W. H. Crain:
An Inventory of His Costume and Scenic Design Collection at the Harry Ransom Humanities Research Center
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Descriptive Summary |
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| Repository: | Harry Ransom Humanities Research Center, University of Texas at Austin | |
| Creator: | Crain, W. H., 1917-1988 | |
| Title: | W. H. Crain Costume and Scenic Design Collection | |
| Inclusive Dates: | ca. 1650-1993 | |
| Bulk Dates: | bulk 1900-1960 | |
| Extent: | Original inventory: 4 document boxes, 32 oversize boxes, 301 oversize folders (16.8 linear feet); Addition: 1 document box, 1 oversize box, 3 oversize folders (0.84 linear feet) | |
| Abstract: | The bulk of the W. H. Crain Costume and Scenic Design Collection, ca. 1650-1993, consists of original renderings of costumes and scenic design for various types of performances. Though the work of French, British, and Russian artists is present, the emphasis is firmly on twentieth-century American designers. Noteable artists include Edward Gordon Craig, Léon Bakst, Alexandre Benois, Percy Anderson, Lemuel Ayers, Cecil Beaton, Attilio Comelli, Archie Gunn, James Henderson, Houghton, Robert Edmond Jones, Charles Karl, William Henry Mathews, Sidney H. Sime, Ernest Stern, and Dolly Tree. | |
| RLIN Record #: | TXRC00-A10 | |
Administrative Information
Acquisition:
Purchases and gifts, 1965-1998
Provenance:
W. H. Crain was senior curator of the Theater Arts Collection from 1970 until his retirement in 1994. A graduate of the University of Texas at Austin, he joined the staff of the Ransom Center in 1965. Throughout his tenure at the Center he assembled and augmented this collection with purchases from a variety of sources.
Processed by:
Helen Baer and Toni Alfau, 1999-2000; Helen Adair and Katie Causier, 2006; Helen Adair, 2007
Restrictions
Access:
Open for research
Sources
Derek Jarman: A Portrait. London: Thames and Hudson, 1996. Drinkwater, John, and Albert Rutherston. Claud Lovat Fraser. London: W. Heinemann, 1923. Enciclopedia dello spettacolo. Roma: Casa Editrice Le Maschere, 1954-62. Marion Koogler McNay Art Museum. Bakst and Benois: The Tobin Wing, 1985. San Antonio, Tex.: Marion Koogler McNay Art Museum, 1985. Mikotowicz, Thomas J. Theatrical Designers: An International Biographical Dictionary. New York: Greenwood Press, 1992. Owen, Bobbi. Costume Design on Broadway: Designers and Their Credits, 1915-1985. New York: Greenwood Press, 1987. Speaight, George. The History of the English Toy Theatre. Boston: Plays Inc., 1969. Spencer, Charles. Cecil Beaton: Stage and Film Designs. London: Academy Editions, 1975.Scope and Contents
The bulk of the W. H. Crain Costume and Scenic Design Collection, ca. 1650-1993, consists of original renderings of costume and scenic designs for plays, operas, ballets, revues, and films, augmented by works of art on paper, costumes, prints, and other material. The collection is arranged in four series: I. Artists, ca. 1650-1993 (33.5 boxes, 280 oversize folders), II. French Music-Hall, ca. 1920-55 (0.5 box, 16 oversize folders), III. Toy Theater Prints, ca. 1830-50, nd (1.5 boxes, 4 oversize folders), and IV. Sources, 1851-ca. 1960 (0.5 box, 1 oversize folder). Within each series, material is arranged alphabetically by name of artist or production title, or chronologically as appropriate. In addition to providing a description of the contents and the location of each folder in the collection, the Item List includes supplemental information for all of the renderings and other works of art in Series I and II, viz. the artist's name, the number of items, and an indication of the media used. Series I can be accessed by title of work via the Index of Production Titles following the Item List.
