aerial reconnaissance photographs.[2] He spent 18 months in India,[1] supervising photographic reconnaissance in theChina Burma India Theater.[4][5]
After the war, Heschong returned to Carnegie Tech to finish his degree. He was then hired to assist in teaching scenic design at Carnegie Tech.[2] He also did design work for stage productions, including scenic design forThe Woodstock Playhouse.[5][1]
In 1949, he was hired by theAmerican Broadcasting Company (ABC) as an art director. His early works included futuristic settings for ABC'sBuck Rogers television show, including the interior of Buck Rogers' spaceship and the use of sparkler for the blastoff of rockets.[2][6]
In 1950, he was assigned to create all the settings for ABC's live dramaPulitzer Prize Playhouse.[6] For the first episode,You Can't Take It with You, he built a large Victorian house set for $15,000.[7]
While at ABC, he also worked withAlex Segal on the live drama seriesCelanese Theatre, including productions ofAbe Lincoln in Illinois (1950) withRaymond Burr,Winterset (1951) withBurgess Meredith,Ah Wilderness (1951),Anna Christie (1952), andThe Street Scene (1952). In the early 1950s, the ABC art department in New York worked out of a building that had previously been horse stables. They built sets using quarter-inch plywood on one-by-three framing.[7]
In 1954, he began working on theUnited States Steel Hour, which aired on NBC. His work at theSteel Hour includedP.O.W. (1953),The Last Notch (1954),Hedda Gabler (1954),A Garden in the Sea (1954),No Time for Sergeants (1955), andFreighter (1955).No Time for Sergeants featured highly stylized sets and was the first dramatic show that was aired with an audience. ForThe Last Notch, the first Western done for television, he designed an entire Western street scene.[8] ForA Garden in the Sea, he designed a villa in Venice, including a gondola approaching the villa.[9]
In the fall of 1955, he moved to Los Angeles to work forCBS. His first series for CBS wasClimax! withMartin Manulis.[8] His work forClimax! includedDr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (1955) andThe Circular Staircase (1956).[9] Heschong also worked on theMeet Millie sitcom, theRed Skelton Hour, and an early-summer replacement show starringJohnny Carson. On the Skelton show, he was asked to design numerous trick shots.[9]
When Manulis leftClimax! in 1956, Heschong followed him toPlayhouse 90. Heschong won an Emmy Award for his art direction on theRod Serling boxing dramaRequiem for a Heavyweight (1956). ForRequiem, his notable designs included sets at the boxing venue and a railroad car.[9] Heschong's other notablePlayhouse 90 productions includedThe Miracle Worker (1957),Helen Morgan (1957),Seven Against the Wall (1958),The Velvet Alley (1959), andJudgment at Nuremberg (1959). He designed the courtroom forJudgment at Nuremberg.[9]
In 1959, he was hired by20th Century Fox to work on the seriesAdventures in Paradise, a South Pacific adventure series created byJames Michener. He did not stay at Fox for very long.[9]
After leaving Fox, he returned to CBS and worked on the sitcomPete and Gladys, the WesternHave Gun – Will Travel, and later another sitcomThe Cara Williams Show.[9]
In 1961, Heschong became the production designer on the Western seriesGunsmoke. When the series moved from Hollywood to Studio City, he had to restore and redesign the sets. The sets were built along one long street with multiple buildings and interiors, including the sheriff's office, a livery stable, a hotel lobby, and a doctor's office. He worked on about 140 episodes ofGunsmoke.[10]
During the 1963–64 season, he also worked onThe Great Adventure. The first episode of that series was "The Hunley", a story about a Civil War submarine. He prepared a full-size submarine (full-size exterior and interiors and miniatures) and docks for that production.[9]
In addition to his regular art directing work, Heschong became the head of the CBS art department in 1964.[10]
From 1965 to 1967, he also worked on another Western series,The Wild Wild West. He worked on that show from the start and designed all the sets. The writers came up with many strange concepts and effects that were a challenge, including a steam-driven wheel chair, a steam engine that spit flames, and other unusual vehicles. He did 48 episodes onWild Wild West.[10]
He leftGunsmoke during the 1968–69 season to work onHawaii Five-O. He also covered a few episodes ofThe Bob Newhart Show in the 1970s.[10]
During the 1970s and 1980s, he worked on numerous television movies, includingSteven Spielberg'sSomething Evil (1972). One of his favorites was the television movieVisions (1972), for which he designed a large rubble scene to show the aftermath from the explosion of a water treatment plant.[11]
He received an Emmy nomination for his art direction onRascals and Robbers: The Secret Adventures of Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn (1982). Much of his work on that project involved selecting locations inNatchez, Mississippi.[10]
He received his final Emmy nomination forMy Wicked, Wicked Ways: The Legend of Errol Flynn (1985).[5] Heschong recalled that the number of sets was enormous, and executives became very nervous about the budget. As a result, he had to cut many corners.[11]
In all, Heschong was art director or production designer on more than 2,500 productions.[3][5]
Heschong married former Naomi Eva Harris in 1946.[1] They had three children, Gregg, Eric, and Lisa.[5] He lived inEncino, California. In 2001, he died of a cerebral hemorrhage at his home at age 82.[4] He was posthumously inducted into theArt Directors Guild Hall of Fame in 2011.[12]
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