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There was a photo of Mabel autographed to Russell Gausman dated 1920 of her in that wonderful Pinto poses by Tyeko. It is the same image that was Mabel’s mother’s favorite; it was also the one she inscripted to Dr.  Maurice Kahn also dated 1920.
Russell A. Gausman was born July 4, 1892, St Louis Missouri, by 1910 he and his older brother, Harvey were supporting their widowed mother Cornelia. The other member of the family was Cornelia’s sister Mary Sprague also a widow. Russ was just 17 and working as a wholesale grocery clerk. Harvey was 23 and working as a clothing salesman.
According to the 1920 census, Russ had come to Hollywood and was living at a Boarding House at 6427 Sunset Blvd., run by a Swedish divorcee of 51 named Hannah Smith, this was a theatrical hotel with over 30 lodgers, Russ was now an Assistant Director, 27, single and Mabel called him a friend. His fellow ledgers were Film Cutters, Property men, Printers, Writers, Electrician, Actors, Cameramen, all working in motion pictures, all single and most in their 20s. I am sure if the walls could talk, oh, the dreams and ambitions they would tell us about. This boarding house, the home full of dreamers was located between Fairfax and Crescent Heights. It is now the address of the Zoo Studios. The idea that in the 1920s this was an ‘animal house’ fraternity of studio hands that is now called the ‘zoo’ studio is just too cute for words.
Russ married Ann a girl from Missouri in 1922 and a son was born in 1927, which they named William. Russ’s dreams of success were pretty well answered by 1930; he was living at 303 North Maple Drive, Beverly Hills with his wife Ann and 3-year-old Billy D. Russ had also found his place at the studios in the Property Department. Lew Cody lived just 3 short blocks up the street at 609 North Maple Drive until Lew died May 31, 1934. Life was very good for the Gausmans.
At Universal Studios in 1938, Russ solved the problem of obtaining authentic items for a junkyard scene in a picture called “Code of the Streets” in which Harry Carey and Leon Ames needed to be filmed among litter and trash.
Russ collected all the old beaten-up props on the studio lot but it wasn’t enough so he finally rented a whole junk yard and had it moved to the studio by a caravan of trucks and set up, complete to the last battered car body and broken bathtub inside a sound stage. His reputation as a set designer was made.
During the war years, Russ and Ann moved closer to the Pacific Ocean at 1032 Franklin Street, Santa Monica. By 1947, Russ was able to take Ann on a voyage on the Danish “Erria” to Vancouver with a stop in Seattle for a couple of weeks.
The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Science have awards for Art Direction in Color and another for Back and White of these the work that Russ did in “The Flame of New Orleans” (B&W) earned him a nomination for an Oscar for Interior Direction in 1941, he was again the next year given another nomination for “The Spoilers” (B&W) and another for “Arabian Nights” (Color). It was in 1943 Russ finally won the Oscar for his work on “Phantom of the Opera” (Color), the 1944 nomination was “The Climax” (Color), he didn’t win but he was working with some of the best filmmakers in Hollywood.
Bruce Eder of All Movie Guide wrote “He won his first Academy Award in 1943 for his work on Phantom of the Opera, perhaps the best-looking film that Universal ever made; on that production, Gausman and the rest of the visual production team expanded broadly on the original sets (which, in some instances, were still standing) from the earlier '20s silent production.”
Russ was still at Universal Studios in 1955 were he gave an interview on the work involved in collection the tarantula for the John Agar film “Tarantula”
It all started with the monumental problem of how to keep 5 dozen spiders alive and happy. The project was tossed into his lap, he hated spiders. Absolutely hated spiders but as Russ said, “But when it’s a living, you can learn to love a tarantula.” His real headache started when he received word from various sources that some 60-odd of the furry killers were on their way to Hollywood. Suddenly he had to ask himself, “If you were a tarantula where would you want to live?” “Who would be foolish enough to board five dozen hairy prisoners and how much would he charge?” Jim Donnaldson, a naturalist happily surrounded by pythons, cobras and gilding monsters in the San Fernando Valley answered Russ’s cry with the remark, “Tarantulas are lovable when you understand them. That’ll be $100 a week.” Tarantula are among the most sensitive venomous creatures with very touchy stomachs and need to be kept at a constant 80 degree temperature and they can’t be bunch in crowds, all this Russ learned but with the winding up of the film, Russ’s headache was not over. As he found out Tarantula agents had one-way clauses in their contracts. So Russ was faced with a new problem: What to do with five dozen homeless tarantulas whose option the studio failed to pick up? He moved on…happily.
By 1959 “Pillow Talk” (Color) was nominated it included the work Russ did on the Set Decoration. His second Oscar came in 1960 it was the award for Art Decoration and the Set Decoration for “Spartacus” and Russ was a winner and he was nearly 70.
Russell Gausman died May 20, 1963 at Woodland Hills and in 2008, after working on over 500 films. The picture that Mabel Normand gave to Russell A. Gausman in 1920 came up for auction and garnered the sum of over $1,600 for the seller; the estimate had been around $550. I wonder if the value was because it was owned by Russ, he had held onto the photo since 1920 or if it was because Mabel was so decorative. | 
