JOHN KOBAL: A CONSTANT PRESENCE
Movie-mad from an early age, sadly it was not until 1985 that I first met the unforgettable and irrepressible John Kobal in person. From thereon we were in constant touch, with a shared and consuming interest in all aspects of film-related matters.
Previous to this, John Kobal was a mysterious but clearly very significant figure in the growing appreciation of the film star portrait. At boarding school, I had illicitly listened on my transistor radio to the BBC Film programme Movie-Go-Round, which created wonderful sound pictures and dialogue excerpts from films and featured words as well as interviews recorded on film locations by John Kobal. Recently, looking through old film magazines I had bought in 1970, I came across Issue Two of Premiere Magazine, which featured John’s interview with Natalie Wood. This was only one of so many publications that established his name and reputation. John’s first museum exhibition was Hollywood Still Photography, Sylvia Sidney, Paramount, 1934,
which opened in November 1974 at the Victoria and Albert Museum. It was an amazing
William Walling Jr.
inspiration, along with the numerous books he produced, such as his Dover Books series in the late 1970s, starting with Hollywood Glamor Portraits 1926-1949 and followed by similar books on the 1940s and 1950s. These led, in 1980, to his now classic reference book on the subject, The Art of the Great Hollywood Portrait Photographers.
Our first meeting came about five years later, after I had become Curator of Photographs at the National Portrait Gallery (NPG) and we needed help in putting together a celebratory exhibition to mark 1985 as British Film Year. To celebrate the event, John Kobal was compiling a handsome book with the eminent film critic John Russell Taylor, drawing on rare 5
JOHN KOBAL: A CONSTANT PRESENCE
Movie-mad from an early age, sadly it was not until 1985 that I first met the unforgettable and irrepressible John Kobal in person. From thereon we were in constant touch, with a shared and consuming interest in all aspects of film-related matters.
Previous to this, John Kobal was a mysterious but clearly very significant figure in the growing appreciation of the film star portrait. At boarding school, I had illicitly listened on my transistor radio to the BBC Film programme Movie-Go-Round, which created wonderful sound pictures and dialogue excerpts from films and featured words as well as interviews recorded on film locations by John Kobal. Recently, looking through old film magazines I had bought in 1970, I came across Issue Two of Premiere Magazine, which featured John’s interview with Natalie Wood. This was only one of so many publications that established his name and reputation. John’s first museum exhibition was Hollywood Still Photography, Sylvia Sidney, Paramount, 1934,
which opened in November 1974 at the Victoria and Albert Museum. It was an amazing
William Walling Jr.
inspiration, along with the numerous books he produced, such as his Dover Books series in the late 1970s, starting with Hollywood Glamor Portraits 1926-1949 and followed by similar books on the 1940s and 1950s. These led, in 1980, to his now classic reference book on the subject, The Art of the Great Hollywood Portrait Photographers.
Our first meeting came about five years later, after I had become Curator of Photographs at the National Portrait Gallery (NPG) and we needed help in putting together a celebratory exhibition to mark 1985 as British Film Year. To celebrate the event, John Kobal was compiling a handsome book with the eminent film critic John Russell Taylor, drawing on rare 5
vintage prints of British film stars from his collection. Stars of the British Screen became by default the official tie-in publication for the show, which was hugely popular at the NPG as well as on a tour to several other venues.
More notable, though, was an amazingly generous offer by John in 1989 for me to curate (for the NPG) an exhibition and book – The Man Who Shot Garbo – drawn from the highly important personal archive of MGM’s star photographer Clarence Sinclair Bull, which John had acquired direct from Bull himself. The book set new standards for an NPG publication in terms of format and printing quality, and would be the template for many future publications at the gallery, including Horst Portraits (1999) and Beaton Portraits (2004). John contributed lively and engaging biographies of all the stars featured in The Man Who Shot Garbo and helpfully encouraged me to see the merits of including important and older character actors in the mix of predominantly younger and more traditionally attractive Hollywood Stars. He also pulled off a coup by getting Katharine Hepburn, whom Bull had photographed for The Philadelphia Story (1940), to write a warm-hearted introduction to the book.
Greta Garbo for Susan Lenox, MGM, 1931, Clarence Sinclair Bull
The exhibition helped to seal a long-lasting relationship, with John supporting many filmrelated exhibitions at the NPG and, after his death, the establishment of a major showcase for contemporary photography in the annual John Kobal Foundation-supported Photographic Portrait Award. As many others have noted, John Kobal was indeed a truly memorable person, but more importantly, ever since our first encounter, he has been constantly with me in spirit as a continuing influence, encouraging me to live up to the ideals and inspiration I took from the precious times we worked, laughed and talked at length together. Terence Pepper 6
vintage prints of British film stars from his collection. Stars of the British Screen became by default the official tie-in publication for the show, which was hugely popular at the NPG as well as on a tour to several other venues.
