Skip to content
  • Home
  • Geezers Roll Call
  • Not Forgotten
  • Gatherings
  • Contact

Geezers’ Gallery

San Francisco's Golden Age of Advertising and the people who created it.

  • Home
    • Privacy Policy
  • Pages
    • Geezers Roll Call
    • Not Forgotten
  • Who was Where
    • Agencies
    • Copywriters
    • Photographic
    • Reps
    • Staff Creatives
    • Studios & Freelancers
    • Publications
  • Gatherings
    • Gathering 2022
    • Gathering 2021
    • Gathering 2020
    • Gathering 2019
    • Gathering 2018
    • Gathering 2017
    • Gathering 2016
    • Gathering 2015
    • Gathering 2014
    • Gathering 2013
    • Gathering 2012
    • Gathering 2011
    • Gathering 2009
    • Gathering 2008
    • Gathering 2007
    • Gathering 2006
    • Gathering 2005
    • Gathering 2004
    • Gathering 2003
    • Gathering 2002
    • Gathering 2001
    • Gathering 2000
    • Gathering 2010
    • Gathering 1999
    • Gathering 1993
  • Contact Us

Herb Briggs Story – Hal Riney’s Storyboard

Posted on October 9, 2020October 11, 2020 By Hey You

Herb
By Lee Riney

Lee Riney photo

When I came to San Fran­cisco from the Midwest in the ​‘60s, I didn’t know what an adver­tising agency was. Somehow, I’ve forgotten how, I ended up as a secre­tary at Foote Cone & Belding. It was my first job.

I soon discov­ered that my favorite office on the 18th floor of the Russ Building was Herb Briggs’ office. His walls were covered with sheets of illus­tra­tions tacked up willy nilly. The air smelled of fixa­tive and chalk. It was a jumble of pencils, paint and paper. Herb could always be found there – crouched over his drawing board, pencil in hand. He could sketch anything in seconds, and the many story­boards tacked to his office walls were impres­sive, even to an untrained eye.

Herb was about 5’10”. He was unkempt – he needed to comb his hair and shave. Faded jeans, plaid flannel shirts and sneakers were his daily garb. Always friendly, he would growl at you in his rumbling low voice. I could under­stand only a few words, but didn’t bother to ask him to repeat himself. No one else could under­stand him either. He kept a small fridge filled with beer in his office, which was promptly opened and shared at 5PM every day.

When a client rejected a proposal, everyone was expected to stay at the office to rework all the art, all the copy. Herb didn’t go home at midnight along with the others. He took down the drapes in his office, found a couch, pulled the drapes over him and spent the night. In the morning, he looked just like he had the day before.

Everyone loved Herb. Not only because of his immense talent, but because he was so genuine – the agency staff, copy­writers, account exec­u­tives, media people, were indeed smart, witty, will – dressed and charming, but they never stopped trying to impress. Herb was just Herb.

His modest home in Mill Valley was a Sunday after­noon desti­na­tion. His wife, Pat, would greet us at the door. His son, Dan, would be sprawled in front of the TV watching Star Trek. Agency people and their friends, lovers and wives came knowing there would be large jugs of cheap wine passed around, with maybe some popcorn or chips, and excel­lent company. People sat on the floor with Herb, or sprawled on the couch. There was spir­ited conver­sa­tion on every possible subject except work. All arrived and left with little fuss, perhaps a ​“See you tomorrow”.

The creative section of the agency – the copy­writers and artists – spent a great deal of time thinking up pranks. Any secre­tary who went down the hall to the creative depart­ment, always watched care­fully before passing doorway. Fixa­tive that could be lighted with a match and projected into the hall like a flamethrower was a favorite weapon to be use on passing secre­taries. We hardly looked up from our type­writers when we heard screams. Herb never failed to call his good friend, Mik Kita­gawa, on Pearl Harbor Day, rail at him about the Japanese attack, and hang up without iden­ti­fying himself. One memo­rable day, several of the creative staff got together, duct taped Herb to a desk chair, rolled him to the elevator, left him inside to be seen by everyone, and pressed the ​“down” button. This lasted tor at least 10 minutes. We gath­ered around the elevator door, laughing and shouting encour­age­ment to Herb when the elevator opened at our floor; waving when the doors closed.