Represented in the Artists series are over eighty costume and scenic designers ranging from the Bibienas in the seventeenth century to Jo Mielziner. Though the work of French, British, and Russian artists is present, the emphasis is firmly on twentieth-century American designers. The series is divided into two subseries: A. Renderings, ca. 1650-1993, and B. Other Materials, 1819-1979. Both subseries are arranged alphabetically by name of artist, then chronologically, with unidentified artists placed at the end. Subseries A contains over 850 study sketches and preliminary and final renderings executed in a variety of media for productions staged in the United States and Europe. Included are woodcuts by Edward Gordon Craig; renderings by Léon Bakst and Alexandre Benois for Serge Diaghilev's Ballets Russe; Mielziner sketches covering nearly his entire career, including work done while an apprentice to Robert Edmond Jones; a large group of Luigi Bartezago renderings, presumably for productions staged at La Scala; several sketches by the Constructivists Aleksandra Exter and Boris Aronson; and a number of costume designs for the Ziegfeld Follies by James Reynolds. Also included are a small number of original sketches attributed to the seventeenth- and eighteenth-century artists Jean Bérain, Fabrizio Galliari, Pietro Gottardo Gonzaga, and members of the Bibiena family. Though many artists are represented by a few items, the series includes at least ten sketches for Percy Anderson, Lemuel Ayers, Cecil Beaton, Attilio Comelli, Archie Gunn, James Henderson, Houghton, Robert Edmond Jones, Charles Karl, William Henry Mathews, Sidney H. Sime, Ernest Stern, and Dolly Tree. Item-level descriptions of Ernest Stern's renderings for White Horse Inn are available in an earlier finding aid in the Reading Room.
Subseries B contains materials that relate to specific artists but
which are not renderings. Included here are ephemera, reproductions of
renderings, works of art on paper, such as Edward Gordon Craig's non-theatrical
woodcuts, and other formats. Notable items are costumes by Bakst and Nicholas
Roerich for Ballet Russe productions of
Narcisse and
Le sacre du printemps; an Edward Gordon
Craig set model; nearly seventy slides of Arch Lauterer
designs; a portfolio of
material pertaining to Edward Gorey's sets and costumes for
Dracula; scrapbooks containing small
renderings by R. Bööcke, Jo Mielziner, and Georgii A. Pozhedaev;
a small number of letters by Benois and his daughter Anna Tcherkessof to
Elizabeth Hudson and Antonina Fedorovna; and prints showing the work of the
eighteenth- and nineteenth-century artists Giuseppe Bibiena, Alfonso Parigi, and
Alessandro Sanquirico.
The French Music-Hall series, ca. 1920-55, contains souvenir programs and original costume and scenic designs. Although many of the renderings are probably from the Folies-Bergère, it is likely that other Parisian venues are represented. The bulk of the series comprises renderings for showgirls' costumes by Ranson, Alec Shanks, and Zig, and scenic designs by Dany. The material in this series was purchased from a single source.
The Toy Theater Prints series, ca. 1830-50, nd, contains colorful plates intended for children that show the characters and settings for plays. The bulk of the series consists of prints for over twenty plays that were popular enough in London for British publishers to issue sets of plates as children's versions; however, the prints in this series do not constitute complete sets. The plates, most of which were published by Benjamin Pollock, I. J. Dyer and Co., or John Redington, are arranged alphabetically by title; unidentified plays and a few non-alphabetical groupings are placed at the end. Completing the series are four folders of undated French and German toy theater prints published by Imagerie Pellerin and Verlag J. F. Schreiber. Item-level descriptions of most of the toy theater prints are available in an earlier finding aid in the Reading Room.
The Sources series, 1851-ca. 1960, contains photographs, promotional materials, sheet music, and clippings which illustrate popular styles of dress. Also included is a reproduction of a modern artist's rendering of dancers in an eighteenth-century ballet.
