Marc E Meyer Jr Tribute SDSA 2018 Earl Cooperman Lifetime Achievement Award from OfficialSDSA on Vimeo.

MARC MEYER 

A young man from Michigan, fresh out of the Navy and working in a flower shop in New York in the early 1970s, Marc Meyer decided to move to California where he had been stationed.  Upon his arrival in Los Angeles, he looked for the florist shop with the largest ad in the Yellow Pages, walked into Flower Fashions in Beverly Hills and walked out with a job. His work attracted a lot of attention and he began doing celebrity weddings. One of the most memorable was Dean Martin’s third marriage—the floral bill was $85,000 in 1973!

Although not yet a union member, he then landed a job in the floral department at Walter Allen, a greens company that worked with Paramount Studios. Soon he was sought out by Set Decorator Ruby Levitt to help with florals for the film CHINATOWN. With Ruby’s assistance, IATSE Local 44 approved Marc to do the flowers and qualify as a member. He stayed on set while they filmed, fluffing the flowers for days. 

Of course, after CHINATOWN, business was slow, and the newly minted IA member did not work for 5 months! When he checked in to ask why his phone was so quiet, the callboard steward discovered that he was listed only as a florist. The steward amended Meyer’s listing and he got the next call to report to Universal Studios.

While working with Gus Caselli in the flower room, Marc was introduced to Robert Freer who was set decorating a Christmas scene on the Queen Mary in NIGHTSTALKER. Marc was sent out to buy Christmas decorations, but it wasn’t enough for the 28’ tree. He shopped for more that day, then stayed long after the set dressing crew left, to finish the Christmas décor. As he was finishing, a crisis had arisen on another set—there was a mirror that caused difficulties and there was nothing to replace it. Marc calmly assured the director, ran to the ship’s gift shop, picked up some shoe polish and a comb to perform an instant wood-graining procedure, which the director loved. Within two weeks, Marc Meyer became Bob Freer’s Leadman. 

Marc moved on to lead for famed Set Decorator Jerry Adams; then as time went on, Marc was tasked to train newcomer Anne McCulley*. When Anne became a set decorator, she called on Marc to lead for her on the television series SWITCH, which he did, eventually becoming the show’s set decorator after Anne had left for another project. At one point, a new apartment set was added, which included a Jacuzzi, and Marc saw an opportunity for a linen company, Martex, to help out by providing towels that would be featured prominently with the key romantic characters. 
 

*Anne D. McCulley SDSA Earl Cooperman Lifetime Achievement Award 2016 (Read about Anne by clicking here)
 

Marc’s forward thinking lead him to another niche business. He constantly saw his crew struggling to carry heavy specialized items such as law books under the most difficult circumstances—up ladders, steep stairs, on and off trucks. There were some sub-par fake books made of Styrofoam in prophouses, but they did not satisfy. One day, a chance sighting of striated wallpaper lit the light bulb in his creative mind. Purchasing every bolt available, Meyer raced home to his ‘shop’, cut the paper into thin strips, added them to the sides of his books to create book pages, and Faux Books was born. During that time, while helping out at Alpha Prop Company, Marc was also learning how the prop house business worked. 

Faux Library was incorporated in 2002. Using all of his knowledge gained from years of creating character backstories on the screen, Marc Meyer built his brilliant book idea into an invaluable service, addressing the needs of specialty office furniture and character props, providing along with his faux books, sculptures and art, lighting and rugs, stylish desk sets, and antique and classic desks. Today, Marc continues to bring his curated taste to the industry, literally saving backs with beautifully made faux books!

Click here for more information about SDSA Business Member Faux Library!

Marc E. Meyer is a founder and annual contributor to the SDSA Leslie Frankenheimer Scholarship fund and regularly donates to his community in Eagle Rock, CA.  

2019 Deadline to enter to win 2019 Scholarship has been extended to April 15th: Click here for 2019 application
Check Calendar for information.