Theatre Design & Technology - Summer 2001 - 20

MIELZINERISM,
or

What If... ?
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Mielziner's projections of bright green spring leaves on a scrim
blotting out his set for Death of a Salesman (1949) was one of his
strokes of genius. He had to summon up an earlier time for Willy
Loman when his house was surrounded by trees (not overwhelmed
by urban development) and his life and career looked as promising
as spring. Mielziner's projections provided a number of scenic
solutions: time, place, and mood, all with a simple device.

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Mary C. Henderson

moved across the river, hired carpenters and craftsmen, and built the
largest scene shop in the city, perhaps in the country. The shop utilized
the traditional techniques of using canvas (painted or unpainted)
stretched over wood frames, a practice that had not changed for centuries and was dictated by many factors not having much to do with design:
portability, weight, foldability, etc.
Mielziner experimented with other fabrics on the frames. He contended that he was the first to cover flats with velour, over-painting the
dense fabric with his design. On one occasion, this technique got him in
trouble. He covered the scenery with ribbed velour for Point of No Return (1951), a serious play which starred Henry Fonda. When people
began to complain that they could not hear Fonda, the star became upset
and called in the producers, who decided that something must be amiss
with the scenery. When Mielziner himself could not pinpoint the source
of the trouble, George Izenour was consulted for his expert opinion.
Izenour decided that the velour was absorbing the sounds of the actors'
voices and suggested that a thin vinyl plastic spray be applied on the fabric to counter the sound absorption. The right spray was located and applied, and all ended happily.
For the most part, Mielziner relied on the traditional techniques of
scene painting and scene building available at the time he began and established his career, often utilizing them ingeniously. His twin obsessions
were prolonged "stage waits" and scenes "in one." If he could use turntables (and the producers could afford them), he could avoid stage
waits. For many years, the unions forced the producers to use manpower
to turn the revolving stages, which meant that they had to be light in

weight and maneuverable. When motors were allowed to be added to revolvers and wagon stages, most of the problems of weight and motility
appeared to be solved.
Dissatisfied with the traditional stagecraft, Mielziner and his able,
talented long-time assistant, John Harvey, worked together on a variety of
innovations which they tried to patent. In 1954, they came up for an idea
for what they called "roller set carriers" to move standing scenery, props,
and actors for an entire scene quickly and accurately from storage position to playing position. They used the device for Mielziner's design for
Fanny. Although rolling platforms had been in use for many years, their
idea was to replace the large castors with rollers of small diameter and
keep the platform closer to the stage floor. It represented the proverbial
idea whose time had come and was quickly adapted, improved, and propelled into the age of the grooved stage and motor-driven wagon.
Another of Mielziner's ideas, which (with George Jenkins' help)
came to fruition, was what he called "the rear fold traveler," which was nothing more than a slow-moving continuous act or scene curtain flowing on a
track from one side of the stage to the other. While it was moving, stagehands
could quickly set up the next scene, obviating the hated stage wait. Not
exactly a new idea either, it had actually come into existence during the
era of Ziegfeld Follies, when T. B. McDonald devised a wooden track for
a decorative curtain designed by Ziegfeld's designer Joseph Urban.
Mielziner first used it for The Little Show in 1928, then made his own
improvements for I Married an Angel ten years later. George Jenkins located the company, Vallen, Inc., in Akron, Ohio, which manufactured
metal tracks that took up little space. By employing a double track, the
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Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Theatre Design & Technology - Summer 2001