PSYCHEDELIC IHOP COMMERCIAL (1969)

 
 

#18: JUST FOR THE FUN OF IT? YES, WHY NOT.

Of course much of the fun of the vintage media here on The Social Design is the great design components found within - while often more or less ancillary to the original intent of production, these details certainly warrant a more starring role in our current, light-hearted consideration. And then of course there is also the pleasure of nostalgia: little, inviting windows to other times and other places, somehow the same world we exist in today yet hardly recognizable, lost but relived in memory for just a moment...

For your consideration today, a very groovy commercial for The International House of Pancakes from 1969.  Talk about a time, a place, an ethos one is hard pressed to find today.  There's sooo much to love here: The unabashed psychedelia. The trippy early-synthesizer soundtrack. The brilliantly fresh orange/blue complementary color scheme. The contemporary California family that dispenses with the car and prefers to run free across the landscape with great bouquets of colorful balloons...

Well, it's a world that is fresh, expansive, optimistic and free. Of course the food looks like hell, so in regard to actually promoting the IHOP product, the commercial is a complete failure. But in shaping the perceived IHOP experience, that's another story. Though I have to wonder how this little jewel ever got the green light to go beyond a sketch in an ad firm and actually make it onto the American airwaves - probably more of a reflection of the freshness, expansiveness, optimism, and freedom of today, I suspect. So really, America, lighten up. TUNE IN, TURN ON, AND DINE OUT!

  

IRA FURSTENBERG IN "FIVE DOLLS FOR AN AUGUST MOON" (1970)

 
 

 

#17:  BORED? CONSIDER A FILM CAREER.

Five Dolls for an August Moon mania continues! Another great clip featuring more of the main living room interior. I'm still loving the predominantly neutral scheme peppered throughout with accents of color. Of course I've written of the virtue of the red accent, but I'm going to extend that deference to the orange accent as well. Hello, look at those floor pillows! Actually I've historically lived for the orange accent more, but found examples for posting of the red accent before the orange. Still, they are both fabulous.

Something else fabulous in this scene?  Let's talk about the character of Trudy making that dire reel-to-reel tape.  Of course in the U.S. when you hear the name von Furstenberg pretty much one person comes to mind: Belgian-born fashion designer Diane von Furstenberg, creator of the iconic 70s wrap-dress. But Trudy here is being played by I think an even more interesting von Furstenberg: Ira, the sister of Diane's princely ex-husband, Egon.

Born Her Serene Highness Princess Virginia Carolina Theresa Pancrazia Galdina of Fürstenberg, Princess Ira is an inspiration and role model to anyone looking to break free from the gilded-ghetto hell of privileged aristocracry and really make something - oh, you know - more sensational! of themselves...

Ira Furstenberg by Iriving Penn, for Vogue, 1968

Princess Ira zu Furstenberg was born a princess.  Her mother was also a Fiat heiress, sister of the legendarily dapper Gianni Agnelli.  At fifteen she wed Prince Alfonso von Hohenlohe, then aged 31. When (hmmm, surprisingly) that relationship didn't last for the long haul, she married the Brazilian industrialist Francisco "Baby" Pignatari.  It pleases me oddly to say that they were wed in Reno and divorced in Vegas.  And then at some point Ira decided to become a film star.  So, living in Rome, she naturally begins an acting career at Cinecittá, the product of which includes the very fabulous Five Folls for an August Moon (5 Bambole per la luna d'agosto) of 1970, directed by Mario Bava, as well as many others.

Later Ira Furstenberg was romantically linked with Prince Ranier III of Monaco after the death of Grace Kelly, and was apparently assumed to be the next Princess of Monaco until speculative media attention dashed the odds. Well, who cares when you already are a princess?

Ira Furstenberg, closer to today, still working it.

Today Ira Furstenberg creates some very opulent, borderline over-the-top knick-knacks. Objets d'art, if you will.  She works predominantly in gilt-mounted rock crystal, such as this rock crystal bowl with crab ornament:

Or this rock crystal bunny wearing a gold top hat...

I know I'd truly like to use that to bludgeon someone to death in an Italian giallo film.  No idea how much these little treasures run but likely not cheap.  Maybe you can find something to your own taste on Ira's website: http://www.irafurstenberg.com