George Izenour
Encyclopedia
George Charles Izenour MPhys
, AIEEE
(July 24, 1912 – March 24, 2007) was an author, educator, designer and leading innovator in the field of theatrical design and technology. Best known for creating one of the first electronic theatre lighting dimming system
, over the course of his career he invented and developed multiple technologies at the core of modern theatrical productions.
, before moving to Ambridge
in 1917. In 1918 Izenour's father moved the family to Mansfield, Ohio
. Because of a condition known as keratoconus
, a non-spherical deformation of the cornea of the eye, George's early education was augmented by his parents at home. His mother taught him English and Latin and his father history and mathematics. George did not begin his formal schooling until the age of six in Mansfield.
While still living in Mansfield, he appeared in all of the Mansfield Senior High School
plays. He painted the scenery for them and became increasingly interested in the technical aspects of theatre.
Izenour attended Wittenberg College
in Springfield, Ohio
, where he eventually obtained a master's degree in physics. His thesis was the embodiment of what would later become the first electronic theatre lighting dimming system.
George married Hildegard Hilt, a classmate from Wittenberg, after graduation and moved to California.
, the national director of the Federal Theatre Project
. Eventually, he became the lighting director of the project. While in California, Izenour designed the theatre at the Golden Gate International Exposition
in San Francisco in 1939.
Izenour was made a Fellow of the Rockefeller Foundation on July 10, 1939, 10 days after the House Un-American Activities Committee
declared all of the members of the Federal Theater Communists, effectively closing the Federal Theater. With his Rockefeller grant, George Izenour gained a position at Yale
University, with the mandate to establish a laboratory dedicated to the advancement of theatre technology.
, New York. His son Steven Izenour
, a world renowned architect and artist, was born in New Haven in July 1940.
. He built and installed several dimming systems out of the squash court. Century Lighting became interested in the system, however Izenour refused to sell the patents he had acquired. Century took a license to produce the dimming systems that would be known as the Century-Izenour System.
Prior to the development of Izenour's control system, adjusting theatrical lighting was done though bulky control panels located on-stage. For large, complex productions several people would generally be required to operate these control panels. The Century-Izenour control system allowed a single operator, located in the house to control all of the stage lighting remotely.
, then Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences at Harvard. Bundy was building a new theatre, that would eventually become the Loeb Drama Center in Cambridge, Mass., based on a program from Archibald MacLeish
. Mr. MacLeish wanted the theatre to convert from proscenium
to thrust because these were, according to Mr. MacLeish, the two great forms of theatre which had to do with western culture. Izenour designed a theater that could be converted from one stage type to the other by a process, part manual and part electronic, that took about 15 minutes. This convertible design was celebrated in architectural world and became known as an Izenour theatre. Today Izenour theatres exist across the United States, as well as in Canada, Venezuela and Israel. There are no Izenour theatres, however, on Broadway. “Broadway is not for me,” he said in a 1959 interview with The New York Times. “I am a radical to those real estate operators.” Izenour used the celebrity from this project to launch George C. Izenour Associates as a theatre design and acoustical consulting firm.
Through his consultancy firm, George Izenour ended up advising such prestigious clients as the Metropolitan Opera
Company and the Juilliard School
of Music on technical matters, as well as helping to design more than 100 theatres across the country.
Izenour retired from Yale from his positions as professor emeritus of theatre design and technology and director emeritus of the electro-mechanical laboratory of the Yale University School of Drama in 1977 and continued his consulting business in an old converted oyster shack next to his home overlooking the Thimble Islands at Stony Creek, Connecticut. The house George and his wife Hildegard shared was designed by his son, Steven Izenour
, and won national recognition. Izenour lived there until her death in 2002.
and theatre
in general.
Some of his many contributions to theatre technology include: Patent #2,942,879 Scenery Handling Apparatus a patent for a remotely operated motor controlled fly system
. This patent is the precursor to all modern computer controlled scenery systems. Patent #2,463,463 Lighting Control Circuits, perhaps Izenour's best known invention, is a patent for a compact remote operation system for theatrical and television lighting dimming systems. This patent is the basis for all modern lighting control console
s. Izenour also developed such varied technologies as articulated acoustical sub-structures and assorted analogue and digital control systems.
