Theatre Design & Technology - Winter 1996 - 70

Book Reviews
By Lester Polakov. ~ew York: Logbooks Press, 1993. ISBr\ 0-9639720-06; 202 pages, ills., paper, $25.00.
Perhaps best know recently for his Studio of Stage Design, Lester Polakov
in this book lists his several "careers" as painter, flyer, designer, and
teacher. As a designer, he created his first designs in 1936 and his last
produced design in 1982. Before, during, and after that he pursued his
career as a painter and, in between times, he was a flyer and a teacher.
All of these he documents in this autobiography of his life and work thus
far, the events of which he describes as resulting from cboice coupled
with cbance. During that life he has met and worked with many of the
most famous names in mid-twentieth century American theatre, and has
carved out a permanent niche for himself in Americ:m theatre history.
After an early fascination \\~th a\~ation, fostered by model airplane
building and fl)~ng, he was led to a lifetime interest in drawing and painting at which he found he possessed an enviable talent. This talent was
nlllled (at least partially) to stage design while a snldent at Columbia
niversity. Contacts there led to professional free-lance designing and associations with such well known theatre figures as Mordecai Gorelik,
Albert Johnson, Boris Aronson, Hany Horner, and Kurt Kaszner. Apromising early career was sidetracked by World War II when he was drafted
into the army. His talents as a designer and painter led to many de\~ations
from typical army life and lessened the onus and rigors of basic training.
He then joined the army air corps hoping to become a pilot but winding

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up as a bombardier. He spent most of his war years in Italy bombing various enemy targets there (including Orvieto-such a waste, all that wonderful wine!). Returning home, he resumed his design career, producing
a number of designs for Broadway shows, as well as many designs for
smaller theatres outside of New York City. His Snlruo of Stage Design had
its early beginnings in 1955 and was firmly established by 1958. It soon
became a major contributor of fresh design talent to the New York scene
until its ultimate demise in the mid 1980's. Since that time Polakov has
returned full-time to Ius first "career" of painting and drawing. A "Selected Designography" of Ius work follows the last chapter.
This book has a great deal of charm and interest value, written in a
casual style, full of anecdotes and war stories. Polakov has met or
worked with most of the major figures in nud-twentieth American theatre-evelyone from Judith Anderson to Colleen Dewhurst, from Jean
Rosenthal to Robert O'Hearn, or from Harold Clurman to Jose Quintero.
The retelling of his experiences in the theatre with these various personalities provides a fascinating view of the design professional in the American theatre during what has become recognized as tile heyday of
Broadway theatre. It also provides a refreslung insight into the on-stage
and off-stage lives and character of these well-known figures. Combine
tlus with several chapters detailing his wartime experiences during
World \,\Iar n, and you have everything from Broadway babes and bamboozle to Yankee Doodle derring do. Tlus text is augmented with many
"family album" photographs of "L.P.", his friends and acquaintancestheatrical, wartime, and times in between-together with paintings, designs, sketches, theatre programs, posters, and sinular assorted
memorabilia. It makes for interesting reading, to say the least.
At the same time, the book is not without its faults. There is a cel~
tain disjointedness to many of the passages, a jumping back and forth
between times and locations, which makes following the development of
his life and career somewhat challenging, if not downright difficult in
places. To augment tlus problem is a distinct lack of proofreading of the
copy. In fal~too-many instances the text at the bottom of one page does
not continue on the top of the next: sometimes whole phrases or sentences are repeated in a distracting non-sequinlr; but, all-too-often, a
large part of a sentence is just totally onutted. Combine tlus with unCOl~
rected "typos," grammatical errors, and nllsspellings, and a serious lack
of editorial influence is displayed. Another quibble: many of the illustrations (almost all of which have great intrinsic interest) are much smaller.
than I would desire; especially those on the eight pages of color illustrations (of course, I would have appreciated color plates throughout).
These are minor lll1noyances in view of the interest and value of tlus
book. Polakov is opinionated (and not afraid to state Ius opinion) lll1d
somewhat egocentric (but what autobiographer is not), but he is also a
fine teller of tales-especially theatre tales about people and events we
have all heard about, but wluch he experienced This book takes the recent history of Americlll1 theatre and gives it a very personal touch. I
highly recommend it to anyone interested in the twentieth Cennll)1 Anlerican theatre-but most particularly designers and design snldents.
Reviewed by WJoseph Stell,
Scenic Designer, University of Georgia Athens.

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Theatre Design & Technology - Winter 1996