1. For an overview of Schnitzler's ballet-pantomime in the hands of Meyerhold and Tairov in Russia, see Elisabeth, Heresch, Schnitzler und Russland: Aufnahme, Wirkung, Kritik (Wien: Wilhelm Braumüller, Universitäts-Verlagsbuch-handlung, 1982), pp. 103–111Google Scholar. An extended discussion of Alexander Tairov's productions of The Veil of Pierrette is found in Torda, Thomas Joseph, “Alexander Tairov and the Scenic Artists of the Moscow Kamerny Theater 1914–1935,” PhD Dissertation, University of Denver, 1977, pp. 162–178.Google Scholar

2. For an analysis of Meyerhold's Columbine's Scarf, see Braun, Edward, The Theatre of Meyerhold: Revolution on the Modern Stage (New York: Drama Book Specialists Publishers, 1979), pp. 102–109Google Scholar. It is interesting to note here also that in 1909 Meyerhold performed the role of Pierrot in Mikhail Fokine's Carnaval and that in 1911 Alexander Benois's set design for Mikhail Fokine's Petrushka was modeled on Sapunov's set design for Meyerhold's Columbine's Scarf. See “Der Schleier der Pierrette, 1898–1981,” Tanzblätter, 31 (June 1981): 11–12. For a discussion and the text of Alexander Blok's The Puppet Show (Balagantchik), see The Russian Symbolist Theatre: An Anthology of Plays and Critical Texts, edited and translated by Green, Michael (Ann Arbor1: Ardis Publishers, 1986), pp. 31–57.Google Scholar On Max Reinhardt's experiments with wordless drama and dance-pantomime, see Dietrich, Margaret, “Music and Dance in the Productions of Max Reinhardt,” Total Theatre: A Critical Anthology, ed. Kirby, E. T.(New York: E.P.Dutton, 1969),pp. 162–174.Google Scholar Schnitzler's German text consulted for this paper was from Der Schleierder Pierrette, Pantomime in drei Bildern, Schnitzler, von Arthur, Ernst von Dohnányi, Musik von (Leipzig: Ludwig Doblinger [Bernhard Herzmansky]), 1910.Google Scholar

3. Rudnitsky, Konstantin, Russian and SovietTheater: 1905–1932, trans. Roxane Permar and ed. DrMilne, Lesley (New York: Harry N. Abrams, 1988), pp. 10–11.Google Scholar On the use of the commedia dell'arte characters in Russia, see Richards, Kenneth and Richards, Laura, The Commedia dell'Arte: A Documentary History, (Cambridge, MA: Basil Blackwell for the Shakespeare Head Press, 1990), p. 303.Google Scholar The subject of wordless-drama-dance has not received sufficient attention in the critical and historical literature. It is helpful here, however, to know that two major productions of Max Reinhardt parallel Schnitzler's piece: Sumurûn (Berlin 1910), a wordless play in nine scenes by Frederich Freska with music by Victor Hollender that Reinhardt took to London (1911), New York ( 1912), and Paris (1912). Tanzblätter asserts that Grete Wiesenthal, a popular dancer from Vienna and a well-known performer for Max Reinhardt in Berlin, co-authored Sumurûn. “Die Tänzerin selbst [Grete Wiesenthal] was Mitautorin der Pantomime ‘Sumurûn’, die in der Inszenierung von Max Reinhardt weltberühmt werden sollte.” (“The dancer herself was co-author of the pantomime ‘Sumurûn’, which was to become world-famous in the production by Max Reinhardt” p. 12.) Her name, however, usually does not appear among the credits. The second Reinhardt “big production” (which the Germans refer to as Grossrauminszenierungen) of a wordless play adapted from a book by Karl Vollmöller, with music by Englebert Humperdinck, was The Miracle (1912 in Berlin and 1924 in New York). Max Reinhardt's production of The Miracle was thought a huge success by New York critics because it demonstrated that theatre did not need words to accomplish its effects, that “theatricality” had its own ends and could create emotional responses in audiences by virtue of its own instruments. See Bauland, Peter, The Hooded Eagle: Modern German Drama on the New York Stage (Syracuse: Syracuse University Press, 1968), pp.34–36 and pp. 57–60Google Scholar, and Dietrich, pp. 165–166. Interestingly enough, Richard Boleslavsky of the American Laboratory Theatre directed the crowd scenes for Reinhardt's New York production, according to Willis, Ronald A., “The American Lab Theatre, 1923–1930,” PhD Dissertation, University of Iowa, 1968, p. 206.Google Scholar

