Theatre Design & Technology - Winter 1987 - 39

BOOK REVIEWS

me nt, consultation, lecturing and
workshop demonstration, and scenography. There is also an index for
cross-referencing, and it is here that
the basic problem exists.
To look at the index, the reader is
led to believe that he or she may
choose among hundreds of names. If
the reader is a producer who wants to
hire staff, he may see a name that is
familiar and want to get an address or
phone number to contact that person
for an interview. If the person has
bought an "expanded entry" then the
data is there, together with past
credits and in some cases full-color
photOgraphs of past work. If, however, the person has returned the card
which gives a free listing, then the
data only contains a name, a city, and
a rather redundant abbreviation of
their specialty. Regrettably, this directory encourages free listings.
There are many pages in the book
that are solely devoted to admonishing the reader, "Don't be left out!"
This leads one to wonder why there
are free listings. Is it to pad the directory, to provide the opportunity for a
person to have their name next to a
"Broadway great," or merely to sell
"vanity" copies 1
Take the case of Vincente Minelli
of Beverly Hills, California, who incidentally has a free listing as a production designer but is unfortunately left out of the index. Since
that is all of the information we have
on him, the rest is admittedly conjecture. Surely this is not the famous
Vincente Minelli who recently
passed away. Disregarding the fact
that he was retired and did not need
to promote his talents through a directory, he certainly could afford to
purchase a better listing. Of course,
the possibility always exists that
someone filled out the card with
Minelli's name and sent it in as a
joke. Or maybe coincidentally there
is another production designer by the
name of Vincente Minelli. The
reader will never know from the lack
of a street address and telephone
number.
To be fair, the directOry contains
many listings of well-known professional and many not-so-well-known
designers and craftspeople that a producer could contact. Also, this directOry is handsomely typeset, paper
bound, and the first 15 pages contain
some beautiful color plates of set designs. Ignoring the fact that the dircc-

tOry contains unusable listings and
lacks a specific focus, it is overpriced
and not competitive with other similar listings. Thus, Register 85 86
cannot be recommended as a useful
directOry of the personnel involved
in film, stage, or television .*
Tom lvfikotowicz

Encyclopedia of
Architecture

by Doreen Yarwood.
ew York: Facts On File
Publications, 1986. ISBN
0-8160-1423-X, 448 pp., ill., S29.95
cloth.

The Encyclopedia of Architecture by
Doreen Yanvood provides a coherent
overview of the history of our Western architectural heritage. In more
than 1200 alphabetically organized
entries and 1000 photographs and
drawings, Yanvood has created a useful reference book that makes it easy

to access such subjects as architects,
designers, particular architectural
styles, detail and ornaments, building types, and materials. In addition,
the author has thoughtfully included
an index of more than 4000 entries
which helps locate tOpics that are
not the subject of the alphabetical
listings.
The reader can easily look up the
work of such architects as Sir
Christopher Wren, Sebastiano
Serlio, and Frank Lloyd Wright. Also,
there are many black and white photOgraphs and drawings of castles, cathedrals, palaces and country
houses, all accompanied by an essay
on the particular history and theory
behind each type of building. The essay on castles, for example, discusses
the relationship between the military function and the form of the fortification. In addition, the author
gives straightfonvard discussions of
such materials as glass and tile,
providing many examples and illustrations of various types. Yarwood's terse, yet detailed, illustrated
histOries of such architectural ele-

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Gibson Collars. Since 1864.
Contact: Gibson Lee Inc.
78 Stone Place
Melrose, MA 02176 USA
Phone: (617) 662-6025
TD&T· WINTER 1987

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Theatre Design & Technology - Winter 1987