"first season of brut productions films"

(l to r) Top: Glenda Jackson and George Segal in A Touch of Class; Harry Dean Stanton and Cliff Potts in Count Your Bullets; Elizabeth Taylor, Laurence Harvey, and Billie Whitelaw in Night Watch

Bottom: Raymond St. Jacques and Freda Payne in Book of Numbers; Paul Lynde, Burl Ives, and Hugo in Hugo the Hippo

Brut Productions was a film production company that was an offshoot of Fabergé cosmetics under owner and CEO, George Barrie. Named for the men’s fragrance he had created, Brut Proudction’s first slate of releases got the full Hirschfeld treatment. A plastic version of Hugo the Hippo, the star of the eponymous animated feature, would become a fixture in the Hirschfeld studio. The films met with a mixed reception. A Touch of Class was the biggest hit and earned a second drawing that was used for publicity. Night Watch, adapted from a stage play, also did well. Critics commented on the stylish look of Book of Numbers and were pleased to see Black actors in roles other than the stereotypes of Blaxploitation films.