Alfred Weidler

Alfred Weidler (né Alfred Wilhelm Carl Weidler 27 May 1886 Georgsmarienhütte, Germany — 16 June 1966 Los Angeles) was an architect who, after moving from Germany to Los Angeles in 1923, went on to became a prolific model builder for 40 years with 20th Century Fox.[1]

Early career

The impetus for Weidler moving his family to America, arriving 1923, came at the collapse of the German mark after World War I. Weidler had been in the German Army Engineering Corps during World War I. After the war, Alfred became the city architect for Hamburg and, with his wife, start having children. By 1939, Weidler had made more than 500 models for Hollywood sets, large and small. And he was the author of correspondence courses in modelmaking.[2]

The Weidler Studio was at 4589 Lexington Avenue, Hollywood, California.[3]

Family

He was married in 1917 in Berlin to a former Wagnerian opera singer, known professionally as Margaret Therese Louise (née Meyer; 1890–1987). Among their six children, two were child actors: Sylvia (1921–2003), who appeared in the 1930 film, What a Widow!, and Virginia (1927–1968), who flourished as a child actor. One of their sons, George Weidler (1926–1989), became a well-known big band saxophonist and composer.

Selected publications

Affiliations

References

  1. Artists in California, 1786–1940, 1st edition, Edan Milton Hughes, San Francisco: Hughes Pub. Co. (1986) OCLC 13323489
  2. Progressive Architecture (magazine), 1939, Vol. 20, pg. 5
  3. Pencil Points (magazine), Vol. 20, Issues 7-12 - pps. 1, 36, & 40 (Pencil Points became Progressive Architecture