Researchers will find related material in the Costume and Scenic Design Collection and the Robert Downing Papers. The Theater Arts Collection includes the papers of the theatrical designers Boris Aronson, Norman Bel Geddes, Eldon Elder, Gordon Conway, and James B. Newton, and the records of the costume firm of B. J. Simmons and Co.
Abbreviations in the List
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ALS=autograph letter signed
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b=box
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ff=flat file
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ob=oversize box
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| The finding aid for the W. H. Crain Costume and Scenic Design Collection is a conflation of the original inventory created in 2000, and of a small addition that was catalogued in 2006 and 2007. Currently the addition is described only by a Folder List which has been appended to the original inventory, using the series arrangement established with the original inventory and continuing the box and folder numbering sequence. The Scope and Contents note and Index of Production Titles do not make reference to the addition, and the RLIN record for the collection summarizes the material in the original inventory only. | ||
Container List
Addition: Series I. Artists, 1890-1997, nd |
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| Subseries A. Renderings, 1890-1979, nd | |||||||||||||
| Box | |||||||||||||
| b 38.1 | Benois, Alexandre. Two costume designs for La belle au bois dormant, nd | ||||||||||||
| b 38.2 | Blackman, Robert. Two costume designs for Waiting for Godot, 1979, incl. Patrick Hines as "Estragon" | ||||||||||||
| b 37.1 | Conway, Gordon. Two costume designs for High Treason, [1929] | ||||||||||||
| Folder | |||||||||||||
| ff 304 | Harker, Joseph. Scenic design for Henry Irving's production of Ravenswood at the Lyceum Theatre, 1890 | ||||||||||||
| Box | |||||||||||||
| b 38.3-7 | Swan, Penelope. Thirteen costume designs for Hajii Baba, nd | ||||||||||||
| Folder | |||||||||||||
| ff 302 | Unidentified artist. Costume design for a U.S. production of The Royal Hunt of the Sun, nd | ||||||||||||
| Subseries B. Other Materials, 1997, nd | |||||||||||||
| Box | |||||||||||||
| b 37.2 | Parigi, Alfonse. Prints, nd, showing scenic designs for The Inferno | ||||||||||||
| Folder | |||||||||||||
| ff 303 | Svoboda, Josef. Poster, 1997, showing 1960 scenic design for Racek/The Seagull | ||||||||||||
Series II. French Music-Hall, ca. 1920-55 |
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| Folder | |||||||||||||
| ff 227 |
Curti, Louis. Costume designs nd
Gouache and pencil on paper. 2 items |
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| Box | |||||||||||||
| ob 12.18 |
Curti, Louis. Scenic design nd
Gouache, pencil, and metallic paint on paper. 1 item |
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| Folder | |||||||||||||
| ff 228-29 |
Dany. Scenic designs nd
Watercolor, gouache, and metallic paint on paper. 4 items |
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| ff 230 |
Erté [Roman de Tirtov]. Scenic
design nd
Gouache and metallic paint on paper. 1 item |
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| Box-Folder | |||||||||||||
| ob 12.19; ff 231-33 |
Ranson. Costume designs [ca. 1920s], nd
Gouache and pencil on paper. 3 items |
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| Folder | |||||||||||||
| ff 234 |
Sesman, C. Costume design nd
Watercolor, pencil, and metallic paint on paper. 1 item |
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| ff 235-36 |
Shanks, Alec. Costume designs nd
Watercolor, pencil, and metallic paint on paper. 2 items |
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| ff 237 |
Shanks, Alec. Scenic design nd
