Paul Mcobb  

Also, like Barrympls said...
Also, like Barrympls said the Planner Group line was not exactly the highest quality. Perhaps that has unfairly hurt McCobb's reputation, the fact that he is best known for a lower-end, department store line.

Paul McCobb
I think his early demise had something to do with where he is in history. I sure hope he gets the credit he deserves; his designs are timeless. I personally like the Planner collection; his furniture is great for small dwellings. I do believe Paul Mc Cobb furniture is sought after from the younger generations, especially around these parts.

MoMa Permanent Collection
The Good Design archives are not fully indexed and you'll not find this stuff on-line. What they (MoMa) have in their warehouse is in even sorrier shape in terms of indexing and reference, paper records only for the most part. It's in there...

"Perhaps that has unfairly...
"Perhaps that has unfairly hurt McCobb's reputation, the fact that he is best known for a lower-end, department store line." Completely agree here. While I like the Planner series, especially the table/cabinet combo, they weren't as well made as Eames, Knoll etc. But they weren't as pricey either. Great design and sturdy enough for the pricepoint/market at the time. Still a hell of a lot better than most furniture today of the same market etc...
I actually like a few Conant Ball pieces ... don't be a hater!!! Wright did some ok stuff there. Nothing spectacular by any means, but a hell of a lot better than your typical no designer kitschy stuff of the same period.

I'm sorry -- I really don't h...
I'm sorry -- I really don't hate the Conant Ball stuff...just not my preference. I agree with you 100% that the lower or middle-priced furniture from this era, like Planner Group or Conant Ball, is far superior in terms of quality and style to most furniture produced today.

I have a Russel Wright
dining room open top breakfront hutch made by Conant Ball, and it's nifty. It looks perfectly appropriate in my dining room with my round Eames table and my four EC127 chairs. Russel Wright's furniture for Conant Ball is very nice and reminds me alot of Robsjohn-Gibbons furniture.
Getting back to McCobb, his Planner Group furniture was his most popular, but he did a bunch of higher-end lines for Calvin and Directional. It is a shame that most of the MCM books pay little attention to him. The MCM crowd seem to ignore Probber, Resom, Baughmann and the other good, often independent, but rather conservative designers.
It's a shame, but it's just like in music; those who were the most popular, most iconic, and most promoted usually get the most retrospective applause.
I have a number of copies of Interiors and Interior Design magazines, and there's not a lot of McCobb advertisments......I think he was always a bit under the radar.

Gene's Request
Gene,
I'll try to go through my notes and make a list of those items at MoMa. Come to think of it, it might make a nifty blog post to list them all out with images of the actual items.
Jonathan
http://paulmccobb.blogspot.com

Quality, timeless, and functional.
Paul McCobb is by far my favorite designer from the 1950's. He is a designer that most people can actually afford to collect. Some pieces are very expensive but there are pieces for everyones budget...