Jack Roberts: 20 Outstanding Los Angeles Designers, 1986

Jack Roberts graduated for high school in 1938. He went to the University of Washington for 2 years, and won a scholarship to attend Art Center. Jack was drafted into the Army in Word War II, before he finished Art Center. After the war, he got a job at Arts & Architecture magazine doing layout and production. It was there he met his future partner, Ralph Carson, who ran the in house advertising agency for the magazine.

Ralph and Jack left the magazine and started Carson Roberts, Inc. Their first account was Hollywood Shoes. The agency grew with major accounts such as Max Factor, Mattel toys, Universal Studios, Hartag, and Fedmart. Carson Roberts was a legendary advertising agency where most creatives wanted to work. The agency won awards in all of the major shows, and dominate the Los Angeles market with Doyle Dane Bernbach in the 1960s.

Roberts was very active in the advertising and design community. He served as president of the Art Directors Club of Los Angeles; president of the International Design Conference in Aspen, Colorado, for 6 years; and president of the international Design Education Foundation. Carson Roberts merged into Ogilvy & Mather in the early 1970s.

Jack was also a strong advocate of civil rights. In 1962, he wrote a column in Art Direction magazine, called, Way Out West. In his article on Black Art Directors, he asked Marvin Rubin to illustrate a true story about a black student in Marvin's class. I was that student, and my first internship was at C/R. Jack hired me as an art director in 1968. I worked there for 6 months, before moving on to Bostford Ketchum, Inc., advertising, where I stayed for eight and a half years. Jack Roberts was a great mentor, and an inspiration to all of us.

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Prof. Archie Boston

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[Tibi91302]

Oh my God. This is my Grandfather! =] Who is the person that put this up?

[archieboston]

I am Professor Boston at Calif. State Univ. Long

Beach. I interviewed your Grandfather in 1986 while I was on sabbatical. I also worked for Jack at C/R in the sixties.

[theeebest]

Weird... thats my name, and he went to the same college I want to go to....

[cyberoid]

Our LA Junior Advertising Club's award-winning campaign for Studio Watts touched Jack's heart. He offered to recommend me for a job with Ogilvy & Mather in London. No, I told him, I'd only work in C/R's glass box under his personal tutelage -- or I'd go to grad school! (Such a threat.) But C/R was now O&M. So I got my PhD. I often wonder, what if....?

Jack was my role model for the big-agency creative director I never became.

Bob Jacobson, Innovation Consultant

Tucson, AZ & Malmö, Sweden

[yrbg]

Thanks Archie, Great to see my Dad after all these years. Very special indeed. Kevin Carson Roberts

[mandymott]

I knew Jack in the 70's when I had my own agency. Jacobs & Gerber, Inc., and have a great memory. It was Jacks's birthday, and I a 6 ft. palm tree delivered in a tin can, with the name Mr. Roberts stenciled on the side in big white letters. He was the partner in Carson Roberts at the time, and was disappointed that on one in the agency thought of it. Loved this talented and great guy. Great agency, with great people. My dad, Harry, also knew him pretty well, being a lettering artist at the time.