Watercolor, pencil, and gouache on paper. 1 item |
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| ff 238 |
Weldy, Max. Costume design nd
Ink on paper. 1 item |
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| ff 239 |
Willoughby, Hugh. Costume design 1924
Pencil, watercolor, and metallic paint on paper. 1 item |
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| ff 240 |
Wittop, Freddy. Scenic design for
"A Drunk Man's
Story" nd
Gouache and metallic paint on paper. 1 item |
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| Box-Folder | |||||||||||||
| ob 12.20; ff 241 |
Zamora, José de. Costume
designs [ca. 1920s], nd
Gouache, watercolor?, and metallic paint. 2 items |
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| Folder | |||||||||||||
| ff 242-43 |
Zig. Costume designs nd
Gouache, watercolor, and metallic paint. 5 items |
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| ff 244 |
Zig. Scenic design nd
Gouache and metallic paint on paper. 1 item |
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| ff 245 | Unidentified artist. Costume design 1923
Metallic paint and gouache on paper. 1 item |
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| Box | |||||||||||||
| b 4.9-10 | Folies-Bergère souvenir programs 1951-55, nd | ||||||||||||
Series III. Toy Theater Prints, ca. 1830-50, nd |
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| Box | |||||||||||||
| b 1.15 | Aladdin [ca. 1840-50] | ||||||||||||
| b 1.16 | The Battle of Waterloo nd | ||||||||||||
| b 1.17 | Brigand nd | ||||||||||||
| b 1.18 | Brigand's Son nd | ||||||||||||
| b 1.19 | Children in the Wood nd | ||||||||||||
| b 1.20 | Douglas nd | ||||||||||||
| b 1.21 | The Floating Beacon nd | ||||||||||||
| b 1.22 | Jacob Faithful nd | ||||||||||||
| b 1.23 | King Henry, or The Miller of Mansfield nd | ||||||||||||
| b 1.24 | Mazeppa 1831, nd | ||||||||||||
| b 2.1 | The Miller and His Men nd | ||||||||||||
| b 2.2 | My Poll and My Partner Joe [ca. 1837-40] | ||||||||||||
| b 2.3-4 | Oliver Twist, pub. by Pollock nd | ||||||||||||
| b 2.5-6 | Oliver Twist, pub. by Redington nd | ||||||||||||
| b 2.7 | Paul Clifford nd | ||||||||||||
| b 2.8 | The Red Rover nd | ||||||||||||
| b 2.9 | Rover's Bride nd | ||||||||||||
| b 2.10 | Sleeping Beauty nd | ||||||||||||
| b 2.11 | Timour the Tartar nd | ||||||||||||
| b 2.12 | The Waterman nd | ||||||||||||
| b 2.13 | Untitled pantomime nd | ||||||||||||
| b 2.14-15 | Characters in unidentified plays nd | ||||||||||||
| b 2.16 | Characters in various plays nd | ||||||||||||
| b 2.17 | Generic scenes used in several plays nd | ||||||||||||
| b 2.18 | Title pages of various plays nd | ||||||||||||
| Folder | |||||||||||||
| ff 292, 297 | Imagerie Pellerin prints nd | ||||||||||||
| ff 293-94 | Verlag J. F. Schreiber prints nd | ||||||||||||
Series IV. Sources, 1851-ca. 1960 |
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| Box | |||||||||||||
| b 4.11 | Sheet music covers showing women wearing bloomers, 1851, nd | ||||||||||||
| b 4.12 | Weldon's Fancy Dress for Ladies and Gentlemen, [ca. 1890] | ||||||||||||
| b 4.13 | Clipping showing a Valentine Gross watercolor of two dancers in Tancrède, 1764, [1913] | ||||||||||||
| b 4.14 | Clipping, "Costuming All Creation," [1928] | ||||||||||||
| b 2.19 | Clippings and photographs of Russian costumes and locales, ca. 1960 | ||||||||||||
| Folder | |||||||||||||
| ff 295 | Leaflet for Fritz Schoultz & Co. Theatrical and Masquerade Costumes, nd | ||||||||||||
Addition: Series IV. Sources, ca. 1860 |
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| Box | |||||||||||||
| b 37.3 | Paper dolls with mica overlays showing figures in Indian costume, ca. 1860 | ||||||||||||
W. H. Crain Costume and Scenic Design Collection--Index of Production Titles (Original Inventory)
This index does not include unidentified productions.
