WEBVTT

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You

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On a cold winter's morning the kind of morning that people everywhere hate to go out and work in

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People in certain special places are most happy to come out and play in

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But some work does get done even during the playing season

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Herbert Bayer artist and designer as well as architect is host here to a meeting on the great ideas of western man campaign

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He has been a consultant and also a contributor to this campaign for many years

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This is one of a continuing series of twice yearly meetings among principles of the appropriate departments of Container Corporation of America and its

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advertising agency

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John Massey

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director of design advertising and public relations

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represents Container Corporation in this discussion

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The basic routine of these meetings has been the same across the nearly two decades that the campaign has been in progress

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First to be considered are the ideas to be used in the campaign

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The ideas set down in verbal form as originally written or spoken become the basis for the series

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Criteria for these have been well established and many very good ideas submitted and discussed at each meeting don't quite measure up

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for one reason or another

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Possible selections are compiled through research by the agency and by others who consult on the program

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Writer Boris Todron has been a longtime contributor

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Ideas presented for each meetings consideration represent a broad range of sources which may extend in time span from Plato to Gandhi

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After final agreement is reached on ideas to use for the next six months

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The selection of artists to provide the visual counterpoint becomes the next order of business

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Each contemporary artist selected here adds a visual interpretation to an idea that achieved its initial eminence as a verbal expression

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Ideally the latter-day visual interpretation assigned here will not only reinforce the essential idea

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But will related by style and approach to our time

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Naturally much pre-screening of artists and their work precedes these final meetings

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But with the ideas finally chosen

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Assessment of artist styles becomes more to the point

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Once artist and idea pairings have been determined the artist will be given the idea quotation with full freedom to make his own interpretation

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One of the selections made in this meeting is from the words of Johan Wolfgang von Goethe

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Whatever liberates our spirit without giving us self-control is disastrous

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Many of Goethe's ideas have appeared in the series

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The artist chosen to interpret this one is st. Louis sculptor Ernest T. Trova

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After submission and approval of Trova's preliminary sketches the finished sculpture arrives some months later at the studio of a Chicago photographer

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Selected to photograph the piece for publication

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On hand to witness the unveiling so to speak are John Massey and design representatives from the agency

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The responsibility here is not only to examine the finished sculpture, but to make recommendations regarding its photography for magazine reproduction

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Sculpture generally presents some lighting complications, but the multiplicity of reflective surfaces on Trova's piece is pretty much the same

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Particularly challenging

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Such other considerations as page layout type selection and final assembly for plate making

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Will follow the photographing of Trova's highly individual interpretation

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The kinetic feature of this work

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Literally illustrating Trova's falling man theme will not be captured in still photography

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However, it will be an interesting adjunct to the sculptures display in later exhibitions

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In due course the collaboration of Goethe and Trova will come together on the magazine page

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To date these procedures have produced some 200 full-page advertisements for Container Corporation's institutional campaign

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All

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They have also produced a sizeable collection of highly esteemed original art in a variety of media

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Selections from the collection are continuously on exhibition in museums and galleries in both hemispheres.

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We have been asked many times why we support a campaign of this extremely uncommercial character.

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We endorse the widely held opinion that the great ideas of Western man have a timeless value,

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with much to say to each succeeding generation.

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We believe therefore that these ideas deserve re-expression in our time.

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This is why the great ideas series has long been considered the most important element in the advertising and public relations program of Container Corporation of America.

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Thank you for watching.