:48:02
which led to Golitzen first working
on the lot on Eagle Squadron in 1942
:48:06
for director Arthur Lubin.
Arabian Nights followed.
:48:09
Due to the draft, Universal was losing
John Goodman from the art department,
:48:15
and began negotiations
to obtain Alex to head the department.
:48:18
As always, they tried to get him cheap,
but they got him.
:48:22
Universal would be Alex's home
until his retirement in the 1970s
:48:25
following Slaughterhouse-Five.
:48:27
He won two Oscars,
one for Phantom and again for Spartacus.
:48:31
One of his most amazing achievements,
in the 1950s,
:48:34
were the oversized sets
for The Incredible Shrinking Man.
:48:38
"Alex was a godsend" said Lubin.
"Brilliant in everything he did."
:48:42
"By far superior to any of
the other art directors I worked with."
:48:46
"He didn't follow trends,
:48:47
and he tried to make each one of his sets
interesting, attractive and within cost."
:48:54
Alex's Phantom Oscar
caused consternation.
:48:57
John Goodman, as the department head,
:49:00
should have been nominated
for the award.
:49:03
Goodman merely approved budgets and
doled out assignments to art directors.
:49:09
Now, here comes Susanna's
world-famous G over high C.
:49:14
And we'll rest the Alex Golitzen story
until she delivers her note.
:49:27
I always love the way
that Nelson Eddy steps back,
:49:30
as though he's going
to be shattered by that note.
:49:40
We were talking about Alex Golitzen
and his Oscar for Phantom.
:49:44
Through some oversight,
Golitzen alone was nominated.
:49:47
And Golitzen alone,
for the art department, won,
:49:50
causing a great deal of consternation with
Goodman and the Universal management.
:49:55
An attempt was made to lobby the
Academy to get Goodman an Oscar too.
:49:59
It was too late, said the Academy. Nothing
they could do, after the fact, about it.