4. In addition to his dissertation, the only full-length study of the American Laboratory Theatre I know of, Professor Willis has an abbreviated discussion of the school and theatre in “The American Lab Theatre,” Tulane Drama Review, 9, 1 (Fall 1964): 112–116. In the same issue, a brief account of Boleslavsky's and Ouspenskaya's approach to teaching of Stanislavskian theory is given by their former student Ferguson, Francis, in “The Notion of ‘Action’,” pp. 85–87Google Scholar. A later study is that of Roberts, J. W., Richard Boleslavsky: His Life and Work in the Theatre (Ann Arbor, Michigan: UMI Research Press, 1981)Google Scholar, which covers the theatrical career of the founder and director of the American Laboratory Theatre. Maria Ouspenskaya (1876–1949) began her theatrical training as a coloratura soprano, but lacking sufficient financial support abandoned it for a career on the dramatic stage. She learned her art and seasoned her talent by touring with provincial companies. Out of 250 applicants, she was one of two accepted in 1911 by Stanislavsky into the Moscow Art Theatre. Between 1911 and 1923 she played about 150 roles with the Company. In 1923, she was a member of the visiting Moscow Art Theatre Company on tour in New York, but did not return to the USSR, remaining in the U.S. and joining Richard Boleslavsky at the American Laboratory Theatre the following year. In the 1920s and 1930s she appeared in many Broadway productions before she went to Hollywood, performing in a number of films as a character actress while under contract to Metro-Golden-Mayer. She maintained an acting school in Hollywood during the late 1930s and the 1940s. “Veteran of Character Role in Plays and Films Succumbs to Burn Injuries on Coast,” Obituary, New York Times, 4 December

5. On Mme Anderson's career, see the interview conducted by Horosko, Marion, “In the Shadow of the Russian Tradition,” Dance Magazine, January 1971, p. 37Google Scholar; on Mikhail Mordkin, Vasilly Tikhomirov, and Alexander Gorsky, see Souritz, Elizabeth, Soviet Choreographers in the 1920s, trans. Lynn Visson, edited with additional translation, Banes, Sally, (Durham, North Carolina: Duke University Press, 1990), pp. 85–153.Google Scholar

6. Sayler, Oliver M., The Russian Theatre (New York: Brentanos, 1922), pp. 108–109.Google Scholar

7. Sayler, p. 17.

8. Sullivan, Lawrence, “Nikita Baliev's Le Théâtre de la Chauve-Souris: An Avant-Garde Theater,” Dance Research Journal, 18, 2 (Winter 1986–1987): 17–29.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

9. Tanzblätter. 16–17. This essay contains a photograph of Gontcharova's set. The chronology omits Alexander Tairov's first production of Der Schleier at Mardzhanov's Free Theatre in 1913 and a later production at the Kamerny Theatre in 1915 in Moscow, and Vsevolod Meyerhold's second production of Columbine's Scarf in St. Petersburg in 1916, to mention only three. The article, however, documents over twenty different performances of the ballet-pantomime, most in central Europe and one in the United States.

10. Souvenir Programme for “Le Foire de Moscou, spectacle présente en juillet 1923 par Théâtre Balagantchik,” Dir. M. Korniloff, Théâtre Femina. Rondel Collection, Bibliothèque de l'Arsenal, Ro 9595. Many of the members of this company also appeared in a production called Maria Kousnezqff et sa companie, directed by Richard Boleslavsky. See Comedia Illustré, avril-mai 1922, Rondel Collection, Bibliothèque de l'Arsenal, Ro 12674.

11. Roslavleva, Natalia, The Era of the Russian Ballet (London: Victor Gollancz, 1966), p. 159. Souritz, p. 118.Google Scholar

12. Copies of these documents were provided through the kindness of Professor Ronald A. Willis, who has in his possession the surviving documents from the American Laboratory Theatre. Unfortunately, the prompt book for this production, to which Oliver Sayler refers in his review for “The Play of the Week,” The Saturday Review of Literature, 18 February 1928, p. 611, appears to have been lost. Prompt books at the American Laboratory Theatre usually had the literary text pasted on loose-leaf pages in a loose-leaf binder. The margins contained handwritten comments on the interpretation of the text, key phrases on character analysis, sketches of directions in movement, and other technical details. One such prompt book is still extant for a production of Eugene Labiche's The Straw Hat (1926), directed by Maria Ouspenskaya, in which one finds her technical notes on the play. For example, she used the metaphor the “spine of the play” as a means to convey the basic theme of the play and the “spine of the characters” to identify the characters as types, through brief descriptions often with specific details. Memorabilia of Maria Ouspenskaya, Box Number 7, Rare Book Collection, University Research Library, University of California Los Angeles, Los Angeles, California.

13. Richard S. Aldrich, “Letter to Mrs. Herbert K. Stockton“, 6 January 1928. Richard Aldrich (1902–1986) had a long career in the theatre, was prominent in the development of summer theatre in America, and produced over thirty Broad way shows during his career. In 1940, he married Gertrude Lawrence and produced a successful revival of Shaw's Pygmalion for her. Tim Page, “Richard Aldrich, a Producer; Influenced Summer Theater,” Obituary, New York Times, 16 April 1986.