More notable, though, was an amazingly generous offer by John in 1989 for me to curate (for the NPG) an exhibition and book – The Man Who Shot Garbo – drawn from the highly important personal archive of MGM’s star photographer Clarence Sinclair Bull, which John had acquired direct from Bull himself. The book set new standards for an NPG publication in terms of format and printing quality, and would be the template for many future publications at the gallery, including Horst Portraits (1999) and Beaton Portraits (2004). John contributed lively and engaging biographies of all the stars featured in The Man Who Shot Garbo and helpfully encouraged me to see the merits of including important and older character actors in the mix of predominantly younger and more traditionally attractive Hollywood Stars. He also pulled off a coup by getting Katharine Hepburn, whom Bull had photographed for The Philadelphia Story (1940), to write a warm-hearted introduction to the book.
Greta Garbo for Susan Lenox, MGM, 1931, Clarence Sinclair Bull
The exhibition helped to seal a long-lasting relationship, with John supporting many filmrelated exhibitions at the NPG and, after his death, the establishment of a major showcase for contemporary photography in the annual John Kobal Foundation-supported Photographic Portrait Award. As many others have noted, John Kobal was indeed a truly memorable person, but more importantly, ever since our first encounter, he has been constantly with me in spirit as a continuing influence, encouraging me to live up to the ideals and inspiration I took from the precious times we worked, laughed and talked at length together. Terence Pepper 6
JOHN KOBAL: A SNAPSHOT It was the voice that first caught my attention. It was 1964, at my parent’s house in London. I was sixteen. His voice, as always, preceded him. A deep, booming Canadian voice firing out sentences at machine gun speed that never seemed to cease as the words ricocheted around you. When he appeared, you found yourself looking up at a dark-haired, moustachioed, six-foot five-inch, well-built young man in his early twenties. Talking, talking, talking away about movies, literature, opera, politics, whatever was on his mind. As a teenager, I didn’t always understand what he was saying, and he was saying so much all the time, but I liked the way he said it, always with a quizzical smile and compelling energy.
Although John was in and out of our house fairly regularly, I only really got to know him about five years later. My mother used to babysit Sam, his beautiful Weimaraner dog, whenever he went away on his frequent journalistic forays abroad. At that time, he was busy interviewing film stars for the Sunday Times Magazine, Harpers Bazaar, Vogue and many other publications which took him to film festivals and press junkets all over the world. As he travelled, he continually trawled for film photographs and promotional materials – portraits, scene stills, off-set photos, posters, lobby cards – to act both as useful prompts for his interviewees and to illustrate his magazine and newspaper features, and later, his many books.
I left university with a law degree in 1970, and travelled around the USA on a Greyhound bus for six months having a grand adventure. On my return to the UK I decided law was not for me and that I wanted to get involved in the film and music industries. As a stopgap, John, who was still travelling on assignments, John Kobal, Los Angeles, 1980, photograph by Laszlo Willinger. A personal portrait shot at Laszlo’s home.
asked if I could sit in his flat in London and answer any phone calls. People were beginning to discover the existence of his photo collection – now some twenty filing cabinets’ worth – and calling to see if they could perhaps borrow some for publication. John, keen to widen his journalistic contacts, was happy to help them. When, later, cheques for this usage started to drop on his doormat, John realised that this might be a way to help subsidise himself so he could do less travelling and concentrate on writing books about cinema.
As he never intended it to be a business, at the outset, John didn’t organise his collection to function professionally. Yes, stars had their own files, as did films, and they were in alphabetical order, but beyond that there was no cross-referencing 9
JOHN KOBAL: A SNAPSHOT It was the voice that first caught my attention. It was 1964, at my parent’s house in London. I was sixteen. His voice, as always, preceded him. A deep, booming Canadian voice firing out sentences at machine gun speed that never seemed to cease as the words ricocheted around you. When he appeared, you found yourself looking up at a dark-haired, moustachioed, six-foot five-inch, well-built young man in his early twenties. Talking, talking, talking away about movies, literature, opera, politics, whatever was on his mind. As a teenager, I didn’t always understand what he was saying, and he was saying so much all the time, but I liked the way he said it, always with a quizzical smile and compelling energy.
