I totally fell in love with this film when someone got a copy of a 16mm print at the tv station I was working at in the late 70s, and transferred it to video. I still have that 3/4 Umatic tape, but rather than try to convert it, it’s here on YouTube, of course. If you love really old toys, you’ll love this.
From the introduction comment to the film at YouTube:
Toccata for Toy Trains is a 1957 short film by Charles and Ray Eames, one of several films (including Powers of Ten, made many years later) the husband-and-wife design team made during their career. Toccata for Toy Trains is also the title of the instrumental music composed for the film by Elmer Bernstein, a frequent collaborator on the Eames films. The film features mostly antique toy trains moving within fanciful settings to a toccata. Other antique toys, such as dolls (representing passengers and townspeople), automobiles and horse-drawn carriages are featured. Most of the toys come from a mix of museum and private collections, including that of the Museum of the City of New York, and apparently date from before the 1920s. The film is shot from a toy’s-eye-view, as if the viewer is following the journey of trains from two cities, beginning with the busy activity of the departure train station and surrounding downtown neighborhood, traveling across the countryside, and ending with trains pulling into the arrival station. A short opening narration by Charles Eames, set in a roundhouse, extols the design merits of toys, especially antique toys, with their “direct and unembarrassed manner”, versus scale models. Eames says the modern era has lost the art of toymaking in the attempt to have “a perfect little copy of the real thing”.
Charles and Bernice “Ray” Eames were a design couple whose legacy is vast and lasting. And comfortable. At our friends’ house in Half Moon Bay, they have a pair of these Eames loungers and ottomans ($6,195 from Henry Miller), and they are the perfect place to sit, read a book, and watch the surf in the distance.
This is fabulous, and the toccata music is composed and conducted by none other than Elmer Bernstein. I had forgotten much about the Eames’ work in short film. To quote Wikipedia, “their cinematic work was an outlet for ideas, a vehicle for experimentation and education. The couple often produced short films in order to document their interests, such as collecting toys and cultural artifacts on their travels.” When I was a student at the USC School of Architecture in the mid- to late 60’s, the Eames’ often lectured there, and I recall seeing several of their short films in a film class that was part of our curriculum. This also reminded me of one of their most famous shorts, “Powers of Ten.” The Eames’ were among the most significant historical contributors to the development of modern architecture, furniture, and graphic design. Another CC trip down memory lane for me, thanks for posting this treasure.
I really enjoyed this. Helped me relax this Sunday afternoon. Thanks Paul!
They were instrumental in breaking down barriers via US – USSR cultural exchange, as they provided the dazzling “Glimpses of the USA” multi – media show (projected in the golden Buckminster Fuller dome) at the the 1959 US National Exhibition held at Moscow’s Sokolniki Park. More here:
‘Soviet visitors wanted to see what real America looked like. And the Eames design team, in some capacity, delivered.
Glimpses of the U.S.A. was a film by Charles and Ray Eames that depicted life in America as told through still images projected onto seven giant 20 by 30 foot screens. It was shown in a theater designed by Buckminster Fuller…
As much art as instructional commentary on what life was like in the U.S., the film is composed of about 2,200 images and runs for 12 minutes. Viewers are inundated with images carefully curated by the Eames design team, some photos shot by Charles and Ray themselves…’
https://paleofuture.gizmodo.com/the-all-american-expo-that-invaded-cold-war-russia-550628823
http://www.mom.arq.ufmg.br/mom/arq_interface/5a_aula/Colomina_enclosed_by_images.pdf
http://www.eamesoffice.com/the-work/glimpses-of-the-u-s-a-film/
Love it. An extraordinary couple; their design work in furniture and architecture was completely and utterly first rate, and they were so committed to their philosophy they put a lot of effort into side projects like these films. I have an Aluminium Group Lounge Chair from the 70s that is a very precious possession.
Wonderful!
As delightful as the art is, I am almost more impressed by the technical aspects. It is not at all easy to film model trains.
Easy to forget all the careful technical planning and execution necessary to yield this delight for we viewers. I’ll guess it was shot on fine-quality 16mm equipment.
As a musician, I was tickled that the individual players got their listing—some real cream LA talent whose work you heard on many a Hollywood soundtrack. Unlike classical symphony orchestra where you always get your music to practice weeks ahead of time, and where you often play “standard repertoire” pieces again and again, in Hollywood there’s something brand-new in front of you, and you have to play it impeccably RIGHT NOW into a microphone that will pick up every little flaw.
I only recently learned of the Eames films via the charming “Serious Play” exhibition in Milwaukee last fall, opening at Denver Art Museum in May (HIGHLY recommended): https://denverartmuseum.org/exhibitions/serious-play.
As much a charmer as anything on exhibit was this molded-plywood leg splint the Eames’s designed for WWII use—evidently some 150,000 were manufactured: