St. James Press Reference Dictionaries

Over the past 50 years, St. James Press has published dozens of excellent reference encyclopedias and dictionaries. Several of these heavy tomes are biographical encyclopedias of figures in the arts from the late twentieth century.

Contemporary Architects (1987, 1994 editions)

Contemporary Artists (1977, 1983, 1989, 1996, 2002 editions)
Contemporary Composers (1992)

Contemporary Designers (1984, 1990, 1997)

Contemporary Fashion (1995)

Contemporary Masterworks (1991)

Contemporary Photographers (1982, 1987. 1995)

Contemporary Women Artists (1997)

The Contemporary Arts Series includes a resume-like biography, exhibition history, list of works, list of publications (bibliography), and an introductory essay or personal statement. Because newer editions add and subtract entries on different artists, the earlier editions continue to have value for the researcher. 

Contemporary Masterworks is unique in focusing on individual works of visual art from the 20th century (including art, architecture, photography and design. It devotes one page to a black and white reproduction of the artwork and another page to a descriptive essay and bibliography.

The International Dictionaries published by St. James Press focus on a wider span of history and also provide listings of creative works and a bibliography.  The dictionaries for ballet, modern dance intersperse entries about performers, choreographers and works for the dance. Likewise the International Dictionary of Opera includes entries on individual operas, opera singers and composers.

The International Dictionary of Films and Filmmakers, published across three editions, has separate volumes for films, directors, actors and actresses and writer and production artists.

The International Dictionary of Theatre is published in two volumes, one for plays and the other for playwrights. The International Dictionary of Architects and Architecture is divided into two volumes - one for architects, the other for works of architecture.

International Dictionary of Architects and Architecture (1993)

International Dictionary of Art and Artists (1993)

International Dictionary of Ballet (1993)

International Dictionary of Films and Filmmakers (1984, 1990, 1997)

International Dictionary of Modern Dance, 1998

International Dictionary of Opera, 1993

International Dictionary of Theatre, 1992

The more recently published St. James Guide to Black Artists shares the same format as the Contemporary Arts Series volumes listed above, but is focused upon artists of Africa and of the African diaspora. Similarly the St. James Guide to Hispanic Artists profiles artists from Latin America or were active there. The St. James Encyclopedia of Hip Hop Culture is unlike the other reference works discussed here in that it also discusses style and genre in addition to notable performing artists and producers.

St. James Encyclopedia of Hip Hop Culture (2012)

St. James Guide to Black Artists (1997)

St. James Guide to Hispanic Artists: Profiles of Latino and Latin American Artists (2002)

New Audio and Video Performing Arts Databases at the San Francisco Public Library

We are happy to able to expand our Streaming Music and Streaming Movies & TV offerings with some new databases from Alexander Street Press.

Qwest TV Collection features full-length clips produced for Qwest TV, a network formed by jazz legend Quincy Jones. It is an eclectic collection of video performances from many genres.

L.A. Theatre Works is a nonprofit whose work is distributed to public radio through PRX (Public Radio Exchange). Audio Drama: The L.A. Theatre Works Collections is a collection of plays that they have presented over the years. 

Broadway On Demand Collection includes hundreds of musicals, plays, and dance performances as well as documentaries, and masterclasses.

The National Theatre Collection and Royal Shakespeare Company Collection are similar databases offering performances of full-length plays by the finest British actors and actresses. These video recordings are accompanied by a transcript (the script) for convenience.

Theatre in Video is the largest of the databases and includes a mix of performances and documentaries. Much, but not all, of the programming comes from public television. To get the most out of the database use the funnel to "filter your results.

You can find these and similar databases at the following links:

https://sfpl.org/research-learn/elibrary/evideos

https://sfpl.org/emusic

https://sfpl.org/databases (search alphabetically or filter by the topic Art & Music)

from the Qwest TV Collection

The Man Who Lit Lady Liberty

The Art, Music, & Recreation Department of San Francisco Public Library is currently hosting an exhibition centering around a forgotten man of many talents and trades but whose final claim to fame would rest on him being an actor known at the height of fame as M. B. Curtis.

Born as Moritz Bertrand Strelinger, he immigrated with his family at the age of 6 from Hungary to the United States. Restless and unsatisfied, he ran away when a little older from home to try his luck at various things, including a failed attempt at joining the Union Army. He then somehow managed to get small roles in theater and as sometimes happens, one thing leading to another, he found a role of a drummer with enough opportunity present his comic side. As luck would have it, the play ran much longer than was scheduled owing to Mr. Curtis’ talent and presence in the play. He had the audience in stitches, which was not unique for those times, audiences laughing at Jewish actor responding to his Jewish or self-deprecating jokes. The main difference this time, however, resided in the fact that the audiences weren’t laughing at the Jew but with him.

By now he had adopted a stage name of M. B. Curtis and with foresight, he purchased the play and produced it with his brother’s help. This catapulted him to the national fame, thus becoming the first Jewish male to portray a Jewish character with depth. So far, the field had always in the hands of gentile actors. But Mr. Curtis showed during his extra ordinary journey in the realm of performing arts that he was much more than an actor.

As luck would have it, the Statue of Liberty had recently arrived and Congress refused to fund the lighting of the statue. The lights went off on Nov. 1, 1886. Mr. Curtis was in New York and felt horrified at the darkened spectacle, so he decided to foot the bill from his own pocket. Another feather in Mr. Curtis’ hat was when Mark Twain approached him to perform in the theatrical version of the Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court. Local historian Richard Schwartz tells us that Mr. Curtis agreed on one condition, even willing to shell out $20,000 to produce it, if and only if Mark Twain would let Curtis portray the main character as a Jewish immigrant a la Sam’l of Posen, the play which had catapulted the actor to fame.

The current exhibition The Man Who Lit Lady Liberty is a result of the tremendous patience and passion, all in all some twenty years, from the time Mr. Schwartz began looking into Mr. Curtis’ connection to the city of Berkeley; he kept on digging deeper and deeper for more information, reading countless out-of-print books and hunting newspaper databases. As people became aware of Mr. Schwartz’ larger than life project, help in collecting memorabilia poured in from varied sources, including Library of Congress, which succeeded in unearthing a rare footage of Mr. Curtis’ silent film. Mr. Schwartz plans on showing the film during his talk.

Richard Schwartz is fascinated by the history of the Bay Area and the San Francisco Public Library is pleased to have several of his titles in our collection. We recommend them here:


The Man Who Lit Lady Liberty: The Extraordinary Rise and Fall of Actor M. B. Curtis (RSB Books, 2016).

Eccentrics, Heroes, and Cutthroats of Old Berkeley (RSB Books, 2007).

Earthquake Exodus, 1906: Berkeley Responds to the San Francisco Refugees (RSB Books, 2005).

Berkeley 1900: Daily Life at the Turn of the Century (RSB Books, 2000).

Carol Channing - A Product of San Francisco And Its Public Schools

Carol Channing spent her entire youth in San Francisco.  She was born in Seattle on January 31, 1921, but her family moved here when she young. She lived all of her public school years in San Francisco and only moved away from the Bay Area to attend college in the East.

Her father, George Channing, was born on November 21, 1888 and died May 29, 1957.  Her mother Adelaide Glaser was born in Nebraska on December 10, 1886 and died May 3, 1984 -- nearly as long lived as her daughter who recently passed away at the age of 97 on January 15, 2019.

Before she left for college in 1937 Channing learned from her mother of her father's African-American ancestry.  Although he claimed to have been born in Providence, Rhode Island, he was actually born in Augusta, Georgia. His father was German-American and his mother was African-American. Channing's official birth certificate lost in a fire evidently noted that he was "colored." After his father died, his mother moved north where he and his sister could pass for white and attend public schools.

He was born George Christian Stucker.  His sister, Alice Estelle Stucker, gave Georgia as her birthplace for the 1930 census. George Stucker/Channing must have been a remarkable student. He was awarded a scholarship to Brown University where he was an excellent orator and debater. In his senior year, 1911, he won Brown's Gaston Prize Medal for Excellence in Oratory.  He later studied law at Yale and went overseas during World War I as a corporal in the Artillery Corps.  Afterwards he worked in newspapers in Detroit and later was the city editor of the Seattle Star.

George Stucker's 1911 Yearbook Photograph (Liber Brunensis)

At the opening of her memoir, Just Lucky I Guess, Carol Channing recalled that his voice could alternate between "New England stentorian sounds" and a dialect imitation of Eugene O'Neill's eponymous Emperor Jones.  This ability to elide two manners of speaking and presentation made it seem natural to her to explore the vocal possibilities of character.

While living in Seattle her father became a Christian Scientist. When he moved to San Francisco he initially worked selling advertisements for the Christian Science Monitor.  The 1926 City Directory noted that for a time her worked as a salesman for a washing machine company.  Later directories listed him as a "Christian Science Practitioner" and as a member of the Christian Science Committee on Publication.  He was also a Christian Science worker at San Quentin prison.

George Channing - source: San Francisco Examiner (May 30, 1957).

Carol Channing was a precocious child who entered kindergarten at Commodore Sloat Grammar School at the age of four and a half. A bright and voracious reader, she was able to skip the second grade.  Channing described being in awe of her principal Miss Berard.  Elvina L. Berard had been principal the Commodore Sloat school from the time it was a one room school house in 1916 until 1940. In 1922 the school expanded and added the auditorium where a young Carol Channing gave her first "performance." 

Commodore Sloat Grammar School in 1927 (the auditorium is at the right)

source: San Francisco Historical Photograph Collection.

Miss Berard was a strong adult presence for young Carol.  In a 2008 interview she said that she "found every excuse to go into her office because I was so fascinated by the way she talked."  At home she would act out little tea parties with Miss Berard where she would serve her principal tea and then "turn into" her, imitating her "adenoidal" voice.

Carol Channing, age 7 or 8, at her family's Inner Sunset house, during her Commodore Sloat Grammar School days (source: Just Lucky I Guess)

Over the years Carol Channing would recall her stage debut at age 7 on the Commodore Sloat stage.  She had been nominated as school secretary and had to appear on stage to speak to the student body. She recounted:

You go up those five steps, and those steps are still there. I got up there; my knees were shaking. 

For her campaign speech she assumed the character of Miss Elvina Berard.  Everyone broke out into laughter, including her principal who "knew there was no malice." Channing recalled:

Well, the kids started to laugh, and I thought ... Oh! This is the most wonderful... I had never felt so close to people. It was closer than touching.

A plaque dedicating a tree to Elvina L. Berard on Arbor Day, March 9, 1931 at Commodore Sloat Elementary School

She moved on to attend the nearby Aptos Junior High School where she kept up her antics. She was happy to have "an entire new battery of faculty members and students to take home with me in my imagination." In addition to performing in plays she also participated in weekly variety shows at school assemblies.

Channing (right) as French song and dance man Maurice Chevalier at her families Portola Drive house in 1929.
Source: Rosenstein & Marchi, Hello Carol.

The already tall Carol Channing (back row, center) as a member of the Review Club at Aptos Junior School from the Aptos Journal, June 1934

Channing's earliest stage triumph and her first newspaper notice came from her May 1933 performance as Toad in the play Toad of Toad Hall at the Community Playhouse (the present day Marines' Memorial Theatre) at 609 Sutter Street.  She must have seemed boy-like playing her character because the reviewer from the Chronicle wrote of her performance: "He gave a confident, breezy performance of the part, brash, self-satisfied, the quintessence of egotism."

 Elizabeth Holloway (source: San Francisco Chronicle (August 17, 1924)

Channing gave this performance under the direction of Elizabeth Holloway and William Morwood. Holloway had been a teacher at the Children's Dramatic Studio, a school that encouraged the child "to give its own interpretation of the character."  The method practiced at the school aimed to "bring out originality and develop creative art."  She later opened the Elizabeth Holloway School of Theater.  Barbara Eden was another one of Holloway's illustrious students. (Eden describes attending the school because Carol Channing had mentioned studying there in a radio interview).

 Carol Channing (source: San Francisco Chronicle November 27, 1934).

In her next newspaper appearance, Channing appeared bedecked in stars and stripes for her performance as Columbia in an Aptos Middle School pageant entitled Builders of America.

Channing also trained at the San Francisco Operatic and Ballet School run by Adolph Bolm.  She regretted having to leave the program when she was"13 years 2.5 months old" because at five feet, nine inches she had grown too tall.

 Vice-President of the Debating Society, Carol Channing (from the Lowell High School Red and White, Fall 1936)

After completing her studies at Aptos Junior High School, Carol Channing attended Lowell High School, which even then was San Francisco's most academically rigorous public school.  At Lowell she followed the path of her father and joined the Debating Society.

Perhaps Channing's next stage triumph came in her junior year playing the role of Katherine Bence, the female lead in Kempy, the Lowell High School production from May 1937.  The Chronicle praised her performance writing that "displayed an innate sense of speech rhythm and grace of movement."

from the Lowell High School Red and White, Spring 1938

The Fall 1937 Lowell Yearbook also noted that Channing won the school's dramatics award "for her talented panoramic performance in the 'Varieties.'"  She also played a supporting role in Lowell High School's production of Captain Applejack later that yer.

The high school's drama teacher Samuel K. Polland would have her get up in front of the entire student body at assemblies to read the school minutes where she would do her impressions of the faculty.  She recounted learning a great deal from Mr. Polland (who was married to the aforementioned Elizabeth Holloway).

I learned not to be serious and how to feel out an audience. But most important, I learned to feel my way. As Mr. Polland kept repeating, 'Everybody has a way. You have to find your own now, Carol.' And he was so right.

from the Lowell High School Red and White, Spring 1938

Perhaps Channing attained the crowning achievement of her San Francisco days following in the footsteps as an orator.  She entered and won a local contest sponsored by a non-profit political organization called the California Crusaders.  The contest's theme was "American Citizenship and What It Means to Me."

Carol Channing with Floppet in her San Francisco Chronicle feature article of May 2, 1937

In a Chronicle profile she acknowledged that she preferred dancing and acting over public speaking. She based her speech upon a book that discussed the role of women in the modern world.  For her citizenship meant "freedom to develop the qualities I have, and the privilege of contributing them to my country."

She continued:

Let it not be supposed that feminine qualities are in any sense weak. Gentleness is as firm as ruthlessness is hard. What is more anchored, more dependable, more immovable than the mothering quality that gives life and therefore preserves it--that practices the art of self-preservation, art of avoiding war.

Carol Channing At Her Family's Kitchen at 1230 Washington Street in 1937 

image source: San Francisco Historical Photograph Collection

She won the San Francisco contest. She competed in the state finals on April 29, 1937 giving her speech before a crowd of 500 at San Francisco's Veterans Building auditorium. Her speech was persuasive and she won the contest and a trip to Hawaii.

Adelaide and Carol Channing on the manifest for the Malalo (source: Ancestry.com)

She departed for Honolulu with her mother Adelaide aboard the Malalo on June 24, 1937.  They returned about the Lurline on July 8.

Carol Channing aboard the Malolo bound for Hawaii (source: San Francisco Examiner April 12, 1971)

Channing's last show as a student at Lowell was a graduation present to her classmates. In song, dance and pantomime, sketches and blackouts, she took everyone on a hilarious throat-catching trip down memory lane, evoking all the student and faculty characters, all the big events "It was a last look at Lowell," she said, "and I cried at the end. Everybody cried."

During her San Francisco years, Carol Channing worked for a time as a model for I. Magnin.  But she was not all work and no play.  She recalled regularly going with friends on Saturdays to the Palace Hotel where they would dance the Suzy-Q, the Big Apple and the Lindy.

Although her career took her away from San Francisco, this account shows how much the San Francisco contributed to her later success -- both the public schools and the other creative venues that the city offered. She once said:

Performing in front of a school age audience is the best training one could have. If you can hold this impossible audience, you'll make it with others. 

In later years she often speak passionately about how the arts were so important to her in school.

The Arts bring creativity and critical thinking skills to other subjects within the schools' curriculum, not to mention enhancing social skills... The Arts truly fertilizes a young person's brains.

Toward the end of her life she formed ChanningARTS (Arts Returned To Schools) which helped fund the arts in public schools.  Without ceremony she donated funds for the theaters at her three almae matres -- Commodore Sloat Elementary School, Aptos Middle School and Lowell High School. In 2002 Lowell High School named the Carol Channing Theatre named in her honor.

 Carol Channing visiting Aptos Middle School (San Francisco Chronicle September 21, 2008)

The Aptos Journal (Aptos Junior High School, June 1934).

"Aptos To Give Pageant Again," San Francisco Chronicle (November 27, 1934).

"Ban Self-Consciousness: New Ideal Set For Dramatics," San Francisco Chronicle (August 17, 1924).

"Biographical Sketch," San Francisco Examiner (June 12, 1956).

Birch, Donna, "Lowell High Honors Star Grad," San Francisco Examiner (June 6, 1992).

"Carol Channing and Harry Kullijian: A True Love Story!," Richard Skipper Celebrities (May 10, 2011) [blog].

"Carol Channing 'On Stage' While Reading The Minutes," San Francisco Examiner (March 16, 1958).

Channing, Carol, Just Lucky I Guess: A Memoir of Sorts (Simon & Schuster, 2002).

"Channing Gets Lecture Post," San Francisco Chronicle (June 7, 1938).

"Churchman Geo. Channing Dies on Plane," San Francisco Examiner (May 30, 1957).

Eden, Barbara, Jeannie Out of The Bottle (Crown Archetype, 2011).

Geduldig, Lisa, "Credo: The Inside View," [interview] San Francisco Examiner (July 18, 2010).

Iquity, Sister Dana Van, "Carol Channing Speaks about Saving the Arts," San Francisco Bay Times (September 18, 2008).

"Just Who Is This Girl? Carol Channing -- And She's A Lass," San Francisco Chronicle (May 2, 1937).

Knickerbocker, Paine, "S.F.'s Carol Channing Stars in New Musical," San Francisco Chronicle (November 14, 1955).

Liber Brunensis (Brown University, 1911).

"Lowell Girl Wins Speaking Contest," San Francisco Examiner (April 14, 1937).

"Lowell High Students Give Kempy," San Francisco Chronicle (May 22, 1937).

"Obituary: Miss Berard S.F. Teacher," San Francisco Chronicle (September 24, 1940).

"Oratory Wins Trip To Hawaii," San Francisco Examiner (April 30, 1937).

The Red and White (Lowell High School Students Association, Fall 1936; Fall 1937; Spring 1938).

Rosenstein, Brad and Joseph J. Marchi, Hello Carol: A Celebration of Carol Channing (Museum of Performance and Design, 2008).

"S.F. Girl Gets Big Break in New Screen Comedy," San Francisco Examiner (November 27, 1948).

"S.F. Girl Stars on Broadway," San Francisco Examiner (January 22, 1950).

Torchin, Joseph, "When You're Dancing With Dolly," San Francisco Chronicle (January 18, 1978).

Warren, George C., "'Toad of Toad Hall' Enjoyed by All Ages," San Francisco Chronicle (May 24, 1933).

Winn, Steven, "Channing's Memories," San Francisco Chronicle (September 21, 2008).

Zailian, Marian, "It's So Good to Have Her Back Where She Belongs," S.F. Sunday Examiner & Chronicle (January 1, 1978).

Longhair Outgrosses Baseball - a headline from the Variety Golden Jubilee issue

 

Longhair Outgrosses Baseball 

----------------------

Classics, Now a $50,000,000 Boxoffice Bonanza As Against

The National Pastime's $40,000,000 Per Annum -- Symph,

Opera and Ballet Big Middlebrow Draw

This a headline for a Arthur Bronson article on page 467 in the January 4, 1956 special 50th anniversary issue of Variety Magazine.  

The Variety Anniversary Issue was an annual love letter between the entertainment press embodied by Variety Magazine, the primary trade journal for the entertainment industry, and all the people in the entertainment industry who benefited from the magazine's knowledge and reach.  The opening pages of the Golden Jubilee issue are filled with individual full page advertisements taken out by all of the top Hollywood studio executives congratulating the magazine on its longevity.  There are hundreds of other sponsored notes of congratulations from entertainers and corporations throughout this 512 page issue.

The entertainment industry for Variety comprises every sort of performing art, with an emphasis on those that make lots of money.  But the fine arts did have a place within its pages where it was (one hopes affectionately) known as "longhair."  The article below the headline above notes that in 1956 the "boxoffice" for classical music, ballet, opera put together exceeded that of baseball - that certainly gets the reader to stand up and notice.  It goes on to note the importance of the arts in cultural diplomacy, the amount of money spent on classical long playing records and role of film, radio and television in popularizing the arts.  Variety articles are often full of statistics -- this one notes that in 1940, 1,000 American towns offered concert series.  By 1956 the number had risen to 2,600, certainly suggesting a growing interest in classical music.

The Anniversary Issue is full of lists and sidebars.  One includes a list of "actors who have played actors."  There is another list of "remakes of feature films" (by 1956 there had been 3 major releases of both Anna Karenina and Moby Dick).  Gone With The Wind was at the top of the "all-time top money films," but who would have guessed The Robe would come in at number two?  (Adjusted for inflation, Gone With The Wind is still the top grosser).

There is also a chronological chart "50 years of U.S. musical comedy and operetta" listing all the major shows that opened between 1905 and 1956.   Later in the issue there is a table of "Broadway production statistics." This shows the Broadway peaked in 1927-28 with 264 productions throughout the season. It was only natural that the number of productions would taper off owing to the introduction of sound motion pictures and the Great Depression.

Just a year and a half after the Army-McCarthy hearings, this issue has an article entitled "Were You Ever Blacklisted?" subtitled "Variety was - many times, but found friends and special issues kept it going."  This article has a table listing a "chronology of special issues" in Variety magazine over the years.

