The Development of Scenic Art and Stage Machinery
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te' 'p8N4 Ii20 THE LIBRARY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LOS ANGELES THE DEVELOPMENT OF SCENIC ART AND STAGE MACHINERY A LIST OF REFERENCES IN THE NEW YORK PUBLIC LIBRARY COMPILED BY WILLIAM BURT GAMBLE CHIEF OF THE SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY DIVISION NEW YORK 1920 . ,1 ( \ THE DEVELOPMENT OF SCENIC ART AND STAGE MACHINERY A LIST OF REFERENCES IN THE NEW YORK PUBLIC LIBRARY COMPILED BY WILLIAM BURT GAMBLE CHIEF OF THE SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY DIVISION NEW YORK 1920 NOTE This list contains the titles of works relat- ing to the development of scenic art and stage machinery, owned by The New York Public Library on June 1, 1919. They are in the Reference Department of the Library, in the Central Building at Fifth Avenue and Fortv-second Street. RCPRtNTED. JANUARY 1920 FROM THE BULLETIN OF THE NEW YORK PUBLIC LIBRARY OF JUNE-NOVEMBER 1919 PRINTED AT THE NEW YORK PUBLIC LIBRARY fi.rill |i-l» ll-s-m a<l z /9zo TABLE OF CONTENTS PAGE Preface --.__. _--_____i General Works ------------- Z Greek and Roman Stage -----------3 Mediaeval Stage --_----___._ 12 English Stage _-._.__ 18 Elizabethan Stage ------------ 2A Post-Elizabethan Stage -----------34 American Stage -------------36 French Stage -------------39 German Stage -------------42 Italian Stage -------------48 Russian Stage -------------49 Spanish Stage -------------51 Oriental Stage -------------51 Scenery and Scene Painting ----------58 Little Theatres ------------- dh Marionettes, Shadow Pictures, Etc. --------66 Lighting and Lighting History -- -72 Machinery, Equipment, Effects, Etc. --------81 Miscellaneous ------------- 100 Open Air Theatres ------------ 104 Index of Authors ------------ 109 Index of Subjects ------------ 119 THE DEVELOPMENT OF SCENIC ART AND STAGE MACHINERY A LIST OF REFERENCES IN THE NEW YORK PUBLIC LIBRARY Compiled by William Burt Gamble Chief of the Technology Division Preface 'T^HIS work is the result of numerous requests made in the Technology Divi- -*- sion for information concerning stage machinery and lighting. In an effort to compile a short list which should satisfy ordinary wants, many refer- ences to excellent material on scene-painting, scenic history, pictures, and other matters of interest were noted. As these seemed too valuable to omit it was decided, through an extension of the list into the fields of literature, history, travel, and art, to enlarge the scope of the first plan. The work had not progressed far before a large number of references to stage pictures had been catalogued. These w^ere published in 1917 under the title: "Stage scenery: a list of references to illustrations since 1900" (New York Public Library Bulletin, May and June, 1917, v. 21, nos. 5 and 6. Also issued as a separate). References to pictures antedating 1900, still in manuscript, may be consulted on application to the Technology librarian in Room 115. The following list directs the reader into many byways of interest: stage technique of the ancients and the archaeological investigations and contro- versies concerning it; the mediaeval stage and the various accounts of the quaint apparatus and properties used; the Elizabethan playhouse and the dis- cussions as to its true character; the Oriental stage, including the marvellous shadow puppets of the Javanese; stage development in England, France, Ger- many, Spain, Italy, Russia, and America; practical scene painting; scenic history from its crude beginnings, through the days of Sir William D'Avenant and of De Loutherbourg, down to the modern conceptions of Gordon Craig, Granville Barker, Leon Bakst, and Max Reinhardt, including the technique of the "art theatres," especially of Munich, Paris, and IMoscow; the history and present art of stage mechanics in which it may be noted that many of the devices which we claim as modern are not so modern after all; and finally, references to the remarkable development of the open-air theatre. [ 1] 2 THE NEW YORK PUBLIC LIBRARY A few words concerning the dramatic collection of the Library may not be out of place: The number of printed plays is large, embracing many languages. These are listed in the public catalogue (Room 315) under the heading Drama, as: Drama (American), Drama (English), etc. References to the dramas of cer- tain Oriental countries may be found under the literature heading, as: Arabic literature: Drama. The following sources should also be noted: (1) : List of American dramas (New York Public Library Bulletin, Oct., 1915, v. 19, no. 10, p. 739-786, also issued as a separate). Room 315. (2) : List of dramas relating to the Jews, and dramas in Hebrew, Judeo-Spanish, and Judeo- German, together with essays on the Jewish stage (New York Public Library Bul- letin, Jan., 1907, v. 11, no. 1, p. 18-51, also issued as a separate). Room 315. (3) : List of works relating to the Oriental drama (New York Public Library Bulletin, April, 1906, v. 10, no. 4, p. 250-256, also issued as a separate). Room 315. (4) : Pageants in Great Britain and the United States, a list of references (New York Public Library Bulletin, Oct., 1916, v. 20, p. 753-791, also issued as a separate). Room 315. (5): United States Copyright Office: Dramatic compositions copyrighted in the United States, 1870-1916. Washington, 1918. 