Scenic Artists – Page 23

Tales from a Scenic Artist and Scholar. Part 122 – Thomas G. Moses and the Decorating Firm of Jevne & Almini

I first encountered the Jevne & Almini Company when creating an index for the typed manuscript of Thomas Gibbs Moses. It was an independent study project for my mentor, Lance Brockman. This decorating firm would remain in the back of my mind for almost three decades until I started making a few connections during January 2017. Moses was one of many nineteenth-century scenic artists who would begin their careers at the fresco studio of Jevne & Almini.

Advertisement for Jevne & Almini, Fresco and House Painters. This is the place where many scenic artists found their first job in Chicago, Illinois.

While working as a decorator for the company, Moses recalled a project at Hooleys Theater where he first encountered the scenic art of Charles Graham (1852-1911). In 1874. Moses wrote, “In June I was sent to Hooleys Theatre to work. On the scenery [were] employed J. Francis Murphy and Chas. Graham. I was put in charge of the proscenium boxes, mostly gilding. I could see the work being done on the paint frame. I was more convinced that scenery was what I wanted to do; more opportunity to do landscapes.”

View of Hooley’s Theatre interior and proscenium boxes that Thomas Gibbs Moses worked on in 1874.

Hooley’s Opera House, the Parlor of Home Comedy, was dedicated on 21 October 1872 and later became known simply as Hooley’s Theater (1872-1924). Located at 124 West Randolph Street, the cut stone and iron building occupied twenty-three feet of street frontage.

The auditorium had a seating capacity of 1,500 and the stage was 50 feet wide and 65 feet deep. Mr. Hooley and his stock company first appeared on Monday evening, 31 August 1874. This upcoming performance was why an eighteen-year-old Moses was working at the theater that June.

Charles S. Graham work that sold at auction. It reminded me of many “Rocky Pass” compositions painted for the stage.

Painted detail from St. Louis Scottish Rite Rocky Pass scene, 1924, that reminded me of Graham’s painting.

Full composition of Rocky Pass backdrop at the St. Louis Scottish Rite.

Charles S. Graham (1852-1911) was born in Rock Island, Illinois. He became a topographer in 1873 for the Northern Pacific Railroad and it was this position became his training ground as a draftsman and artist. However from 1874 to 1877, Graham painted theatrical scenery in both Chicago and New York. It just so happened that it was on one of his first scenic art jobs that Moses encountered his scenery painting. By 1878, Graham started as the staff artist at Harper’s Weekly and remained there until 1892. He was also a contributing illustrator for a variety of other publications, including the New York Herald, the Chicago Tribune, the American Lithograph Company, and Collier’s. The work of Graham is best known in the publication “Peristyle and Plasaisance” where he created a series of watercolors depicting scenes from the 1893 Chicago world’s fair. Advertisements stated that the illustrations illustrated “nooks and corners of the Fair as no photograph could do.”

Advertisement noting Charles S. Graham’s contribution to “Peristyle and Plaisance.”

Color plate depicting scene from 1893 World Fair. Watercolor by Charles S. Graham.

Amazingly, it was one of Graham’s 1878 illustrations for Harper’s that caught my eye years ago as it beautifully captured scenic artists at work in a theater.

Charles S. Graham illustration of scenic artists at a theater in 1878. Collection of Wendy Waszut-Barrett.

Detail of performance going on below the working scenic artists. 1878 illustration by Charles S. Graham.

Detail of Charles S. Graham signature on illustration. Collection of Wendy Waszut-Barrett.

It was created for “The Sunday Telegraph” (New York, September 28, 1902) and titled “The Scene Painter is No Ghost.” Here is the article that accompanied Graham’s illustration:

“How many theatregoers can give the names of three scene painters in New York? Playhouse patrons admire their art, and even applaud it on opening night, but they know nothing about it, and it is a most unusual occasion when the artist is called before the curtain. He is not discussed at clubs or in the drawing rooms. The cheapest show girl in a Broadway burlesque, with just about brains enough to remember he name over night, gets her picture in the magazines several times in the course of a season and is written about as if she really was of some importance.

Up on the paint bridge, seventy feet above her head, is the scene painter. He is putting the finishing touches to a drop that has taken him many days to paint and more years of hard study to learn how. The press agent never worries him for his photograph, the dramatic reporters couldn’t find him if they went back on stage. The show is over, the lights are put out and a deathly stillness settles upon the theatre. The watchman lazily makes his rounds and finds the scenic artist and his assistants at work finishing a drop or a border or priming new ones. When the artist leaves the theatre the streets are still. He reaches home and over his pipe wonders if the game is worth the candle.”

