Who was Arthur Umanoff?  

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sometimes you forget that there are actually informative decent threads here.

Mario's image
In case anyone is wondering the image posted by Mario, is an Elton ad from 1953, which, unless I miss my guess is taken from page 149 of the August 1953 issue of Interiors. It depicts a tall boy and a serving cart designed by Arthur Umanoff as well as a lamp and a chair designed by Tony Paul.
The tall boy and the chair were included in the 1953 Museum of Modern Art Good Design Exhibition.
The small table in front of the chair is not a table at all but an ashtray designed by Tony Paul (per LoriF, Tony Paul's granddaughter and operator of the www.tonypauldesigns.com website). Please see her comments later ion this thread.
*Edited to include info about Tony Paul ashtray 6-17-11

Straylight
I hope this doesn't mean that you are wandering away from The McCobb book project to research Umanoff. Any news on that front? It has been a while.

real Umanoff? Are these arthur umanoff? I have seen them all over the net and someone on ebay is selling them as arthur umanoffs but I am unsure if they are in fact designed by him or cheap modern knock offs being wrongly attributed. 

McCobb book project
The greater portion of the research is completed to my satisfaction, the first few chapters have been sketched out and mostly written.
How to handle the big sections on the Planner Group and the Directional collections still needs to be worked out.
Honestly I could do a book just on the Planner Group alone (something which has been tossed back and forth a bit here amongst those involved closely with the project but no decision has been made thus far)
There's an immense amount of information that I have collected spanning the full 20 years of McCobb's active career in design
It's coming along...
http://paulmccobb.blogspot.com

UN-real Umanoff
Honestly, do Ebay sellers just make stuff up thinking that there's no one around who knows any better...
No those chairs are not designed by Arthur Umanoff.
http://umanoff.blogspot.com

are they new production or co...
are they new production or could they have been designed by someone else?
thanks for the input!

Vintage 50's
OregonPicker
The chairs are of 1950's vintage and of no particular designer provenance.
Not everything was made by someone special or important.
The greater percentage of mid-century furniture was not designed by anyone of note...

@ Oregon
I've seen a pair of these locally (east coast) that are marked "Tropic Cane" (I think I have the spelling correct)and I've seen some other chairs by the same company at a shop in DC. They are good, heavy, solid chairs.

Mario's photo
Hiya Folks
I got a tweet today that there was a Umanoff discussion and photos posted of Umanoff deisgns, as well as a photo of a Tony Paul lamp. Just my two cents ..
Straylight .... You are indeed correct that that small table is TP, but it isn't a table at all, it's an ashtray!!.
I have a b&w photo of this ashtray, but for the life of me, I can't figure out how to upload it!!
Best,
Lori 🙂

coat rack opinions?
Any thoughts on this coat rack posted a while back. It has the look of these guys that worked in this medium: Umanoff Tony Paul, Ben Seibel... http://www.designaddict.com/design_addict/forums/index.cfm/fuseaction/th...
Or just search the forum under Tony Paul Coatrack (spelled wrong)
Thanks for any thoughts
Khus
http://www.designaddict.com/design_addict/forums/index.cfm/fuseaction/th...

another hook added
That link worked. I don't trust my novice computer skills.
Am getting the missing hanger restored/welded this week. Have it shaped and wooden ball stained and ready to go.

Anyone interested in purchasing a large Umanoff wine rack
I have this identical rack in my posession here in Port Charlotte, Fl
Thanks, Matt
(edited by DA - no sales on the Forum - please go to the Radar)
http://cgi.ebay.com/Huge-Mid-Century-Arthur-Umanoff-Leather-Iron-Wine-Ra...

Umanoff table
I picked this one up at a yard sale, and sold it before I figured out the designer. Live and learn!