HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

Cleon Francis "Throck" Throckmorton (October 8, 1897 – October 23, 1965) was an American painter, theatrical designer, producer, and architect. During the early 1920s, Throckmorton resided in
Washington, D.C. ) , image_skyline = , image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, ...
, where he created sets for stage productions by
Howard University Howard University (Howard) is a private, federally chartered historically black research university in Washington, D.C. It is classified among "R2: Doctoral Universities – High research activity" and accredited by the Middle States Commissi ...
, a
historically black college Historically black colleges and universities (HBCUs) are institutions of higher education in the United States that were established before the Civil Rights Act of 1964 with the intention of primarily serving the African-American community. Mo ...
. While associated with Howard University, he operated the
Krazy Kat ''Krazy Kat'' (also known as ''Krazy & Ignatz'' in some reprints and compilations) is an US, American newspaper comic strip, by cartoonist George Herriman, which ran from 1913 to 1944. It first appeared in the ''New York Journal-American, New Yor ...
speakeasy A speakeasy, also called a blind pig or blind tiger, is an illicit establishment that sells alcoholic beverages, or a retro style bar that replicates aspects of historical speakeasies. Speakeasy bars came into prominence in the United States d ...
in Washington, D.C., a gathering place for artists and intellectuals. After noticing Throckmorton's set design work for Ridgely Torrence's ''Simon the Cyrenian'' at Howard University, producer
George Cram Cook George Cram Cook or Jig Cook (October 7, 1873 – January 14, 1924) was an American theatre producer, director, playwright, novelist, poet, and university professor. Believing it was his personal mission to inspire others, Cook led the fou ...
recruited Throckmorton to create the sets for the
Provincetown Players The Provincetown Players was a collective of artists, writers, intellectuals, and amateur theater enthusiasts. Under the leadership of the husband and wife team of George Cram Cook, George Cram “Jig” Cook and Susan Glaspell from Iowa, the Play ...
' upcoming production of playwright
Eugene O'Neill Eugene Gladstone O'Neill (October 16, 1888 – November 27, 1953) was an American playwright and Nobel laureate in literature. His poetically titled plays were among the first to introduce into the U.S. the drama techniques of realism, earlier ...
's ''
The Emperor Jones ''The Emperor Jones'' is a 1920 tragic play by American dramatist Eugene O'Neill that tells the tale of Brutus Jones, a resourceful, self-assured African American and a former Pullman porter, who kills another black man in a dice game, is jailed, ...
''. Following the success of ''The Emperor Jones'', Throckmorton became one of the most prolific set designers of the Jazz Age. His set designs were featured in over six hundred productions. During the heyday of his career, it was said that the only person whose name appeared on more playbills than Throckmorton's was the fire commissioner. He was posthumously inducted into the
American Theater Hall of Fame The American Theater Hall of Fame in New York City was founded in 1972. Earl Blackwell was the first head of the organization's Executive Committee. In an announcement in 1972, he said that the new ''Theater Hall of Fame'' would be located in the ...
in 2002.


Life


Early life and education

Born in Absecon, just outside
Atlantic City, New Jersey Atlantic City, often known by its initials A.C., is a coastal resort city in Atlantic County, New Jersey, United States. The city is known for its casinos, boardwalk, and beaches. In 2020, the city had a population of 38,497.
, Throckmorton's parents Ernest Upton Throckmorton and Roberta Cowing Throckmorton had moved to
Washington, D.C. ) , image_skyline = , image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, ...
by 1912 where Ernest ran a cigar store. His mother was an artist employed by the
U.S. Department of Agriculture The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) is the federal executive department responsible for developing and executing federal laws related to farming, forestry, rural economic development, and food. It aims to meet the needs of com ...
. Throckmorton's early years were spent in Atlantic City and Washington, D.C. He purportedly was deeply influenced by the gothic atmosphere of the
American South The Southern United States (sometimes Dixie, also referred to as the Southern States, the American South, the Southland, or simply the South) is a geographic and cultural region of the United States of America. It is between the Atlantic Ocean ...
which he drew upon in later years when he designed sets for '' All God's Chillun Got Wings'' (1924) and '' Porgy'' (1928). As a young man, Throckmorton studied engineering at the
Carnegie Institute of Technology Carnegie Mellon University (CMU) is a private research university in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. One of its predecessors was established in 1900 by Andrew Carnegie as the Carnegie Technical Schools; it became the Carnegie Institute of Technology ...
from 1917–18 and
George Washington University , mottoeng = "God is Our Trust" , established = , type = Private federally chartered research university , academic_affiliations = , endowment = $2.8 billion (2022) , preside ...
from 1918–19. As a student, he worked as a lab assistant at the
National Institute of Standards and Technology The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) is an agency of the United States Department of Commerce whose mission is to promote American innovation and industrial competitiveness. NIST's activities are organized into physical sci ...
. He developed an interest in painting, and studied painting with portraitist
Charles Webster Hawthorne Charles Webster Hawthorne (January 8, 1872 – November 29, 1930) was an American portrait and genre painter and a noted teacher who founded the Cape Cod School of Art in 1899. He was born in Lodi, Illinois, and his parents returned to Maine ...
and Alexis Many. According to Throckmorton, his career began as a bet made with other artists in Washington, D.C. The artists claimed he could not succeed both in engineering and painting. Within a year, Throckmorton won the bet by graduating with an engineering degree and had an exposition of his paintings at the Biennial Exposition of Contemporary Artists. Attempting to reconcile his passion for painting with his love of engineering, he gradually became aware of "the perfect marriage of the two professions—set designing."