2 v. Room 315. (6) : The Dramatic index, 1906 - date, an exhaustive annual covering books as well as the principal and special periodicals of America and England. Room 315. (7) : Reginald Clarence's stage cyclopedia, "an alphabetical list of plays and other stage pieces of which any record can be found since the commencement of the English stage." Room 315. (8) : For records of modern productions see Theatre magazine, New York; the Stage year- book, London; Das Theater, Berlin; Le theatre, Paris; Yezhegodnik Tmperatorskikh Teatrov, St. Petersburg. Room 315. (9) : The Becks collection of prompt-books used by famous actors. A list of these was published in The New York Public Library Bulletin, Feb., 1906, v. 10, p. 101-148, also issued later as a separate. Room 315. (10) See also the following headings in the catalogue. Room 315: Stage; Actors and acting; Amateur theatricals ; Amphitheatres ; Stage machinery; Fires in theatres; Opera houses; Stage scenery; Panoramas; Magic; Legerdemain; College theatricals; Pantomime ; Tableaux; School entertainments ; Moving pictures; Ballet; Folk plays; Costume; Masks; Miracle plays; Passion plays; Puppet plays; Theatres; Vaudeville; and Theatre (Open air). The Library is rich in early editions of Shakespeare (all of the folios and a good selection of quartos), also many later editions, as well as books about Shakespeare. See heading Shakespeare in the catalogue, especially Shakespeare. — Staging of. Worthy of note is the Ellison collection of works on magic and legerdemain, one of the best of its kind, including twenty-five scrap-books of letters, clippings, and magazine articles. Room 315. The reader should also consult: (1) Art Room (313) : A clipping collection of stage pictures as well as extra-illustrated works containing portraits of old-time actors and actresses. Here are also the works on costume, theatre architecture, and the art and architectural cyclopedias containing biographies of .scene-painters and architects. (2) Music Room (323) : A card index of stage pictures, principally of the opera; also books about opera and a collection of portfolios containing pictures of the decorations for the Bayreuth productions. (3) The Main Reading Room : Reference books of general interest to students of the drama; also biographical and general cyclopedias. THE LIST ORDER OF ARRANGEMENT General Works. French. Little Theatres. Greek and Roman. German. Marionettes, Shadow Pictures, etc. Mediaeval. Italian. Lighting and Lighting History. English. Russian. Machinery, etc. Elizabethan. Spanish. Equipment, Effects, Post-Elizabethan. Oriental. Miscellaneous. American. Scenery and Scene Painting. Open Air Theatres. General Works l.y^BLaslings,,Charles. The theatre, its de- V. 4. Moliere and his times, v. 5. Great actors of the 18th century. ropment in France and' E"n gland, and a "This book belongs to a group of five that stand history'of "its' Greek and Latin origins... preeminent among comprehensive treatises on the with an introductory letter from Monsieur subject, the other four being the works of Chambers, Victorien Sardou... London: Duckworth ("reizenach. Petit de Jullevillc, and d'Ancona." — David Klein in Modern language notes, Nov., 1905. and Co., 1902. xvi, 368 p. 8°. *R-NAF Has brief notes concerning a large number of 5. Matthews, James Brander. A study of important plays. Considerable material on stage con- the drama. Boston: Houghton ^Mifflin struction and management. Co., 1910. X, 320 illus. 12°. p. *R-NAFD 2. Hessen, Robert. Geschichte des The- Chapter 3, The influence of the theatre, is an aters und der Schauspielkunst. illus. (In: excellent resume of stage history. Opposite p. 238 Spemanns goldenes Buch des Theaters... is a quaint picture of the Fortune Theatre, London Stuttgart, 1912. 12°. p. 1-129.) NAF (1599). excellent, history, with Condensed, but stage good 6. Pougin, Arthur. Dictionnaire histo- illustrations. rique et pittoresque du theatre et des arts 3. Klein, Julius Leopold. Geschichte des qui s'y rattachent. Poetique, musique, Drama's. Leipzig: T. O. Weigel, 1865-86. danse, pantomime, decor, costume, ma- 14 V. in 16 including index volume. 8°. chinerie, acrobatisme, jeux antiques, spec- NAF tacles forains, divertissements sceniques, Bd. 1-2. Die griechische Komodie und das Drama fetes publiques, rejouissances populaires, der Romer. carrousels, courses, tournois, etc. Paris: Bd. 3. Geschichte des aussereuropaischen Dramas Firmin-Didot et Cie., 1885. 775 p. illus. und der lateinischen Schauspiele nach Christus bis 4°. MW Ende des x. Jahrhunderts. Bd. 4—7. Geschichte des italienischen Drama's. 7. Urjjan, Erich. Das Welttheater. Ge- Bd. 8-11. Geschichte des spanischen Drama's. meinverstandliche Darstellung und Inhalts- Bd. 12-13. Geschichte des englischen Drama's. angabe der beriilimtesten, klassischen und The index volume, complete and well arranged, has references to scenery and stage arrangements. modernen Dramen, Schauspiele, Komo- dien, Lustspiele und Possen, von den iilt- 4.