KRON-TV (the NBC and San Francisco Chronicle affiliate) is among the advertisers, touting a potential 4 million viewer audience and $5,158,223,000 in sales in 1954 (that figure must be for the entire Bay Area).  An advertisement for "The Seven Ashtons," an acrobatic act from Australia notes that they were then performing at Bimbos in San Francisco.

Then there is this provocative headline:

Burlesque -- Its Rise and Demise

-----------------------

Offshoot of Minstrelsy and Extravaganza, Cradle

Of Comedians, Once a Family Amusement, Burlesque

Succumbed to Smut and Strippers

 While today there is a resurgence of interest, in 1956 Burlesque was thought to be on its deathbed.  The article is written by the then 86 year old Barney Gerard, a long time practitioner of the art.  (I cannot find a good biography of Gerard, but he has a number of credits in the Internet Movie Database and a Google Books search brings up myriad articles that show his deep involvement in vaudeville and burlesque).  His article traces the "rise and demise in 60 years" of burlesque.  He many stories including an explanation of the origin of the "hook" used to pull performers who were bombing off the stage.  He even devotes a couple paragraphs to the scene in San Francisco with the Bella Union concert hall in the late 1800s and the Belvedere on O'Farrell Street around the time of the 1906 earthquake.  In the end he laments that burlesque was "strip-teased into oblivion."

As far as I can tell these annual issues have not yet been indexed or scanned online, so they remain a little-known but fascinating on entertainment in all of its forms.  The Library own issues of this annual from 1956 through 1989. 

Variety. Anniversary Edition (Variety, Inc., [1956]-1983).

 Variety. Show Business Annual (Variety, Inc., c1984-1989).

Beautiful Chaos: A Life in the Theater

A book reading and signing with Carey Perloff, the artistic director of the American Conservatory Theater

"With more than 20 years at the helm of a cultural legacy, Perloff's personal and professional journey, her life as a woman, a wife and mother, a playwright, director, producer, arts advocate, and citizen in a city erupting with enormous change is a compelling, entertaining story for anyone interested in how theater gets made, and its role in our future"-- provided by publisher, City Lights

Come hear the A.C.T.'s artistic director, Carey Perloff, read excerpts from her new book Beautiful Chaos: a life in the theater.  There will be a Q&A session and book signing after the reading. Books will be available for purchase through Friends of the San Francisco Public Library.

Tuesday, October 20th, 2015, 6:30pm - 7:30pm

Latino Hispanic Community Meeting Room

Main Library - Lower Level

All programs at the Library are free. Supported by Friends of the San Francisco Public Library.

State of the Arts in San Francisco (1986)

Twenty seven years ago a State of the Arts in San Francisco was published as a "special series" by the San Francisco Chronicle.  In the introduction, Rosalie Muller Wright, the editor of the collection, wrote that she and her colleagues sought to better understand the major artistic institutions of the City.  They posed the questions like "How did they get started? Who makes the artistic decisions? How do they raise funds? How do they stack up artistically against similar groups in other cities?"  The final questions seemed to have been pressing to them, as they and these organizations yearned to assert San Francisco's status as a significant cultural center.

Various critics and columnists for the paper at that time, such as Jerry Carroll, Blake Green, Jesse Hamlin, Michael Harris, Pat Steger, Sylvia Rubin, and Ruthe Stein, contributed to this survey.  There were also concluding essays by the Chronicle's renowned architecture critic Allen Temko and beloved columnist Herb Caen.

State of the Arts in San Francisco devoted its attention exclusively to eight organizations - the San Francisco Symphony, the San Francisco Art Institute, the San Francisco Conservatory of Music, the San Francisco Ballet, the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, the San Francisco Opera, the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco and the American Conservatory Theatre.

Throughout this book there are tables showing the expenses and income of many of the organizations, sometimes comparing them to similar institutions around the country.  Another chart lists the major donors to the San Francisco Opera.  The society columnist Pat Steger provides some of the most interesting information in articles entitled "The People Who Control the Money," "Breeding Grounds for Trustees" and "Getting onto the 'Big' Boards" that all concern the super rich who give to the arts and about the make up the boards of these organizations.

At the book's end Herb Caen wrote an article entitled "The Non-Stop S.F. Culture" that is a typical feel-good cheerleading piece. Allan Temko wrote a more sober article entitled "A Raggedly Uneven Cultural Scene" where he surveys the arts in the city and still finds them wanting in many respects.

State of the Arts in San Francisco includes many photographs, some of which document the City's museums before they were renovated or replaced.  In short, this book provides a look at the some major artistic institutions that have endured and continue to endure.  It traces their development and gives a clear sense of their achievements and challenges up to that time. 

State of the Arts in San Francisco, Rosalie Muller Wright, editor; Dennis Gallagher, design (Chronicle Publishing Co., 1986).

Musicals!: A Complete Selection Guide for Local Productions

Richard Chigley Lynch's Musicals!: A Complete Selection Guide for Local Productions is one of the more useful and practical reference sources we use.  As the subtitle indicates, the purpose of the book is to assist anyone thinking of staging a musical.  It consists of an alphabetical listing of almost 500 musical theater works along with practical information about each of them.  While the information about the creators of each work is easy to come by in other sources, where this reference stands apart in supplying publication information about the work.

Musicals! gives bibliographic information about any published libretto (or script), condensations of the libretto, piano-vocal score, and when there is no piano-vocal score, whether there are vocal selections.

This is extraordinarily helpful information because in many cases, libretti and scores have not been commercially published.  Patrons are sometimes confused to learn that there is no published score or script for the music they seek.  But there is a logical reason for this--the rights holder of the work has made a decision that it is in their interest to make the scores and scripts available only on a rental basis.  Thus, Musicals! also includes another crucial bit of information - the Licensing Agent who owns the rights to each show.  They are also the ones who rent out performing material like scripts, performing scores and parts for the musicians in the pit.