Early efforts and speakeasy owner

After obtaining an engineering degree and following an exhibition of his paintings, Throckmorton began advertising himself as a specialist "in difficult tasks for the theater that require the combination of the artist and the engineer." Soon after, he became a frequent collaborator and associate with the
African-American African Americans (also referred to as Black Americans and Afro-Americans) are an Race and ethnicity in the United States, ethnic group consisting of Americans with partial or total ancestry from sub-Saharan Africa. The term "African American ...
drama department at
Howard University Howard University (Howard) is a private, federally chartered historically black research university in Washington, D.C. It is classified among "R2: Doctoral Universities – High research activity" and accredited by the Middle States Commissi ...
, a
federally chartered A congressional charter is a law passed by the United States Congress that states the mission, authority, and activities of a group. Congress issued federal charters from 1791 until 1992 under Title 36 of the United States Code. The first charte ...
historically black
research university A research university or a research-intensive university is a university that is committed to research as a central part of its mission. They are the most important sites at which knowledge production occurs, along with "intergenerational kno ...
in Washington, D.C. He taught classes, produced plays, and designed sets at Howard University circa 1920–22. While associated with Howard University, Throckmorton operated the
Krazy Kat Klub The Krazy Kat Klub—also known as The Kat and Throck's Studio—was a Bohemian cafe, speakeasy, and nightclub in Washington, D.C. during the historical era known as the Jazz Age. Founded in 1919 by portraitist and scenic designer Cleon "Thro ...
, a raucous nightclub and
speakeasy A speakeasy, also called a blind pig or blind tiger, is an illicit establishment that sells alcoholic beverages, or a retro style bar that replicates aspects of historical speakeasies. Speakeasy bars came into prominence in the United States d ...
situated at No. 3 Green Court near Washington, D.C.'s
Thomas Circle Thomas Circle is a traffic circle in Northwest Washington, D.C., in the United States. It is located at the intersection of Massachusetts Avenue NW, Vermont Avenue NW, 14th Street NW, and M Street NW. It is named for George Henry Thomas, a Un ...
. As a
pre-Raphaelite The Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood (later known as the Pre-Raphaelites) was a group of English painters, poets, and art critics, founded in 1848 by William Holman Hunt, John Everett Millais, Dante Gabriel Rossetti, William Michael Rossetti, James ...
impressionist Impressionism was a 19th-century art movement characterized by relatively small, thin, yet visible brush strokes, open composition, emphasis on accurate depiction of light in its changing qualities (often accentuating the effects of the passage ...
, Throckmorton believed that artists should pursue their vocation day and night by surrounding themselves with appropriate settings that inspired creativity, and the venue fulfilled that purpose. Due to its courtyard and tree-house, the establishment became as an idyllic haunt for artists,
bohemians Bohemian or Bohemians may refer to: *Anything of or relating to Bohemia Beer * National Bohemian, a brand brewed by Pabst * Bohemian, a brand of beer brewed by Molson Coors Culture and arts * Bohemianism, an unconventional lifestyle, origin ...
,
flappers Flappers were a subculture of young Western women in the 1920s who wore short skirts (knee height was considered short during that period), bobbed their hair, listened to jazz, and flaunted their disdain for what was then considered acceptab ...
, and other free-wheeling " young moderns" during the Jazz Age. A frequent club habitué was Katherine "Kat" Mullen, a model and sketch artist known for her radio performances as a singer and
ukulele The ukulele ( ; from haw, ukulele , approximately ), also called Uke, is a member of the lute family of instruments of Portuguese origin and popularized in Hawaii. It generally employs four nylon strings. The tone and volume of the instrumen ...
player with the Crandall Saturday Nighters. Throckmorton and Mullen were married during this period. While operating the Krazy Kat Klub speakeasy in Washington, D.C., Throckmorton became acquainted with theater producer
George Cram Cook George Cram Cook or Jig Cook (October 7, 1873 – January 14, 1924) was an American theatre producer, director, playwright, novelist, poet, and university professor. Believing it was his personal mission to inspire others, Cook led the fou ...
, a key figure in the experimental theater collective known as the
Provincetown Players The Provincetown Players was a collective of artists, writers, intellectuals, and amateur theater enthusiasts. Under the leadership of the husband and wife team of George Cram Cook, George Cram “Jig” Cook and Susan Glaspell from Iowa, the Play ...
located in
Provincetown, Massachusetts Provincetown is a New England town located at the extreme tip of Cape Cod in Barnstable County, Massachusetts, in the United States. A small coastal resort town with a year-round population of 3,664 as of the 2020 United States Census, Provincet ...
. Cook had been impressed by Throckmorton's ''
avant-garde The avant-garde (; In 'advance guard' or ' vanguard', literally 'fore-guard') is a person or work that is experimental, radical, or unorthodox with respect to art, culture, or society.John Picchione, The New Avant-garde in Italy: Theoretical ...
'' work on Ridgely Torrence's ''Simon the Cyrenian'' at Howard University, and he offered Throckmorton the opportunity to design the sets for the upcoming first production of
Eugene O'Neill Eugene Gladstone O'Neill (October 16, 1888 – November 27, 1953) was an American playwright and Nobel laureate in literature. His poetically titled plays were among the first to introduce into the U.S. the drama techniques of realism, earlier ...
's ''
The Emperor Jones ''The Emperor Jones'' is a 1920 tragic play by American dramatist Eugene O'Neill that tells the tale of Brutus Jones, a resourceful, self-assured African American and a former Pullman porter, who kills another black man in a dice game, is jailed, ...
'' (1920). Throckmorton completed the sketches and sets in only three days, and the play opened to rave reviews on November 1, 1920.


