Rattan chair and cart by Ross Bellah and Carl Anderson, from the 1941 MoMA Organic Design in Home Furnishings competition.
They won Honorable Mention in Category A: Seating for a Living Room.
Source: Organic Design in Home Furnishings, 1941 - MoMA / Eliot Noyes
Organic Design in Home Furnishings, 1941 - MoMA
Ross Bellah and Carl Anderson drawing of one of their submissions to MoMa
Source:Organic Design in Home Furnishings, 1941 - MoMA / Eliot Noyes
Bellah's North Hollywood house he designed with Anderson in 1942
Source: Arts & Architecture
Bellah's house with furniture he and Carl designed
Source: Arts & Architecture
Anderson and Bellah business card
Prototype light fixture by Ross Bellah
Prototype lamp by Ross Bellah
Shortly after the Organic Design competition, Bellah began working as a Hollywood Art Director. He was involved in everything
from The Adventures of Rin Tin Tin, Gidget, The Monkees, to TJ Hooker. He and Anderson also designed the house above for
Ross Bellah died in 2004. At 97, he lived a full life. In 2009, there was an estate sale held at his North Hollywood home (the one he designed with Anderson). The sale was advertised on Craigslist. I purchased the lamps I have (pictured above) on eBay from someone who bought them at the estate sale. A few pieces were also sold through LAMA, and it appears they ended up were they started- at MoMA. People get old, get sick and eventually we all die. The stuff has to go somewhere, so estate sales are just a fact of life. However, it turns out that this estate sale was conducted by a real scum bag.
Although Ross died in 2004, his widow Eunice Bellah was still alive in 2009. Her possessions and house were being sold without her consent by a crooked CPA while Eunice was ill. The court appointed CPA and a team of rip off lawyers drained her bank account and sold off all her assets. This sort of thing happens a lot. In fact, in 2011, Teresa Laggner, conservator of the Greta Grossman estate, was sentenced to 18 months for ripping off her clients.
I'm sure the people who bought the Bellah pieces at the estate sale, that were eventually sold at LAMA and through eBay, had no idea about this back story. The Bellah house was demolished shortly after the estate sale and the conservator fled the country with $866K of Eunice's money. Eunice died in 2012. Read more about this horribly sad story, here.