To be continued…

Detail of Charles S. Graham 1878 illustration depicting scenic artists at the theatre. Collection of Wendy Waszut-Barrett.

Tales from a Scenic Artist and Scholar. Part 121 – Peter Gui Clausen and the Decorating Firm of Jevne & Almini

There were many scenic artists that began their artistic careers at Jevne & Almini in Chicago, including Peter Gui Clausen (1830-1924). I am starting with Clausen as we share the same birthday, June 19.

Peter Gui Clausen. Photograph from the Minnesota Historical Society collection.

Clausen was born at Korsor on the Island of Zealand, Denmark, and educated in the elementary schools of Ringsted. At the age of thirteen, he apprenticed to a Master Decorator for seven years. In 1850 he attended the Royal Academy of Art in Copenhagen. Although he was conscripted in the army the following year, he continued to paint and soon returned to Copenhagen to complete his studies. In 1852 Clausen received his diploma and joined the firm of Bing and Grøndahl Porcelain Company. This would later be the same company that produced the twentieth-century blue Christmas plates. I have my Grandmother’s set hanging on a wall.

While studying in Copenhagen, Clausen also worked as a gold engraver, portrait artist, and landscape painter. By the age of twenty-seven, he moved to Lund, Sweden, and established himself as a master painter and decorator. His commissions included frescoes at Lund University, Ridarholm Church, and the King’s Palace in Stockholm. During this time, he also married his first wife, Amelia Sophia Bergholtz. By 1863, Clausen was conscripted again as a cavalryman in the Danish Army, fighting in both Germany and Austria.

Clausen immigrated to the America in 1866 and settled in Chicago, finding employment with Jevne & Almini. The following year, the firm sent Clausen to Minneapolis to do some fresco work at the First Universalist Church, although the building was later destroyed by fire in 1888. The following year Clausen moved to Minneapolis and established a studio. Two significant projects that he completed in 1869 included views depicting the reconstruction of St. Anthony Falls. Forty-five years later, these same paintings would be used for reference when reconstructing the falls again.

Peter Gui Clausen, Reconstructing St. Anthony Falls, 1869.

By 1870, Clausen advertised as a “fresco and sign painter, a painter of scenery, flags and banners, landscape and ornamental work of every description.” In 1871 he married his second wife Julia Chilson (Kjelson). Over the years Clausen partnered with a variety of artists, continuing to work as a fresco painter, teacher of fine arts, sign painter, scenic artist and panorama painter. He completed a variety of projects across the country while maintaining multiple residences.

Peter Gui Clausen painting in his Minneapolis Studio. Photograph part of Minnesota Historical Society collection.

At the age of fifty-seven, Clausen completed the first section of his “Panorama of the New Wonderland Yellowstone National Park.” It was part of a promotional series for the government. The June 1, 1887, St. Paul Globe published, “Beginning on June 9, 1887, it [will be] displayed at the Grand Opera House in St. Paul” (page 3). The newspaper also commented that the scenes were “painted from nature.” The Sunday, July 3, 1887 Brooklyn Daily Eagle (NY, page 15) noted, “ A Western concern is about to revive a form of pictorial entertainment that was supposed to have become obsolete several years ago the rolling panorama. One Professor Clausen has covered 6,000 yards of canvas with pictures of Yellowstone Park, and the panorama has been made public in Minneapolis amid general acclamation.”

The final work took three years to paint landscapes depicting scenes from Wyoming to Washington. His continued scenic work for theatrical stages in the Twin Cities area and midwestern region included the Minneapolis’ Metropolitan Opera House, St. Paul Metropolitan Theater, Minneapolis Lyceum Theatre, Academy of Music, Brown’s Theatre Comique, St. Paul Grand Opera House, Pence Opera House, Mabel Tainter Theatre in Menomonie, Wisconsin, and the Opera House in Fargo, North Dakota.

Mabel Tainter Theater. Menomonie, Wisconsin.

In 1904, Clausen was listed as an employee of the Twin City Scenic Company. In 1924, Clausen passed away and is buried at Lakewood Cemetery in Minneapolis, Minnesota.

There is something magical about inadvertently posting a tale on his birthday, and mine. Here’s to celebrating our 137th and 48th birthdays today!