Although John was in and out of our house fairly regularly, I only really got to know him about five years later. My mother used to babysit Sam, his beautiful Weimaraner dog, whenever he went away on his frequent journalistic forays abroad. At that time, he was busy interviewing film stars for the Sunday Times Magazine, Harpers Bazaar, Vogue and many other publications which took him to film festivals and press junkets all over the world. As he travelled, he continually trawled for film photographs and promotional materials – portraits, scene stills, off-set photos, posters, lobby cards – to act both as useful prompts for his interviewees and to illustrate his magazine and newspaper features, and later, his many books.
I left university with a law degree in 1970, and travelled around the USA on a Greyhound bus for six months having a grand adventure. On my return to the UK I decided law was not for me and that I wanted to get involved in the film and music industries. As a stopgap, John, who was still travelling on assignments, John Kobal, Los Angeles, 1980, photograph by Laszlo Willinger. A personal portrait shot at Laszlo’s home.
asked if I could sit in his flat in London and answer any phone calls. People were beginning to discover the existence of his photo collection – now some twenty filing cabinets’ worth – and calling to see if they could perhaps borrow some for publication. John, keen to widen his journalistic contacts, was happy to help them. When, later, cheques for this usage started to drop on his doormat, John realised that this might be a way to help subsidise himself so he could do less travelling and concentrate on writing books about cinema.
As he never intended it to be a business, at the outset, John didn’t organise his collection to function professionally. Yes, stars had their own files, as did films, and they were in alphabetical order, but beyond that there was no cross-referencing 9
or categorisation. It was difficult for anyone, except him, to find anything complex.
The Kobal Collection grew from the two of us and a secretary in London to about thirty
For example, who else could rise to the challenge of finding an image of a man
people employed between London and New York (where we successfully set up in
wearing a dinner jacket and smoking a cigarette on a camel. John asked me to help
1979). Possessing nearly a million 10x8 stills and colour transparencies, it became
build up a card index system that anyone could use (those pre-computer days had
an international byword for film imagery, working with virtually every major newspaper
a beauty to them with the need for mental dexterity and dogged manual work!).
and magazine, publishing company and creative end user in the business.
This was a slow job that required patience, especially as John often moved batches of stills from one file to another on a whim, without marking it on the card system!
Until the mid-1980s, John’s collection was situated at his cavernous third floor 1930s mansion flat in Drayton Gardens, just off London’s Fulham Road, opposite the famous
John Kobal (far right) with Andy Warhol (far left), Paul Morrissey
However, my immediate calling was elsewhere and in 1971 I left to go into the music
Paris Pullman Cinema, an art house venue that was sadly demolished in 1983. The flat
business, initially managing a young girl singer who was stirring some interest, and
was constructed as a very long corridor with a number of decent-sized rooms leading
eventually a couple of other artistes too. By 1976, although the music business had
off it. The front rooms housed the filing cabinets and were the centre of all activity.
been a lot of fun and had hardened up my previously non-existent business sense,
As the cabinets increased in number and were packed to capacity, we constantly lived
I felt it was time to move on. I was already working from the offices of my brother,
in fear that the floor would give way one day and the ground floor occupant would
Julian Seddon, who represented some of the top commercial photographers of the
inadvertently end up housing the collection. John Kobal at his home in London,
time. When he was away I started to cover for him, putting together shoot budgets,
1972, photograph by Abe Frajndlich.
finding locations and helping to produce shoots. John was one of his clients,
John was not what would nowadays be called “client facing”. Researchers and
interviewing Swanson for Interview
and calls from advertising agencies and design companies asking to use the graphic
writers were a necessary evil he knew he had to tolerate but patience was not one
Magazine, New York, 1970.
imagery of old film stills were increasing to a point at which he needed assistance.
of his virtues. As a researcher was quietly going about his or her business selecting
1988, posing in front of Andy
So, my brother and I took on the task of negotiating fees and sorting out clearances.
the images, John might sweep into the room dressed, as likely as not, in his flowing
Warhol’s 1986 portrait of him.
One day, in 1976, John told me there was a real nostalgia for old movies and that
embroidered white kaftan, and in his commanding voice ask what they were looking
we might have a couple of good years making use of his collection, maybe a few more
for. On being told, he’d scoop up their selection, cast his eye over it, give them
if we were lucky. Did I fancy taking over the running of his business full time whilst
one or two back and then furiously delve into the files to replace the ones he had
I thought about what I really wanted to do? My first child was due and I liked the idea
confiscated. The new selection would be handed back to the now slightly intimidated
of something stable that would produce a regular income. I joined John for what
researcher in much better form than before, and the client sent away! It was a nerve-
became a fifteen-year journey that continued through to his early death in 1991.
wracking experience for many but nearly all acknowledged later that John was right
(left) and Gloria Swanson (right)
10
John Kobal at his home in London,
11
or categorisation. It was difficult for anyone, except him, to find anything complex.
