As construction declined during the Great Depression, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer hired Duell in 1936 to design the set of the Capulet home in Irving Thalberg's production of Romeo and Juliet. In 1937, he joined the MGM art department in a full-time capacity. During his career as a motion picture art director, he was nominated for three Academy Awards in the category Best Art Direction.[2] He received screen credit for his work on 38 films, among them Ninotchka (1939), The Postman Always Rings Twice (1946), Intruder in the Dust (1949), and Singin' in the Rain (1952). Additionally he worked on a number of motion pictures without film credit, among them The Wizard of Oz, 1939. He retired from MGM in 1959.
During most of his career at MGM, Duell maintained an outside architectural practice and designed residential and commercial buildings in Southern California. Notable among his designs during this period is Casa de Cadillac, a car dealership in Sherman Oaks built in 1948 which is now considered a prime example of Googie architecture.
Theme park design
Following his departure from MGM in 1959, he joined Marco Engineering, founded by C. V. Wood, who had supervised the construction of Disneyland; at Marco, Duell collaborated with Wood and Wade Rubottom in the design of Freedomland U.S.A. in The Bronx, the first of many theme parks he would design.[3][4]: 43–49 At Freedomland, Duell designed many of the park structures and specified the color scheme for the Santa Fe Rail Road and other areas of the park. He is featured in the book, Freedomland U.S.A.: The Definitive History (Theme Park Press, 2019). In addition, at Marco Duell assisted in the design of Pleasure Island in Wakefield, Massachusetts.[1][4]: 40–42
The following year, Duell left Marco Engineering and established R. Duell and Associates with his wife Rachel, a Santa Monica-based architectural practice which specialized in the design of theme parks. Marrying traditional architecture with stagecraft, the firm designed many theme parks in America. Most of the parks include what is now known as the Duell loop, first implemented at Six Flags Over Texas; the primary guest path forms a complete circuit through the park so visitors can visit each attraction.[4]: 55 One notable exception was at Magic Mountain, where the developers ran short of money before a planned tunnel could be dug to connect the loop at the rear of the park.[5]
Selected list of theme parks designed by Duell Associates
The Duell office employed the talents of a number of former motion picture art directors and theme park designers, among them Robert H Branham, Leroy Coleman, John DeCuir, John DeCuir, Jr., Roger Duell, Paul Saunders, Ira West, Harry Webster, Art Pieper, and Paul Groesse.
Duell was inducted into the International Association of Amusement Parks and Attractions Hall of Fame in 1993.
Selected filmography
Duell was nominated for three Academy Awards for Best Art Direction:[1]
^ abcdefHill, Barry R. (2020). Imagineering an American Dreamscape: Genesis, Evolution, and Redemption of the Regional Theme Park. Rivershore Press. ISBN978-1-7321210-6-5.
^Randall Duell and Ira West (1982). "1982 Interview with Randall Duell and Ira West of R. Duell and Associates". ThrillRide! (Interview). Interviewed by Robert Coker. Retrieved July 13, 2021. [Ira West:] Magic Mountain was originally conceived as a complete loop park, similar to Great America. A tunnel was planned to be cut through the mountain to complete that loop; budgetary problems arose as the park was nearing completion before this tunnel was dug, and the tunnel idea was abandoned. This turned the park literally into two cul-de-sacs.
