Creative Person; 47; Eero Saarinen

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This record is featured in “National Educational Television.”
Series
Creative Person
Episode Number
47
Episode
Eero Saarinen
Producing Organization
National Educational Television and Radio Center
Columbia University. Press. Center for Mass Communication
Contributing Organization
Library of Congress (Washington, District of Columbia)
AAPB ID
cpb-aacip/512-251fj2b33n
NOLA Code
CRPN
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Description
Episode Description
Eero Saarinen, one of Americas foremost architectural designers, was born Kirkkonummi, Finland in 1910. He came to the United States in 1923 and became a naturalized citizen in 1940. He began an impressive career in architecture and designed in the 1930s and gradually achieved the status as one of the worlds most influential architectural designers. Saarinens work has won him many honors including first prize at the Smithsonian Gallery of Art in 1939 and the Grand Architectural Award at the Boston Arts Festival of 1953. His building, scattered throughout the world, consist of a variety of structures such as the science and pharmacy building at Drake University in Des Moines; the General Motors technical center in Warren, Michigan the auditorium and chapel at M.I.T.; U.S. embassy buildings in London and Oslo; Yale Universitys hockey rink; the TWA terminal at New Yorks Kennedy Airport, and the new CBS building in New York City. The program focuses on Dulles International Airport in Washington, D.C., which is perhaps the most significant of Saarinens works. Of the Dulles airport Saarinen himself said only a few months before his death in September 1961: I think this airport is the best thing that I have ever done Maybe it will even explain what I believe about architecture. Dulles International Airport seems to have a large measure of human interest interwoven with its architecture. The planning, which was dictated by concern for the convenience of incoming and outgoing passengers, led to several entirely unprecedented architectural innovations. Aline Saarinen, the architects second wife, is interviewed during the program by Edgar Kaufmann, Jr., professor of architecture at Columbia University in New York City, and writer and critic of architecture. In their discussion Mrs. Saarinen talks of the enormous problems which her husband fought to overcome in his designing concepts. Both professor Kaufmann and Mrs. Saarinen are heard in voice over sequences providing descriptions of film footage of Dulles Airport as well as still photographs of Saarinens other works. Also appearing in the program in Najeeb Halaby, senior vice-president of Pan American Airlines and former administrator of the Federal Aviation Agency. The Creative Person 43: Eero Saarinen is a 1967 production of National Educational Television, produced for NET by the Center for Mass Communication. Note: This program replaced Gunther Grass, which was originally scheduled to be the 47 episode of Creative Person. (Description adapted from documents in the NET Microfiche)
Series Description
This series focuses on the private vision of the creative person. Each program is devoted to a 20th century artist whose special qualities of imagination, taste, originality, intelligence, craftsmanship, and individuality have marked him as a pace-setter in his field. These artists --- whose fields span the entire gamut of the art world --- include filmmaker Jean Renoir, poet John Ciardi, industrial designer Raymond Loewy, Hollywood producer-director King Vidor, noted Broadway couple Ossie Davis and Ruby Dee, artist Leonard Baskin, humorist James Thurber, satirist Robert Osborn, Indian musician Ravi Shankar, poet P. G. Wodehouse, painter Georges Braque, former ballet star Olga Spessivtzeva, Rudolf Bing, and Marni Nixon. The format for each program has been geared to the individual featured; Performance, interview, and documentary technique are employed interchangeably. The Creative Person is a 1965 production of National Educational Television. The N.E.T. producers are Jack Sameth, Jac Venza, Lane Slate, Thomas Slevin, Brice Howard, Craig Gilbert, and Jim Perrin. (Description adapted from documents in the NET Microfiche)
Broadcast Date
1967-04-30
Asset type
Episode
Genres
Documentary
Topics
Architecture
Rights
Copyright Columbia University Press May 1, 1967
Media type
Moving Image
Credits
Consultant: Kaufman, Edgar, Jr.
Director: Sharff, Stefan
Executive Producer: Howard, Brice
Executive Producer: Barnouw, Erik, 1908-2001
Guest: Halaby, Nejeeb
Guest: Saarinen, Aline
Host: Kaufmann, Edgar, Jr.
Producer: Sharff, Stefan
Producer: Glimcher, Sumner
Producing Organization: National Educational Television and Radio Center
Producing Organization: Columbia University. Press. Center for Mass Communication
AAPB Contributor Holdings
Library of Congress
Identifier: 2000497-1 (MAVIS Item ID)
Format: 16mm film
Generation: Copy: Access
Color: B&W
Library of Congress
Identifier: 2000497-2 (MAVIS Item ID)
Format: 16mm film
Generation: Master
Color: Color
Library of Congress
Identifier: 2000497-3 (MAVIS Item ID)
Format: 16mm film
Generation: Master
Color: Color
Library of Congress
Identifier: 2000497-4 (MAVIS Item ID)
Format: Film
Generation: Master
Color: Color
Library of Congress
Identifier: 2000497-5 (MAVIS Item ID)
Format: 16mm film
Generation: Master
Color: B&W
Library of Congress
Identifier: 2000497-1 (MAVIS Item ID)
Format: 16mm film
Generation: Copy: Access
Color: B&W
Library of Congress
Identifier: 2000497-2 (MAVIS Item ID)
Format: 16mm film
Generation: Master
Color: Color
Library of Congress
Identifier: 2000497-3 (MAVIS Item ID)
Format: 16mm film
Generation: Master
Color: Color
Library of Congress
Identifier: 2000497-4 (MAVIS Item ID)
Format: Film
Generation: Master
Color: Color
Library of Congress
Identifier: 2000497-5 (MAVIS Item ID)
Format: 16mm film
Generation: Master
Color: B&W
Indiana University Libraries Moving Image Archive
Identifier: [request film based on title] (Indiana University)
Format: 16mm film
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Citations
Chicago: “Creative Person; 47; Eero Saarinen,” 1967-04-30, Library of Congress, American Archive of Public Broadcasting (GBH and the Library of Congress), Boston, MA and Washington, DC, accessed June 24, 2025, http://americanarchive.org/catalog/cpb-aacip-512-251fj2b33n.
MLA: “Creative Person; 47; Eero Saarinen.” 1967-04-30. Library of Congress, American Archive of Public Broadcasting (GBH and the Library of Congress), Boston, MA and Washington, DC. Web. June 24, 2025. <http://americanarchive.org/catalog/cpb-aacip-512-251fj2b33n>.
APA: Creative Person; 47; Eero Saarinen. Boston, MA: Library of Congress, American Archive of Public Broadcasting (GBH and the Library of Congress), Boston, MA and Washington, DC. Retrieved from http://americanarchive.org/catalog/cpb-aacip-512-251fj2b33n