The Kobal Collection grew from the two of us and a secretary in London to about thirty
For example, who else could rise to the challenge of finding an image of a man
people employed between London and New York (where we successfully set up in
wearing a dinner jacket and smoking a cigarette on a camel. John asked me to help
1979). Possessing nearly a million 10x8 stills and colour transparencies, it became
build up a card index system that anyone could use (those pre-computer days had
an international byword for film imagery, working with virtually every major newspaper
a beauty to them with the need for mental dexterity and dogged manual work!).
and magazine, publishing company and creative end user in the business.
This was a slow job that required patience, especially as John often moved batches of stills from one file to another on a whim, without marking it on the card system!
Until the mid-1980s, John’s collection was situated at his cavernous third floor 1930s mansion flat in Drayton Gardens, just off London’s Fulham Road, opposite the famous
John Kobal (far right) with Andy Warhol (far left), Paul Morrissey
However, my immediate calling was elsewhere and in 1971 I left to go into the music
Paris Pullman Cinema, an art house venue that was sadly demolished in 1983. The flat
business, initially managing a young girl singer who was stirring some interest, and
was constructed as a very long corridor with a number of decent-sized rooms leading
eventually a couple of other artistes too. By 1976, although the music business had
off it. The front rooms housed the filing cabinets and were the centre of all activity.
been a lot of fun and had hardened up my previously non-existent business sense,
As the cabinets increased in number and were packed to capacity, we constantly lived
I felt it was time to move on. I was already working from the offices of my brother,
in fear that the floor would give way one day and the ground floor occupant would
Julian Seddon, who represented some of the top commercial photographers of the
inadvertently end up housing the collection. John Kobal at his home in London,
time. When he was away I started to cover for him, putting together shoot budgets,
1972, photograph by Abe Frajndlich.
finding locations and helping to produce shoots. John was one of his clients,
John was not what would nowadays be called “client facing”. Researchers and
interviewing Swanson for Interview
and calls from advertising agencies and design companies asking to use the graphic
writers were a necessary evil he knew he had to tolerate but patience was not one
Magazine, New York, 1970.
imagery of old film stills were increasing to a point at which he needed assistance.
of his virtues. As a researcher was quietly going about his or her business selecting
1988, posing in front of Andy
So, my brother and I took on the task of negotiating fees and sorting out clearances.
the images, John might sweep into the room dressed, as likely as not, in his flowing
Warhol’s 1986 portrait of him.
One day, in 1976, John told me there was a real nostalgia for old movies and that
embroidered white kaftan, and in his commanding voice ask what they were looking
we might have a couple of good years making use of his collection, maybe a few more
for. On being told, he’d scoop up their selection, cast his eye over it, give them
if we were lucky. Did I fancy taking over the running of his business full time whilst
one or two back and then furiously delve into the files to replace the ones he had
I thought about what I really wanted to do? My first child was due and I liked the idea
confiscated. The new selection would be handed back to the now slightly intimidated
of something stable that would produce a regular income. I joined John for what
researcher in much better form than before, and the client sent away! It was a nerve-
became a fifteen-year journey that continued through to his early death in 1991.
wracking experience for many but nearly all acknowledged later that John was right
(left) and Gloria Swanson (right)
10
John Kobal at his home in London,
11
and that he had helped open their eyes to a wider range of possibilities than they
Ted and Laszlo found themselves standing in a press call line being photographed
had considered. As John said, “A movie still is not just an illustration. It’s an act of faith
and interviewed for numerous publications. Later, art critics hailed their work as major
through which the magic of cinema can be understood and felt even by the profane.”
contributions to fine art photography. John’s belief in them had been vindicated.
By the time I joined John, he had already uncovered the whereabouts of some of the
John had a very generous spirit. He loved entertaining and was famous both for his
surviving leading Hollywood portrait photographers from the studio system’s golden
parties – which were frequent – and his screenings of classic movies. His steaming stews
age. George Hurrell, whom he stumbled across on the set of Myra Breckenridge
and goulashes were doled out to an eclectic group of guests from fashion designers
in 1970 whilst going to interview Mae West, was the first. Through George, he met
to artists, journalists, screenwriters, film directors and cinematographers. Stars often
Clarence Sinclair Bull, Ted Allan and Laszlo Willinger and they, in turn, led him
attended these parties; two of John’s favourites were London neighbours Luise Rainer
to William Walling and Madison Lacy, Robert Coburn, John Engstead and others.
and Ava Gardner. Conversation was witty and enthralling and a side entertainment was
John’s fascination for film stars now expanded to this talented group of men whose
seeing some of the guests quietly slipping down the hall to the filing cabinets to see
extraordinary combined output provides the basis for this book. He reunited them
if John had a file on them. If they were not satisfied with what they found, as often
with their original negatives, which he was given by the declining Hollywood studios
as not, a few days later a bundle of photos would arrive to improve their file!
when he worked for the BBC Radio in New York in the 1960s. John saved them from Simon Crocker, now Chairman of the John Kobal Foundation,
oblivion when the studios decided they had no future use.
