Introduction:

A production manager, master electrician, and lighting designer, Jean Rosenthal is the credited as being the first person to establish the role of the ‘lighting designer’ in a production. Overcoming the difficulties of being a woman in command in a largely male-operated America, she helped change the job of lighting the stage to a specialized field of study.

Biography:

Born March 16th, 1912 in New York City, Eugenia Rosenthal was the daughter of Romanian Immigrants. Her mother, Pauline, had a doctorate is psychiatrics and her father, Maurice, was an ear, nose, and throat specialist. In the autobiography she would write later in life, The Magic of Light, she accredited much of her work ethic to her parent’s accomplishments. Jean received her primary education at Manumit School in Pawling, NY, and the Friends Seminary in Manhattan. During this time, she is said to have spent her free time studying the biographies of famous actors, and that it was her dream to be one. At the age of seventeen she pursued her goal, enlisting in the acting and dance program at the Neighborhood Playhouse. Here she encountered the influential choreographer Martha Graham and, partially as a side-interest, became her technical assistant. Her relationship with Martha would serve as a launch-pad to her career as a designer and technician, as well as foster a life-long association with the choreographer and her dance company. Jean would eventually design more than fifty dances for the company’s repertory before her death in 1969. When looking at Jean Rosenthal’s Broadway credits, a majority of which were for dance shows, it becomes clear that this relationship was vital to the establishment of Jean’s career.

Now pursuing the skills of a designer, Jean enrolled at Yale University where she studied theatre history with George Pierce Baker, scene design with Donald Oenslager (a known Group Theatre designer), costume design with Frank Bevin, and, most importantly, lighting design with Stanley McCandless. Often considered the first lighting designer in American history, McCandless’ class was the first in Theatre history to be taught on the subject of lighting design. Referred to by Rosenthal as the “granddaddy of us all”, McCandless is famous for his “plasticity” lighting technique explained in his text book A Method For Lighting The Stage. This technique, which Jean would go on to master and experiment with, is a process of lighting bodies on stage that utilizes two front lights and one back light. By hanging each front light fort-five degrees above and to the side from the actor’s face, the designer can sufficiently light the stage with angles that mimic natural lighting environments. The education she received under McCandless’ tutelage would serve her as she left Yale in 1933 for New York City, where she joined one of the WPA Federal Theatres. Two years later, at age twenty-three, she had become a technical assistant in Federal Theatre Project 891, working with characters such as John Houseman, Orson Welles, and Nat Carson.

Work In The Theatre:

A year into her career at the Federal Theatre, John Houseman, the regional producer, took a leave of absence to produce Leslie Howard’s Hamlet. He also invited Rosenthal to accompany him as the second assistant stage manager, with the primary job of calling and organizing light cues. However, when the employee from the rental house who was hired to install the lighting system became ill, the opportunity came for Rosenthal to show her skills. Taking up the job as electrical technical director as well as second assistant stage manager, Jean received her first professional lighting credit. In 1937, when John Houseman and Orson Welles broke off from the Federal Theatre to form their own Mercury Theatre, Jean joined them under the title of production and lighting manager. While only credited to as “Production Manager” in the Mercury roster, allusions from her autobiography point cause most people to believe that she designed the lighting for each of the eight productions staged by the company. At this point in her career, Jean began what is referred to as the ‘birth’ of lighting design as separate profession with its own specialized field. According to her contemporary, Beverly Emmons, “electricians would have an instinct for the aesthetic ideas; they would arrange some lights; and the director would comment, or the scenic designer would take a hand in it.” Up until Jean’s career, the lighting was an afterthought.

A deciding moment in her early work would happen when Orson Welles and the Mercury Theatre Players moved to Hollywood to produce the film Citizen Kane. When asked to join and partake in the production, Jean refused out of a desire to remain with the stage. She recalls the time in her autobiography with the words: “that colossus of a madman with his charisma and intensity was nearly impossible to resist.” Yet, Jean saw her need for the American stage as well as it’s need for her, and she remained to further her career as a designer. During this time she opened a theatrical supply house called Theatre Production Service, Inc. (or TPS), through which she distributed her designs as well as rental equipment to local theatres. As a result of her decision to remain in New York, Jean would go on to have her name appear in over three hundred productions, one of which contributed to her early fame as a designer for dance. In George Balanchine’s famous production Four Temperaments, Jean was asked to save the production after an unsuccessful first month. Receiving bad press largely for its cumbersome and attention-stealing European drops, Jean entered the production, Jean replaced the stage with a blue cyclorama and unique lighting that highlighted the movements of the dancers. Following their collaboration, Four Temperaments became an instant success and today remains part of the New York City Ballet repertory. From then on, all of Balanchine’s productions included the tag-line of “Lighting by Jean Rosenthal”. In her work after this period, she described lighting the Broadway stage as an attempt to make the actor appear "jewel-like." She achieved this by surrounding the performer with light, often creating the impression of light and shade on a stage that contained no shadows. Oftentimes, instruments would be mounted on the balcony rail, box booms, side torms (or booms), and overhead pipes.

Beyond the 1930’s:

While an important component to technical theatre in the 1930’s, especially in the field of dance, the highlights of Jean’s dramatic career occur during the 50’s and 60’s. For instance, her total theatrical output of 300 productions includes over 200 on the Broadways stages of Martha Graham, the New York City Ballet, and the Metropolitan Opera. She is also credited for lighting such famous musicals as West Side Story (1957), Sound of Music (1959), A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum (1962), Hello Dolly! (1964), and Cabaret (1966). The last show to carry her name in its credits was Fiddler on The Roof, which ended its 3,242 performance run on July 2, 1972, three years after her death at age 57 due to cancer. Her autobiography, The Magic of Light, was published posthumously in 1972 and was arranged from tape-recorded dictation sessions between herself and Lael Wertenbaker. The book remains an important reference for lighting designers to this day. She contributed many developments in the field of stage lighting, one of which involving the elimination of shadows through the use of upstage floodlights behind the actors. She is also given credit for being the first designer to offer an organized approach to lighting dance. Jean Rosenthal died on May 1st, 1969.

Article from the John Hopkins University Press on Jean Rosenthal:

http://muse.jhu.edu/journals/theatre_topics/v007/7.1boone.html

Biography of Jean Rosenthal:

http://www.northern.edu/wild/jr.htm

Broadway World article on Jean Rosenthal:

http://www.broadwayworld.com/viewcolumn.cfm?colid=2504

“Magic and Light”, a biographical sketch by Jean Rosenthal’s cousin:

http://ezinearticles.com/?Of-Madmen-and-Geniuses,-The-Magic-of-Light&id=25244

Wikipedia article on Jean Rosenthal:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jean_Rosenthal

Wikipedia article on Martha Graham

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Martha_Graham