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History & Celebrations Today – March 22

Celebrations Today – March 22

Holidays and observances

Celebrations Today – USA: March 22

National Bavarian Crepes Day
National Goof Off Day
International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination
International Day of Forests
National Memory Day
National Day of Action on Syringe Exchange
National Single Parent’s Day
National Teenager Day
World Down Syndrome Day
World Poetry Day
World Puppetry Day

Today in US History: March 22

Raymond Loewy, Designer

Avanti
Preliminary Studies for Studebaker “Avanti” Automobile
Raymond Loewy,
fluid marker on paper,
March 22, 1961.
American Treasures of the Library of Congress

On March 22, 1961, industrial designer Raymond Loewy made a dozen sketches of a futuristic sports car at the request of Sherwood Egbert, the recently appointed president of the ailing Studebaker Corporation. Egbert hoped that Loewy, who had a long relationship with the company, could design a new car bold enough to capture the popular imagination and boost the company’s sagging fortunes. Loewy and his team of designers produced a prototype automobile in record time; the Avanti—Italian for “forward”— debuted in April 1962 to rave reviews.  The four-passenger car was indeed forward-looking, for it had a steamlined fiberglass body with almost no chrome, and was the first American car to incorporate a disc brake system along with other safety features.

A series of problems stalled production of the car, however, and the Studebaker Corporation abruptly discontinued its U.S. manufacture late in 1963. Seeking to revive the popular model, in 1965 two Studebaker dealers acquired the corporation’s vacated South Bend, Indiana, factory and as the Avanti Motor Corporation produced the Avanti II into the 1980s.

Raymond Loewy posed in a mock-up of his office
Mock-up of designer’s office with modern decor, with Raymond Loewy posing on table and Hupmobile model nearby,
1934?
Prints & Photographs Online Catalog

Raymond Loewy, who is sometimes called “the father of industrial design,” also designed automobiles for Hupmobile, Lincoln, and Jaguar, among many other projects. Born in Paris in 1893, he was educated in France as an engineer. Loewy emigrated to the United States after World War I, where his first design assignments were in window decoration for New York department stores. Loewy’s signature streamlined style was eventually seen in a wide variety of industrial and consumer products, ranging from railroad locomotives to refrigerators, to pencil sharpeners, to dishes, to corporate logos. He became a U.S. citizen in 1938 and married Viola Erickson ten years later. Never Leave Well Enough Alone, Loewy’s autobiography, appeared in 1951.  In the early 1960s, Loewy was hired by the Kennedy White House for several projects; he also designed a commemorative postage stamp in memory of John F. Kennedy, in 1964. By 1967 he was employed by NASA to create hospitable spaces for astronauts. Raymond Loewy died in 1986.

Look kitchen
Raymond Loewy Associates, “Look” kitchen. Kitchen IV.
Gottscho-Schleisner, Inc.,
June 1, 1951.
Architecture and Interior Design for 20th Century America, 1935-1955

Today in History – March 22-External Links

Today’s Weather in History
Today in Earthquake History
This Day in Naval History
Today’s Document from the National Archives
Today’s Events, Births & Deaths –Wikipedia
Today in History by AP
On this Day -1950 to 2005 – Today’s Story–BBC
On This Day: The New York Times
This Day in History –History.com
Today in Canadian History – Canada Channel
History of Britain that took place On This Day
Russia in History –Russiapedia