Articles & Texticles

Continuing a series about Art Directors in the British film industry up to 1948, when the book containing these articles was published.

This chapter deals with Peter Proud.

When he was 15, his money was finished and he left school and applied for a job as sound recordist at B.I.P., Elstree, where `mention’ of some complicated sound apparatus so impressed the sound director that he was taken on as an assistant recordist. It was soon found out, however, that he knew nothing about it and was demoted to magazine loading boy!

(Please click these thumbnail images to enlarge them.)

Green For Danger. Pen and Wash. Individual Pictures.
Trivia lovers will be delighted to learn that Hattie Jacques made her debût in this film.

Woman In The Hall Pen and wash. Wessex Productions.

Woman In The Hall Pen and wash. Wessex Productions.

Green For Danger Pen and Wash. Individual Pictures.

Continue reading Peter Proud’s career synopsis after the fold: >>

PETER PROUD is a brilliant artist with pen and wash, and once had the reputation of being the designer with the greatest ability for adapting or converting ’stock sets’.

This ability was probably acquired in the home surroundings of his youth when, he tells us, his father used to keep an art gallery in Glasgow before the First World War.

After the war, like many other luxury trades, the `gallery’ deteriorated, and starting with the furniture from their house, which they could no longer keep up, the ‘gallery’ was demoted to furniture shop . . .
He had never taken much interest in the fine art side of the business, but he did enjoy looking after the junk and became interested in unbeautiful things like aspidistra pots, etc.

A year or two of this and his father died leaving him £400 and with this, at the age of 13, he decided to become an architect and came down to London to Dulwich College, where in addition to a general education and engineering, each boy concentrated on some article of scientific apparatus. Peter concentrated on something connected with sound.

When he was 15, his money was finished and he left school and applied for a job as sound recordist at B.I.P., Elstree, where `mention’ of some complicated sound apparatus so impressed the sound director that he was taken on as an assistant recordist. It was soon found out, however, that he knew nothing about it and was demoted to magazine loading boy!

He hated this job but it had an advantage-he could walk from central recording room through the various stages to the labs. In addition to watching production, he found set construction fascinating, and often stood watching Alfred Junge superintending every detail himself. He was fired for hanging about and was re-employed by the art department the following week.

He stayed at B.I.P. for about three years during which period he was the only member of the art department who held a position lower than Art Director, and thus had a very busy and informative time!

Having had no training he was useless as a draughtsman but was soon acting as set-dresser on up to six productions at a time. Later he was in charge of conversion of standing sets on the lot.

In 1932 he joined Alfred Junge at Gaumont British as his first assistant, and as there were four pictures on the floor at a time, Alfred was soon trusting him with quite a lot of designing work.

In 1935 he was loaned to Gainsborough where he worked for the first time without supervision and got his first credit title . . . Then came an offer from Irving Asher of Warner Bros. and he started with them in 1936 as Supervising Art Director.

Then came the war and after service abroad he joined Independent Producers and was Production Designer to Sidney Gilliat on `Green for Danger’. At the end of this production he went over to Wessex Productions as Production Designer for ‘The Woman in the Hall’ and ‘Esther Waters’.

Proud is a very keen organizer as well as being an energetic artist.
He is always striving after a better understanding of his medium.

Link to British Film Institute biography of Peter Proud.