George Izenour also developed the inverse polarized rectifier
circuit for dimming and switching for stage lighting, the first of its kind. The invention, using thyratron
s, significantly reduced the size of dimming
systems used in theatres.
Pennsylvania State University
houses a collection of Izenour's original prototypes for lighting control and automated fixtures. There is also a collection of his linens and vellum drawings.
, the Ford Foundation
and the Guggenheim Foundation
. He was appointed a Benjamin Franklin Fellow of the Royal Society, and was a member of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, American Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers, Acoustical Society of America, and the National Council of Acoustical Consultants.
Izenour shared the Rodgers and Hammerstein Prize in 1960. He received the USITT Award from the United States Institute for Theatre Technology
in 1975, The George Freely Award from the Theatre Library Association in 1977, and the Distinguished Service Award from the American Theatre Association in 1978.
In 2004, Izenour was presented with the Wally Russell Lifetime Achievement Award. The "Wally" Award was established in 1992 in memory of Wally Russell. Each year, the "Wally" honors one individual who exhibits a strong sense of leadership, a commitment to technological innovation, and a career of service to the lighting industry.
Master of Physics
A Master of Physics honours degree is a specific master's degree for courses in the field of physics.-United Kingdom:...
, AIEEE
American Institute of Electrical Engineers
The American Institute of Electrical Engineers was a United States based organization of electrical engineers that existed between 1884 and 1963, when it merged with the Institute of Radio Engineers to form the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers .- History :The 1884 founders of the...
(July 24, 1912 – March 24, 2007) was an author, educator, designer and leading innovator in the field of theatrical design and technology. Best known for creating one of the first electronic theatre lighting dimming system
Dimmer
Dimmers are devices used to vary the brightness of a light. By decreasing or increasing the RMS voltage and, hence, the mean power to the lamp, it is possible to vary the intensity of the light output...
, over the course of his career he invented and developed multiple technologies at the core of modern theatrical productions.
Early life and education
Born in New Brighton, PennsylvaniaNew Brighton, Pennsylvania
New Brighton is a borough in Beaver County, Pennsylvania, United States, located along the Beaver River northwest of Pittsburgh. There are deposits of coal and clay in the vicinity. In the past, articles produced here included pottery, bricks, sewer pipe, glass, flour, twine, lead kegs,...
, before moving to Ambridge
Ambridge, Pennsylvania
Ambridge is a borough in Beaver County in Western Pennsylvania, incorporated in 1905 and named after the American Bridge Company. Ambridge is located 16 miles northwest of Pittsburgh, alongside the Ohio River. In 1910, 5,205 people lived in Ambridge; in 1920, 12,730 people lived there, and in...
in 1917. In 1918 Izenour's father moved the family to Mansfield, Ohio
Mansfield, Ohio
Mansfield is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Richland County. The municipality is located in north-central Ohio in the western foothills of the Allegheny Plateau, approximately southwest of Cleveland and northeast of Columbus....
. Because of a condition known as keratoconus
Keratoconus
Keratoconus , is a degenerative disorder of the eye in which structural changes within the cornea cause it to thin and change to a more conical shape than its normal gradual curve....
, a non-spherical deformation of the cornea of the eye, George's early education was augmented by his parents at home. His mother taught him English and Latin and his father history and mathematics. George did not begin his formal schooling until the age of six in Mansfield.
While still living in Mansfield, he appeared in all of the Mansfield Senior High School
Mansfield Senior High School
Mansfield Senior High School is located in Mansfield, Ohio, USA. The school serves grades 9-12 and is part of the Mansfield City School District. The school enrolls 1,389 students as of the 2006-2007 academic year...
plays. He painted the scenery for them and became increasingly interested in the technical aspects of theatre.
