30 
HO USE & GARDEN 
Eugenically Speaking at the Bandbox demanded but few properties, a queerly constructed mirror, two 
chairs, two tables and a lamp. The color notes were in the lampshade, door and frieze 
we may narrow, widen or deepen our stage in any way that 
may appear desirable. 
The Character and the Setting 
One inescapable duty we have, and one alone: that we por¬ 
tray in our designs the characters created by the playwright, 
just as the caste must portray them in the acting. To do this 
adequately we may now and then be compelled to outrage our 
sense as decorators, but that is occasionally quite as regrett¬ 
ably necessary in our dealings with individuals, for then, too, 
we must take their characters into consideration. Indeed, a 
“thing of beauty” in the abstract is not inevitably “a joy 
forever” to a person of bad taste. And alas, there are mil¬ 
lions of such humans, in plays and out of them. The deco¬ 
rator’s success depends, unfortunately, quite as much on his 
being a psychologist as on his being an artist, for there are 
still folk who, like M. Jourdain in Moliere’s play, come to 
masters merely in order to be told that their own ideas are 
the best ones possible. 
But this is somewhat in the nature of a confession and 
apart from stage decoration, the discussion of which must 
be resumed. 
“Husband and Wife” 
In order to view sympathetically the illustrations shown in 
these pages, one must know something of the effect which 
the dramatists and producers were aiming to create; and these 
effects were, of course, largely heightened by the colors em¬ 
ployed, which cannot even 
be suggested in a black and 
white reproduction. In one 
case, however, I have given 
both a print of the original 
sketch in color for Mr. Ken¬ 
yon’s play “Husband and 
Wife,” and also a photo¬ 
graph of the setting as it was 
finally arranged at the Forty- 
eighth Street Theatre, un¬ 
der the vigilant eye of Mr. 
Arthur Hopkins. The fam¬ 
ily whose residence in Los 
Angeles is represented were, 
according to the dramatist, 
living considerably above 
their means; they were peo¬ 
ple of social standing and 
taste, but without original¬ 
ity — just the people to call in 
a decorator to “do” their en- ^ wo °*. The New York Idea is an ideal setting of a boudoir. The walls are pink; mouldings light 
. i 11 i • i ■ blue; curtain and upholstering fabric gold and violet stripe; rug, a flat gold and furniture cream striped 
Trance nanway anci gi\e mm with blue and incrusted with flowers and leaves which are painted in bright colors. The lighting fix- 
carte blawche! So, of course, tures are baskets of flowers and the shades dancing figures in black and white 
he proceeds to provide them 
with a Caenstone mantel and 
a beamed and decorated 
ceiling, carved walnut doors 
like those in the Villa Ma- 
dama at Florence, an expen¬ 
sive tapestry and old paint¬ 
ing, together with the more 
or less novel black carpet, 
tasseled sofa, telephone cov¬ 
er and fancy pillows. The 
period is that interesting 
transition in Italy from the 
Gothic to the Renaissance, 
when furniture of both types 
was being used, and into this 
such modern touches were 
introduced as the painted pa¬ 
per shade on the table lamp, 
the cerise lacquered bench 
and mirror in the hall and 
the table covers of damask 
and satin in combination. 
Vivid color was provided by 
the sofas and bench in cerise 
velvet and the chairs in blue. 
You see, the result is a 
rather stiff, formal room in which the husband and wife could 
quarrel with propriety. 
But in the ordinary play, such a setting would have been 
impossible, for everything in it is actually what it is supposed 
to be. The mantel took five men an hour to put up, the beams 
are really wood, the doors are as heavy, if not as lead, at least 
as two-inch pine could make them. It was possible to use such 
unusual pieces in this play because the set remained throughout 
its three acts, and, indeed, throughout its entire production, no 
one daring to lay a finger upon anything. Thus there was in 
this an additional uncited requirement; to have a scene of 
which an average audience would not tire after seeing three 
curtains rise upon it. 
“The New York Idea” 
An altogether different ideal of stage setting was imposed 
upon me by my reading of “The New York Idea,” in which 
Miss Grace George and her delightful company are at present 
appearing at the Playhouse. This is a play which depends 
upon the admirable adequacy of its comedic creation, more 
than upon its plot, its situations, or its characters, although, 
of course, there is a marvelous bit of uproariousness at the 
end of the third act which would rush any audience into roars 
of laughter. The contrast between Mrs. Karslake and her 
ex-husband and between both of them and her intended hus¬ 
band and between tbe latter and his ex-wife, is responsible 
for much of the cleverness of the play, and, as the first act 
takes place in the home of the man she is going to marry, the 
second act in that of his ex-wife, and the fourth act in that of 