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1776--ff 275
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Act of Piety--b 1.11
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Alessandro nelle Indie--b 4.1
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Androcles and the Lion--b 1.8
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Angelo--ob 8.21-27
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Antigone--b 1.8
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The Apple Cart--ob 11.18
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Gli Arabi delle Gallie--b 4.4
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Arlequinade--ob 9.4
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As You Like It--ff 51
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L'assedio di Calais--b 4.5
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The Awakening--ob 9.6
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Babes in the Wood--ob 8.20
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The Bacchae--ff 94
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Un ballo in maschera--ob 9.5, 11.19
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La belle au bois dormant--ob 8.6
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Berenice--ob 11.17
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Betty and the Bandit--ff 107
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The Birthday of Infanta--ff 85
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Bluebeard's Favorite Bride--ff 110-13
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Les Bohémiens--b 1.13
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Die Braut von Messina--ff 283
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The Bride--ff 114
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The Bride of Dionysus--ff 1
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By the Beautiful Sea--ob 11.8-9
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Call Me Mister--ff 157
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Call of Life--ob 14
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Can-Can--ff 153
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Caught--ob 14
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I cavalieri di Valenza--b 4.7
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Central City Nights--ff 87
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Le chevalier errant--ff 27
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Children of Darkness--b 1.8
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Chout--ff 97
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Chu Chin Chow--ob 5.1-5
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Cleopatra--ob 8.28
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The Contrast--b 1.10
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Danton's Death--ff 199
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Day and Night--ff 2-3
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Death and Entrances--b 1.9
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Death of a Salesman--ob 11.6-7
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The Devils--ff 266
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Diane de Poitiers--ff 251
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Dido and Aeneas--b 1.10, 3.5; ob 9.1
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Don Giovanni--ob 8.16, 17
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Don Philippe--ob 7.2-39; ff 29-30
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Dr. Knock--b 1.8
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Dracula--b 1.7, 3.10; ob 12.15; ff 262-64
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Dread--ob 14
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Electra--b 1.8-10
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Elisabetta, regina d'Inghilterra--b 4.3
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Emperor Jones--ff 148
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Die Entführung aus dem Serail--ff 221c
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Eugenia--ff 184
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Family Portrait--b 1.11
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Fanny--ff 274
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Faust--ob 14; ff 248
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First Mortgage--ob 14
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Fortunato--b 1.10
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La forza del destino--ob 8.15
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Four Walls--ff 95
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The Gainsborough Girls--ff 16
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George M!--ff 204
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Giselle--ob 8.12
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Giulietta e Romeo--b 4.2
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The Government Inspector--ff 46-48
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Great Lady--ff 13
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The Green Pastures--ff 290
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Greenwich Village Follies?--ob 9.7; ff 169-70, 281
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The Grey Fox--ob 14
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Hamlet--b 1.6; ob 9.3, 15; ff 42-45, 86, 89-93, 272, 298-300
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Happy Days--ff 268
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He--b 1.11; ff 269
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Hélène de Sparta--ff 211, 249
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Henry IV--ff 205
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Humpty Dumpty on Ice--ff 117-18
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Idomeneo--ff 221b
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L'imperatrice aux Rochers--ff 26
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L'Inconnu, ou Le château mystérieux--b 1.14
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The Inferno--ob 21-22
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Inherit the Wind--ff 267
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The Innocents--b 1.10
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Iphegenia--ff 247
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Irene--ff 126-27
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The Island God--ff 34
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Ivanhoe--ff 52
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Judas--ob 14
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Jumpers--ff 200
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Die Jungfrau von Orleans--ff 284
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Karl and Anna--ob 14
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The King and the Duke--b 1.8
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King Lear--b 1.11
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Landscape with Figures--ff 19, 250
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Letter to the World--b 1.9
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Little Eyolf--ob 14
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Little Red Riding Hood--ob 9.17-21