Meteoric success and cultural zenith

Due to the ecstatic critical reception of Throckmorton's set work for ''The Emperor Jones'', Throckmorton went on to work on stage design or set design for over six hundred productions during the next decade. His many works included ''
The Hairy Ape ''The Hairy Ape'' is a 1922 expressionist play by American playwright Eugene O'Neill. It is about a beastly, unthinking laborer known as Yank, the protagonist of the play, as he searches for a sense of belonging in a world controlled by the rich ...
'' (1922), ''
In Abraham's Bosom ''In Abraham's Bosom'' is a play by American dramatist Paul Green. He was based in North Carolina and wrote historical plays about the South. Production ''In Abraham's Bosom'' premiered on Broadway at the Provincetown Playhouse on December 30, ...
'' (1926;
Pulitzer Prize The Pulitzer Prize () is an award for achievements in newspaper, magazine, online journalism, literature, and musical composition within the United States. It was established in 1917 by provisions in the will of Joseph Pulitzer, who had made h ...
, 1927), '' Porgy'' (1928), the American premiere of ''
The Threepenny Opera ''The Threepenny Opera'' ( ) is a "play with music" by Bertolt Brecht, adapted from a translation by Elisabeth Hauptmann of John Gay's 18th-century English ballad opera, ''The Beggar's Opera'', and four ballads by François Villon, with music ...
'' (1933),
Sidney Howard Sidney Coe Howard (June 26, 1891 – August 23, 1939) was an American playwright, dramatist and screenwriter. He received the Pulitzer Prize for Drama in 1925 and a posthumous Academy Award in 1940 for the screenplay for ''Gone with the Wind''. ...
's ''Alien Corn'' (1933), the 1935 American premiere of
Federico García Lorca Federico del Sagrado Corazón de Jesús García Lorca (5 June 1898 – 19 August 1936), known as Federico García Lorca ( ), was a Spanish poet, playwright, and theatre director. García Lorca achieved international recognition as an emblemat ...
's ''Blood Wedding'' (retitled as ''The Bitter Oleanders''), and a 1942 production of ''
Nathan the Wise ''Nathan the Wise'' (original German title: ', ) is a play by Gotthold Ephraim Lessing from 1779. It is a fervent plea for religious tolerance. It was never performed during Lessing's lifetime and was first performed in 1783 at the Döbbelinsch ...
''. During this heyday of Throckmorton's career, it was said that the only person whose name appeared on more playbills than Throckmorton's was the fire commissioner. Many notable artists and stage designers worked with Throckmorton at the Provincetown Players, including
Mordecai Gorelik Mordecai (Max) Gorelik (August 25, 1899 – March 7, 1990) was an American theatrical designer, producer and director. Life and work Born August 25, 1899, in Shchedrin near Minsk, Russia, Mordecai (Max) Gorelik immigrated with his family to the U ...
,
Alexander Calder Alexander Calder (; July 22, 1898 – November 11, 1976) was an American sculptor known both for his innovative mobiles (kinetic sculptures powered by motors or air currents) that embrace chance in their aesthetic, his static "stabiles", and his ...
, and
Robert Edmond Jones Robert Edmond Jones (December 12, 1887 – November 26, 1954) was an American scenic, lighting, and costume designer. He is credited with incorporating the new stagecraft into the American drama. His designs sought to integrate scenic ele ...
. By 1928, following his divorce from his first wife Katherine Mullen and his second marriage to screen actress Juliet Brenon, Throckmorton had relocated to
