Ray Diffen Stage Clothes

Elizabeth Taylor, Richard Burton, John Gielgud, Katherine Hepburn, Barbra Streisand and Alec Guinness are just a few of the hundreds of actors costumed by Ray Diffen during his career of more than fifty years in the US, UK and Canada. Working for a cadre of talented collaborators—producers, directors, designers and actors—Ray and his team of craftsmen created stage clothing for the best known Shakespeare Festivals, spectacular musical theatre productions, innovative dance companies, and epic stagings of the world’s best opera at the Met in New York City. Behind the scenes—in rehearsals, dressing rooms, and in that most intimate of settings, the fitting room—the actors’ lives are revealed, as they try on the skins of the characters they will portray. Despite tensions flaring in the crucible of theatrical pre-production, Ray Diffen and company stayed on task to implement the collaborators’ shared vision to create memorable performances.

A History of the Theatre Costume Business is the first-ever comprehensive book on the subject, as related by award-winning actors and designers, and first hand by the drapers, tailors, and craftspeople who make the clothes that dazzle on stage. Readers will learn why stage clothes are made today, by whom, and how. They will also learn how today’s shops and ateliers arose from the shops and makers who founded the business. This never-before-told story shows that there is as much drama behind the scenes as there is in the performance: famous actors relate their intimate experiences in the fitting room, the glories of gorgeous costumes, and the mortification when things go wrong, while the costume makers explain how famous shows were created with toil, tears, and sweat, and sometimes even a little blood. This is history told by the people who were present at the creation – some of whom are no longer around to tell their own story. Based on original research and first-hand reporting, A History of the Theatre Costume Business is written for theatre professionals: actors, directors, producers, costume makers, and designers. It is also an excellent resource for all theatregoers who have marveled at the gorgeous dresses and fanciful costumes that create the magic on stage, as well as for the next generation of drapers and designers.

The School of Journalism at Columbia University has awarded the Pulitzer Prize since 1917. Nowadays there are prizes in 21 categories from the fields of journalism, literature and music. The Pulitzer Prize Archive presentsthe history of this award from its beginnings to the present: In parts A toE the awarding oftheprize in each category is documented, commented and arranged chronologically. Part F covers the history of the prize biographically and bibliographically. Part G provides the background to thedecisions.