Herb was a Scot, and once in a while, to everyone’s delight, he would put on his kilts and march thor­ough the office playing his bagpipe. If a client was visiting, so be it.

Later in his career, Herb worked for my husband, Hal Riney.

Hal Riney was renowned for never giving anyone a compli­ment of any kind. If Hal found work accept­able, the best anyone could hope for was a grunt and a nod. Herb had a framed story­board hung in his den. At the bottom of the page Hal had written ​“Not Bad” and signed it. Anyone who knew them both, understood.
L.R.

(Notes: Read more about Herb? Go to: The Prince Of Pranksters By Todd Miller 
I could find no photos of Herb Briggs.
I received this, below, from Tim Price – that shows a Hal Riney Storyboard.
Ann Thompson)

It’s a Xerox copy of one of the Riney Rulers. Hal didn’t do shooting boards, instead he drew out these exacting – to the second– graphs in which every scene, all dialogue is precisely laid out. I think that’s why Hal once told me, ​“We use Mr. Pytka (director) mainly as a cameraman.”

Yep, Herb worked for Hal at the same time I did, Bots­ford Ketchum days.
I knew Herb, got no photos.
Tim Price


Geezerpedia, Recollections

Post navigation

Previous Post: “Pink Pearl” and More Art Supplies
Next Post: Comments, Corrections and more about Y&R.

Artist's Sites

  • Allan and Carol Hayes
  • Bill and Nina Stewart
  • Bill Cone
  • Bill Schwob art
  • Bob Bausch
  • Bob Porter and Patricia Reed Porter
  • Bruce Lauritzen
  • Bruce Wolfe
  • Bryn Craig
  • Caleb Whitbeck
  • Charles Pyle
  • Chris Blum
  • Chuck Eckart
  • Dugald Stermer
  • Frank Ansley
  • Fred Lyon
  • Gale McKee
  • Hans Halberstadt
  • Jack Allen
  • Janet Jones
  • Jeff Leedy
  • Jerry Huff
  • Jim Stitt
  • John Hyatt Illustration
  • John Mattos
  • Larry Keenan
  • Lowell Herrero
  • Marc Ericksen
  • Mark Keller
  • Mark Schroeder
  • Mik Kitagawa
  • Robert Arnold
  • Robert Evans
  • Robert Gantt Steele
  • Roger Shelly
  • Stan Dann
  • Tom Whitworth
  • Ward Schumaker

Artist Galleries

  • Tom Watson
  • Keehn Gray
  • John Pratt
  • Chuck Eckart
  • Jerry Huff
  • Al Davidson
  • Bill Nellor
  • Jim Stitt Designs

Copy Writers

  • Joel Fugazzotto
  • Samm Coombs
  • Todd Miller

Still In The Game

  • Bill and Nina Stewart
  • Bill Schwob work
  • Bob Bausch
  • Chris Blum
  • David Johnson
  • Fred Lyon
  • Hans Halberstadt
  • Jack Tom
  • Jeff Leedy
  • Jim Stitt
  • John Hyatt
  • John Mattos
  • Kirk Henderson
  • Lars Melander
  • Marc Ericksen
  • Mark Keller
  • Mark Schroeder
  • Peter Thompson
  • Robert Arnold
  • Robert Holmes
  • Rory Phoenix
  • Scott Simpkin
  • Steve Rustad
  • Tom Whitworth
  • Ward Schumaker

Places We Like

  • Patterson Hall Early History
  • Piet Halberstadt
  • Printing Films
  • The Museum of Forgotten Art Supplies

Copyright © 2023 Geezers’ Gallery.

Powered by PressBook Premium theme