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Creator
Kook, Edward
Call number
*T-Mss 1990-013
Physical description
4.9 linear feet (11 boxes, 2 volumes, 3 oversized folders, 4 tubes)
Preferred Citation

Edward Kook papers, *T-Mss 1990-013. Billy Rose Theatre Division, The New York Public Library.

Repository
Billy Rose Theatre Division
Access to materials
Request an in-person research appointment.Restrictions apply

Edward Kook (circa 1903-1990) was an American theatrical lighting specialist and co-founder of Century Lighting Company. The collection dates from 1918 to 1987 and contains designs, photographs, artwork, posters, and professional files.

Biographical/historical information

Edward Kook (circa 1903-1990) was an American theatrical lighting specialist and co-founder of Century Lighting Company. Kook's expertise was widely sought after among the theatrical community and, in 1952, he won a Tony Award for his contributions to the development of stage lighting.

Kook began his career as a bookkeeper for Display Lighting Company, where he met lighting technician and future partner, Joseph Levy. In 1929 they founded Century Lighting Company, which manufactured and distributed theatrical lighting equipment. Kook and Levy's invention of the Lekolite (1933), an ellipsoidal reflector spotlight used in stage lighting, was among their greatest achievements. Under Kook's aegis, Century Lighting became the national standard for theatrical lighting development. The company lit thousands of Broadway theater productions between 1930 and 1964, when Century Lighting was absorbed by Philadelphia's Progress Manufacturing Company. Through his work as a lighting specialist and consultant, Kook collaborated on several theatrical productions and theater building projects between the 1930s and the 1970s, including the Denver Center for the Performing Arts with Jo Mielziner and The Porto Theater, a portable arena theater, with Mielziner, Cyril Harris, and Donald Oenslager. He oversaw the implementation of the first electronic lighting system at the Vivian Beaumont Theater at Lincoln Center.

In 1947, Edward and Hilda Kook founded the Arts of the Theatre Foundation, a non-profit membership corporation that raised funds for the study of scenic and lighting design and held annual playwriting contests. The contests were arbitrated by permanent judges Herman Shumlin and Edith J. R. Isaacs, with annually rotating guest judges, such as Robert E. Sherwood, Howard Lindsay, Lillian Hellman, Elia Kazan, Moss Hart, and Kermit Bloomgarden.

In addition his work in theater, Kook lectured at Columbia University and taught lighting classes to veterans as part of the American Theatre Wing War Service, Inc. He contributed articles on lighting to The Encyclopedia Britannica and his book, Images in Light for the Living Theatre, was published in 1963. He served on the American National Theatre and Academy's (ANTA) Board of Standards and Planning and was actively involved with the American Educational Theatre Association (AETA).

Edward Kook died in 1990.

Scope and arrangement

The Edward Kook papers date from 1918 to 1987 and contain designs, photographs, artwork, posters, and professional files.

Designs were created by Kook and his colleagues. They consist of theater, stage, and lighting plans; and original scenic designs for Broadway theaters and productions. Designs created by Kook consist of diazotypes for the Porto Theater (with Mielziner, Harris, Oenslager) and the Denver Center for the Performing Arts (with Mielziner), the latter of which are heavily annotated with memos, pricelists, and technical notes. Stage designs created by George C. Izenour consist of perspective section plans and designs for theaters and cultural centers, such as Kruger Hall at the University of South Carolina, the theater at Swarthmore College, an auditorium and civic cultural center in Wichita, Kansas, and the Teatro Teresa Carrena in Caracas, Venezuela.

Original scenic designs were created by Robert Davison, Wolfgang Roth, Jo Mielziner, Robert Edmond Jones, and George Jenkins. Designs by Jo Mielziner consist of a painted rendering for Pillar of Fire and a costume design for Martha Hunt in The Madwoman of Chaillot. Robert Edmond Jones's drawings for Richard III are present, as well as an intaglio print by Jones entitled The Burial of Ophelia. Art director Harry Horner's original sketchbook for the 1949 film, The Heiress, contains 150 pages of hand drawn storyboards for the film. The collection also holds two original mixed media artworks by scenic designer Boris Aronson.

Photographs primarily consist of signed portraits given to Kook by friends and colleagues, such as Geoffrey Roth, Henry Dreyfuss, Jo Mielziner, Harry Horner, and David Merrick. Events documented in the photographs include Robert Edmond Jones's sixtieth birthday party and a rehearsal for Watch on the Rhine depicting Kook, Kermit Bloomgarden, Herman Shumlin, and Lillian Hellman. Photographs of the stage setting for Richard III designed by Leo Kerz are also present.

Professional files are arranged alphabetically by format or subject and contain correspondence, writings, and documents pertaining to Arts of the Theatre Foundation. The files also hold annotated articles, lighting catalogs, and audio recordings of songs for the musical Love Me, Love My Children, which was produced by Kook and Joel Schenker at the Mercer Arts Center 1971. Correspondence is primarily incoming and is both personal and professional in nature. Correspondents include Harry Horner, Eric Bentley, Herman Shumlin, Sidney Harmon, and Kook's son in-law, Bud Gibbs. Writings, written by Kook and other technicians and designers, consist of essays, lectures, public addresses, and annotated typescripts of published works, such as Kook's Images in Light for the Living Theatre and Jo Mielziner's The Shape of Our Theatre [sic]. Arts of the Theatre Foundation materials consist of meeting minutes, tax documents, correspondence, and announcements for the foundation's annual script writing contest. Reports on the playwriting contest include the judge's tallies and other contest information.

Arrangement

The collection is arranged by format. Designs are arranged alphabetically by designer or theater; Professional Files are arranged alphabetically by format or subject.

Administrative information

Source of acquisition

Gift of Kenneth D. Gibbs, 1990.

Processing information

Compiled by Robyn Hjermstad, 2015

Using the collection

Location

Billy Rose Theatre Division
New York Public Library for the Performing Arts, Dorothy and Lewis B. Cullman Center
40 Lincoln Center Plaza, New York, NY 10023-7498
Third Floor

Conditions Governing Use

The author/creator retains copyright of materials. For information on obtaining permission to publish, contact the Theatre Division at theatre@nypl.org.

Access restrictions

Inquiries regarding audio material in the collection may be directed to the Billy Rose Theatre Division (theatre@nypl.org). Audio material will be subject to preservation evaluation and migration prior to access.