Musicals! also gives information about commercially-released cast recordings (when they exist).  Finally, it also provides information about the numbers of actors and actresses needed to perform the work and a listing of songs from each show.

This resource also includes four indexes.  The first two provide contact information for the Licensing Agents and Publishers cited in the book.  There is also an index of composers, lyricists and librettists.  The final index is also very important - a song index to all of the numbers in each show included in the reference.

A copy of the 1984 edition of Musicals! is available to view online through archive.org for library users who register with Open Library.


Musicals!: A Complete Selection Guide For Local Productions by Richard Chigley Lynch, 2nd edition (American Library Association, 1994).

Creating Coraline: The Making of a New Musical

Maya Donato as Coraline (source SF Playhouse)

Children, teens and adults alike can relate to Coraline’s theme of fantasizing about an ‘Other Mother’ and running away to find idealized-versions of our families. Perhaps no more so than at the holidays, do we need to humorously indulge these fantasies and be guided back to an appreciation of our real family. SF Playhouse’s current production, a musical adaptation of Neil Gaiman’s award-wining graphic novella Coraline does just that.

This holiday weekend, SFPL invites you to Creating Coraline: The Making of a New Musical, a unique behind-the-scenes look at (and a chance to win tickets for) this currently running production.

Maya Donato and cast

A host of talented people are behind the musical adaptation of Coraline. Gaiman’s material provides a springboard for playwright David Greenspan’s production book. (Of Greenspan, Tony Kushner has said he "is probably all-round the most talented theater artist of my generation.") Its original score, rich with tinkling toy pianos, was composed by indie-music legend Stephin Merritt (of The Magnetic Fields, composer of the San Francisco Silent Film Festival’s 2010 screening of 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea, and subject of Strange Powers, a recent documentary film). Bill English, artistic director and co-founder of SF Playhouse, brings it all together, guiding the hands of some of the Bay Area’s finest artists: Erika Chong Shuch (choreography), Robert Moreno (music director), Chris White (puppetry), Michael Oesch (lighting design) and Valera Coble (costumes).

Get a glimpse behind the curtains. Learn how the show came about and how the cast was selected. Hear about the challenges of learning (and playing!) Stephin Merritt's score and what it is like to work with puppets on stage. Learn how the stage designers were inspired by Tim Burton, and what it is like to create the "Other World" each night. This event is ideal for music lovers, Coraline fans, and theater-goers ages 11 to 111.

Diaghilev and the Golden Age of the Ballets Russes

The Victoria and Albert Museum’s current exhibition, Diaghilev and the Golden Age of the Ballets Russes, celebrates "the most exciting ballet company of the 20th Century" on the occasion of its 101st anniversary year of inception. Through Diaghilev’s direction, collaborations and interpretation of the "total theater," the Ballets Russes heralded Modernism and reinvigorated ballet by imaginatively synthesizing dance, music and art in each production. Three hundred artifacts from the Company’s early years are on display, including over 80 costumes, set designs, theater backdrops, and props by artists such as Chanel, Picasso, Benois, Braque, Matisse, Bakst, Larionov, and Goncharova.

The contributions of Diaghilev’s Ballets Russes to both dance and music are numerous: Many dancers built careers under Diaghilev’s direction and, in general, he elevated the role of male dancer in ballet. The company became known for its ground-breaking choreography in part because Diaghilev supported Mikhail Fokine’s choreographic reforms, supervised the work of fledgling choreographers Vaslav Nijinsky, Léonide Massine, Bronislava Nijinska, and was also responsible for introducing to the world the 20-year old George Balanchine (who went on to create ten ballets for the company).

The composers for the Ballets Russe were of equal accomplishment. Diaghilev launched the international career of Igor Stravinsky at age 27 by commissioning The Firebird. He also commissioned other immortal works by Maurice Ravel (Daphnis et Chloé), Claude Debussy (Jeux), Richard Strauss (Die Josephslegende), Erik Satie (Parade), Francis Poulenc (Les Biches) and Serge Prokofiev (Le Pas d’Acier and The Prodigal Son).

Despite the achievements of his dancers, choreographers and musicians, many have argued that Diaghilev regarded his set and costume designers as the true stars of his innovative company. Other visual artist who collaborated with Diaghilev included Georges Rouault, Juan Gris, Maurice Utrillo, Giorgio de Chirico, Max Ernst, Joan Miró, Jean Cocteau, and Naum Gabo, among numerous others.

The finding aid below highlights the most visually interesting books in our collection, featuring the fine artists of the Company. This is not a comprehensive list but instead a starting point for research.


The Art of Ballets Russes: The Serge Lifar Collection of Theater Designs, Costumes, and Paintings at the Wadsworth Atheneum, Hartford, Connecticut by Alexander Schouvaloff (Yale University Press in association with the Wadsworth Atheneum, 1997).

An invaluable guide to the art of the company, this heavily-illustrated book emphasizes the set pieces, backdrops and costumes from the Serge Lifar Collection at the Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art. This book is organized alphabetically by visual artist’s name, further divided by production title. Each section includes a show synopsis and an essay highlighting historical details of the production, artists’ working methods and their relationships with Diaghilev. Understandably, Bakst and Benois have the most-lengthy entries.

The Art of the Ballets Russes: The Russian Seasons in Paris, 1908-1929 by Militsa Pozharskaya and Tatiana Volodina (Abbeville Press, 1990).