John’s screenings were projected onto the blank wall of the apartment building opposite using a 16mm projector belonging to Rudolf Nureyev. The speakers were
and John Kobal at the Museum
John Kobal with George Hurrell, Mary Corliss (then curator of the film stills archive at MoMA),
of Modern Art (MoMA) opening
The prints made by these photographers were the central feature of thirty-five
in the corridor whilst the guests sat in the various rooms looking out at the giant
Ted Allan and Laszlo Willinger at
of the Hollywood Photographers
exhibitions and some forty books that John curated and wrote over the next twenty
image that might be King Kong climbing the Empire State Building. If the film was
the Museum of Modern Art opening
exhibition in New York, 1981.
years. I spent ten years going to and fro between London and Los Angeles, working
in German or French then John would boom out a simultaneous English translation!
of the Hollywood Photographers
first with Bull and then later with Allan and Willinger. It was a privilege and I got a clear
I vividly remember a three-hour German version of Faustus at which only John was
insight into the inner workings of the Hollywood studio system from these wonderfully
still awake – and still translating – to the end.
exhibition, New York, 1981.
warm, interesting men. Ted and Laszlo adored John but thought he was mad to put so
12
much of his time, energy and own money into trying to promote their work. “Who, apart
Those who knew John, including myself, would undoubtedly count him among the
from John, is interested in those old pictures anyway?” asked Laszlo. When the Museum
most memorable people they’d ever met. Driven, exhausting, exasperating, aggravating,
of Modern Art’s exhibition of work by the Hollywood Photographers opened in 1980,
but never dull, John was always intellectually questioning, very funny and tremendous 13
and that he had helped open their eyes to a wider range of possibilities than they
Ted and Laszlo found themselves standing in a press call line being photographed
had considered. As John said, “A movie still is not just an illustration. It’s an act of faith
and interviewed for numerous publications. Later, art critics hailed their work as major
through which the magic of cinema can be understood and felt even by the profane.”
contributions to fine art photography. John’s belief in them had been vindicated.
By the time I joined John, he had already uncovered the whereabouts of some of the
John had a very generous spirit. He loved entertaining and was famous both for his
surviving leading Hollywood portrait photographers from the studio system’s golden
parties – which were frequent – and his screenings of classic movies. His steaming stews
age. George Hurrell, whom he stumbled across on the set of Myra Breckenridge
and goulashes were doled out to an eclectic group of guests from fashion designers
in 1970 whilst going to interview Mae West, was the first. Through George, he met
to artists, journalists, screenwriters, film directors and cinematographers. Stars often
Clarence Sinclair Bull, Ted Allan and Laszlo Willinger and they, in turn, led him
attended these parties; two of John’s favourites were London neighbours Luise Rainer
to William Walling and Madison Lacy, Robert Coburn, John Engstead and others.
and Ava Gardner. Conversation was witty and enthralling and a side entertainment was
John’s fascination for film stars now expanded to this talented group of men whose
seeing some of the guests quietly slipping down the hall to the filing cabinets to see
extraordinary combined output provides the basis for this book. He reunited them
if John had a file on them. If they were not satisfied with what they found, as often
with their original negatives, which he was given by the declining Hollywood studios
as not, a few days later a bundle of photos would arrive to improve their file!
when he worked for the BBC Radio in New York in the 1960s. John saved them from Simon Crocker, now Chairman of the John Kobal Foundation,
oblivion when the studios decided they had no future use.