Izenour attended Wittenberg College
Wittenberg University
Wittenberg University is a private four-year liberal arts college in Springfield, Ohio serving 2,000 full-time students representing 37 states and approximately 30 foreign countries...
in Springfield, Ohio
Springfield, Ohio
Springfield is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Clark County. The municipality is located in southwestern Ohio and is situated on the Mad River, Buck Creek and Beaver Creek, approximately west of Columbus and northeast of Dayton. Springfield is home to Wittenberg...
, where he eventually obtained a master's degree in physics. His thesis was the embodiment of what would later become the first electronic theatre lighting dimming system.
George married Hildegard Hilt, a classmate from Wittenberg, after graduation and moved to California.
Work
Shortly after moving to California, George met Hallie FlanaganHallie Flanagan
Hallie Flanagan was an American theatrical producer and director, playwright, and author, best known as director of the Federal Theatre Project, a part of the Works Progress Administration .-Background:...
, the national director of the Federal Theatre Project
Federal Theatre Project
The Federal Theatre Project was a New Deal project to fund theatre and other live artistic performances in the United States during the Great Depression. It was one of five Federal One projects sponsored by the Works Progress Administration...
. Eventually, he became the lighting director of the project. While in California, Izenour designed the theatre at the Golden Gate International Exposition
Golden Gate International Exposition
The Golden Gate International Exposition , held at San Francisco, California's Treasure Island, was a World's Fair that celebrated, among other things, the city's two newly-built bridges. The San Francisco – Oakland Bay Bridge was dedicated in 1936 and the Golden Gate Bridge was dedicated in 1937...
in San Francisco in 1939.
Izenour was made a Fellow of the Rockefeller Foundation on July 10, 1939, 10 days after the House Un-American Activities Committee
House Un-American Activities Committee
The House Committee on Un-American Activities or House Un-American Activities Committee was an investigative committee of the United States House of Representatives. In 1969, the House changed the committee's name to "House Committee on Internal Security"...
declared all of the members of the Federal Theater Communists, effectively closing the Federal Theater. With his Rockefeller grant, George Izenour gained a position at Yale
YALE
RapidMiner, formerly YALE , is an environment for machine learning, data mining, text mining, predictive analytics, and business analytics. It is used for research, education, training, rapid prototyping, application development, and industrial applications...
University, with the mandate to establish a laboratory dedicated to the advancement of theatre technology.
WW II
During World War II, Dr. Izenour worked on antisubmarine warfare and countermeasures for proximity fuses at a government lab in Long IslandLong Island
Long Island is an island located in the southeast part of the U.S. state of New York, just east of Manhattan. Stretching northeast into the Atlantic Ocean, Long Island contains four counties, two of which are boroughs of New York City , and two of which are mainly suburban...
, New York. His son Steven Izenour
Steven Izenour
Steven Izenour was an American architect, urbanist and theorist. He is best known as co-author, with Robert Venturi and Denise Scott Brown of Learning from Las Vegas, one of the most influential architectural theory books of the twentieth century. He was also principal in the Philadelphia firm...
, a world renowned architect and artist, was born in New Haven in July 1940.
Yale
After the war he returned to Yale where he developed the Electro-Mechanical Laboratory in an abandoned squash court at the Yale School of Drama Annex under the general direction of Stanley McCandlessStanley McCandless
Stanley McCandless is considered to be the father of modern lighting design. He paved the way for future lighting designers by playing a role in all aspects of theatrical lighting, from the engineering of lighting instruments to consultant work, and of course designing realized theatrical...
. He built and installed several dimming systems out of the squash court. Century Lighting became interested in the system, however Izenour refused to sell the patents he had acquired. Century took a license to produce the dimming systems that would be known as the Century-Izenour System.
Prior to the development of Izenour's control system, adjusting theatrical lighting was done though bulky control panels located on-stage. For large, complex productions several people would generally be required to operate these control panels. The Century-Izenour control system allowed a single operator, located in the house to control all of the stage lighting remotely.
