Episode 44 - The Notorious Bally Art Department w/ Greg Freres

Greg Freres recounts Bally's revolutionary in-house art dept and his 46-year pinball career.

Synopsis

Greg Freres, legendary pinball artist with 46+ years in the industry, discusses his career beginning at Bally's pioneering in-house art department in 1978. He details how Paul Faris revolutionized pinball art by shifting from silkscreen line art to four-color process printing, creating the iconic 'Bally look.' Freres describes the collaborative art department culture, his work with designers like George Christian and Dennis Nordman, and the intentional artistic direction that made Bally games visually distinct during the golden era (1979-1981).

Highlights

• Greg Freres was hired at Bally on June 12, 1978, after creating a portfolio-building effort of three weeks and interviewing with art director Paul Faris
• Paul Faris intentionally brought four-color silkscreen process printing to pinball backglasses, departing from traditional silkscreen line art, which set Bally apart from competitors
• The Bally art department operated as a cohesive in-house team where artists typically created entire games (backglass, playfield, cabinet) rather than splitting work among multiple artists, with rare exceptions like Skateball
• Paul Faris was integral to thematic development and actively art-directed illustrators with rough sketches and written notes, including on pieces like Fathom
• Greg Freres retired after approximately 40 years in the pinball industry, recently stepping down from his role as head of Stern Art Department
• The sexualized female imagery in Bally games from this era (the 'Bally-nipple era') originated more from the art department's creative choices under Paul Faris rather than upper management mandate
• George Christian, designer of 8-Ball Deluxe and other games, likely worked very closely with Norm Clark (head of design at Bally) in a collaborative design process
• Pat McMahon started at Bally around 1981 as a fresh-out-of-school intern before becoming an artist on games like Fishtails

Entities

• Bally Midway· company
• Stern Pinball· company
• Williams· company
• Northwest Pinball Show· event
• Fathom· game
• Frontier· game
• Skateball· game
• Speakeasy· game
• Wedgehead Pinball Podcast· organization
• Alan· person
• Alex· person
• Billy O'Donnell· person
• Carol Mark Porth· person
• Dave Christensen· person
• Dennis Nordman· person
• George Christian· person
• Greg Freres· person
• Kevin O'Connor· person
• Margaret Hudson· person
• Norm Clark· person
• Pat McMahon· person
• Paul Faris· person
• Tony Ramunni· person