To be continued…

Historical Excerpt – “Vitalizing the Silhouette,” interview with Vyvyan Donner, part 3

This is the final excerpt in a 1922 article in Arts and Decoration, “Vitalizing the Silhouette, a new note in American Poster Work” (Vol. XVIII, No. 1) by Lida McCabe records Donner’s contributions in costume design. Page 69:

“Sure that I had struck a new note, I took my Chauve-Souris silhouettes to a foremost art publication. The editors enthused, recounts Miss Donner, “Too bad the color debars them from our use. They will not photograph.” “Yes, they will photograph,” I persisted, but they turned them down.

Did the new generation scout abide by the decision of the old guard and hide her under the light under the proverbial bushel? She did not. With a Brownie camera I photographed the Chauve-Souris and on the following day brought a composition, clean cut as an etching, to the cock-sure editors. In the next number of the periodical, they reproduced it under the caption “Something New.”

“Experience,” says Miss Donner (she is all of twenty!), “has taught be not to accept adverse opinion of my work as final until I have proved it wrong.” Too often, she declares, she has had original ideas rejected as impossible, impractical, and a month or a year later seen them exploited.

To thrash out an idea with astute men of affairs is her especial joy.

I love to work over an idea, to see from how many angles it can be developed, how many times it can be profitably turned over; for ideas I have found are like Wall Street properties, dry goods, jewelry, and marketable staple; they can be turned over and over with varied artistic and monetary results. How to do it is the big thing!” Encouraged by her first victory, the Chauve-Souris silhouettes were brought to a famous producer of spectacular drama.

“Great! Just what I’m looking for. Come with me tonight to the theatre,” he said. I went and we selected the subjects.

“What will you pay me?” I asked.”

“Pay?” he cried. “Nothing!“

“You would have my labor and my art for nothing?”

“Big advertisement for you young lady.”

“And for you, Mr. Produce!”

“For both of us,” he finally conceded, but not a penny would he pay.

“Original! New! Practical!” The great producer had said it.

“If it’s all that, it’s worth money,” reasoned the artist-flapper, and to a metropolitan newspaper she lied. It reproduced four silhouettes in color and paid for them – her first real money? The subjects were from current costume plays. After newspaper publication, each silhouette was framed and personally conducted to the producer of the respective dramas.

“Fine! Ripping! But we’re not buying picture.”

“They’re not for sale. Hang them in the lobby of your theatre. That is all I ask.” And they did.

“Something for nothing!” gurgled the merry young artist.

Doris Keane shortly after tripped through one of the lobbies and ran amuck one of the silhouettes. It took her breath. A new face! Forever the perennial cry of the playhouse and the public!

Here was no face, in the accepted form; but color flaming, action in incandescence! Miss Keane’s manager sent for Miss Donner, with the result that the actress takes on her road production of “The Czarina” a stand of silhouettes for lobby display and a sixteen-foot silhouette poster in colors of crescendo choral joy. With flesh of solid orange and in scarlet coat with pink cuffs and pink jabot, the lover holds in his arms the Czarina of bright yellow skin in flowing gown of vivid green and blue, the whole seemingly detached yet harmoniously in tune with a background of rich maroon – a masterpiece in elimination. Without a supçon of the ageworn trappings of royalty – jewels, ermine, scepter – “The Czarina’s” sovereignty dominates. With an uplifted hand in the embrace, it pulsates with pent up passion!

After the manner of the black and white silhouette artist, Miss Donner cuts her designs with scissors out of paper, preferably the rich, decorative colored papers of China, Japan or France. Mental vision of the character or scene to be delineated is her sole guide in the scissoring. No pencil drawings, no preliminary composition. On a pasteboard background of carefully studied color, the bits of cut-out paper are assembled. Each figure is built up, as in low relief sculpture, until substantial form, vital outline, a pulsating entity is achieved. Cold type is as inadequate to convey the singing color, the uncanny action of the pictorial innovation as is the photograph to portray the fine, spiritual quality of the young artist’s personality. The vitalized silhouette is for the physical eye, through which the appeal is to the imaginative soul.”

Attached are a few more images her art that were with the article. I have been unsuccessful at finding any color versions of her work from this period.

Her 1922 images seem so be so far ahead of her time!

Historical Excerpt – “Vitalizing the Silhouette,” interview with Vyvyan Donner, part 2

A 1922 article in Arts and Decoration, “Vitalizing the Silhouette, a new note in American Poster Work” (Vol. XVIII, No. 1) by Lida McCabe records Donner’s contributions in costume design. Here is the second installment on page 66 and 69:

“But, mark you, Young Aspirant, it is from an ancestry of Danish painters, sculptors, architects that she inherits what schools and masters are powerless to give – the creative brain! You have it or you haven’t, and there is an end of it. No dexterity of pencil, brush or palette, the fatality of modern art, notably French art; no scientifically deduced laboratory color formula can supplant the God given gift to create. Its possessor does not know its mystery or how it puts over to mortal ken intangible spirit, vision, dream.

