Theatre Design & Technology - Oct 1969 - 4

An American in Paris;
Norman Bel Geddes Produces JEANNE d'ARC
GEORGE BOGUSCH
University of Pittsburgh

The fame resulting from his triumph with protean, architectural setting, as he was to
The Miracle, and the publicity that had come do in all of the productions that he directed. His notes, therefore, outline new
with his publication of the proposed production of The Divine Comedy enabled endings and beginnings for nearly all the
Norman Bel Geddes to secure financial aid scenes, most of which employ a crowd. A
from Otto Kahn to produce and direct on his holographic stage direction at the end of the
scene at Baudricourt's castle is indicative
own in 1925. This gave Geddes the ultimate opportunity to test his theories of of the visual effects that Geddes used in
unity in the theatre because, for the first this production:
time, he would be in complete charge of
In the remaining dim light, many servants like
all the aspects of the production. He revague shadows, mount the plinths from both
ceived ninety thousand dollars from Kahn
sides. They stand on various levels and unroll on
their poles, great banners of brocade which fall
and, in association with the stage manager
clear
to the floor and form walls of gold ... A
and producer Richard Herndon, formed a
throne upon a dais is brought in upon the left.
company with the idea of producing three
Behind the throne servants hold a canopy.4
plays in New York. The first scripts that
Geddes chose were Jeanne d'Arc and The One of the most frequently noted of these
Mother of Christ by Mercedes de Acosta, a effects was the scene change for the coropoetess-playwright and friend of Eva Le nation of the Dauphin at Rheims. In this
Gall ienne who had already been represented scene change the extras brought in relion Broadway by one unsuccessful play. 1 On quaries and other sacred symbols on tall
an impulse Geddes, de Acosta, and Le poles which, when brought together on the
Gallienne decided to produce Jeanne d'Arc multilevel platforms that formed the setting,
in Paris before presenting it in the United created the impression of the high Gothic
States.
altar of Rheims Cathedral (Figs. 2 and 3).
Technicall y, the script of Jeanne d' Arc is no It appears that Geddes was aware from the
more that a scenario, but it excited and beginning that there was very little weight
stimulated Geddes' visual imagination, and to the script, but it is not evident that he
provided hi m with a foundation for spectacl e ever realized the dramatic qualities of the
of action, which he believed to be the cen- script as a whole, even with his additions,
ter of drama. (Fig. 1) Since Geddes visual- were unsatisfactory.
ized a human spectacle attendant upon the As he had proposed to do in The Divine
simple story of Jeanne, he developed a Comedy, Geddes employed sound inJeanne
script that concentrated upon the action of d'Arc for psychological purposes. As Geddes
his principals and grouping of the extras. described some of the effects approximately
The spectacle implicit in the scenic in- four years later, the results were quite efvestiture of his previous productions, like fective:
the extensive architectural setting of The
Miracle, was to be contained in the costumes
In the trial scene was Jeanne standing in the
middle of all her accusers who hurled accusations
and properties for his cast of twelve princiat her like so many stones. Every time mention
pals and nearly one hundred and fifty extras
was made of burning at the stake or anything
in Jeanne d'Arc; his first real chance to
akin to it, there was a faint roll on six kettle
demonstrate his theory that costumes are
drums which were located overhead in the grid·
iron, and the mention of this subject became
scenery worn by people.2
From the very beginning, Geddes saw the
production in terms of lighting effects, sou nd,
and the movement and grouping of actors;
this is the tenor through most of the notations Geddes made in all three versions of
the script of Jeanne d'Arc. 3 In the first version of the script, Geddes added scenic
transitions to allow the play to flow smoothly from episode to episode without a break.
De Acosta's original script was divided by
curtains or blackouts at the end of each
scene so that the scenery might be changed.
Geddes discarded this and created a single

Figure 1: Geddes' pencil sketches ofscenes
from JEANNE D'ARC. All illustrations to
this article are courtesy of the Hoblitzelle
Theatre Arts Library, University of Texas at
Austin.

more and more frequent as the scene progressed
with the result that very gradually the rolls fol·
lowed one another in a definite time interval
which more and more gradually came at closer
intervals. The scene following and as was the
case in all intervals between scenes in this pro·
duction, the change was what amounts to being
instantaneous inasmuch as the time of the in·
terval of blackness did not consume more than
five seconds. In the scene that follows, which is
the prison, this roll at the same rhythm, con·
tinued as an ominous overtone. It continued
through this scene into the next scene which
was the Streets of Rouen, with a vast crowd
gathering to witness the burning of Jeanne the
Witch, and like the rolling of thunder, the rhythm
of drums kept repeating. Finally, the crowd divided

mmo

THEATER DESIGN AND TECHNOLOGY

OCTOBER,1969

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