If Gene Siskel and Roger Ebert have been the 2 stars of “Siskel & Ebert on the Films,” the intimate movie show set on which they shared their takes on movie releases new and previous was the third. You possibly can thank set designer Mickey Loewenstein for that, a legendary scenic designer at Chicago’s WTTW-Channel 11 for 40 years who formed the look of tv’s most iconic movie evaluation present. On August twentieth, 2024, he handed from pure causes in his Florida house on the age of 90.
Loewenstein started working at WTTW in 1959 as a set designer, benefiting from the massive budgets and inventive freedom that got here from the golden age of tv. There, he designed units for every little thing from the live-music powerhouse “Soundstage” to the child’s puppet present “Kikla, Fran, and Ollie” to the Peabody-award-winning 1983 ballet manufacturing of “The Merry Widow. “
However arguably, his most well-known creation was the set for “Siskel & Ebert and the Films” (normal, after all, in 1975 when the present was initially known as “Opening Quickly … at a Theater Close to You”), affecting the look of a sprawling film home that belong solely to Roger & Gene. It was their playhouse, and it seemed like they’d the entire home all to themselves.
The kicker, and a part of Loewenstein’s manufacturing magic, was that the set was a lot smaller than it appeared on display screen. Modeled after the Highland Park movie show Loewenstein frequented rising up, the “Siskel & Ebert” set was really a tiny tv studio set. He used compelled perspective to make every little thing look larger: Screens, again rows, exit indicators, all of it was constructed to one-third scale. In actual life, Roger & Gene seemed like giants. On TV, they have been misplaced within the din of the theater.
It’s a design that may linger via everything of the present’s run, as hosts and sensibilities and broadcast associates modified. By means of all that tumult, Loewenstein’s set loomed massive, even when it appeared small.
Born in 1933 to a father who labored in actual property and a bookstore-owner mom, Loewenstein constructed his bona fides early with a theater main on the College of Colorado and a two-year stint designing units for the leisure department of the navy, Particular Providers.
Loewenstein is survived by sons Dave and Tim Loewenstein, in addition to three grandchildren.
Those that need to honor his reminiscence can attend a service October nineteenth at St. Mark’s Episcopal Church in Evanston. Or, they’ll simply head to the Chicago Historical past Museum, the place a group of his drawings and sketches are displayed.
Or, within the grand custom of Siskel & Ebert, you’ll be able to go to the flicks.
