Notable Passings

...My daughter was recently driving down Wilshire Boulevard in Los Angeles and wondered why there was -- seemingly randomly -- a magnificent statue of John Wayne on horseback in front of an office building.

The statue is seen here to the left. (Photo credit: SeeingStars.com.)

We explained that "back in the day" it had been the Great Western Savings building and that Great Western had commissioned the sculpture of Wayne after his death.

Harry Jackson, the statue's sculptor, has passed away at the age of 87.

There's more about Jackson's work at the Harry Jackson Studios website.

...Architect Eldon Davis, another creator of memorable Los Angeles landmarks, had died at the age of 94.

Davis, a 1942 graduate of USC, designed many buildings in the "Googie" Space Age style, including Johnie's on Wilshire Boulevard and Norm's on La Cienaga Boulevard. Click here for photos of some of Davis's work.

Remarkably, Davis was said to have been running marathons until a couple of years ago.

L.A. Observed also pays tribute, and here's more about the architectural firm of Armet & Davis (via laist).

The Orange County Register links to examples of Googie design. I highly recommend the book GOOGIE REDUX by Alan Hess for those interested in learning more.

...Marvin Eisenman, a film collector also known as "Marvin of the Movies," has passed on at the age of 83.

Eisenman may have had the largest private film collection in the world.

Leonard Maltin has paid tribute at his site, saying of Eisenman that "His reward was the satisfaction of providing movies to people who wanted to see them."

The L.A. Times says that Eisenman's "family has tentative plans to donate his collection to a film library."