Theatre Design & Technology - Winter 2005 - 72

DT: ...exotic tape, I mean, old technology...
Interviewer: Yes, I'll have to take a look into that. It might be educational. It would be wonderful
if there were shots of Ed Kook for instance, and many of the old stalwarts...
DT: I am sure they are there.
Interviewer: That is the important thing: That the archive does exist, and it does so largely because of your efforts.
DT: Yes, the archive exists. And that is an accomplishment of which I'm very proud. Also we put
together one of the best collections of technical theatre books in the country. I am not quite
sure what we are going to do with them at this point. The UM-KC library has offered to take
them on as a special collection. That is very well where they may go. One of the other things
that I was very proud to do in the archival position was to gather a museum collection of
theatre technology. Ours is a very ephemeral business. Stuff gets replaced, tossed, and history goes right down the tubes. I started picking up various bits and pieces of things. Ultimately, we have representations of most of the development of dimming systems. I have a
gaslight board in my office, which is the only one that I have ever seen-all the way through
the AutoCue and Kleigel Performer. There is a Century Cue File, and there's the infamous
Edkotron. Incidentally, I built the Edkotron prototype for George Izenour when I was at Yale.
And there's a pretty good range of lighting instruments-from various PCs [Plano-Convex
lens instruments, ed.] and one of the first two commercially produced LEKOs-that's documented. There's some very strange stuff from Little Stage Lighting Company of Dallas, Texas,
which looks like he heavily bought into World War II surplus and marketed it. There are
things you don't see anymore like Linebach projectors, ERFs [ellipsoidal reflector floods,
ed.] and Olivetts. I never did find a bunch light or any gas fixtures, but I'm still looking. It
became more of a lighting collection than I intended. We also have various sound effect machines and some rigging stuff. I was not able to get a hold of one of the Izenour-Clancy Synchronous Winches. I missed that one. But there's a very good collection of follow spots.
From simple Kliegl Box PC Raw Arc Ones to a very elaborate Hall-Connelly, which sort of
looks like Captain Nemo met the follow spot. They are wonderful bits of mechanical technology, plus some very significant early projector stuff. And we also have things like some of Ed
Kook's papers and collections with much of his early work on projections and even some of
Jo Mielziner's renderings for non-theater projects in the collection as well.
I understand and regret that due to monetary and space considerations the Institute
was unable to support this part of the collection. But Model T Fords were once very common in this country, and at one time they were tossed into ravines and used in car wreck
demonstrations. Today they are treasured antiques. I hope that much the same thing will
happen with this stuff. I hope we can get somebody to take it on.
Interviewer: I hope so too, because all of your work on behalf of the archive was extremely important. Thanks to your efforts a tremendous amount of our history has been preserved. And
without the archive that you gathered and put together, this Living History Project would not
have been possible. Thank you.
DT: Well, thank you Rick, and thanks to you and your group for carrying on the work.
The importance of the archive that Doug Taylor was responsible for collecting is hard to estimate in the short term. Often such resources lay fallow for years until a fact needs to be checked,
or a question resolved. But the irony of all such historical documents is that even though they may
remain untouched for years, once lost, they can never be replaced. As for the archive's importance,
I can report at least one instance when these records have proven indispensable. I can say unequivocally that without the Institute's archives, The Living History Project would not have been
possible. Without all of the painstaking records and notes of the early meetings and projects I
would never have been able to decipher the players and their connections to the overall tapestry of
the Institute's history. Thank you again, Doug. And thanks to every one of our members who, over
the almost half-century of Institute activities, contributed to the historical record by taking notes in
a meeting, or heading up a project or conference, or just kept the records safe in a file or a box
until Doug could provide them with a repository. Each and every one of you provided a piece of the
puzzle.
TD & T

W I N T E R

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Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Theatre Design & Technology - Winter 2005