The creator of the vitalized silhouette cannot recall when pencil, paper and scissors were not her medium of expression, and the theatre her inspiration. An Offenbach’s Grande Duchess doted on the military, this dynamic young artist dotes on the playhouse. It was original theatrical costumes designed while a schoolgirl that gave her first contact with producers and her earliest glimpse of the “back stage.” She introduced bare legs into the first Winter Garden show where heretofore silk tights held center.

Emboldened by the success of the “call back” to the childhood she had scarcely passed, she startled Impresario Ziegfeld with a costume that disclosed the entire back as Mother Eve sported it. Ziegfeld, wonderful to relate, had not the courage to use it and it remained for this day of flapper supremacy to legitimatize the bare back costume on and off stage!

More than half of the costumes that gave “Experience” its line color distinction sprung from Miss Donner’s fertile brain. This was the work of her first flush of creative impulse when she toiled through the night, dawn finding her at her studio with enthusiasm unspent. “Now I know better, and I work all day,” she laughs.

It is uncommon knowledge of historic costume that she brings to her dramatic interpretations. Every nations and period she maintains, and demonstrates, has its dominant color charged with character and feeling of the race. Pink and yellow, for instance, reflect the Eighteenth Century. In the theatres, cabarets and dance hall of Berlin, Vienna, Prague, Czecho-Slovakia, to which two years ago she gave nightly study, she found her costume and color deductions verified.

It was Chauve-Souris that brought her color sense to the vitalization of the old time static black and white silhouette. With bright yellow for flesh, a daring rarely attempted, and a like discard of rule and rote in her drawing, she interpreted the vivid color and elemental spirit of the Russian vaudeville.”

Last installment tomorrow!

Historical Except- “Vitalizing the Silhouette,” interview with Vyvyan Donner, part 1

A 1922 article in Arts and Decoration, “Vitalizing the Silhouette, a new note in American Poster Work” (Vol. XVIII, No. 1)by Lida McCabe records Donner’s contributions in costume design. Here is the first installment on page 17:

“The still-born black and white silhouette of early Victorian conception has come to life! Charged with dynamic color and vibrant line, significantly it interprets restless Now, and is America’s latest contribution to the poster art. As an eye-arrestor, imagination-stimulator it promises to go far. For happily, it credits “the man in the street” with vision beyond the physical eye. Daringly colorful, vibrantly active, it conveys an impression of the human face without defining its features, yet, never misses recognition.

This pictorial innovation is the work of Miss Vyvyan Donner. How this clever American girl conceived, developed and “put it across” is the story of the misunderstood younger generation, fearless of the unconventional defiant of the old order. Miss Donner’s vitalized silhouettes materialized last March. Before summer’s wane they held up the lobby of three New York theatres, and are now the talk of the art and theatrical worlds. In the fine or graphic arts, as in every medium of expression, there is a right time to bob up, a right time to disappear as Gilbert and Sullivan tunefully emphasized. To the one who bobs up opportunity and full-fledges, a thousand come too soon or too late, and with little more than a bonne disposition fumble along, often in the wake of false leads, and pass out with dreams unrealized, their efforts seemingly a cipher in the world’s work.

Fortunately, it is to an America awakened to the value of color in life and art that Miss Donner was born. This color awakening, however tardy, is our aesthetic recompense from Uncle Sam’s indiscriminate hospitality to Old World undesirables! Hers is a sense of color inherent and highly sensitized. It is through color that she sees, feels and realizes form. Had she come to the America that produced “The White City” of the Chicago World Fair (1893) – our art naissance – this priceless gift would doubtless have lain dormant, inarticulate, or if expressed, been a waste upon the desert air, so remote was the public from today’s color riot. Three month’s study at Cooper Union, three months at the Art Student’s League, drawing from life, cover Miss Donner’s academic training.”

And there will be more tomorrow!

Historical Excerpt – “Women in Scenic Art,” Vyvyan Donner

“Women in Scenic Art,” final excerpt from 1927 article as posted yesterday: “Oh yes, there are plenty more, the Misses Hancock, Farrington, Vickers, Bernstein, (Vyvyan) Donner…”

Vyvyan Donner (1895-1965) was a native of New York and will be my subject for the next few posts. Breaking into the business at an early age,

Donner became much more than a well-known scenic and costume designer. She excelled at everything she tried her hand at, including poster art, directing, writing, fashion design, jewelry designer, film commentator, and a producer at Twentieth Century.

