Theatre Design & Technology - Winter 1977 - 7

EDITORIAL & N E W S - - - - - EDITORIAL---After five years there are many people to thank. If I
have forgotten a name or two it is not from mere forgetfullness it is because there are so many; authors, reporters,
officers: board members, associate editors, Editorial
Board people and the members of the Publications Committee, photographers, advertisers, printers, and last,
but by no means least, the membership of the Institute
who have taken the time to write, to criticize, to suggest
and to actively assist in the production of this journal. My
heartfelt thanks to all of you.
In particular, I would like to pay tribute to the Editorial Staff, Donald Swinney and Mike Connell who secure
our invaluable advertising; Fred M. Wolff, Associate
Editor, Technical Reports; Dick Thompson, Associate
Editor, New Products; Tony Courtade, Associate Editor,
Book Reviews: Thanks, Chaps. It would have been very
tough without your good work.
Members of the Editorial Board serve as readers and
critics. They also assist in the solicitation of manuscripts.
To Ashok Bhavnani, Clyde Nordheimer. David Hale, Walt
Walters, Van Phillips, Joel Rubin, Don Stowell Jr., David
Thayer and any others I may have missed, Muchias
Gracias and Merci Beaucoup. Viele Danke to the Publications Committee: Randy Earle, David Klepper, James
Stockman and Bernie Works.
Certain others deserve special thanks for their constant
support and useful criticism. They are Ned Bowman who
talked me into this thing in the first place, Herb Greggs
who has one of the toughest of all jobs - keeping the
circulation on an up-to-date status, past presidents Dick
Arnold and Ed Kook and our current prexy, Chuck
Williams for all their patience with me and some of my
irrational requests and, lastly, to the one person who
really deserves much of the credit for this publication,
Gary Gaiser, good friend, good critic and extraordinary
person.
One of my most pleasurable memories of the past halfdecade are the USITT conferences and several meetings
and congresses abroad. I would have made very few of
them if I had not held this Editorship. I am thankful for
the new friends and the renewed meetings with old ones.
I hope to see all of you very soon again, this time as a,
no less dedicated but, "free" man. All the best and keep
up the good work.
Tom Watson

NEWS-----Russell Johnson Associates, theatre planning and
architectural acoustics consultants based in Toronto

USITT

and New York, have joined with Theatre Projects, Ltd.,
of England in a joint venture to provide acoustics consulting and a comprehensive range of theatre engineering
and planning services for projects located in the Middle
East. Another member of the joint venture is RHWL
International of London. The group has opened a regional office in Tehran.
Theatre Projects, Ltd., are serving as theatre consultants on the new National Theatre in London, the Barbican Center in London (to be completed soon), and many
other theatre and auditorium projects in Iceland, New
Zealand, Vienna, Mexico, Hong Kong and the United
Kingdom. Russell Johnson provided the acoustics consulting services for the recently opened Onondaga Center
in Syracuse, New York; Hamilton Place in Ontario; and
several other auditorium and theatre projects in the
Far East, Canada and the United States. Russell Johnson
Associates have recently served as theatre planning and
acoustics consultants on projects in Egypt, Mexico, the
U.S., and Canada.

ACOUSTICIAN CYRIL HARRIS AWARDED
FRANKLIN INSTITUTE'S HIGHEST HONOR
Philadelphia, PA - Dr. Cyril Manton Harris, the
acoustical designer of over 100 concert halls and auditoriums including New York's Metropolitan Opera House
and the new Avery Fisher Hall, both in Lincoln Center,
Washington's Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts
and National Academy of Sciences Auditorium, Minneapolis' Minnesota Orchestra Hall, and St. Louis' Powell
Symphony Hall, received The Franklin Institute's highest
honor, The Franklin Medal, at annual Medal Day awards
ceremonies Wednesday, November 2.
An acoustical physicist, author and educator, Harris is
Charles Batchelor Professor of Electrical Engineering and
professor of architecture at Columbia University. In
addition, he is chairman of the Division of Architectural
Technology at Columbia's Graduate School of Architectture and Planning.
Harris was cited for his many contributions to the
science of acoustics and to acoustical engineering and
architecture. His work-which has allowed musicians
to achieve their artistic potentials and listeners to experience that artistry-has been widely praised. A perfectionist, Harris has never had a failure. All of his acoustical
designs are considered good: some are considered superlatively good; none are considered bad-"a record that
is not even approached, much less matched, by that of
any other acoustical consultant in the world," according
to a New Yorker magazine profile published last year.
A member of numerous organizations and societies,
including the National Academy of Engineering, he is a
fellow and past president of the Acoustical Society of
America, a fellow of the lEE E and an honorary member

THEATRE DESIGN AND TECHNOLOGY

WINTER,1977

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