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HOLLYWOOD PROP MEN ABLE AT WAR CAMOUFLAGE in The Boston Globe, January 15, 1942, p. 12—
WASHINGTON January 15 (AP)—Hollywood “prop” men—the chaps who design the stage sets for the movie stars—make the best prospects for military camouflage work, an Army expert on strategic concealment asserted today.
Lieut. Col. Homer Saint-Gaudens, Harvard-educated head of the camouflage branch of the Office of the Chief of Engineers, said in an article in the Military Engineer:
"Our best men are moving picture property men. They not only have camouflage ideas, but they understand the application of those ideas. They are resourceful; they are disciplined; they have an eye for the looks of things: they can build you the answer."
The colonel, who was himself stage director for actress Maude Adams. and is director of fine arts, Carnegie Institute, says that when a would-be camouflage worker comes to his desk and declares he is a marvellous painter, he (Saint-Gaudens) makes this reply:
"That's okay. But let me have a look at your hands. How are your feet? Can you lug 60 pounds 20 miles and do it again the next day?
"Yes, I remember that set where Robert Taylor makes love to Hedy Lamarr. You say you designed it and helped build it, too? You are just the young man we are looking for."
Saint-Gaudens, who received numerous decorations for his camouflage work during the first World War, said the best camouflage officers, the ones who direct the workers, are young erst-while architects."
Such men, he declared, have "already learned to cope with the builders of new houses who insist on having the stairs and the clothes closet in the same place.”
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Below Page spread from an article by Edwin Schallert, Trick Photography in the Gold Rush, in Science and Invention (December 1925), pp. 714-715, showing various special effects and scenic props used in the filming of the Charlie Chaplin comedy The Gold Rush.
Dazzle Camouflage: What is it and how did it work? / Nature, Art, and Camouflage / Art, Women's Rights, and Camouflage / Embedded Figures, Art, and Camouflage / Art, Gestalt, and Camouflage / Optical science meets visual art / Disruption versus dazzle / Chicanery and conspicuousness / Under the big top at Sims' circus