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The London Merchant--b 1.8
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Love's Labor's Lost--ob 11.16
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The Loves of Cass Maguire--ff 35-37
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Lucky Sam McCarver--ob 14
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Macbeth--ff 155
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The Magician's Nephew--ff 173
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Marouf, the Cobbler of Cairo--ff 278-80
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The Marriage of Figaro--ob 10.17
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Le martyre de Saint Sébastien--ob 5.14
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Masque of Venice--ob 14
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The Merry Widow--ob 5.7, 10.18-19, 14
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A Midsummer Night's Dream--ob 16
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Mirages--ff 33
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Miss Eaton--ob 14
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The Moon and Sixpence--ff 174-76
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The Most Happy Fella--ob 11.14
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Mrs. Cook's Tour--ob 14
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My Fair Lady--ff 21
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Naked--b 1.8
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Narcisse--12.1, 21-31
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Nicholas and Alexandra--ff 41
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The Nutcracker--ob 8.10-11
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On a Clear Day You Can See Forever--ff 23-24
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Othello--b 1.10; ff 154
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Out of Dust--ob 10.16
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Pageant of Drury Lane--ob 8.18-19
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Paphnutius--b 1.11
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Le pavillon de Armide--ob 7.1
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Petrouchka--b 1.3; ob 8.9; ff 31
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Pickwick--ff 53
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Pipe Dream--ob 11.10-11
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Il pirata--b 4.6
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La pisanella ou la mort parfumée--ob 5.16
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The Pretenders--ff 177-83
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Punch and Judy--b 1.9
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Quadrille--ff 17
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Richard II--ff 82-83
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Richard III--ob 10.2-15
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Romeo and Juliet--b 1.8; ob 10.20; ff 129-41
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Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead--ff 98
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Le sacre du printemps--ob 32-36
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La sagesse--ob 8.5
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The Sailors of Cattaro--b 1.11
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Saladino e Clotilde--b 4.8
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Saratoga--ff 20
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Scene--ob 20
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Schéhérazade--b 1.1
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School for Scandal--ff 15
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The Sea Princess?--ff 208
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Sebastian--ff 156
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Shadow of the Wind--ob 10.22-11.5, 15; ff 273
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Shroud My Body Down--ff 270
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Silk Stockings--ob 11.12-13
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Six Characters in Search of an Author--b 1.8-9
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Sleeping Beauty?--ob 8.7
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The Sleeping Princess--ff 11-12
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El sombrero de tres picos--ff 224-26
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Southern Maid--ob 5.6
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St. Joan--ff 286-87
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St. Louis Woman--ob 5.8-13; ff 4-10
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The Star-Wagon--ff 149-51
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The Strad Mystery--ob 14
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Strange Interlude--ob 14
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Streamline--ff 203
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Suddenly Last Summer--ff 185
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Swan Lake--b 3.1; ob 8.1-4
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The Tales of Hoffman--ff 222, 277
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The Taming of the Shrew--ff 201, 252-56
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Tancrède--b 4.13
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The Tempest--ff 84
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There Was a Little Girl--ob 11.15
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The Three Penny Opera--ff 202
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Top of the Ladder--b 1.10
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Tosca--ob 8.8
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La traviata--ff 22
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Trend--b 1.8
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Tristan and Isolde--ff 209
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The Trojan Women--b 1.10; ff 96
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Turandot--ff 38-40
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Turandot, Princess of China--b 1.9
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Twelfth Night--b 1.10
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The Two Gentlemen of Verona--ff 18
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Two Noble Kinsmen--ff 50
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Two on an Island--ob 10.21
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Unseen--ob 14
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Vestalin, Die (La vestale)--ff 291
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The Waltz Invention--ff 271
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Way of World--ob 11.24
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White Horse Inn--ff 186-96, 301
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The Wild Duck--ob 14
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The Winter's Tale--b 1.9
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Your Obedient Husband--ff 152
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Die Zauberflöte--ff 221d
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Ziegfeld Follies of 1921--ff 158-64
