Pal Joey was the fifth Rodgers and Hart show that Mielziner designed. For the pet shop scene, when Joey tries to pick up Linda, the designer had the entire set painted on a scrim, then flown out of sight so that they could sing "I Could Write a Book." (Note the reversed signature of the designer in the lower right corner.)

Reproduction from an original owned by the Rodgers and Hammerstein Organization. NFS 

24. THE WOOKEY [1941]

Frederick Brennan wrote this play about a tugboat skipper, played by Edmnd Gwenn, who hates war but changes his attitude after rescuing men at Dunkirk. Mielziner’s sets, lights and special effects won universal praise. A room broke into flames, a house is bombed and the terrifying mayhem of war was created through collapsing scenery, lights, special effects and sound. This design is for the basement setting of the Wookey’s bombed house.

Courtesy of Richard Stoddard Performing Arts Books, NYC 

During World War II Mielziner worked in Washington designing camouflage for the military. These three illustrated letters were written to his two young sons, Neil and Michael, during that time.

Courtesy of Richard Stoddard Performing Arts Books, NYC 

25. ST. LAZARE’S PHARMACY [1945]

This production, produced by Eddie Dowling and Louis J. Singer who had premiered The Glass Menagerie the previous year, opened in Montreal and moved to Chicago in late December. Despite a capable cast and Mielziner’s splendid set, it had a run of only ten weeks. It did not make it to Broadway. The pencil drawing is for a drop curtain of the French-Canadian town of St. Lazare, Quebec, and showcases Mielziner’s remarkable skills as a draftsman

Courtesy of Richard Stoddard Performing Arts Books, NYC 

26. HAPPY BIRTHDAY [1946]

Exhibited are two designs for Happy Birthday, a sentimental comedy about "a dowdy librarian on a toot" by Anita Loos starred Helen Hayes. The two designs, one in ink and gray wash and the other in watercolor and pencil, represent two versions of the Cocktail Bar set. The colored version is the one which ended up in the play. Brooks Atkinson writes that Mielziner "had some well-deserved enjoyment in designing an animated setting drenched in alcohol."

Courtesy of Richard Stoddard, Performing Arts Books, NYC 

Sensing that he was designing something special, Mielziner took more than his usual extraordinary pains for the scenery of A Streetcar Named Desire. He designed the set in layers from rear to front. The transparent drop on which was painted this New Orleans streetscape was hung far upstage and was only visible when lighted from behind.

Courtesy of the estate of Jo Mielziner (Reproduction) NFS 

28. SUMMER AND SMOKE [1948]

Tennessee William’s Summer and Smoke opened on Broadway under the direction of Margo Jones after having its premier at Margo Jones’ theatre in Dallas. Brooks Atkinson writes in the Times: ". . . Jo Mielziner, who must be a genius after all, has designed a glorious setting of lightly penciled lines and curves as airy as the writing." This rendering is the painter’s elevation, sent to the studio to be used by the painters in completing the set.

Courtesy of Richard Stoddard Performing Arts Books, NYC 

29. DEATH OF A SALESMAN [1949]

The set of Arthur Miller’s Death of a Salesman evolved in Mielziner’s mind over a period of months. He submitted his ideas, sketched on any available paper and sent them to the director, Elia Kazan, for his reactions. These sketches show some of his early ideas for this, one of his most highly praised sets.

Courtesy of Jules Fisher NFS 

The final setting for Death of a Salesman was the skeletonized house of Willy Loman, which has become the icon for the play. To show Willy’s memory of the house when it was new, Mielziner placed a scrim in front of it projecting onto it sunlit trees and leaves.

Courtesy of the estate of Jo Mielziner (Reproduction) NFS 

To show the Loman house many years later, Mielziner designed a backdrop showing the tall apartment houses that seemed to hang over and overwhelm it. Courtesy of the estate of Jo Mielziner (Reproduction) NFS

Wake Forest Theater homepage compiled by Jonathan Christman