Beyond the introductory essay, this book is primarily illustrated offering season by season chronology of the Ballets Russes productions.

The Art of Enchantment: Diaghilev's Ballets Russes, 1909-1929 compiled by Nancy Van Norman Baer ( Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, 1988).

This catalog accompanied the 1988-1989 De Young museum exhibition. It contains images and essays addressing the work of the artists, as well as an essay on the cross-influences of design and choreography within the company.

La danza delle avanguardie: dipinti, scene e costumi, da Degas a Picasso, da Matisse a Keith Haring a cura di Gabriella Belli ed Elisa Guzzo Vaccarino (Skira, 2005).

In Italian, this book contains over 100 pages of Ballets Russes’ color images. It includes set drawings, costume designs and finished costume photographs for many productions, including the controversial Le Sacre du Printemps (1913), and for Picasso’s Parade (1917) and Pulcinella (1920).

The Russian Theatre: Its Character and History, with Especial Reference to the Revolutionary Period, by René Fülöp-Miller & Joseph Gregor (Lippincott, 1930).

With 48 illustrations in colour and 357 in half-tone. This volume has small section covering the Russian ballet, with sumptuous photographs of Ballet Russes dancers, as well as color drawings, primarily those of Bakst and Benois.

Picasso's "Parade": From Street to Stage: Ballet by Jean Cocteau, Score by Erik Satie, Choreography Léonide Massine by Deborah Menaker Rothschild (Sotheby's Publications, in association with the Drawing Center, New York, 1991).

A thorough examination of the 1917 Ballets Russes production.

Picasso Theatre by Douglas Cooper (H. N. Abrams, 1968).

Includes concept drawings, sets and costumes from Picasso’s Ballet Russes work.

Scenic and Costume Design for the Ballets Russes by Robert C. Hansen (UMI Research Press, 1985).

Few illustrations, but a complete chronology of all productions and the designers who worked on each. Lengthy bibliography of books and articles can be used for additional research.

San Francisco Theatre Research (pt. 2)

The front cover of San Francisco Theatre Research, vol. 1, Introduction to the Series

One of our most valued reference resources is now available online. Archive.org with the San Francisco History Center have collaborated to scan the most of the volumes of the San Francisco Theatre Research series created by the Works Progress Administration between 1938 and 1942.

Here is a listing of the volumes scanned to date:

Volume 1 - Introduction To The Series: Stephen C. Massett, singer, writer, showman; Joseph A. Rowe, pioneer circus manager

Volume 2 - Tom Maguire; Dr. David G. (Yankee) Robinson; M.B. Leavitt

Volume 3 - The Starks; The Bakers; The Chapmans

Volume 4 - Junius Brutus Booth, the elder; Junius Brutus Booth, the younger; Edwin Booth

Volume 5 - Lola Montez; Adah Isaacs Menken; Mrs. Judah

Volume 6 - Lotta Crabtree; John McCullough

Volume 9 - The French Theatre in San Francisco; The German Theatre in San Francisco

Volume 10 - The Italian Theatre in San Francisco

Volume 11 - Edwin Forrest; Catherine Sinclair

Volume 12 - Little Theatres

Volume 13 - Minstrelsy

Volume 14 - A History of Burlesque

Volume 15 - Theatre Buildings, part 1

Volume 16 - Famous Playhouses (vol. 1)

Volume 17 - Famous Playhouses (vol. 2)

Volume 20 - James O'Neill

To date, the scanned series lacks volumes 7 and 8, the two volume History of Opera in San Francisco. The Art, Music & Recreation Center has a complete set of the series shelved in our reference room at the call number: 792.079 Un3.

From March 22 through May 31, 2008, our department participated in a Library-wide exhibit for the 75th Anniversary of the New Deal. Our portion of the exhibit largely history and contributions of the Works Project Administration to the arts in San Francisco. The August 11, 2008 entry of our blog discussed the San Francisco Theatre Research series.

The back inside cover of San Francisco Theatre Research, vol. 20, James O'Neill

50 Years of the San Francisco Mime Troupe Free In(g) the Parks - The San Francisco Mime Troupe Fights for Free Speech, 1959-1969

R.G. Davis performing in Il Candelaio (1965). Photo by Erik Weber, image courtesy of the Bancroft Library

In honor of the 50th Anniversary of the founding of the San Francisco Mime Troupe, the library is pleased to present an exhibit of photographs, original press clippings, court papers, broadsides, posters and other artifacts that dramatize the Mime Troupe’s struggles to win the right to perform uncensored in San Francisco and on the road, at the price of repeated arrests, expulsions, and court cases.

This exhibit will be displayed in the Steve Silver Beach Blanket Babylon Room in The Art, Music and Recreation Center on the Fourth Floor of the Main Library from October 24, 2009 through February 1, 2010.

There will be a related program on Sunday, November 1, 2009 at 2 PM in the Koret Auditorium on the Lower Level of Main Library. Radical Theater Revisited is panel discussion by 3 founding fathers of radical theater: R.G. Davis, San Francisco Mime Troupe; Peter Schuman, Bread and Puppet Theater; and Luis Valdez, El Teatro Campesino.

All library programs are free and open to the public.


Related resources:

The Album, a sound recording by San Francisco Mime Troupe [long playing 12 inch record] (Flying Fish, 1983).

By Popular Demand: Plays and Other Works by the San Francisco Mime Troupe (The Troupe, 1980).

Festive Revolutions: The Politics of Popular Theatre and The San Francisco Mime Troupe by Claudia Orenstein (University Press of Mississippi, 1998).