John’s screenings were projected onto the blank wall of the apartment building opposite using a 16mm projector belonging to Rudolf Nureyev. The speakers were
and John Kobal at the Museum
John Kobal with George Hurrell, Mary Corliss (then curator of the film stills archive at MoMA),
of Modern Art (MoMA) opening
The prints made by these photographers were the central feature of thirty-five
in the corridor whilst the guests sat in the various rooms looking out at the giant
Ted Allan and Laszlo Willinger at
of the Hollywood Photographers
exhibitions and some forty books that John curated and wrote over the next twenty
image that might be King Kong climbing the Empire State Building. If the film was
the Museum of Modern Art opening
exhibition in New York, 1981.
years. I spent ten years going to and fro between London and Los Angeles, working
in German or French then John would boom out a simultaneous English translation!
of the Hollywood Photographers
first with Bull and then later with Allan and Willinger. It was a privilege and I got a clear
I vividly remember a three-hour German version of Faustus at which only John was
insight into the inner workings of the Hollywood studio system from these wonderfully
still awake – and still translating – to the end.
exhibition, New York, 1981.
warm, interesting men. Ted and Laszlo adored John but thought he was mad to put so
12
much of his time, energy and own money into trying to promote their work. “Who, apart
Those who knew John, including myself, would undoubtedly count him among the
from John, is interested in those old pictures anyway?” asked Laszlo. When the Museum
most memorable people they’d ever met. Driven, exhausting, exasperating, aggravating,
of Modern Art’s exhibition of work by the Hollywood Photographers opened in 1980,
but never dull, John was always intellectually questioning, very funny and tremendous 13
company. It was not unusual to get a phone call well past midnight from John unable to contain his enthusiasm for, or damnation of, a film, play or exhibition he’d just seen or a book he’d just finished that he had to share with you then and there. Forty-five minutes or so later he would realise what time it was and end the call, apologising profusely for waking you up. But by that time you were wide awake, invigorated by his monologue and determined to either see or avoid the film, play or book he critiqued.
John had high standards in everything he produced. He was never going to allow a book by him to be published until it was as great as it possibly could be. Publishers were subjected to his relentless phone calls. And no exhibition he curated could have less than a WOW Factor!
He could be particularly unrelenting when he was writing one of his books, seeking out constant feedback on his progress. Visitors would find themselves hearing latest chapters read aloud the moment he opened the door. I remember on more than one occasion being inside a toilet whilst John, oblivious to what one might be doing, stood outside reading, pressing me for my thoughts.
Knowing he was ill, John wanted to leave some legacy that would help new, young photographic talent. He oversaw the setting up of The John Kobal Foundation as a charity to help promote portrait photography, endowing it with his collection of original 10x8 negatives and vintage and modern signed prints of the work of the Hollywood portrait photographers from the 1920s to the late 1950s.
After John’s death in 1991, I stayed on as chairman of the Kobal Collection but it was never quite the same and I sold out my shareholding in 1999. However, I continue as chairman of the John Kobal Foundation. Through the foundation, we have kept John’s spirit and name alive, sponsoring awards to emerging young photographers John Kobal, Monte Carlo, 1988. This was a personal portrait by Helmut Newton, taken as they
and commissioning new works, as well as curating exhibitions and publishing books culled from the foundation’s archive.
were relaxing by their hotel pool.
In the years prior to his death, John was starting to write film scripts himself – and they were pretty good – including the book of what would have been a terrific musical about Mae West, intended for Bette Midler. If he had lived longer, John would have undoubtedly established himself not just as a man who was passionate about watching films but also about making them too. Simon Crocker
14
15
company. It was not unusual to get a phone call well past midnight from John unable to contain his enthusiasm for, or damnation of, a film, play or exhibition he’d just seen or a book he’d just finished that he had to share with you then and there. Forty-five minutes or so later he would realise what time it was and end the call, apologising profusely for waking you up. But by that time you were wide awake, invigorated by his monologue and determined to either see or avoid the film, play or book he critiqued.
John had high standards in everything he produced. He was never going to allow a book by him to be published until it was as great as it possibly could be. Publishers were subjected to his relentless phone calls. And no exhibition he curated could have less than a WOW Factor!
He could be particularly unrelenting when he was writing one of his books, seeking out constant feedback on his progress. Visitors would find themselves hearing latest chapters read aloud the moment he opened the door. I remember on more than one occasion being inside a toilet whilst John, oblivious to what one might be doing, stood outside reading, pressing me for my thoughts.
Knowing he was ill, John wanted to leave some legacy that would help new, young photographic talent. He oversaw the setting up of The John Kobal Foundation as a charity to help promote portrait photography, endowing it with his collection of original 10x8 negatives and vintage and modern signed prints of the work of the Hollywood portrait photographers from the 1920s to the late 1950s.
After John’s death in 1991, I stayed on as chairman of the Kobal Collection but it was never quite the same and I sold out my shareholding in 1999. However, I continue as chairman of the John Kobal Foundation. Through the foundation, we have kept John’s spirit and name alive, sponsoring awards to emerging young photographers John Kobal, Monte Carlo, 1988. This was a personal portrait by Helmut Newton, taken as they
and commissioning new works, as well as curating exhibitions and publishing books culled from the foundation’s archive.
were relaxing by their hotel pool.
