ephemera assemblyman: Theatre.

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Wednesday, February 10, 2010

Nikolay Pavlovich Akimov Theatre Posters

I came across a worn Russian book of Nikolay Pavlovich Akimov’s theatre posters, called Teatralʹnyĭ plakat N. Akimova. The book was published in Moscow in 1963 and is now out-of-print, but can be found at a few libraries in the US, UK, and Japan. Below are some of my favorites. EDIT - Huge thanks to Ingvar for providing the below translations.

The Labyrinth

Nikolay Pavlovich Akimov (1901 – 1968) was a "Russian stage designer, director, painter and graphic artist of Ukranian birth. He studied in Petrograd (now St Petersburg) from 1915 to 1919 in an artists' workshop under Mstislav Dobuzhinsky, Aleksandr Yakovlev and Vasily Shukhayev. From 1920 to 1922 he worked as a stage designer in Khar'kov (now Kharkiv). In 1923 he returned to Petrograd, where he worked as a book illustrator and stage designer at the Theatre of Musical Comedy, the Theatre of Drama and the Gor'ky Bol'shoy Theatre of Drama; he also worked in Moscow, at the Theatre of the Revolution, the Vakhtangov Theatre and the Moscow Art Theatre (MKhAT). From 1929 he worked as a director, designing his own productions. He was the Art Director of the Leningrad Theatre of Comedy (1935-49), where the most notable productions he directed and designed were Shakespeare's Twelfth Night (1938), Lope de Vega's Dog in the Manger and Widow of Valencia (1939) and Yevgeny Shvarts's The Shadow (1946), among others. From 1951 to 1955 Akimov was the artistic director of the Leningrad Soviet Theatre; Shadows (by Saltykov-Shchedrin) and The Case (by Sukhovo-Kobylin) stand out among the productions he directed and designed there. From 1955 to the end of his life he was at the Leningrad Theatre of Comedy as Artistic Director; among his best productions there were Shvarts's An Ordinary Miracle (1956) and The Dragon (1962), and Motley Stories (1960) after Chekhov."-answers.com

The Hunter, 1956

1905

Dictatorship

3 Minute Talk

The Profiteer

Night Shindy

Trees Die Upright

The Suitcase

Seat Nr. 16

The Salesmen of Glory

The Tragic Story of Hamlet the Danish Prince

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brief biography at answers.com [link]
@ worldcat [link]
more posters at Museum of Russian Poster [link]
more of his work at Russian Art & Books [link]
see more from the book at my flickr page [link]

Tuesday, September 1, 2009

George Cooke Caricatures

George Cooke was a caricatures artist who drew Edwardian music hall performers for the Grand Theatre of Varieties, in Hanley Worcestershire. He compiled them in a series of albums.

This is the frontispiece for the first of several albums of caricatures of music hall performers by George Cooke. The Dame figure in a roundel is probably a caricature of Cooke himself. The performers below represent the comedian Edwin Boyde, right, and the mimic Leo Tell, left. [link]

Carl Hertz, or Leib Morgenstern, when he was performing at the Grand Theatre of Varieties, Hanley, during the week of 9 January 1905. He was billed as ‘The Famous Carl Hertz. In his gigantic show of Marvellous Illusions and Surprises. The most elaborate and sensational conjuring show ever presented. Assisted by Mlle. Dalton’. His acts at Hanley included making a birdcage and canary disappear and discovering the canary in the pocket of an audience member. He also performed there the ‘mystifying movements of a clock dial, which stops at any time spectators may desire, and records the numbers of a throw of a dice before the dice have actually been used’. [link]

Juno Salmo, ‘The Golden Mephisto’, when he was performing at the Grand Theatre of Varieties, Hanley. This was either during the week of 2 January 1905 or 16 April 1906. The contortionist Juno Salmo was known as the homme grenouille or ‘frog-man’ when he performed in Paris with the Nouveau Cirque in a frog costume. He dislocated his shoulders, hopped around the aquatic part of the ring and did acrobatic contortions on a trapeze that appeared to be made of bamboo. He is seen here doing a similar act, but balancing on a pole dressed as a yellow devil. [link]

Comedian Edwin Boyde performing the sketch ‘Bread and Jam’ at the Grand Theatre of Varieties, Hanley, during the week of 12 December 1904. He was billed enthusiastically as ‘London’s Greatest Comedian’. From all the principal London music halls’. [link]

