Amsel’s lost art: WHAT’S UP, DOC?

Following my last post about FUNNY GIRL and FUNNY LADY, two people have asked me about Amsel’s unused artwork for another Barbra Streisand classic, WHAT’S UP, DOC?

Well, I aim to please. But first, let me give a little backstory on my Amsel art digital archives, and why I haven’t done any updates to the old www.richardamsel.info site in many, many years.

Since that tribute site’s launch in 2008, I’ve collected well over a thousand art images – from Amsel’s polished illustrations and paintings, to rough sketches, personal works, and comps. They span from Amsel’s childhood and school days to his final weeks in 1985. Many of these have never before been published, and I’ve been leery of sharing everything online until the forthcoming documentary and book are done.

I am also apprehensive of sharing high-rez images online, as on several occasions, unscrupulous people repurpose them for selling unauthorized merchandise, through venues such as Redbubble or (God help us) eBay.

Making the film has become a massive undertaking, not just in terms of filming and editing the extensive interview footage into a movie, but in finding the best ways to showcase Richard Amsel’s artwork in fresh, interesting ways. These include motion graphic animations (a few you can see from our early teaser trailer), and, more importantly, digitally “restoring” and cleaning up hundreds of image files.

This process began nearly 20 years ago, long before I ever began the film. I go through each artwork thoroughly, scrutinizing different sources, and doing my best to clean them up and make them look the best they possibly can. This process alone has involved hundreds of hours of work. Many times, once I think I’ve finished something, a new, better image is available to reference…and I have to start all over again.

I am grateful to the many supporters of this project, and Amsel admirers around the world who have provided me with images of artwork I’d otherwise have never known about.

So much of Richard Amsel’s art has been lost or hidden away over the years – a tragedy that, in my view, compounds the tragic, premature loss of the artist himself. But in lieu of being able to preserve the physical art, my aim is to ultimately provide an extensive archive, both through a book and eventually online, that honors and celebrates Amsel’s legacy the way it deserves. No doubt Amsel and Gary Bralow would have wanted nothing less.

But it’s taking me time – a LOT of time. And that is why your support matters so much.

WHAT’S UP, DOC?

To today’s moviegoers, Peter Bogdanovich might not be as well remembered as the likes of Spielberg, Lucas, or Coppola, but in the early 1970s, the director was something of a wunderkind. It’s quite astonishing to look back on just how influential and successful he was. THE LAST PICTURE SHOW and PAPER MOON are two quintessential films from that period. And while Bogdanovich’s subsequent AT LONG LAST LOVE and NICKELODEON were critical and box-office disasters, the director rebounded somewhat in 1985 with the highly regarded, deeply moving drama MASK (1985), starring Cher and Eric Stoltz.

I’d heard a lot about 1972’s WHAT’S UP, DOC?, but never saw it until recently. I was surprised by how much I enjoyed it. It’s a hilarious, old fashioned romp that harks back to such screwball comedies as BRINGING UP BABY. Starring Barbra Streisand and Ryan O’Neal, the two share an obvious chemistry, and it’s fun to see them playing off each other so well.

Barbra Streisand was reportedly a great admirer of Richard Amsel’s work following his celebrated poster design for HELLO, DOLLY! in 1968. He would go on to create a number of portraits of the superstar entertainer over the years, as well as proposed poster designs for such Streisand films as UP THE SANDBOX (1973), FOR PETE’S SAKE (1974), FUNNY LADY (1975), ALL NIGHT LONG (1981), and YENTL (1983). Of these, however, only UP THE SANDBOX was ultimately used as a final release poster.

I’m happy to have some of Amsel’s images from all those films in my collection, though his art for FOR PETE’S SAKE has remained elusive.

Amsel created no less than four poster designs for WHAT’S UP, DOC?, though the film’s final poster campaign used, sadly and predictably, photographic references.

Here they are. Enjoy! And be sure to check out our Facebook and Instagram pages, where I share these and other Amsel finds.