The San Francisco Mime Troupe: The First Ten Years by R. G. Davis (Ramparts Press, 1975).

The San Francisco Mime Troupe Reader, edited by Susan Vaneta Mason (University of Michigan Press, 2005).

The Art, Music and Recreation Center also has vertical files for the San Francisco Mime Troupe and for Ronny (R. G.) Davis.

Opera Based On Literature

Scene from "Lucia di Lammermoor," at Her Majesty's Theatre: "Lucia," Mdlle. Piccolomini, "Edgardo," M. Giuglini, in The Illustrated London News (5/23/1857), from the Art, Music & Recreation Center's Picture File (Operas folder)

The San Francisco Opera recently premiered The Bonesetter’s Daughter, an opera by Stewart Wallace based on the Amy Tan novel. There is a long history of creating operas from existing literary works from all times. Here is a listing of operas based upon famous literature.

Operas have been adapted from Greek and Roman classics–-L’Orfeo by Claudio Monteverdi is based upon Ovid, and Hector Berlioz’s Les Troyens is based Virgil’s Aenid. Other opera composers have found inspiration in Shakespeare’s works. Giuseppe Verdi alone wrote operas based upon Othello, MacBeth and Falstaff. Charles Gounod composed Roméo et Juliet and more recently Benjamin Britten wrote A Midsummer Night’s Dream.

Plays by Pierre Beaumarchais have provided the basis for two operatic masterworks—Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s Le nozze di Figaro (based upon La Folle journée) and Gioacchino Rossini’s Il barbiere di Siviglia. Victor Hugo has also been the source for great operas—both Verdi’s Rigoletto (based upon Le roi s’amuse) and Gaetano Donizetti’s Lucrezia Borgia.

Abbé Prevost’s novel Manon Lescaut has been adapted to the operatic stage by both Jules Massenet and Giacomo Puccini. Walter Scott’s Bride of Lammermoor became Lucia di Lammermoor by Donizetti. Modest Mussorgsky employed an Aleksander Pushkin short story as the basis for his opera Boris Godunov. Dubose Heyward’s novel Porgy became the basis for George Gershwin’s Porgy and Bess.

During the past few decades the San Francisco has commissioned several operas based upon great literature. Wallace Stegner’s novel Angle of Repose was the basis for an opera by Bay Area composer Andrew Imbrie in 1976. Pierre Choderlos de Laclos Les Liasons dangereuses became San Francisco Conservatory faculty member Conrad Susa’s 1994 opera The Dangerous Liasons. Tennessee William’s play A Streetcar Named Desire was composed as for the San Francisco Opera in 1998 by André Previn.

To learn more about opera you can visit the Oxford Music Online website through the Library’s Articles and Databases page which includes the full content of the New Grove Dictionary of Opera.

Additional reading:

Bringing Opera to Life: Operatic Acting and Stage Direction. (New York: Appleton-Century-Crofts, 1968. (Appendix C - Operas and background texts - details operas based on literary works).

Fate! Luck! Chance!: Amy Tan, Stewart Wallace, and The Making of The Bonesetter's Daughter Opera by Ken Smith. (San Francisco: Chronicle Books, 2008).

Literature as Opera by Gary Schmidgall (New York: Oxford University Press, 1977).

Opera as Drama by Joseph Kerman. New and revised edition. (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1988).

Shakespeare and Opera by Gary Schmidgall. (New York: Oxford University Press, 1990).

The Walter Scott Operas: An Analysis of Operas Based on The Works of Sir Walter Scott by Jerome Mitchell. (University: University of Alabama Press, 1977).


This entry originally appeared in At The Library 39 /12 (December 2008), p. 4.

American And English Popular Entertainment

Punch and Judy, drawn by F. Barnard, from the "Puppets" folder of the Art, Music & Recreation Center picture file

Nowadays information seekers have become accustomed to a world where they can enter a few words into a search engine and be greeted with, and perhaps overwhelmed by, waves of information. In addition to the content created for the web, full texts of magazines and books are also available to search and read online.

In the days prior to the internet and online databases students, scholars and librarians relied upon bibliographies to locate information on a topic. Bibliography was a valued pursuit because it could make information available about obscure but valuable areas of study and research. Bibliographies were often annotated, i.e., provided a summary of the works reviewed and their value.

This blog will occasionally introduce bibliographies that remain valuable because they open up information that cannot yet be located online, or because they provide an avenue of access that is more careful and systematic than online sources. One such source is American and English Popular Entertainment: A Guide to Information Sources by Don B. Wilmeth (Detroit: Gale Research Co., 1980)--volume 7 of Gale’s Performing Arts Information Guide series.

Popular entertainment in this volume comprises activities like circuses, fairs, carnivals, variety and minstrel shows, puppetry, panoramas and dioramas. This annotated bibliography includes books and articles, both scholarly and popular. Circus here comprises various animal acts and performance specialists including clowns. Works on carnivals include P.T. Barnum’s shows, various sorts of side and freak shows, dime arcades, and wax museums. Another section lists books and articles about amusement parks, roller coasters, merry-go-rounds. Other forms of entertainment covered in this bibliography include medicine shows, vaudeville, and magic shows.

The book also includes a helpful index that can lead to information about individual performers, places, and theaters. There are also references to more general topics like censorship, farce, impersonation, melodrama, and quackery. Fascinating sources indexed in this volume include articles detailing the relationship between the art of the Hudson River School and panorama painters, the “Yankee” as a character type on the stage, and the classification of circus techniques.

The author concedes that his book is not exhaustive. But since his entries are annotated it is possible to understand the value of each title and the author’s criteria for their selection.