The Three Meers when they were performing at the Grand Theatre of Varieties, Hanley, during the week of 17 October 1904. They were billed as ‘An Eccentric Wire Act. Fifteen Minutes of Continuous Laughter’. [link]

Woody Kelly as a whiskered tramp character. He was performing at the Grand Theatre, Hanley, during the week of 10 June 1907. The act was billed as ‘Kelly and Gilette in the sketch “Fun in a Billiard Room”’. [link]

Dr Carl Hermann when he was topping the bill at the Grand Theatre of Varieties, Hanley, during the week of 26 February 1906. He was billed as ‘The Man who Tamed Electricity! The Human Resistance Coil! The Modern Miracle Worker! Hypnotist! Electrician! Scientist! Performs the Feat of Passing over 10,000 Volts of Electricity Through his Body! The Sensation of the Century! Doctor Amazed! Scientists Puzzled!’. [link]

Comedian Will Manning of Manning’s Entertainers. He was performing at the Grand Theatre of Varieties, Hanley, during the week of 19 December 1904. The company had appeared there the previous March, and now they were billed as ‘The Welcome Return of Manning’s Entertainers in the Convulsing Carnival of Uproarious Mishaps’. [link]

Comedian George Gilbey when he was performing at the Grand Theatre of Varieties, Hanley, during the week of 26 December 1904. He was billed as ‘Mr George Gilbey. From the Principal London Variety Theatres’. [link]

Caricature of the contortionist George Antill, who performed at the Grand Theatre of Varieties, Hanley, during the week of 15 August 1904. He was billed as ‘Comedian. The Evening Shadow’. [link]

Morris & Morris when they were performing at the Grand Theatre of Varieties, Hanley, during the week of 1 August 1904. They were billed as ‘a pair of real good comedians’. When they appeared previously at the Grand in September 1903, the review noted that, ‘Their fun in the trapeze is equal to anything that has been seen here’. [link]

Comic duo Burns & Evans performing spoof acrobatics at the Grand Theatre of Varieties, Hanley, during the week of 8 August 1904. They were billed as ‘American comedians, as Alfonso and Gasten in "Funnambulism" [link]

Caricature of the American performer Wieland when he was topping the bill at the Hippodrome, Stoke-on-Trent, during the week of 24 July 1905. He was billed as ‘The Great Wieland. America’s Foremost Comedy Juggler’. [link]

Sam Mayo, ‘The Immobile One’, when he was performing at the Grand Theatre of Varieties, Hanley, during the week of 29 May 1905. He was billed as ‘the Original Immobile Comedian’. [link]
And here is a 1922 song that I very much enjoy by Sam Mayo, called Things Are Worse In Russia

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all of these come from the Victoria and Albert Museum [link]

Wednesday, August 19, 2009

Theatre Magazine

Founded in 1900 as a pictorial quarterly called Our Players, it changed its name to The Theatre in May of 1901 when it became a monthly edited by Arthur Hornblow. Subsequently it was known as Theatre Magazine or simply Theatre. It became the finest of popular monthlies devoted to the theatre, as opposed to the more intellectual Theatre Arts, and survived for exactly thirty years, closing after its April 1931 issue. -Answers.com

November 1906

August 1921

October 1921

January 1922

January 1924

Febuary 1924

April 1924

July 1927

March 1929

April 1930

June 1930

October 1930

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most of these covers come from magazineart.org [link]
you can view more at finsbry's fabulous flickr page [link]
several more are at the always great Art Deco [link]
more at Gallery Direct Art [link]
thirty or so editions can be read at the Internet Achieve [link]

Monday, August 17, 2009

Programs of Boar's Head Dramatic Society

"The Boar's Head Dramatic Society of Syracuse University was initiated by a small group of students in the spring of 1903. This group recognized the need for an on-campus organization that was solely committed to all aspects of dramatic production. Their plans did not get underway, however, until 1904 when -- still affiliated with the English Club -- they presented "King Lear" in Syracuse, Rochester and Auburn, under the direction of Professor Frederick D. Losey.

On February 9th, 1906, "Boar's Head" was adopted as the official name of the newly founded organization. This name was chosen in honor of the Boar's Head Tavern in Eastcheap, London, 'favorite resort of Falstaff, Prince Hal and their companions' in Shakespeare's Henry IV.

Boar's Head eventually faded out in the late 1960's, but produced over 200 plays in its sixty year run. Dramatic activities continue at Syracuse University, but no longer under the auspices of Boar's Head." -Syracuse University archives