Randall Duell

Randall Duell (July 14, 1903 – November 28, 1992) was an American architect and motion picture art director. He designed Magic Mountain theme park in Santa Clarita, California, the original Universal Studio Tours in California, Six Flags Over Texas, Marriott's Great America theme parks, as well as Opryland in Nashville, Tennessee.[1]

Randall Duell
Duell during the construction of Magic Mountain in 1970
Born(1903-07-14)July 14, 1903
Russell County, Kansas
DiedNovember 28, 1992(1992-11-28) (aged 89)
Los Angeles, California
Occupation(s)Art director and architect
Years active1925-1992
Spouse
Rachel (née Coleman)
​
​
(m. 1925)​
ChildrenRoger

Career

Duell was born on a farm in Russell County, Kansas, moved with his family to Los Angeles, California in 1912, and died of a stroke in Los Angeles, California.[1]

Duell attended the University of Southern California School of Architecture and graduated in 1925. Joining the Los Angeles architectural firm Webber, Staunton and Spaulding, Duell contributed to designs for notable building projects in metropolitan Los Angeles during the 1920s and 1930s, among them the Avalon Casino on Catalina Island, Frary Dining Hall and adjacent residence halls at Pomona College, and Greenacres, the estate of silent movie actor Harold Lloyd in Beverly Hills. He and architect Sumner Spaulding collaborated in the design of the Atkinson residence in Bel Air, which was modeled after the Petit Trianon at Versailes.

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
ParkCityState / CountryYearNotes
Six Flags Over Texas ArlingtonTX1961 Project started by Angus Wynne and Tommy Vandergriff, who hired Marco Engineering, then convinced Duell to form his own company.[4]: 52–53 
Texas Pavilion at the 1964 World's Fair New York CityNY1964 [6]
Universal Studios Tour Universal CityCA1964
Six Flags Over Georgia AustellGA1967 Wynne's second park[4]: 61 
AstroWorld HoustonTX1968 Duell's commission for AstroWorld led to Six Flags designing the Mid-America park by itself.[4]: 67 
Lion Country Safari IrvineCA1970
Six Flags Magic Mountain ValenciaCA1971
Hersheypark HersheyPA1972
Opryland NashvilleTN1972
Carowinds CharlotteNC1973
Six Flags Great America GurneeIL1976 Twin parks originally named Marriott's Great America
California's Great America Santa ClaraCA
Bellewaerde Park Zillebeke, West FlandersBelgium1980?
Darien Lake CorfuNY1981
Dunia Fantasi JakartaIndonesia1985?
Parc Astérix ParisFrance1989
MGM Grand Adventures Theme Park Las VegasNV1993

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]

References
  1. FOLKART, BURT A. (December 3, 1992). "Randall Duell; Designed Magic Mountain, Other Parks". Los Angeles Times. ISSN 0458-3035. Retrieved January 22, 2019.
  2. "IMDb.com: Randall Duell - Awards". IMDb.com. Retrieved December 14, 2008.
  3. Vanderbilt, Tom (September 1, 2002). "CITY LORE; Stagecoach Wreck Injures 10 in Bronx". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved July 8, 2017.
  4. Hill, Barry R. (2020). Imagineering an American Dreamscape: Genesis, Evolution, and Redemption of the Regional Theme Park. Rivershore Press. ISBN 978-1-7321210-6-5.
  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.
  6. Hill, Jim. "Texan with Big Dreams + Big Apple = Big Trouble". jimhillmedia.com. Retrieved July 8, 2017.
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