Lee Lash Studios designs

1912-1941 and undated

The Lee Lash Studios were opened in San Francisco in 1892 by Lee Lash and his brother, Samuel Lash. In 1893, the brothers moved their theatrical curtain company to Philadelphia, and in 1898, to New York City--first at Thirtieth Street and Broadway, later changing locations several times over several decades. By 1910, they had built a studio for the painting of their theater curtains at Mount Vernon, N.Y. The firm also designed theatrical productions and constructed those designed by others. Lee Lash retired after the stock market crash in 1929 and had a one-man show of his paintings in 1935 in New York City. Harry J. Kuckuck, who had joined the company in 1892, had owned the studio for twenty years at the time of his death in 1945. Original designs for curtains, drops, olios, nightclubs, set designs, parts of set models, and photographs of designs by Lee Lash Studios. Most designs are color on paper or board and are unidentified, although many are numbered. Two of the set designs are for the play Bet your life by Fritz Blocki and Willie Howard (John Golden Theatre, 1937), and for the motion picture Everybody's girl, ca. 1918.