- Creator
- Karson, Nat
- Call number
- *T-Vim 2011-101
- Physical description
- 6 boxes (ca. 600 drawings)
- Preferred Citation
- Nat Karson designs, Billy Rose Theatre Division, The New York Public Library
- Repository
- Billy Rose Theatre Division
- Access to materials
- Request an in-person research appointment.
Nat Karson, producer and designer of costumes, sets, and lighting in theatrical and television productions in New York, was born in Zurich, Switzerland in 1908, and moved to Chicago at an early age. He moved to New York in 1929, and worked in theatre productions at the Federal Theatre Project, including the all-black-cast production of Macbeth (1936), directed by Orson Welles. Karson also produced and created set, costume and lighting designs for theatrical productions on Broadway and elsewhere, such as the 1939 New York World's Fair. He served as the art director of Radio City Music Hall (1936-1943), and in 1948 he became consultant producer at the Columbia Broadcasting Company. His credits include The Hot Mikado (1939), Keep off the grass (1940), and Hamlet at the Kronberg Festival in Denmark (1949). Nat Karson died in New York City in 1954. Originals and copies of color costume and set designs; sketches and costume plots; technical drawings; and storyboards by Nat Karson for theatrical and television productions in New York during 1931-1949. The collection also includes 2 sketchbooks of set designs, several cut-outs of stage models, 1 caricature, 2 posters, and some black & white photographs.
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Location
Billy Rose Theatre DivisionNew York Public Library for the Performing Arts, Dorothy and Lewis B. Cullman Center
40 Lincoln Center Plaza, New York, NY 10023-7498
Third Floor