Theatre design
George Izenour's first theatre consultation began with being contacted by McGeorge BundyMcGeorge Bundy
McGeorge "Mac" Bundy was United States National Security Advisor to Presidents John F. Kennedy and Lyndon Johnson from 1961 through 1966, and president of the Ford Foundation from 1966 through 1979...
, then Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences at Harvard. Bundy was building a new theatre, that would eventually become the Loeb Drama Center in Cambridge, Mass., based on a program from Archibald MacLeish
Archibald MacLeish
Archibald MacLeish was an American poet, writer, and the Librarian of Congress. He is associated with the Modernist school of poetry. He received three Pulitzer Prizes for his work.-Early years:...
. Mr. MacLeish wanted the theatre to convert from proscenium
Proscenium
A proscenium theatre is a theatre space whose primary feature is a large frame or arch , which is located at or near the front of the stage...
to thrust because these were, according to Mr. MacLeish, the two great forms of theatre which had to do with western culture. Izenour designed a theater that could be converted from one stage type to the other by a process, part manual and part electronic, that took about 15 minutes. This convertible design was celebrated in architectural world and became known as an Izenour theatre. Today Izenour theatres exist across the United States, as well as in Canada, Venezuela and Israel. There are no Izenour theatres, however, on Broadway. “Broadway is not for me,” he said in a 1959 interview with The New York Times. “I am a radical to those real estate operators.” Izenour used the celebrity from this project to launch George C. Izenour Associates as a theatre design and acoustical consulting firm.
Through his consultancy firm, George Izenour ended up advising such prestigious clients as the Metropolitan Opera
Metropolitan Opera
The Metropolitan Opera is an opera company, located in New York City. Originally founded in 1880, the company gave its first performance on October 22, 1883. The company is operated by the non-profit Metropolitan Opera Association, with Peter Gelb as general manager...
Company and the Juilliard School
Juilliard School
The Juilliard School, located at the Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts in New York City, United States, is a performing arts conservatory which was established in 1905...
of Music on technical matters, as well as helping to design more than 100 theatres across the country.
“George really was the father of modern theatre consulting and design,” remembers Steve Pollock. “Some of his initial project work, such as the Krannert Center for the Performing ArtsKrannert Center for the Performing ArtsKrannert Center for the Performing Arts was built in 1969 in Urbana, Illinois, USA, on the campus of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign as an educational and performing arts complex. Herman C...
at the University of Illinois, relied on a number of individual spaces to satisfy a broad menu, whether it be a great hall, an amphitheatreAmphitheatreAn amphitheatre is an open-air venue used for entertainment and performances.There are two similar, but distinct, types of structure for which the word "amphitheatre" is used: Ancient Roman amphitheatres were large central performance spaces surrounded by ascending seating, and were commonly used...
, a studio theatre, and so on. Over time, George began to roll a lot of these functions into what was referred to as the multi-use theatre, and that’s really George’s invention, wherein technology was used to vary acoustics, move ceilings, to do all of these things with moving architecture, changing the physicality of the space itself.”
—Yale School of Drama Allumni Magazine, 2010–11
Izenour retired from Yale from his positions as professor emeritus of theatre design and technology and director emeritus of the electro-mechanical laboratory of the Yale University School of Drama in 1977 and continued his consulting business in an old converted oyster shack next to his home overlooking the Thimble Islands at Stony Creek, Connecticut. The house George and his wife Hildegard shared was designed by his son, Steven Izenour
Steven Izenour
Steven Izenour was an American architect, urbanist and theorist. He is best known as co-author, with Robert Venturi and Denise Scott Brown of Learning from Las Vegas, one of the most influential architectural theory books of the twentieth century. He was also principal in the Philadelphia firm...
, and won national recognition. Izenour lived there until her death in 2002.
Death
From 2002 until his death, Izenour was a resident at Cathedral Village in Philadelphia, where he continued to work on theatre design projects.Technology
George Izenour is credited with over 27 patents for various technologies and design improvements his various developments have significantly effected the art of stagecraftStagecraft
Stagecraft is a generic term referring to the technical aspects of theatrical, film, and video production. It includes, but is not limited to, constructing and rigging scenery, hanging and focusing of lighting, design and procurement of costumes, makeup, procurement of props, stage management, and...
and theatre
Theatre
Theatre is a collaborative form of fine art that uses live performers to present the experience of a real or imagined event before a live audience in a specific place. The performers may communicate this experience to the audience through combinations of gesture, speech, song, music or dance...
in general.
