Re: GG: The Chair

[kimmoor@mindspring.com (Kristen Immoor)]

At 4:50 PM 2/9/97, RIchard F. Makse wrote:
>How does anybody feel about this? Could we collectively commission a
>limited reproduction series? I know this is whack but I am sure that there
>are a few smiles out there from those who don't think it's a bad idea...

        That is definitely the most patently absurd thing I have ever
heard, and I am wholeheartedly in favor of it. Why not, after all! I'm sure
GG is spinning in his grave at the concept (let's not make this a thread,
though) because of how he reportedly hated celebrity and fawning toadies
and whatnot, but in a way the complete uselessness of the item increases
its kitsch value. I mean really, what would ANY of us do with a 14-inch
chair? Still, it is interesting, and well worth a casual inquiry to
specialty shops.
        From the early 30's to mid 50's I imagine it would have been easier
to do a simple series of chair knockoffs, because the card-table sets that
featured The Chair's unique folding design were still widely available (my
grandparents had in their basement what I believe was the exact same set,
and my mother used to build a fort out of the table when she was a girl)
and the chairs would have only needed moderate handwork to recreate the
screw-clamp fixtures on the shortened legs. Now, however, the folding
mechanism is completely different, much more streamlined and lightweight;
so I imagine that a complete replica would need to be built from scratch
unless a few sets of the old chairs could be found in vintage shops. Of
course, commerce being what it is, if there was enough demand I am sure
someone would undertake the task - though the price range would
unquestionably soar. Here's a thought; according to Kazdin, the execs at
CBS had an exact replica of The Chair built for GG in an attempt to get him
to "upgrade" to something quieter and less visually assaulting. He didn't
go for it, but *someone* had to have built it for him. I wonder who?
    _[   (symbol for egregiously stunted chair?) Kristen


______________________________________________________________________________

Elyse Mach: "But do you think that if Beethoven came back to life he'd go
along with these notions of motif and tempo?"
Glenn Gould: "I don't really know, nor do I very much care..."