By the age of 21 yrs. old she was already noted as an extremely costume designer in Green Book 1916 (shown below).

She worked at a variety of venues, including for Ziegfeld and the Schuberts, becoming a sensation by 1922 and primarily working from her studio was located on 44th Street at the beginning of her career. When she started or left this studio is unknown.

As many other theatre artists she travelled extensively– especially to Chicago. During 1927, Donner was one of a handful of artists to create decorative banners for the 1927 Scenic Artists Ball in Chicago. Artists from all over the nation gathered at this event to enjoy and evening of performance, network, and socialize. She was the only female displaying her art for this event – to me, this said a lot. At this same time, she remained extremely active as a costume designer.

In 1926, Donner was credited with designing the “modern costumes” for the production of “The Desert Song.” This was a musical operetta that appeared at the Casino Theatre. Mark Mooring also designed costumes for the production, a show inspired by the 1925 uprising of the Riffs (a group of Moroccon fighters) against French Colonial Rule.

Donner also entered the world of clothing design and fashion journalism. In 1929, at the age of 34 yrs. old she became the fashion editor for Fox Movietone News. In 1938, she began writing her “Fashion Forecast” series that was filmed in Technicolor with each item running for about eleven minutes and narrated by Ilka Chase. Later, Donner designed the sets and costumes for each of her own fashion shows, carefully selecting models from theatre, night clubs, schools and colleges, not agencies alone. She also was a commentator on the Movietone Newsreels during the 1930s.

For videos of Vivian Donner Fashion Shows and clips, go to:

http://mirc.sc.edu/islandora/object/usc%3A1990 for April 17, 1929 on women’s summer styles

http://mirc.sc.edu/islandora/object/usc%3A40693 from August 6, 1942.

It is delightful to see the costumes and the setting from the 1920s and the 1940s. They are both in the University of South Carolina Libraries digital collections. Finally, here is one of the Movietone News reels from 1940 with Donner’s narration: https://archive.org/details/NewsreelClip1940 (her fashion section is immediately after the military update)

In 1946, the Scarsdale Inquirer (No 42, 18 October) noted Donner in “News of the Women’s Club.” They noted Donner as a woman “who is in constant touch with creators of feminine styles and one of the greatest individual influences in the field of Fashion.” They note that 95% of all the creations shown in her films were American made with her films were now made in New York on Tenth Avenue and Fifty-fourth Street.

For film, Donner was a director, writer and producer for a variety of productions, including: “What It Takes to Make a Star” (1945), “Music from Manhattan” (1946), “Behind the Footlights” (1947, producer), “Something Old, Something New” (1948), “Talented Beauties” (1949), “Music of Manhattan” (1950).

For me, her most fascinating work was the design of the “Question Producer Pin!” Donner designed this piece of jewelry with Julio Kilney casting it. This pin dates form the suffrage period and represents the fight for Equal Rights Amendment. Donner’s pin is now part of the National Woman’s Party archives and can be viewed at http://nationalwomansparty.org/are-you-wearing-your-question-producer/ This needs a come back!

The next few posts are going to cover an interview with Donner in an 1922 called “Vitalizing the Silhouette.” This interview examines in detail her art, training, creative approach, and challenges.

Historical Excerpt – “Women in Scenic Art,” Nellie Leach

The last part of the 1927 article “Women in Scenic Art”

“Oh yes, there are plenty more, the Misses Hancock, Farrington, Vickers, Bernstein, Donner, Roche and Nellie Leach who is perhaps an actress who paints but, without disparaging her histrionic talents, more likely a painter who acts. Whether they are doing art directing, designing or actual painting of scenes, they are all going to “stay a while, thank you!” for what is particularly nice about them, they never asked more that a fair field and no favors.”

Without the first names for these women, a search is exceedingly difficult and the results are questionable at best. I actually happened to know of “Miss Donner” and will leave her for tomorrow and focus on Nellie Leach (dates unknown).

There are several performers with the name of “Nellie Leach” who appear all across the country and in both England and Australia. Some list her as a soprano who was married to Fred Leach and others note her travel on various theatre circuits. The verifiable connection that I could make is her performance in two Broadway productions during 1926. She is listed in the Broadway database for the productions of “The Jeweled Trees” and “Love ‘em and Leave ‘em.” I also tracked down her portrait in the Billy Rose Theatre collection at the New York Public Library. The age and location suggest an appropriate pairing.