Hoboken, New Jersey Hoboken ( ; Unami: ') is a city in Hudson County in the U.S. state of New Jersey. As of the 2020 U.S. census, the city's population was 60,417. The Census Bureau's Population Estimates Program calculated that the city's population was 58,690 i ...
, where he and his intimate friend, writer
Christopher Morley Christopher Darlington Morley (May 5, 1890 – March 28, 1957) was an American journalist, novelist, essayist and poet. He also produced stage productions for a few years and gave college lectures.''Online Literature'' Biography Morley was bo ...
, co-founded the Hoboken Theatrical Company. They produced at the Old Rialto Theatre a series of successful revivals of old-time melodramas from the gaslight era, "complete with peanuts—hisses for the villain and cheers for the heroes." The efforts of Throckmorton and Morley led to a brief cultural flowering in the city. They concurrently produced an assortment of experimental crafts including an illustrated map of Hoboken, Hoboken passports, and a book, "Born in a Beer Garden, or She Troupes to Conquer" (1930), written with then-unknown poet
Ogden Nash Frederic Ogden Nash (August 19, 1902 – May 19, 1971) was an American poet well known for his light verse, of which he wrote over 500 pieces. With his unconventional rhyming schemes, he was declared by ''The New York Times'' the country's best ...
. Throckmorton and Morley later produced plays at the Millpond Playhouse in Roslyn, New York, including a well-received production of Morley's "The Trojan Horse". While residing in a studio at West Third Street in New York City during the early 1930s, Throckmorton produced a series of drawings which soon decorated the "Volare" restaurant in Greenwich Village in New York City, where they have been hanging since 1933. In 1934, Throckmorton's four concept drawings for the scene designs in ''The Emperor Jones'' were included in the 1934 International Exhibition of Theatre Art at the
Museum of Modern Art The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) is an art museum located in Midtown Manhattan, New York City, on 53rd Street between Fifth and Sixth Avenues. It plays a major role in developing and collecting modern art, and is often identified as one of ...
. During this period, Throckmorton also became known as an architect and designer of theaters, working on the
Cherry Lane Theatre The Cherry Lane Theatre is the oldest continuously running off-Broadway theater in New York City. The theater is located at 38 Commerce Street between Barrow and Bedford Streets in the West Village neighborhood of Greenwich Village, Manhattan, N ...
in
Greenwich Village Greenwich Village ( , , ) is a neighborhood on the west side of Lower Manhattan in New York City, bounded by 14th Street to the north, Broadway to the east, Houston Street to the south, and the Hudson River to the west. Greenwich Village ...
, the
Westport Country Playhouse Westport Country Playhouse, is a not-for-profit regional theater in Westport, Connecticut, Westport, Connecticut. It was founded in 1931 by Lawrence Langner, a New York theater producer. Langner remodeled an 1830s tannery with a Broadway-quality ...
in Connecticut, the Cape Playhouse at Dennis on Cape Cod, and many others. In 1935, he was awarded a
Guggenheim Fellowship Guggenheim Fellowships are grants that have been awarded annually since by the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation to those "who have demonstrated exceptional capacity for productive scholarship or exceptional creative ability in the ar ...
in Theatre Arts to study classic European theaters.


