The Cedric Gibbons and Hazel Brooks papers span the years 1918-1992 (bulk 1930-1960) and encompass 15.4 linear feet. The collection consists of production files; correspondence; subject files; financial papers; oversize; and scrapbooks.

The production files consist primarily of publicity clippings, reviews and notes for ten films. This includes clippings related to Brooks’ roles in BODY AND SOUL (1947), ARCH OF TRIUMPH (1948) and SLEEP, MY LOVE (1948) and notes by Gibbons on the set design of ROMEO AND JULIET (1936).
The correspondence is almost exclusively that of Cedric Gibbons, the majority being copies of letters to and from family, friends, colleagues and fans.

Notable figures represented in the correspondence include Edward Carfagno, Errol Flynn, Albert Lewin, John Marquand, Dore Schary, Maurice Tourneur and Edward Weston. Other letters of interest include those between Gibbons and his sister Veronica Shields and friend Louis Sherwin, which reveal more details about Gibbons’ family and politics. Also of note are numerous love letters from Merle Oberon to Rex Ross from the early to mid-1950s, prior to Ross’ marriage to Hazel Brooks.

Subject files contain Gibbons’ personal papers, including copies of birth and death certificates, divorce papers, will, and documents related to military service. There are Gibbons’ Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer contracts and related correspondence from 1922 to 1949 as well as drafts of his writings for a 1929 Encyclopedia Britannica entry on motion picture set design. There are also articles and legal documents related to his historic Santa Monica home.

Financial papers consist of Gibbons’ bank statements and cancelled checks from 1936-1955, tax returns, bills, ledgers, papers related to investments and documents related to the Estate of Cedric Gibbons of which Hazel Brooks was the executrix.

The oversize items include various artifacts and awards of Gibbons’ as well Hazel Brooks’ press clippings.

There are three scrapbooks: two compiling Brooks related clippings and one devoted to Dolores Del Rio’s award winning show dog, “Faultless of Blighty.”

Cedric Gibbons was born Austin Cedric Gibbons in New York City in 1890. His father, Austin Patrick Gibbons, was an immigrant of Irish descent from Liverpool, England who worked construction in New York City and assisted in the building of both the Brooklyn Armory and the Brooklyn Museum. Circa 1900, his father established his own contracting business in Manhattan and by the end of the decade Cedric was working for him as an apprentice draftsman. Sadly, Gibbons’ mother died unexpectedly in 1910, and his father subsequently abandoned his family and his business. Cedric assumed the care of his two younger siblings as well as his maternal grandparents, postponing his plans to attend college to study architecture and instead earned a living doing construction work. After a couple of years, he was able to enroll part-time at the Art Students League of New York, working construction during the day, and taking courses at night. Though there were no classes in architecture, he took a variety of courses, and was eventually awarded the Merit Scholarship which allowed him to attend school more consistently. He particularly enjoyed studying under Hugo Ballin, who was a frequent guest lecturer at the League. During this time, Gibbons also had his first exposure to film production when he and several other students appeared as extras in Maurice Tourneur’s TRILBY (1915), in a set designed by Ben Carré.

Sometime after completing his studies, Gibbons was hired as an artist at the J. Walter Thompson advertising agency. After a year with the agency, Hugo Ballin hired him as his assistant at Edison Studios where Ballin was employed as a set designer. When Ballin was appointed as the art director for Goldwyn Studios, Gibbons followed. However, his work as Ballin’s assistant was cut short when the United States entered World War I and Gibbons was drafted into the naval reserve, serving in Pelham Bay, New York. By the time he was honorably discharged in 1919, Goldwyn Studios had relocated to Culver City, California, prompting Gibbons to move West. He signed a long-term contract with the studio to continue serving as Ballin’s assistant, but when Ballin left his position to work as a director, Gibbons was given the opportunity to design for the studio. His first credit was THE UNWRITTEN CODE (1919), followed by EARTHBOUND (1920), and by 1921 he was promoted to supervising art director. When Goldwyn Studios was incorporated into the newly established Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer in 1924, Gibbons lost his position but was kept on as one of many art directors. However, his demotion was brief, and following his impressive work on BEN-HUR (1925), he resumed his title as supervising art director, a position he held for over three decades.

From 1924 until his retirement in 1956, Gibbons was credited on over a thousand MGM films. However, many of these credits are shared, and for many films it can be difficult to determine how much he contributed to the design beyond his capacity as supervisor. Nevertheless, the work that can be definitively attributed to him is substantial, and the elegance of his sets bolstered MGM’s reputation as the most sophisticated and glamorous of the major studios. While his designs developed with the times and changed according to the needs of the project, the quality of his work was consistent. With his interiors for OUR DANCING DAUGHTERS (1928), A WOMAN OF AFFAIRS (1928), GRAND HOTEL (1932), DINNER AT EIGHT (1933), and WIFE VS. SECRETARY (1936), among many others, he brought the emerging art deco style to the screen. At the same time, he was passionate about realism, particularly with period pieces, and he persuaded MGM to establish a research department. His commitment to authenticity can be seen in the sets of such films as THE CROWD (1928), THE BARRETTS OF WIMPOLE STREET (1934), ANNA KARENINA (1935), THE GORGEOUS HUSSY (1936), ROMEO AND JULIET (1936), and MARIE ANTOINETTE (1938). He was also instrumental in shaping the look of MGM musicals with his lavish fantasy sets for the BROADWAY MELODY series of films, THE GREAT ZIEGFELD (1936), and BORN TO DANCE (1936).

In 1927, Gibbons became one of the 36 founding members of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences and is credited as the designer of the Oscar statuette. He holds the distinction of being both the most nominated and the most awarded in the category of Best Production Design with 39 nominations and 11 awards received, although except for his first win for THE BRIDGE OF SAN LUIS RAY (1929) and his nomination for WHEN LADIES MEET (1933), all of his wins and nominations were shared with other designers. Among the films for which he received the award for Best Production Design are THE MERRY WIDOW (1934), GASLIGHT (1944), AN AMERICAN IN PARIS (1951), THE BAD AND THE BEAUTIFUL (1952), and SOMEBODY UP THERE LIKES ME (1956), made in the final year of his career. In 1931, at the time that he was instilling his sets with art deco design, he co-designed and constructed a home in the same style for his new wife, Dolores Del Rio, to whom he was married until their divorce in 1941. In 1944, he married actress Hazel Brooks and remained married to her until his death in 1960.

Hazel Brooks was born in Cape Town, South Africa in 1924. She and her family emigrated to the United States when she was still a toddler, eventually settling in New York City. She began modeling as a teenager and was one of several models selected to appear in DU BARRY WAS A LADY (1943). She signed a contract with Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer and made uncredited appearances in numerous films, including ZIEGFELD FOLLIES (1945) and THE HARVEY GIRLS (1946), but was frustrated with the way the studio handled her career. She then signed with Enterprise Studios and had a prominent role in BODY AND SOUL (1947). Brooks appeared in supporting roles in SLEEP, MY LOVE (1948), THE BASKETBALL FIX (1951), and THE I DON’T CARE GIRL (1953) before retiring from acting in the mid-1950s. She was married to Cedric Gibbons from 1944 until his death in 1960 and was married to Dr. Rex Ross from 1967 until his death in 1999. Brooks died in 2002.