It has always been difficult to track down scenic artists. Many names are misspelled in programs and last names might include only initials, or the title of “Mr.” For women scenic artists it is even more difficult as their names will change from their maiden name to a married name, while still remaining misspelled. Their first name may become entirely forgotten, being gradually erased over time and disappearing from printed history. Shadows of their husband remain, becoming a “Mrs.” tacked onto another person’s name.

Looking beyond the names and the identities, ten women were noted as scenic artists in a 1927 article in ONE city! This is a remarkable number, signifying a shift in an industry. The article publicly acknowledges the contributions of women in technical theatre.

I have continued to stumble across the names of women scenic artists since I first starting my research as an undergraduate. Some believe that any mention of women painting or illustrations of women painting suggested their activities were simply “helping out.” I have to wonder about this previous assessment by theatre practitioners and historians as there were multiple activities that continually incorporated women into other trades at this time, such as architecture, illustration, sculpture and art. Was it common? No, but it was a constant move toward progress. Women represented a small percentage of the scenic art world, but they were still there. One example is the women’s building at the 1893 for the Columbian Exposition. It was designed and decorated by women; an endeavor that could not have been accomplished with solely unskilled individuals who were new to the trades.

To think about Nellie Leach as “an actress who paints” or “a painter who acts” reminds me of Joe Jefferson’s variety of theatre skills. His painting was looked upon as an asset to all of his other stage work. Why would not the same belief apply to any female theatre artist such as Nellie Leach?

I will leave today with my favorite quote from the article: “Whether they are doing art directing, designing or actual painting of scenes, they are all going to stay a while, thank you!”

We certainly have stayed a while!

Historical Excerpt – “Women in Scenic Art,” Gretl Urban

Here some more of the 1927 article listing some women in the field of scenic art:

“Look at the diminutive parcel of wonderful feminine personality peeking up at you from beneath the bonnet rim. Gretl Urban – even the name is diminutive – and then remember her setting for Louis XIV. If you did not see them, you missed something.”

Gretel/Gretl Urban Thurlow (1898-1997) was the daughter and Josef Urban (1872-1933), the well-known architect, illustrator and designer. Her mother was Meizzi (b. 1873) and the step-daughter of Mary Porter Beegle (married to Urban from 1919-1933). Gretl’s birth name was Margarete Urban and she was born in Vienna, Austria on January 7, 1898. Studying art in Boston, she joined her father’s New York studio to paint and design costumes for several of his productions. Gretl worked with her father for both the Ziegfeld Follies and the Metropolitan Opera New York, later becoming a well-known designer in her own right.

Very little is known about her private life and marriage.

By the 1920 census, she has married John Thurlow (b. 1892) and lived with her birth mother Meizzi (sp?) and her sister, Elly Helliwell (b. 1901 in Austria). Her husband is listed as Meizzi’s lodger in Boston, Mass. with Gretl listed as the lodger’s wife. Gretl, Meizzie and Elly, are listed as all immigrating from Austria in 1912, the year after Josef. At this time, Gretl is listed without any occupation, while her husband is noted as salesman for a Broker. John Thurlow was born in Colorado with parents originating in Massachusetts. What is interesting about this census is that her husband is listed as a lodger and Gretl is listed as the wife of the household’s lodger with her mother as the head of household.

She is repeatedly mentioned for her work in various papers from 1921-1922 and follows her father to California, working in Hollywood from 1923 to 1925. Whether her husband travelled with her at this time is unknown. Her film credits include “When Knighthood was in Flower” (1922, costumes), “Little Old New York” (1923, costumes), “Enemies of Women” (1923, costume design), “Princess Yolanda” (1923, costumes), “The Value of Beauty” (1923, costumes), “Janice Meredith” (1924, costume design), “Zander the Great” (1925, costume design). In most instances she was working on films crews for her father or with her father who was either the art director or scenic designer. By 1925, she again returned to New York and was scenic designer for the musical comedy “Louis XIV” at the Cosmopolitan Theatre. This is the work that is mentioned in the 1927 “Women in Scenic Art” text. That same year, she also designs costumes for the Metropolitan Opera. Although I have included some to depict her rendering style, , they are available at http://archives.metoperafamily.org/Imgs/TurandotUrbanDesign.htm

An interesting side note for 1924 historical context: Gretl was one of the guests on Hearst’s boat, the Oneida, during the incident involving William Randolph Hearst. They had been travelling for a private screening of “Enchantment.” More on THAT can be found at “William Randall Hearst: The Later Years” by Ben Procter.