In the years prior to his death, John was starting to write film scripts himself – and they were pretty good – including the book of what would have been a terrific musical about Mae West, intended for Bette Midler. If he had lived longer, John would have undoubtedly established himself not just as a man who was passionate about watching films but also about making them too. Simon Crocker
14
15
KOBAL’S LEGACY It probably started with a phone call. Someone from a Hollywood studio publicity department contacted John Kobal, then living in Los Angeles, with the news that photographs and negatives were being purged from the files, and that if he came right over he could collect what he wanted before the material headed to the dump. It might have been at Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, which over seventeen days in May 1970 sold off more than 20,000 lots of props, costumes, furniture, and decorations – forty-six years of cinema memories – at auction. Color photographs in the sales catalogue illustrate a gown Garbo wore as Anna Karenina and Norma Shearer’s magnificent red velvet costume from Marie Antoinette. The studio system was over. With utter disregard for the past, the studios were sold to the high bidders, and most were dismantled piece by piece. No thought was given to the rich history of the medium that – better than any other – shaped the cultural map of the twentieth century. Miraculously, MGM’s archives, contracts, financial documents and star portrait master files survived those dark days and still remain intact as a collection today.
John Kobal had been a collector since he was an adolescent living in Canada, where his parents had settled after emigrating from Austria in 1950. Kobal’s sister, Monika, remembers that her mother had saved movie programs dating back to the 1930s. These bits of paper ephemera, containing a photograph or two printed alongside the cast list, were tangible objects that could trigger the memory of watching a particular movie. In Canada, the young Kobal started buying fan magazines, which still proliferated, offering richly colored covers of screen favorites, and, inside, stories and full-page pictures devoted to the stars. Apparently, from the start he never threw anything away. In addition to hoarding fan magazines, young Kobal sent letters to Hollywood studios requesting star photographs, and thus began his lifetime obsession John Kobal, Los Angeles, 1982, photograph by George Hurrell.
with accumulating portraits of the great motion picture players.
This was a personal portrait shot by Hurrell whilst they
Finishing high school, Kobal decided to pursue a theatrical career. He tried his luck first
were producing a portfolio
in New York and then – with more success – in England. Collecting film memorabilia
of his prints together.
was always a priority, and wherever Kobal’s travels took him, he scoured shops and flea markets for acquisitions. By 1964, acting seemed to hold little real promise, so with small steps at first, and then with giant leaps, he began inhabiting the world of the movies.
Obsessed with film stars, Kobal met his first when still in high school. Marlene Dietrich was giving a concert in Toronto on October 25, 1960, and Kobal not only attended, he made his way backstage and introduced himself to his idol. In a story 17
KOBAL’S LEGACY It probably started with a phone call. Someone from a Hollywood studio publicity department contacted John Kobal, then living in Los Angeles, with the news that photographs and negatives were being purged from the files, and that if he came right over he could collect what he wanted before the material headed to the dump. It might have been at Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, which over seventeen days in May 1970 sold off more than 20,000 lots of props, costumes, furniture, and decorations – forty-six years of cinema memories – at auction. Color photographs in the sales catalogue illustrate a gown Garbo wore as Anna Karenina and Norma Shearer’s magnificent red velvet costume from Marie Antoinette. The studio system was over. With utter disregard for the past, the studios were sold to the high bidders, and most were dismantled piece by piece. No thought was given to the rich history of the medium that – better than any other – shaped the cultural map of the twentieth century. Miraculously, MGM’s archives, contracts, financial documents and star portrait master files survived those dark days and still remain intact as a collection today.
John Kobal had been a collector since he was an adolescent living in Canada, where his parents had settled after emigrating from Austria in 1950. Kobal’s sister, Monika, remembers that her mother had saved movie programs dating back to the 1930s. These bits of paper ephemera, containing a photograph or two printed alongside the cast list, were tangible objects that could trigger the memory of watching a particular movie. In Canada, the young Kobal started buying fan magazines, which still proliferated, offering richly colored covers of screen favorites, and, inside, stories and full-page pictures devoted to the stars. Apparently, from the start he never threw anything away. In addition to hoarding fan magazines, young Kobal sent letters to Hollywood studios requesting star photographs, and thus began his lifetime obsession John Kobal, Los Angeles, 1982, photograph by George Hurrell.
with accumulating portraits of the great motion picture players.
