Theatre Design & Technology - Fall 1975 - 43

Although the second section may not immediately
stimulate and motivate all students of lighting, particularly those with more interest in the mechanics than in the
philosophy of stage lighting, it is a significant albeit highly
subjective interpretation of light as a plastic medium. The
new exquisite photographs and expanded text (especially
in regard to the use of side lighting) will undoubtedly help
those who experience difficulty in comprehending the
author's intellectual discourse on light as it exists within
time and space.
There are other texts in the field of stage lighting that
are more elementary in their style and delivery of the
material; but you will not find a more intelligent and
comprehensive text than Lighting The Stage: Art And

Practice.
Bruce W. McMullan
Dartmouth College

EMPIRE DESIGNS AND ORNAMENTS
by Joseph Beunat
New York: Dover Publications, 1974
ISBN 0-486-22984-X vii + 95 plates, $3.50
This Dover Pictorial Archive Series reproduction makes
available Beunat's Recueil des dessins d'ornaments d'architecture, circa 1813. The availability of this plaster
molding and ornament manufacturer's catalogue provides
the scenic designer with the prime source for the wealth
of Neo-Classic ornamentation employed by such French
architects as Percier and Fontaine in their work on
Napolean's Malmaison at the turn of the century. The
Neo-Classic love for ornament pervaded all of the practical
and decorative arts of the period. Following the lead of
the nobility, the bourgeoise demanded copies of the
ornamentations which are so characteristic of the period,
in plaster copies consistent with their pocketbooks and
pretensions. Everything and anything in architecture was
"decorated." Plaster molding manufacturing companies,
such as Beunat's, flourished. Their catalogues are the
exemplification of the taste of the period, providing, as
Pugin later declares in his True Principles, circa 1841,
"ornament by the yard and chapels by the ton."
Notwithstanding the changing tastes of the mid-century,
Beunat's customer purchased large quantities of the
ornamental moldings, panels, vases, chimeras, candelabras,
pillars and pilasters, to say little of the entire room
schemes also found in the catalogue. The ornament was
made in a kind of uncolored plaster. Coloring and gliding
would have been carried out once the moldings were in
position according to the customer's requirements and by
his own decorator. The classical source material Beunat
used is a typical blend of architecture, sculpture, and
painting made familiar through the many archaeological
publications of the eighteenth century. There are many
variations in size and subject matter; for example, one
plate offers the same scene in various states of dress to
suit the buyer's taste and sense of prudery. Though these
ornaments are no longer available in plaster form, scenic
designers who want to use these Neo-Classic elements in
their work will find the carefully drawn designs and
schemes for entire rooms very easy to reproduce in
contemporary media.
Briant Hamor Lee
Bowling Green State University

uSln

THEATRE DESIGN AND TECHNOLOGY

LETTER TO THE EDITOR
Dear Sir:
I enjoyed the analytical approach to certain theater
problems in Mr. Kupferschmid's article, "A Survey of
Theatre Engineering" in your Spring 1975 issue. The Kerf
vs. Frek saw analysis drew my attention particularly,
however, in that the theory was inadequate and at times
alarming both in practice and idea.
Metaphorically speaking, has the author ever driven a
nail with a 14 inch, 16 ounce Bluegrass hammer as
opposed to a $1.98 "Weekend Special". The premise that
maintenance costs are uniform over a number of years is
dubious - with good equipment, possibly; but with less
expensive equipment, repair and/or replacement costs
tend to be catastrophic. His assumption concerning
operating costs are also curious. Cheap equipment needs
more time and labor in utilization, uses power inefficiently, and generally makes for poor working conditions
and sloppy end results.
Good equipment is generally safer, quieter, and when
maintenance is needed, easier to service. Finally, did the
author consider the cost of moving three (3) saws in and
out of a shop and when this would be necessary? Usually,
it would be when the work load is heavy and the saw is
broken! Quality may be expensive, but cheapness is waste.
Sincerely yours,
Allen tlibbard
Electronics Supervisor
Dallas Theatre Center

EULOGY Continued from page 10
In this way, we once a beneficiary of it, can become a
grantor of it: a memory to be thankful for, an
encouragement to be passed along.
Holy Writ admonishes us that life is an invitation to
reflection.
That is sacred wisdom.
As we see Frank Carrington, in memory, we become
mindful of the spirit he represented in life. He is absent,
yet he is present. He came to us with love in his heart for
us; and he planted it in us. It has grown roots, and the
roots will spread, and will endure, and the spirit that once
bloomed from them in Frank, will have its rebirth through
us into the world we live in.
I say farewell to our dear friend, with love in me for
him; and because of him, with hope for the future for us
of the theatre. _

ARE YOU ACTIVE
IN A U.S.I.T.T.
COMMISSION

FAll,1975

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