Jo Mielziner Stage Designs 1930's 

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6. THE THIRD LITTLE SHOW [1931]

For The Third Little Show , Mielziner made quick sketches for the 28 different scenes in the show. Again, he used boldly painted backdrops to suggest locales.

Courtesy of Paul Stiga NFS 

7. THE THIRD LITTLE SHOW [1931]

This is the design for the Puppet Stage scene from this popular revue. It was The Third Little Show in which Beatrice Lillie sang "There Are Fairies At the Bottom of My Garden" and Noel Coward’s "Mad Dogs and Englishmen." The show ran for 17 weeks.

Courtesy of Richard Stoddard Performing Arts Books, NYC 

Schnitzler’s cycle of one act plays charting the love affairs of Anatol is set in Vienna in the 1890’s. Harley Granville-Barker adapted the script which was produced at the Lyceum Theatre in New York. The scenery for Anatol drew heavy praise from Robert Benchley, then writing drama criticism for The New Yorker. Courtesy of Richard Stoddard Performing Arts Books, NYC

9. ANATOL [1931]

Mielziner was interested in the complete look of the productions he designed. He frequently designed not only the settings and lights but also the costumes. This is the costume design for the title character, a Viennese playboy, for the 1931 Broadway production.

Courtesy of Richard Stoddard Performing Arts Books, NYC 

10. THE EMPEROR JONES [1933]

When Mielziner was invited to design for the Metropolitan Opera Company, he was delighted to do it despite the low fee he received. He created both the scenery and the costumes for The Emperor Jones, an opera by Louis Gruenberg based on the O’Neill play. O’Neill’s drama was first produced in 1920 and is set on an island in the West Indies where Brutus Jones, an African American who has been made Emperor, provokes a revolt through his exploitation of the natives.

Courtesy of Paul Stiga NFS 

11. THE EMPEROR JONES: COSTUME [1933]

This is Mielziner’s design for the costume worn by the shiftless Cockney trader Henry Smithers for the Metropolitan Opera Company’s production of Gruenberg’s opera.

Courtesy of Robert Hansen NFS 

11. THE LAKE [1933]

An early sketch of the setting for this English import by Dorothy Massingham and Murray McDonald shows Mielziner’s remarkable drafting skills. The Lake furnished Katharine Hepburn her first major Broadway role and was produced and directed by the legendary "big bad wolf" of the theatre, Jed Harris. It was Hepburn’s performance in this play which prompted Dorothy Parker’s quip: "Hepburn ran the gamut of emotions from A to B." In spite of lukewarm reviews, the play had a respectable run.

Courtesy of Jo Anne and Harold Tedford NFS 

12. MERRY MOUNT [1934]

Mielziner’s second opera for the Metropolitan Opera Company was Howard Hanson’s Merry Mount (1934), for which he designed a dream sequence of the Valley of Tophet (a biblical version of hell) in which New England is consumed by flames. He also designed the costumes and the lighting.

Courtesy of Richard Stoddard Performing Arts Books, NYC 

13. YELLOW JACK [1934]

Mielziner revealed his New Stagecraft roots in his design for Yellow Jack, a docu-drama on the ravages of yellow fever in Cuba in 1900. With the scenes shifting 29 times during the course of the play, he designed a unit set with several levels, changing curtains and props, and lighting different parts of the stage to denote changing locales and times.

Courtesy of Richard Stoddard Performing Arts Books, NYC 

14. ROMEO AND JULIET [1934]

Mielziner designed both the costumes and the sets for Katharine Cornell’s Romeo and Juliet. He chose a style reminiscent of the unsophisticated and colorful works of the early Renaissance artist Giotto. This is a costume design for a male servant complete with his notes and swatches of fabric to be used in the costume.

Courtesy of Richard Stoddard Performing Arts Books, NYC 

The landmark design that forever established Mielziner’s reputation as one of the foremost designers on the American stage was for Winterset, Maxwell Anderson’s play in blank verse. The looming Brooklyn Bridge became the visual metaphor for the soaring aspirations of the hero. In a curious twist of fate, the design has outlived the play. Here are two reproductions of two renderings of the famous design, one with minimal color, the other in luminous, atmospheric blues.

Courtesy of the estate of Jo Mielziner (Reproduction) NFS 

Not often seen is the other setting for Winterset, the basement flat that served as both home for the hero and symbol of his earthbound existence.

Courtesy of the estate of Jo Mielziner (Reproduction) NFS 

Ethan Frome, a grim play adapted from the Edith Wharton novella, demanded an equally bleak and wintry setting. Mielziner’s lighting enhanced the simple, evocative New England scenes and his lighting created the heavy mood of tragedy that hung over the characters.

Courtesy of the estate of Jo Mielziner (Reproduction) NFS 

The 1936 Broadway production of Hamlet, which starred John Gielgud, has long been considered by those who saw it as the best of his generation. Mielziner designed the entire production: scenery, lighting, and costumes. Shown is Gielgud’s costume.

Courtesy of the estate of Jo Mielziner (Reproduction) NFS 

On Your Toes contained, among other innovations, the choreography of George Balanchine. For the "Slaughter on Tenth Avenue" sequence, Mielziner created a monochromatic blood-red scene to accompany the torrid dancing set to Richard Rodgers’ music. In 1968 he recreated the scene for Balanchine’s ballet still in use in the repertory of the New York City Ballet.

Courtesy of the estate of Jo Mielziner (Reproduction) NFS 

20. ABE LINCOLN IN ILLINOIS [1938]

Mielziner was fond of saying that the best designing was done with an eraser. For the production of Abe Lincoln in Illinois, a multi-scene play, he retained on stage only what was necessary to establish the time and place. When the play was moved to a smaller theatre to complete its run and to go on tour, he pared down the scenery even further without sacrificing its effectiveness.

Courtesy of Paul Stiga NFS 

21. THE MERCHANT OF VENICE [1939]

Although Mielziner did many designs for a production of The Merchant of Venice for producers Carly Wharton and Martin Gabel, they were unable to raise the money necessary to get it to the stage. This is a rendering of "The Casket Scene" which takes place at Portia’s house. The sophisticated colors and the graceful curved proscenium arch suggest the rich elegance of Belmont.

Courtesy of Richard Stoddard Performing Arts Books, NYC 

22. KEY LARGO [1939]

Written by Maxwell Anderson, directed by Guthrie McClintic and produced by the Playwrights’ Company, the play starred Paul Muni and the cast included Jose Ferrer, Uta Hagen and a young Carl Malden. Atkinson in the NY Times writes that "Mr. Mielziner’s sunlit settings are brilliant." This design is for Act I. The play was later made into a popular movie starring Humphrey Bogart.

Courtesy of Robert Hansen NFS