Inventor of Steadicam and Rocky cinematographer at Drexel today
Please note: This article is published as an archive copy from Philadelphia City Paper. My City Paper is not affiliated with Philadelphia City Paper. Philadelphia City Paper was an alternative weekly newspaper in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The last edition was published on October 8, 2015.
"The last shot of that [demo] reel was me chasing my then-girlfriend down the Art Museum steps ... I ended up, just a few months later, chasing [Sylvester] Stallone up those steps."
Philadelphian Garrett Brown, who invented the Steadicam and Skycam and was intergral to making the famous Rocky training montage ending at the Art Museum step happen, will be talking at Drexel this afternoon at 3:30. City Paper's Bryan Bierman spoke with him last spring, when Brown was inducted into the National Inventors Hall of Fame, and it was a very interesting interview. Here's part of it, in which Brown talks about his attempts to demonstrate the wild new things his invention could do to directors without giving away the secret of how it was done:
The great thing about [the Steadicam] was, unlike most inventions, mine could be demonstrated without giving away how it worked. I could show the results — a reel of impossible shots — and just blow away anybody in Hollywood who knew what was possible and what wasn't, and give them no clue how it was done.
Except that we sent a reel to Stanley Kubrick, a very smart guy that he was, he sent back a Telex saying, "Yes, this is great and should revolutionize the way films are shot and you can count on me for a customer," blah, blah, blah, but he said, "You should be aware there are 14 frames in the middle of your demo that show a shadow on the ground that gives you a very good idea how it worked." [Laughs.] So, we went running into the screening room and sure enough, he was right! We had to clip the 14 frames out of reel.
The last shot of that reel was me chasing my then-girlfriend, now-wife, Ellen, down the Art Museum steps and back up. And a lot of people saw that reel, one of them was [John G.] Avildsen, who was setting up Rocky. He found us and said, "Where are those steps and how did you do that?" I ended up, just a few months later, chasing [Sylvester] Stallone up those steps. It was an amazing coincidence.
Brown's a really interesting guy who had a huge effect on the way movies look, and he's got a lot of awesome show-biz stories — go see him if you have a chance, or check out our interview (and a new one over on Philebrity) if you can't.