This was a personal portrait shot by Hurrell whilst they
Finishing high school, Kobal decided to pursue a theatrical career. He tried his luck first
were producing a portfolio
in New York and then – with more success – in England. Collecting film memorabilia
of his prints together.
was always a priority, and wherever Kobal’s travels took him, he scoured shops and flea markets for acquisitions. By 1964, acting seemed to hold little real promise, so with small steps at first, and then with giant leaps, he began inhabiting the world of the movies.
Obsessed with film stars, Kobal met his first when still in high school. Marlene Dietrich was giving a concert in Toronto on October 25, 1960, and Kobal not only attended, he made his way backstage and introduced himself to his idol. In a story 17
that could have been lifted from a movie script, the young man had no place
of career details than many possessed, led to friendships that enabled Kobal
to spend the night and ended up sleeping on the sofa in Dietrich’s hotel suite.
to be among the pre-eminent chroniclers of classic Hollywood.
Charm was clearly present in large quantities right from the start. It would be a mistake to look back to the beginning of Kobal’s career and attribute This charm led Kobal to a freelance job working for BBC Radio on Peter Haigh’s Sunday
its rise to the wave of movie nostalgia that flourished later. The study of motion picture
afternoon show, Movie-Go-Round. The hour-long program promoted recent releases,
history was at best a nascent discipline, rarely – if ever – taught in universities. Moreover,
discussed movie news and had occasional features. Kobal conducted interviews with
the lives and careers of former actors, directors, producers and others who built an
stars, both current and past, first in London and later in New York and Los Angeles. Proper
industry garnered little interest. For the most part the stars of the 1920s and 1930s could
BBC press credentials opened the door to press agents and studio publicists, but Kobal’s
pass largely unnoticed. The industry titans who retained fortunes, such as Mary Pickford,
encyclopedic film knowledge and boundless enthusiasm ingratiated him with former
Gloria Swanson, Charlie Chaplin and, most acutely, Greta Garbo, lived grand private
movie greats. On Sunday 2 May, 1965, Movie-Go-Round presented Kobal’s interview with
lives away from public scrutiny. The 1960s was a decade devoted to youth, which made
Barbara Stanwyck, aptly titled They don’t make them like they used to. Occasionally Kobal
Kobal’s captivation with the past seem startlingly regressive. But his enthusiasm was
was the subject of an interview, as in June that year when the host posed the question,
so infectious that he won the respect of publishers, broadcasters, curators and even the
The Glamour Goddesses: where are they? The young journalist was ready with answers.
seemingly forgotten stars. Spotting long-retired former Paramount leading lady Nancy Carroll walking down New York’s Fifth Avenue one day in 1964, Kobal stopped her
In the midst of conducting interviews, Kobal continued to collect photographs and
for no other reason than to share his admiration of her work. Having left the screen
to continue his education gained access to film archives, public and private. When,
well before he was born, Carroll wondered how Kobal knew about her. It was her
in 1965, Raymond Durgnat, a leading film writer in London, was working on a book
photographs, he explained, as he had many portraits from her Paramount years. Carroll
about Greta Garbo, he turned to Kobal to source and select the photographs. So vital
was amused by this chance encounter on the street and agreed to an interview, which
was Kobal’s contribution to Greta Garbo that he is listed as co-author on the book’s
in turn led to an introduction to her friend, Tallullah Bankhead. Kobal claimed that it
20 Century Fox, 1966. At this
cover and title page. The photographs chosen are splendid and show a mastery
was Bankhead, more than any other person, who “opened the doors of Hollywood to
Bergman at the National Film
point in his life, John was earning
of the material that belies his lack of training as a photo archivist.
me”. At the great stage star’s suggestion, Kobal went to Los Angeles to meet director
Theatre, London, 1972.
John Kobal, London, 1963.
John Kobal (left) and Alex Cord, on the set of Stagecoach, th
his living interviewing film stars and makers as a radio (mainly for the BBC) and print journalist.
John Kobal interviewing Alfred Hitchcock, London, 1969.
John Kobal interviewing Ingrid
George Cukor, and soon he had entrée to most of Hollywood’s elite, including Katharine For Kobal, training was always on the spot. Without formal education beyond high
Hepburn, a pal of Cukor’s, who agreed to be interviewed and, much later, wrote a brief
school he became a seminal author, inventing a new area of cinema studies that
introduction to his monograph on MGM photographer Clarence Sinclair Bull.
had previously been completely overlooked. Collecting portraits began simply
18
as way of connecting with the movies. Later it became the basis of his livelihood.
Keeping his residence in London, Kobal was constantly on the move, shuttling to
His fascination with film stars, along with a better and more thorough memory
New York, or Los Angeles, or to any of the multitude of film festivals that attracted 19