Satiric radio commentary for the 90s from the man who drained Lake Michigan and filled it with hot chocolate!!!


The Eames Chair and Baseball: Are They Connected?

Stan Freberg here. The World Series reminded me of the legendary Charles Eames. What has baseball got to do with a great chair designer? After this. [:60 SPOT BREAK]

At every airport in the world are rows of familiar chairs: you know, the ones that fit your bottom perfectly? That classic shape came into being because Charles Eames got tired of sitting in uncomfortable airport chairs.

Eames and his wife Rae were friends, and one evening as we sat having dinner in their Venice, California studio, I noticed the prototype of his new lounge chair and ottoman.

Eames said, "I got the idea from a catcher's mitt I had as a kid. I thought of the human body as a baseball, sinking into this big, black leather catcher's mitt of a chair." The chair's now in New York's Museum of Modern Art, and my living room.

Recently, Freberg the baseball sank into his Eames chair and enjoyed the World Series. My spine gave thanks to Charlie Eames.

Stan Freberg here.



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