Her father passed away in 1933 and she continues with her career. By 1935, she designed the original Broadway play, “The Season Changes” at the Booth Theatre and in 1939 she designed the stage settings for “East River Romance” by Edwin Gilbert for the Studio Players of Yonkers, performing in the Waverly Terrace Auditorium. Gretl later served as a consultant for Billy Rose while he restored the Ziegfeld Theatre in 1943.

Between 1950 and her retirement in 1981 she worked for the music publisher Carl Fisher, working as the Vice President for the company. She lived last at the Holiday Care Center in Toms River, New Jersey.

Her costumes for the movie “Janice Meredith”

Her designs for “Turandot”

It was surprising difficult to find information any information on a woman that was a well known designer and daughter to an infamous father! Other than a few credits – little is left of her painting.

Historical Excerpt – “Women in Scenic Art,” Gladys Calthrop

WOMEN IN SCENIC ART, part 3
As posted yesterday, this is the next line in the 1927 article that discussed women in scenic art:

“The work of Lillian Gaestner in the New Ziegfield and Gladys Calthrop in the Eva LaGallienne Company may, as a matter of opinion, be as unlike each other as you please, but it is real work.”

I delved into the career and work of Gladys Calthrop (1894-1980).

Gladys was a set and costume designer for theatre in both London and New York.

She was born Gladys Treeby in Ashton, Devon, the daughter of Frederisk Theophilus Treeby and his wife Mabel. Educated at Grassendale School, Southbourne, West Sussex, her parents sent her to finishing school in Paris where she met Army Captain Everard E. Calthrop from Norfolk. Treeby married Calthrop and had a son, Hugo, whose care was entrusted mostly to her mother. Hugo was later killed during fighting in Burma. Soon after Hugo’s death, she separated from her husband.

Gladys met Noel Coward in Italy during 1921 and they subsequently became friends. She commenced her theatre career in 1924, working for Coward on “The Vortex.” Staged at the Everyman Theatre in Hampstead, she designed both sets and costumes, later recalling, “It was the first play I had ever designed so I was terribly excited, though there was nowhere to paint the sets except outside the theatre in Hampstead High Street, and the costumes all had to be made in a kind of basement there.” This became the first of many collaborative projects with Coward.

She stayed in New York after “The Vortex” and became Artistic Director for Eva la Galliene’s Civic Reperatory Theatre. Her designs for Broadway included “Cradle Song” (1927), “This Year of Grace” (1928), “Bitter Sweet” (1929), “Autumn Crocus” (1932), “Private Lives” (1935), “Design for Living” (1933), “Conversation Piece” (1934), and many, many more. She continued to work as a designer until 1964, doing some work for film that included four Coward adaptations in the 1940s.

She also did some design work for film, including four Coward adaptations in the 1940s. She also published her first and only novel, Paper Pattern in 1940.

During World War II, she served in the Mechanical Transport Corps and by 1953, Calthrop illustrated the Noël Coward Song Book (1953). In 1980, she passed away at the age of 85

Here are a few examples of her design work. I was unsuccessful in finding any scene painting examples.

By 1953, she illustrated the Noel Coward Song Book (1953). In 1980, Gladys passed away at the age of 85 years old.

Historical Excerpt – “Women in Scenic Art,” Lillian Gaestner

This is the next line in the article that I started yesterday on women in scenic art:

“The work of Lillian Gaestner in the New Ziegfield and Gladys Calthrop in the Eva LaGallienne Company may, as a matter of opinion, be as unlike each other as you please, but it is real work.”

I want to put their nameswith faces and look at the various accomplishments of each woman.

The first mentioned is Lillian Gaestner. They actually misspelled her name in the article as it is Gaertner! She was one difficult woman to track down. She was a fire that burned brightly and then was quietly snuffed out by either circumstances or her husband.

Lillian V. Gaertner (July 5, 1906-?) was a painter, muralist, illustrator, decorator, scenic designer and costume designer, primarily working in New York City during the 1920s and early 1930s.

She is wearing high heels on that beam!

She was born in Manhattan Assembly District 9, New York City, in 1906 to immigrants Rudolph Gaertner (b.1874) and his wife Ida (b. 1878). Various publications list different countries for their origin -Germany, Bohemia, and Austria. Lillian had one sibling – Edward. Lillian’s talent as an artist were immediately recognized by Joseph Urban at the age of 14 yrs. old. At that time she was only eight years younger than Urban’s own daughter Gretl! Some even consider Lillian as his protégé. Regardless, Urban sent Lillian to study art in Paris and Vienna, under the direction of Josef Hoffmann (a Bauhaus designer who worked with Urban on other theatrical projects) and Ferdinand Schmutzer. Back in the New York, she studied with Urban and Emeline Clark Roche (1902-1995). Clark is fascinating in her own right and primarily worked as both a scenic and costume designer.

