Theatre Design & Technology - Spring 1980 - 33

~~~~~~~~~~~Ja_red_S_a'~_ma_n_BookReviews

Costume Reference (8 Volumes) by Marion Sichel. Boston: Plays,
Inc., 1977-78, 72pp/vol., iIIus., $8.95/vol., cloth.

Theatre and Cinema Architecture by Richard Stoddard. Detroit:
Gale Research Co., 1977, ISBN 0-8103-1426-6, 368 pp., $22.00
cloth.

Costume Reference is a series of books treating the history of British costume from Roman times to 1939. The eight small volumes that
make-up the series are each identical in format. Each is seventy-two
pages in length and includes an average of 125 drawings and four
pages of colored illustrations. The books also features an index, glossary of costume terms and a selected bibliography. The series provides a good overview of costume history and includes the following
titles: Roman Britain and the Middle Ages (Vol. 1), Tudors and Elizabethans (Vol. 2), Jacobean, Stuart and Restoration (Vol. 3), The
Eighteenth Century (Vol. 4), The Regency (Vol. 5), The Victorians
(Vol. 6), The Ewardians (Vol. 7), and 1918-1939 (Vol. 8). As a complete set, the books provide an excellent compendium of information
on British costume. As single volumes they are also useful for they
provide a concise consideration of the stated period and its basic
men's, women's and sometimes children's and military costume.

Costume Reference is an impressive series. Marion Sichel has
provided a succinct text, handsome illustrations, a well chosen bibliography, glossary and functional index for the study of British costume. The books, as a set or individually, should provide a useful tool
to those interested in costume history.

Richard Stoddard's excellent bibliography on theatre and cinema
architecture will be very useful to scholars as it contains a great
amount of information which is presented in a clear and logical way.
The book is Volume 5 of the Performing Arts Information Guide Series. In his introduction Dr. Stoddard explains that in considering publications for annotation he has given first priority to those in English,
although some well-illustrated foreign language material is also included.
There are four indexes which are quite thorough, and I did not find
any aggravating errors in pagination or spelling. The material in the indexes is divided into sections titled, "Author," "Architects and Designers," "Theatre and Cinema," and "Subject." These indexes
guide the researcher through the three major sections of the book:
"General References," "Theatre Architecture," and "Cinema Architecture." The annotations are generally brief, but usually give enough
information to enable the reader to judge the usefulness of the publication. Typical examples are:
"Fun Palace, Camden, London." ARCHITECTURAL DESIGN 37
(November 1967): 522-25. lIIus., plans, diags. Project for a multipurpose structure including inflatable auditorium-theatres. Cedric
Price, architect; Joan Littlewood, director of the project. A similar
article appears in THE DRAMA REVIEW 2-12 (Spring 1968): 12734, with illustrations and plans.
Perret, Auguste. "Le Theatre." ARCHITECTURE 0' AUJOURD'HUI
9 (September 1938): 2-12. lIIus., plans. Text in French. Illustrated
summary of the development of theatre architecture, most useful for
the author's comments on his designs for the Theatre des ChampsElysees and the theatre at the International Exposition of Decorative
Arts, Paris, 1925. A summary in English precedes p. 1.
In contrast to these entries, a few are so brief as to be almost useless:
Bagenal, Hope. "A Talk on Opera Houses." ARCHITECTURAL ASSOCIATION JOURNAL 72 (June 1956): 16-21. lIIus., plans. Concerns acoustics. "Notes on the Salzburg Festival Theatre."
THEATRE DESIGN AND TECHNOLOGY, no. 27 (December 1971),
pp. 17-20. IlIus., plans. Clemens Holzmeister, architect.
As the entries above indicate, there is a wide range of material.
Looking up Frank Lloyd Wright in the Architects and Designers Index,
for example, the reader finds eleven entries including Musical America, the German journal Werk, Prairie School Reveiw, Theatre Arts,
Theatre Design & Technology, a doctoral dissertation, Educational
Theatre Journal and Architectural Forum. A few subjects have a
rather sparse number of entries (the interesting theatre in Juilliard, for
example, with its moveable ceiling and the stage which has been described as a sort of moated bear pit), and several writers who have
done a number of articles or books are not fully included. Oscar Lee
Brownstein's dissertation on baiting rings and public playhouses and
his article on the Salisbury Court Playhouse are listed but several
other articles are omitted. Peter Arnott is represented by his article on
the origins of Medieval theatre in the round, but his work on Greek
theatre is not indicated. Of six articles I have written on theatre architecture (one in a recent Theatre Design & Technology and therefore
readily available), only one is included. But, as Dr. Stoddard remarks
in his introduction, "To compile a one-volume bibliography of theatre
and cinema architecture is a daunting task-particularly when it is the
first book-length general bibliography of the subject."
Theatre and Cinema Architecture is clearly the result of painstaking work and immense research. Simply browsing through it is interesting and inspires admiration for the author. The book is attractively
simple and clear, and, (in contrast to many books printed today) it
seems quite sturdy and capable of standing up under the great use
such an excellent volume will surely receive.

Leon I. Brauner

Yvonne Shafer

The Costume Reference series seems to follow the tradition of Iris
Brooke's English costume history books. And, like the Brooke books
they have exceptionally nice drawings that render the books pleasing
to the eye. But for the costumer drawings must be more than handsome. They must provide specific information about the proportions,
composition, and decorative and construction details of the costume
being illustrated. Many of Sichel's drawings of footwear and head
fashions are especially detailed while some of the full figure drawings
lack necessary clarity. This lack of clarity is due in part to the seemingly quick sketch-like quality of some of the drawings. This is quite
noticeable because many of the drawings are, by contrast, so clear. It
is also disappointing to note the duplication of drawings within a volume. As concise as the books are it seems hardly worthwhile to include two illustrations of the same costume. There are also instances
where a costume or an accessory is noted in the text but not described or illustrated outside the glossary. This is a very inconvenient
method of providing information.
Marion Sichel's text is, for the most part, terse and to the point. The
opening paragraphs of each volume are concerned with an historic
overview of costume for that particular period. These introductions
provide the reader with a good sense of the 'look' of the period. The
introduction is followed by a discussion of men's costume, accessory
and special purpose costume like evening wear or hunting togs. A like
discussion of women's costume completes the text. Some of the
books also include information on military and children's wear.
Sichel's inclusion of information on genre costume, and her care in
keeping illustrations near the text they relate to, deserve the reader's
appreciation. Praise should also be given for a bibliography that is
composed of recent books rather than rare or out-of-print volumes.
If thpre is a major fault with Costume Reference as a reference
source book it is that the author has not provided the reader with primary source information. What are the sources for the re-drawings?
What painters can be studied for further evidence of the period's
style? Costume Reference is a very useful secondary source series.
It provides the reader with a well selected list of secondary source
books. It does not, however, lead the reader beyond these interpretations of history to the basic artifacts. This should be one of the
functions of a good reference book. Instead this series seems cloaked
in mystery when it comes to revealing the sources of costume history.

USIIT Spring, 1980

Indiana University

University of Delaware

Theatre Design & Technology

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