Theatre Design & Technology - Spring 1985 - 54

BOOK
REVIEWS
continued from page

~3 ...

reader would have been far better served.
It is lrue lhal lhese simple COSlUme patterns
provide a knowledgeable COSlumer or designer with a basis for imaginalive adapling
of lhe patterns. BUI it seems as lhough lhe
unirained COSlUmer who would find lhe
book valuable mighl also lack lhe background required lO enhance lhe patterns.
Lisling painiers, specific drawings, seclion
in Olher hislOry books and more-or-less
specific dale oflhe generic costumes would
help lhe reader-coslUmer find imaginative
options lO lhe many good ideas lhal are presenied. II is difficuh for the novice lO know
whal kinds of subtle varia lions are possible
when making a morning coal, or, for lhal
matter, whal dislinguishes a morning coal
of one decade of lhe nineleenih ceniury from
thai of anOlher decade.
on-specific coslUmes, especially lhose of men's nineleenih
ceniury lailored lypes provide little helpful
informalion lhal mighl also be useful in
characler developmen!. Paflems for Theafrica! Cosfllllle does nOI prelend to be a
COSlUme hislOry book, bUI il does seem 10
perpelUale some hislOrical fallacies lhal
mOSI COSlUmers and costume hislOrians
would like 10 see laid 10 res!. Though lhe
author describes some ceniuries by illustraling COSlUme lhat is similar 10 dress lhal occurred during lhe early, middle or lale years
of a period, lhe mylh lhat lhere was a single
slyle of Egyptian, Greek or Roman COSlUme
that was worn during a several lhousand
year period seems lO belie I he changing
charaCler of classical dress.
A whole hOSI 0 f amaleLIr COSI umers wi II
benefil from Paflerns for Theairica! Cosf/lllles. In particular, high school and communilY lheatre COSlUme shops may find lhis
leXI a useful addilion lO lheir library of
practical COSlUme books. In lhis book lhey
will see generalized patterns laid OUt in lhe
same chronology used by mo I COSlUme hislOry books. In addilion, lhese patterns are
diagrammed in a slandard scale and Wilh
reasonable inslruclions for lheir enlargemen!. Funhermore, lhe aUlhor has laken
some care lO use acceplable hislOrical /[erms
to name lhe various COSlUme pieces. This
will be useful lO lhe COSlUme designer who
waniS to do funher research. Finally, il
eems likely lhal mOSI COSlUmers who have
good conslruction skills will be able lO make
COSlUmes drafled from these patterns achieve
a comfonable, allraClive appearance.
Leon I. Brauner
Indiana UniversilY

Electronic Flame ... continued from page 28
Other refinements are clearly possible. It \\'ould have been desirable, for
instance, LO include correction circuitry
to avoid the proportional increase in
flicker depth that presently accompanies lowering of the external dimmer.
Yet the appreciative audience response
to the effect produced by the fairly unsophisticated devices described in this
article suggest that technicians may
wish to avail themselves of [his relatively inexpensive technology.

Bibliography
Alderson, i\lick: Fire EjjecI, in "Technician's
Tricks," Han'ey Sweet ed., USITT Newsletter
Jan/Feb 1981.

General Electric Company: SCR .\lallllaI6th ed
Englewood Cliffs, .J" Premice-Hall. 1975
1982.
Gottlieb, In'ing :--1.: Solid S/llie POII'er Eleclroll
ics, Indianapolis, Ind .. Howard Sams & Son~
1979,
Jung, \\'alter G.: IC Tilller Cookbook, Indian
apolis. Ind., Howard Sams & Sons, [97
Laster. Clay: SCRs alld Reill/ed ThyrislOr De
\'ices, Indianapolis, Ind., Howard Sam I
Sons. 1981.
ational Semiconductor Corp.: Lillear 0(1/
Book, Sama Clara, Calif.. 1976.

Frank Silberstein is Associale Professo
of design and [echnology in t he Depart
men[ of Theatre and Drama at Indian:
University. He has published frequeIll
ly in TD&T

Art of Light .. .continued from page 18
Claude Bragdon, More Lives Thall Olle (Ne\l'
York: AlfredA. Knopf, 1938),p.117.

Ibid.

7 Claude Bragdon, "Color :--lusic," (original
manuscript) p. 6: an example of the wide "ariety
of material comained in the collection of the
Bragdon Family Paper at the ni"ersity of
Rochester which will henceforth be identified according to their listing by 1\lary 1\largaret Huth
in the" Register of the Bragdon Family Papers,
1819 -1966," Depart ment of Special Collections,
Uni"ersity of Rochester Library, Rochester, Ne\l'
York, 1967. (Typewritten.) The method of cilation will be the notation. BFP, followed by a generic description of the data and a collection locator designation. In this ca e the citation is:
BFP, Bragdon. Claude Fayette. Publications and
\lanuscripts of Claude F. Bragdon. Box 18:
\Ianuscript,-Not dated. A-Z. Folder no.
8 Claude Bragdon, ''Color and Costume." The

tal. and the twO long diagonal lines yielded th
same sum, The magic square re"ealed a decora
ti"e "magic line" when one traced a path frar
number to number throughout a predetermine
sequence.
15 Claude Bragdon. "\ly Eweriments wit
Color-\lusic," Theosophisl (\Iay 1936). p. IDE

t6 Bragdon, .\Iore Li"es Thall Olle, p. .f.
t7 Claude Bragdon. "Song and Ligh!." HOlls
Bellll/ijll/.f2 (June 1917), p. 31.

t8 Letter recei' ed from Henry \\'. Bragdon
I August 1976.
19 When Bragdon first went to Ne\l York t,
open Hampden's production of Hallliel in 192C
he lived at Brice's mid-Iown :--lanhattan apart
men!. There. for the fir,t time. he met Robel
Edmond Jone and lorman Bel Geddes as \Ie
as innuenlial ocialiles.

Forward (February 1930). pp. 3 -.f.

10 See Donna :--1. Stein. Tholllas Wiljred
LIIII/ia, a Rel/'Ospeclil'e Exhibilioll (\\'ashingtoll

9 Bragdon, ,\fore Lil'es Thall Olle, p. 127.

D.C.: Corcoran Gallery of Art. 1971).

10 Bragdon. "Color and CoslLlmc," p, 8.

1l Bragdon. ,\Iore Lil'es Thall Olle, p. 121.

Ibid., pp. 8 - 9.

22 Ibid., p. 124.

t1 Bragdon. "Color :--lusic." pp. 11-12. Sec
also Bragdon's ProjeClil'e Ornalllel1l (Rochester.
Ne\l York: The :--Ianas Press. 19[5) for a detailed
discussion of this means of deri'ing original
ornamentation.

13 Ibid., p. [25.

l3 Bragdon, "An Art of Light," pp. 367-36

16 Bragdon, "\Iy Experilllenh \\ith Color
:--[usic," p. 107.

I~ A product of ancient Eastern cultures, a magic square was a numerical acrostic: a square of
numbers so arranged that all vertical, all horizon-

Thealre Design & Technology/ SITT/Spring 1985

Ibid., pp. [25-[26.

25 Ibid., pp.

J -6-3:

David A. Siegfried teaches at SLOcktol
Slate College in New Jersey.

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Theatre Design & Technology - Spring 1985