Decline and later years

After his artistic zenith during the Jazz Age, Throckmorton's theatrical work steadily declined in the 1940s, and he was forced to move on to other ventures. He became an event planner, created murals for restaurants and nightclubs, and designed private homes. He also did pioneering television work designing simulations of historical events, battles, and other events that could not be filmed. He became the first art director for the
Columbia Broadcasting System CBS Broadcasting Inc., commonly shortened to CBS, the abbreviation of its former legal name Columbia Broadcasting System, is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the CBS Entertainme ...
(CBS) during the early years of television. As his career declined, Throckmorton divided his time between his Greenwich Village apartment and a residence in
the Bahamas The Bahamas (), officially the Commonwealth of The Bahamas, is an island country within the Lucayan Archipelago of the West Indies in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic. It takes up 97% of the Lucayan Archipelago's land area and is home to ...
. In his final years, Throckmorton lived with his second wife Juliet Brenon in semi-retirement at 33 South North Carolina Avenue in
Atlantic City, New Jersey Atlantic City, often known by its initials A.C., is a coastal resort city in Atlantic County, New Jersey, United States. The city is known for its casinos, boardwalk, and beaches. In 2020, the city had a population of 38,497.
. He died at 68 years old on October 23, 1965. Nearly forty years after his death, he was posthumously inducted into the
American Theater Hall of Fame The American Theater Hall of Fame in New York City was founded in 1972. Earl Blackwell was the first head of the organization's Executive Committee. In an announcement in 1972, he said that the new ''Theater Hall of Fame'' would be located in the ...
in 2002.


Marriages

Throckmorton's first wife was Katherine "Kat" Mullen. A model and sketch artist, Mullen was a frequent habitué of Throckmorton's speakeasy known as " The Kat" in Washington, D.C., and was also known for her radio performances as a singer and
ukulele The ukulele ( ; from haw, ukulele , approximately ), also called Uke, is a member of the lute family of instruments of Portuguese origin and popularized in Hawaii. It generally employs four nylon strings. The tone and volume of the instrumen ...
player with the Crandall Saturday Nighters. Throckmorton likely divorced Mullen before he permanently relocated from Washington, D.C. to New York City. On March 13, 1927, Throckmorton married his second wife, silent movie actress Juliet Brenon (1895–1979). The Brenons were a musical and theatrical family; her father Algernon had been a music critic, and her uncle
Herbert Brenon Herbert Brenon (born Alexander Herbert Reginald St. John Brenon; 13 January 1880 – 21 June 1958) was an Irish-born U.S. film director, actor and screenwriter during the era of silent films through the 1930s. Brenon was among the early film ...
was a prolific film director who directed the first cinematic adaptation of ''The Great Gatsby'' (1926). Juliet's sister Aileen (1894–1967) was a music critic and theatrical publicist whose husband was art critic
Thomas Craven Thomas Craven (January 6, 1888 – February 27, 1969) was an American author, critic and lecturer, who promoted the work of American Regionalist painters, Thomas Hart Benton, John Steuart Curry and Grant Wood, among others. He was known for h ...
. During the 1930s, Throckmorton and Brenon’s Greenwich Village apartment became an after-hours salon for thespians, artists, and intellectuals such as
Noël Coward Sir Noël Peirce Coward (16 December 189926 March 1973) was an English playwright, composer, director, actor, and singer, known for his wit, flamboyance, and what ''Time'' magazine called "a sense of personal style, a combination of cheek and ...
,
Norman Bel Geddes Norman Bel Geddes (born Norman Melancton Geddes; April 27, 1893 – May 8, 1958) was an American theatrical and industrial designer. Early life Bel Geddes was born Norman Melancton Geddes in Adrian, Michigan and was raised in New Philadelp ...
,
Eugene O'Neill Eugene Gladstone O'Neill (October 16, 1888 – November 27, 1953) was an American playwright and Nobel laureate in literature. His poetically titled plays were among the first to introduce into the U.S. the drama techniques of realism, earlier ...
, and
E.E. Cummings Edward Estlin Cummings, who was also known as E. E. Cummings, e. e. cummings and e e cummings (October 14, 1894 - September 3, 1962), was an American poet, painter, essayist, author and playwright. He wrote approximately 2,900 poems, two autobi ...
. Their politically leftward salon notably raised funds for the Republican faction during the
Spanish Civil War The Spanish Civil War ( es, Guerra Civil Española)) or The Revolution ( es, La Revolución, link=no) among Nationalists, the Fourth Carlist War ( es, Cuarta Guerra Carlista, link=no) among Carlists, and The Rebellion ( es, La Rebelión, lin ...
.


See also

*
Krazy Kat Klub The Krazy Kat Klub—also known as The Kat and Throck's Studio—was a Bohemian cafe, speakeasy, and nightclub in Washington, D.C. during the historical era known as the Jazz Age. Founded in 1919 by portraitist and scenic designer Cleon "Thro ...


References


Citations


Sources

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *


External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Throckmorton, Cleon 1897 births 1965 deaths 20th-century American painters American set designers Broadway set designers Theatre designers People from Absecon, New Jersey Artists from New Jersey 20th-century American male writers