Some of his many contributions to theatre technology include: Patent #2,942,879 Scenery Handling Apparatus a patent for a remotely operated motor controlled fly system
Fly system
A fly system, flying system or theatrical rigging system, is a system of lines , blocks , counterweights and related devices within a theatre that enable a stage crew to quickly, quietly and safely fly components such as curtains, lights, scenery, stage effects and, sometimes, people...
. This patent is the precursor to all modern computer controlled scenery systems. Patent #2,463,463 Lighting Control Circuits, perhaps Izenour's best known invention, is a patent for a compact remote operation system for theatrical and television lighting dimming systems. This patent is the basis for all modern lighting control console
Lighting control console
A lighting control console is an electronic device used in theatrical lighting design to control multiple lights at once...
s. Izenour also developed such varied technologies as articulated acoustical sub-structures and assorted analogue and digital control systems.
George Izenour also developed the inverse polarized rectifier
Rectifier
A rectifier is an electrical device that converts alternating current , which periodically reverses direction, to direct current , which flows in only one direction. The process is known as rectification...
circuit for dimming and switching for stage lighting, the first of its kind. The invention, using thyratron
Thyratron
A thyratron is a type of gas filled tube used as a high energy electrical switch and controlled rectifier. Triode, tetrode and pentode variations of the thyratron have been manufactured in the past, though most are of the triode design...
s, significantly reduced the size of dimming
Dimmer
Dimmers are devices used to vary the brightness of a light. By decreasing or increasing the RMS voltage and, hence, the mean power to the lamp, it is possible to vary the intensity of the light output...
systems used in theatres.
Pennsylvania State University
Pennsylvania State University
The Pennsylvania State University, commonly referred to as Penn State or PSU, is a public research university with campuses and facilities throughout the state of Pennsylvania, United States. Founded in 1855, the university has a threefold mission of teaching, research, and public service...
houses a collection of Izenour's original prototypes for lighting control and automated fixtures. There is also a collection of his linens and vellum drawings.
Awards
Izenour held fellowships in the Rockefeller FoundationRockefeller Foundation
The Rockefeller Foundation is a prominent philanthropic organization and private foundation based at 420 Fifth Avenue, New York City. The preeminent institution established by the six-generation Rockefeller family, it was founded by John D. Rockefeller , along with his son John D. Rockefeller, Jr...
, the Ford Foundation
Ford Foundation
The Ford Foundation is a private foundation incorporated in Michigan and based in New York City created to fund programs that were chartered in 1936 by Edsel Ford and Henry Ford....
and the Guggenheim Foundation
Guggenheim Foundation
Guggenheim Foundation may refer to one of the following:*The Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation funds the Guggenheim Museums.*The John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation awards grants to scientists, scholars and artists....
. He was appointed a Benjamin Franklin Fellow of the Royal Society, and was a member of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, American Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers, Acoustical Society of America, and the National Council of Acoustical Consultants.
Izenour shared the Rodgers and Hammerstein Prize in 1960. He received the USITT Award from the United States Institute for Theatre Technology
United States Institute for Theatre Technology
The United States Institute for Theatre Technology is a membership organization which aims to advance the skills and knowledge of theatre, entertainment and performing arts professionals involved in the areas of design, production and technology, and to generally promote their interests...
in 1975, The George Freely Award from the Theatre Library Association in 1977, and the Distinguished Service Award from the American Theatre Association in 1978.
In 2004, Izenour was presented with the Wally Russell Lifetime Achievement Award. The "Wally" Award was established in 1992 in memory of Wally Russell. Each year, the "Wally" honors one individual who exhibits a strong sense of leadership, a commitment to technological innovation, and a career of service to the lighting industry.