The Line King: The Al Hirschfeld Story is a 1996 film written and directed by Susan Warms Dryfoos. It is a documentary about caricaturist Al Hirschfeld (1903–2003), who spent more than seventy years drawing highly distinctive celebrity portraits for The New York Times.
The film follows a standard biographical documentary format, tracing Hirschfeld's life beginning with birth in St. Louis and his family's move to New York City when he was 12. Young Al goes to vaudeville shows in New York and acquires a love of the theater that he keeps for the rest of his life. He sets out to make a living as an artist, trying his hand at sculpture, painting watercolors, moving to Paris for a while (because that's what young artists are supposed to do), and even spending a little time in the Soviet Union in the late 1920s.
Hirschfeld gets a job drawing caricatures for the New York Herald Tribune in 1926, and three years later he moves to the Times, where he works for the rest of his life. He quickly becomes famous for the line drawings he makes of various Broadway productions and stars, which accompany theatrical reviews in the Times. Art historians talk about his technique, while various Broadway personalities and other celebrities share their thoughts on Hirschfeld's caricatures of them. Hirschfeld himself is interviewed at length, as is his daughter Nina, whose name was always hidden in his drawings.
Tropes:
- Documentary: Of the long and very productive life of Al Hirschfeld.
- Easter Egg: Discussed Trope. Hirschfeld spent decades hiding the name of his only child Nina in his drawings. Various people talk about how they enjoyed hunting for the Ninas; apparently the U.S. military used the hidden Ninas for training in pattern recognition. Hirschfeld wonders on camera if he embarrassed his daughter, but Nina Hirschfeld says she's fine with it.
- It Will Never Catch On: Hirschfeld does this to himself, talking about his inability to judge how Broadway shows will pan out. He describes being sure that Oklahoma! would be a disaster, and telling Moss Hart that a musical version of Pygmalion (namely, My Fair Lady) was a terrible idea.
- The Ken Burns Effect: Used throughout the movie in many shots of still pictures and Hirschfeld drawings. Every time the hidden Ninas are mentioned the camera zooms in to demonstrate where in the drawing the name is hidden.
- Match Cut: There's a cut from a still photo of a young, beardless, handsome Al Hirschfeld to a shot of elderly Al Hirschfeld posed in the same position.
- Starving Artist: Hirschfeld talks about being the stereotypical poor artist in Paris, living with two other artists in a room without hot water. Later, he says he was flat broke in Bali for a while, and was only able to afford passage back to the United States when none other than Charlie Chaplin stopped in Bali on vacation and bought a bunch of Hirschfeld's watercolors.
- Stock Footage: Lots—old Broadway productions, Hirschfeld at theatrical premieres, a grainy clip of World War I-era New York used to accompany Hirschfeld talking about moving there when he was a boy.
- Talking Heads: Besides Hirschfeld himself, on-screen interviewees include Carol Channing, TIME magazine editor Stefan Kanfer, Hirschfeld's wife Dolly Haas, and their daughter Nina. (Dolly Haas died before the film was released; a late segment mentions Hirschfeld's remarriage (at the age of 93!) to Louise Kerz.
- Vaudeville: Clips of old vaudeville shows are used as Hirschfeld talks about how he loved to go to vaudeville shows when he was young.
- The Voice: While some people are interviewed on-camera about Hirschfeld, others – including Katharine Hepburn and Tallulah Bankhead – are only heard via voiceover.
