Art Director/Graphic Designer Louis Dorfsman Has Died -- Interview Online

Louis Dorfsman, who designed every aspect of CBS's branding for forty years until his retirement in 1991, has died at the age of 90. In his later years he was the creative director for the Museum of Broadcasting (now the Paley Center for Media).
Mr. Dorfsman was interviewed by the Archive in May of 2000 by the Paley Center's Television Curator Ron Simon.

Below is Part 2 of his interview, where he describes working at CBS.



Additional segments of his interview are available here.

Interview Description:

Mr. Dorfsman talked about his earliest experiences in his field, which included being an assistant for Display Guild, which produced numerous exhibits for the 1939 World’s Fair. He described his long association with CBS, that began in 1946 as a staff director in the art department. Dorfsman described his legendary work in the 1950s for CBS radio, during that medium’s waning days. He described his eventual move to television, becoming the Director of Design for CBS, Inc. He described his influential work at CBS in print and television advertising, and his pioneering use of typography. He talked about the erection of Black Rock, CBS’s headquarters on 52nd Street and his work on the interior of the building, including his cafeteria wall collage. He described the fall television season campaigns at CBS and his well-known campaigns of such shows as The Waltons, which helped boost its ratings. He described his design of two books for CBS, Field of Vision (1962), on football; and a commemorative book on the 1969 moon landing.

"Star Trek" Fanfare Composer Alexander "Sandy" Courage Has Died at Age 88 -- Archive Interview Online

Alexander Courage won an Emmy Award as principal arranger for the ABC special Julie Andrews: The Sound of Christmas and was a nominee for his work on Medical Center. Mr. Courage was interviewed in 2000 by TV's Greatest Hits author Jon Burlingame.

Jon Burlingame has authored a tribute to the composer at filmmusicsociety.org.

Alexander Courage's five-part interview can be accessed here.

Interview description:

Courage described his work as a conductor, arranger, and composer in network radio on such series as: “The Screen Guild Theater,” “The Adventures of Sam Spade,” and “Hedda Hopper’s This Is Hollywood.” He described his entrance into feature filmmaking as an arranger at MGM, detailing his screen highlights on such musical classics as Showboat, The Band Wagon, and Seven Brides For Seven Brothers. He talked about his entrance into composing for television at Revue Productions. He detailed his work on the MGM series National Velvet and talked about several pilots he made there as well. Switching to 20th Century Fox, he described his work on such feature films as The Pleasure Seekers and Doctor Doolittle. For television at 20th he worked on such series as: Daniel Boone, for which he composed dozens of episodes. He described in detail his work on the series Star Trek for which he wrote the familiar fanfare, theme, and music for the two pilot episodes, as well as several later episodes. Courage spoke of his extensive work on The Waltons for which he composed over one hundred episodes. Other shows discussed include: Judd For The Defense (for which Courage wrote the theme and music for several episodes), Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea, and several Academy Award telecasts. He discussed his later work for television, which included the television movie QBVII (with Jerry Goldsmith), and the television special Julie Andrews: The Sound of Christmas, which earned him an Emmy Award.