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Creator
Weightman-Smith, Michael
Call number
*T-VIM 2013-212
Physical description
2 boxes (39 drawings), some col, 76 x 51 cm. or smaller; 2 boxes (39 drawings), some col, 76 x 51 cm. or smaller
Preferred Citation
Michael Weightman-Smith designs for Hamlet, Billy Rose Theatre Division, The New York Public Library
Repository
Billy Rose Theatre Division
Location
*T-VIM 2013-212
Access to materials
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Michael Weightman-Smith designed sets and costumes for summer theaters, including the Mohawk Drama Festival in Schenectady, New York, and the Casino Theatre, Newport, Rhode Island. He also designed for the San Francisco Chamber Opera Co. and spent a year in Hollywood, where he worked with Robert Edmond Jones and Cedric Gibbons. In 1944, he was appointed director of television scenic design for NBC's experimental television staff, becoming television's first scenic designer. Original set and costume designs, plans and elevations by Michael Weightman-Smith for the Cape Playhouse, Dennis, Massachusetts production of Shakespeare's Hamlet (1937). Actress Eva Le Gallienne, who directed and starred as Hamlet, collaborated with Weightman-Smith on the set design.

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