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First..a little background George Lois was born in 1931, the son of Greek immigrants who spent long hours working in the rough section of the Bronx. Working with his florist father from the time he was five years old, Lois was witness to long hours and backbreaking labor. The image of his father's fingers tattooed with cuts and scratches has left an indelible mark. Lois's hands may be smooth, but as he drums his fingers across the table or pounds a fist for dramatic emphasis, his opinion comes though loud and clear. "If you don't burn out by the end of each day," he maintains, "you're a bum." (AIGA, 1998) As a Greek boy in an all Irish neighborhood, George was no stranger to the occasional brawl to and from school.- a testament to the street kid within. But George had more than just his Greek upbringing to fight about...there was art. " I was so involved with drawing all the time," Lois says. "I remember sitting in my fire escape and drawing converging lines when I was six or seven years old. I would draw 3-D lettering on everything." It was at this point that his teacher began putting together a portfolio that gained him entrance into the prestigious High School of Music and Art. (AIGA, 1998) "I always knew I was the most talented kid in the school, " says Lois of his time at Music and Art. "I also knew I was a lucky son of a bitch to be there." Lois graduated and earned a basketball scholarship to Syracuse (George is very passionate about his basketball!), After leaving college, George was drafted by the Army in the Korean War. After the war, George went to work for the advertising and promotions department at CBS was Lois's next port of call, where he designed various types of print and media projects. After CBS was a string of smaller agencies, then in 1959 he landed at what was then the mecca of creativity in advertising - along side Bill Bernbach and the agency of Doyle Dane Bernbach. (AIGA, 1998) The irony...it was while working on Volkswagen's "Think small" campaign, tht George Lois began to develop his talent for big ideas. |