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I did the only thing there was to do: I got a cool studio down the street from the Hollywood sign, a 1959 Triumph TR3, and a girlfriend. In that order.

The curriculum was overwhelming. The instruction was invaluable. The teachers were L.A. admen, painters and car designers.

(Many years later, I was honored by being included in the school’s 2002 book, Design Impact.)

The high tuition encouraged me to skip summer breaks. I graduated early and fled immediately to New York  to follow in the footsteps of George Lois and Bill Bernbach.

After shlepping my portfolio around Manhattan for a couple of months, I got a job as an assistant art director at Foote, Cone & Belding, then on the 36th floor of the Pan Am Building. I worked on Clairol, Schick, Frito-Lay: all brands that were new to me. But I was in advertising. In New York.

While at FCB, I had my second encounter with Salvador Dali. I knew who he was by then. I was buying supplies at Flax and noticed the tall, lanky figure dressed in a long black mink coat. Unmistakingly Dali. I greeted him, as if he were a visitor to my city, and reminded him of the Hotel Meurice class. We chatted briefly and wished each other good luck.

Foote Cone & Belding was great to me, but I got itchy for a new challenge and went to a smaller agency where I felt I would have more responsibilites. In retrospect, it was a mistake.

I saw the New York scene as too stressful, and started to look into going back to Paris where, I felt the industry was as fresh as New York had been a few years back.

I moved to Paris where I got a job as art director at TBWA, an agency created just a year before. It was a new breed of agency, where I felt creativity was the main concern.

It was founded by Bill Tragos (American, Management), Claude Bonnange (French, Marketing), Uli Wiesendanger (Swiss, Creation), and Paolo Ajroldi (Italian, Client Services). The four had complementary specialties, and each a different nationality. The four shared the same office and that was the best part. They were creating campaigns that were fresh and intelligent. It was an exciting time. I worked on Lego, Antar, and Philip Morris.

Of course, I felt like flying on my own, and created an agency with my wife and my brother. We worked on various campaigns and created a line of personalized china; one could order a set of bistro plates with his name, the name of his country home, his boat, or any 14-character statement that came to mind. The product was a hit at the trade fair, “Moving Design.”

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