14. Roberts, pp. 203–04.

15. From an untitled, signed statement by James Reynolds among the papers of the American Laboratory Theatre. For a brief résumé of his scene and costume designs, see Owen, Bobbi, Scenic Design on Broadway: Designers and Their Credits, 1915–1990 (Westport, Connecticut: Greenwood Press, 1991), pp. 151–152.Google Scholar

16. Aldrich, “Letter to Mrs. Herbert K. Stockton.“

17. Reynolds' “Statement.“

18. The following reviews were consulted: Anonymous, “American Laboratory Theatre Introduces Pantomime in America,” New York Times, 27 January 1928, p. 15; Anonymous, New York Herald Tribune, 19 February 1928; Anonymous, New York Telegram, 27 January 1928, p. 8; Barrett, Thomas, “American Laboratory,” The Billboard, 4 February 1928, p. 10Google Scholar; DeCasseres, Benjamin, “Broadway to Date,” Arts & Decoration, February 1928, pp. 72, 115Google Scholar; Littell, Robert, “Two on the Aisle,” New York Evening Post, 13 February 1928 [Reprint]Google Scholar; Lockridge, Richard, “Pantomime“, New York Sun, 27 January 1928, p. 18Google Scholar; R. S., “The Theatre: A Directoire Tragedy,” Wall Street Journal, 28 January 1928, p. 3Google Scholar; Sayler, Oliver M., “Play of the Week,” Saturday Review of Literature, 18 February 1928, p. 611Google Scholar; Young, Stark, “As the Weeks Pass,” The New Republic, 22 February, 1928, pp. 18–19.Google Scholar

19. “The Great World Theatre,” Theatre Arts Monthly, 12 (April 1928): 232–35.

20. Lockridge's, Richard statement appears in The Encyclopedia of the New York Stage, 1920–1930, editor-in-chief Leiter, Samuel L., Volume I (Westport, Connecticut: Greenwood Press, 1985), p. 91.Google Scholar

21. The ability of audiences “to see without words,” as Theatre Arts puts it, is something expected of dance or ballet audiences. For example, the glittering pyrotechnics of the Black Swan variations and grand pas in Act Three of Swan Lake can create emotional reaction in the viewers. Artistotle's affective reactions of the audience may obtain: fear that Prince Siegfried will indeed abandon Odette for Odile because of her dazzling pirouettes and thirty-two fouettés, and pity that Odette will not be delivered from Rothbart's curse. And all the audience has to do is “to see without words” or “to listen with their eyes.“

22. Barrett, p. 10.

23. Young, p. 19.

24. Sayler, p. 611.

25. Young,p. 19. At the age of sixteen, Harold Hecht (1908–1985) began his theatrical career in 1924 as an assistant to Richard Boleslavsky at the American Laboratory Theatre. He later appeared as one of the Drushki (Bridesmen) in the American premiere of Igor Stravinsky's Les Noces, April 26, 1929, Metropolitan Opera House, under the choreography of Anderson-Ivantzova, spent several years as a dancer with the Martha Graham Company, and became a dance director with Busby Berkeley in New York and in Hollywood. In the 1940s and 1950s, he collaborated with Burt Lancaster to found the Hecht-Lancaster Productions, later augmented by James Hill, forming the Hecht-Hill-Lancaster Productions. Esther Fein, “Harold Hecht, Film Producer and a Burt Lancaster Partner,” Obituary, New York Times, 28 May 1985, p. D 16.

26. Barrett, p. 10.

27. Littell, New York Evening Post.

28. Young, p. 19.

29. Barrett, p. 10.

30. Littell, New York Evening Post.

31. It was perhaps this comment by Robert Littell that Herbert Stockton, Chairman of the Board of Directors for the Lab Theatre, had in mind when in a letter to Maria Ouspenskaya he briefly alluded to The Bridal Veil as one of the models of the school's success. In a gentle admonishment, Stockton noticed that Mme Ouspenskaya had allowed certain, actors (Blanche Tancock and George McCready), active individuals with an “avid reach for leading parts” and “political activities within the Theatre,” to be cast in leading roles to the detriment of the professional reputation of the Lab Theatre. He went on to say that “I do not mean to argue in personalities but you will understand impersonally what I mean when I say that to my mind there is a greater promise for the Lab indicated in the human qualities plus the technique of such performances as [Donald] Hartman's and [Anne] Schmidt's in ‘The Veil’ ….” Letter from Herbert K. Stockton to Madame Maria Ouspenskaya, 8 April 1928, page 2. Memorabilia of Maria Ouspenskaya, Box Number 6, Rare Book Collection, University Research Library, University of California Los Angeles, Los Angleles, California.

32. On the critical reception of the Anderson-Ivantzova choreography for Stravinsky's Les Noces, see Sullivan, Lawrence, “Les Noces: the American Premiere,” Dance Research Journal, 14, 1 & 2 (1981–1982): 3–14.CrossRefGoogle Scholar