Getting a Little Personal
Before he died in 1999, Michael C. Smith was considered one of the nation’s best admen, having won the Bronze Lion from the Cannes International Film Festival in addition to being named one of the 10 best art directors in America by Adweek. It’s no wonder that someone so attuned to selling things would want to photograph people who sell themselves in approximately 50 words or less. Personals (Universe, $16.95) is Smith’s hugely entertaining catalog of quirky, earnest, funny, sensitive, and usually outrageous individuals who got an unexpected call from him asking them if they’d like to pose for a photo that depicts them just as their personal ad says they are — their fantasy selves (“even the Home Shopping Network hasn’t figured out how to do that yet,” Bruce Vilanch quips in the foreword). There’s the GBM who calls himself an African-American Peter Pan and looks like he’s about to fly back to Never-Never Land and the Jerry Seinfeld looking for his Elaine onstage at The Improv in L.A. The 49-year-old woman who advertises herself as a Sandra Dee lookalike is photographed, appropriately enough, at a drive-in. These self-sellers are staged just as you might expect them to be; more notable than the settings is the romantic bravado that oozes from every page.
This article appears in December 7 • 2001.