Lillian was commissioned to paint numerous murals at hotels, restaurants, clubs, office buildings, and other public spaces. In 1927, she even created a massive artwork for the Ziegfield Theater. Other notable murals were created for the Montmatre Club at Palm Beach, the Persian Room murals at the Plaza Hotel, the Maritime Exchange Building, the Hotel Pennsylvania, and the Essex House. As a scenic and costume designer, Lillian worked for Carnegie Hall and the Metropolitan Opera.

A side note regarding her mural created for the Ziegfield theatre: Some of her mural artwork from this demolished building appeared in 2006. Ziegfeld opened this theater on 6th Avenue and 54th Street, where it became home of the “Ziegfeld Follies.” Designed by Joseph Urban, it was situated well out of the theater district and featured a unique “egg-shaped” auditorium. Lillian painted the 24’ wide by 14’ high mural (designed by Urban who titled it “The Joy of Life”). Her painting originally covered the walls and ceiling in the main auditorium and included brightly colored depictions of eastern hunts, banquets, and characters from literature, history and mythology. The theater was demolished in 1966 to make way for an office tower that now occupies the same spot. In 2006, an immense section of the original painted mural resurfaced. The link for this discovery is: http://www.prweb.com/releases/2007/01/prweb499705.htm

Lillian’s career continually soared throughout the 1920s. On January 18, 1930, Lillian married Harold B. Palmedo (1898-1983). Little is know of him and Harold certainly wasn’t a shooting star. Born in New York to Alrich (a stockbroker) and Emma Palmedo, he shared his childhood and early adulthood with two other had two siblings, Roland and Eleanore. Palmedo’s career is sketchy at best and his brother Roland was the great success of the family. The 1920 census listed Harold as living at home with his parents and working as a chemist in a manufacturing facility.

In 1931 the couple celebrated the birth of their first and only child. On January 27^th, 1931, Lillian was born to the Palmedos, then living at 240 East 79^th Street in New York.

Lillian continued her artistic career and mural painting. By 1934 she was celebrated for her murals in the Persian Room at the Plaza Hotel. Strangely, this same year, she moves to Milford, Conn. and starts showing dogs – Boxers.

It is at this point that the name “Lillian Gaertner Palmedo” starts to disappear. During this time, her husband becomes and early founder and first President of the American Boxer Club and she fills a space as a board member. Lillian’s mother Ida is the designated Treasurer. The greatest function that Lillian and Ida initially fill at the club is translating the German Standard and Austrian Standard for the dogs.

By 1939 the Palmedo’s win best of breed (Ch. Biene v. Elbe-Bogen se Sumbula). All their dogs were campaigned extensively by Harry Harnett, with Biene finishing her career with four Best in Show and still winning best of breed from the Veteran’s Class in 1941 – also a first. Also in 1939, The AKC Gazette column notes Lillian’s new role on the new Publicity and Promotions Committee.

By 1940, her daughter is living with grandmother Ida Gaertner in Mount Vernon City, Westchester, NY. In 1940, newspapers note that Lillian was living in New Milford, Connecticut. At this point in her life she constantly travels across the country appearing in various newspapers, showing their dogs and promoting her new clothing design (clothing created for owners to match their dogs). At this point, she is solely known as a clothing designer and dog fancier. Her painting career is no longer mentioned at all.

By 1942, she divorced Harold and appears to have faded from all printed record. The last mention of her in print that I could locate were divorce notifications in both New York and Reno, Nevada. No census records, death notice, memorial – nothing.

This is one of the more tragic tales. A woman with so much drive and potential gradually faded behind her husband’s name. Initially listed as Lillian Gaertner, then Lillian Gartner Palmedo, she eventually became Mrs. H. B. Palmedo. Lillian was redefined in from “Lillian Gaertner, one of New York’s most promising young artists” in the 1920s to “Mrs. H. B. Palmedo, clothing designer and dog fancier” in the 1940s.

I sincerely hope that she found much joy with activities at the American Boxing Club and attending dog shows. Wishing that she gladly abandoned all of her hard work, training, and artistic potential and left a promising career as a theatre artist and muralist. Maybe she continued to paint in any spare time that she could find and all of her works have yet to surface. It would be tragic to think that her husband’s passion for boxers, or marriage in general, caused Lillian to abandon her artistic career.