Miles White
Encyclopedia
Miles E. White was a top costume designer
of Broadway
musical
s for 25 years. He is known in the entertainment industry for his well rendered, prolific, imaginative and witty designs. He won recognition, including four Donaldson Awards
and two Tony Award
s.
The Donaldson Award was established in 1944 in honor of the founder of Billboard, W. H. Donaldson (1864–1925). These awards were offered in numerous categories, including best new play, best new musical, best performances, best debuts, and best costumes and set designs. These awards were discontinued in 1955, when it was recognized that they were redundant and overshadowed by more prestigious honors.
Miles White only designed five movies, but three of them garnered him Oscar nominations. These were The Greatest Show on Earth
, There's No Business Like Show Business
, and Mike Todd's Around the World in 80 Days
.
White designed costumes for Rodgers and Hammerstein
's first two Broadway hits, Oklahoma! and Carousel, and dozens of other musicals as well as ballets, ice shows, circuses, and TV productions. His career spanned seventy years. His last Broadway show was Tricks, in 1973, for which he received a Tony nomination. As musicals were revived, the productions occasionally used his designs. This was true for Fall River Legend for the American Ballet Theater. In 1989 he redesigned the "High Button Shoes" number for Jerome Robbins' Broadway.
Broadway's current top costume designer, William Ivey Long
, referred to Miles White as "his hero," in a recording made of the March 20, 2000, memorial service at the York Theater. In this audio recording, he also cited White's "exquisite drawings," works of art in themselves, in addition to their role as working design sketches.
Douglas Colby, expert on theater design, tells the story of accompanying Miles to a performance of Fall River Legend several years ago. He said, "The distinguished costume designer Patricia Zipprodt approached the urbane, monocled gentleman I was accompanying, my friend Miles White, and introduced him to her guests as 'God.' One understood what she meant," Colby concluded. This information appears in the Playbill booklet distributed at the March 20, 2000 Memorial Service.
In her book Theater in America, Mary C. Henderson mentioned that Miles White's designs were molded by both dance and the circus. "His costumes are constructed to move with the performer's body, not an easy feat," she wrote. After Oklahoma!, she noted, he dominated musical comedy costuming for more than 25 years."
Costume Designer
A costume designer or costume mistress/master is a person whose responsibility is to design costumes for a film or stage production. He or she is considered an important part of the "production team", working alongside the director, scenic and lighting designers as well as the sound designer. The...
of Broadway
Broadway theatre
Broadway theatre, commonly called simply Broadway, refers to theatrical performances presented in one of the 40 professional theatres with 500 or more seats located in the Theatre District centered along Broadway, and in Lincoln Center, in Manhattan in New York City...
musical
Musical theatre
Musical theatre is a form of theatre combining songs, spoken dialogue, acting, and dance. The emotional content of the piece – humor, pathos, love, anger – as well as the story itself, is communicated through the words, music, movement and technical aspects of the entertainment as an...
s for 25 years. He is known in the entertainment industry for his well rendered, prolific, imaginative and witty designs. He won recognition, including four Donaldson Awards
Donaldson Awards
The Donaldson Awards were established in 1944 by the drama critic Robert Francis in honour of the founder of Billboard, W. H. Donaldson . Categories included 'best new play', 'best new musical', 'best performance', 'best debut' and 'best costumes and set design'...
and two Tony Award
Tony Award
The Antoinette Perry Award for Excellence in Theatre, more commonly known as a Tony Award, recognizes achievement in live Broadway theatre. The awards are presented by the American Theatre Wing and The Broadway League at an annual ceremony in New York City. The awards are given for Broadway...
s.
The Donaldson Award was established in 1944 in honor of the founder of Billboard, W. H. Donaldson (1864–1925). These awards were offered in numerous categories, including best new play, best new musical, best performances, best debuts, and best costumes and set designs. These awards were discontinued in 1955, when it was recognized that they were redundant and overshadowed by more prestigious honors.
Miles White only designed five movies, but three of them garnered him Oscar nominations. These were The Greatest Show on Earth
The Greatest Show on Earth
The Greatest Show on Earth is a 1952 drama film set in the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus. The film was produced, directed, and narrated by Cecil B. DeMille, and won the Academy Award for Best Picture...
, There's No Business Like Show Business
There's No Business Like Show Business (film)
There's No Business Like Show Business is a 20th Century Fox musical film that was released on December 16, 1954. The title is borrowed from the famous song in the stage musical Annie Get Your Gun....
, and Mike Todd's Around the World in 80 Days
Around the World in Eighty Days (1956 film)
Around the World in 80 Days is a 1956 adventure film produced by the Michael Todd Company and released by United Artists. It was directed by Michael Anderson. It was produced by Michael Todd, with Kevin McClory and William Cameron Menzies as associate producers. The screenplay was written by James...
.
White designed costumes for Rodgers and Hammerstein
Rodgers and Hammerstein
Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein II were a well-known American songwriting duo, usually referred to as Rodgers and Hammerstein. They created a string of popular Broadway musicals in the 1940s and 1950s during what is considered the golden age of the medium...
's first two Broadway hits, Oklahoma! and Carousel, and dozens of other musicals as well as ballets, ice shows, circuses, and TV productions. His career spanned seventy years. His last Broadway show was Tricks, in 1973, for which he received a Tony nomination. As musicals were revived, the productions occasionally used his designs. This was true for Fall River Legend for the American Ballet Theater. In 1989 he redesigned the "High Button Shoes" number for Jerome Robbins' Broadway.
Broadway's current top costume designer, William Ivey Long
William Ivey Long
William Ivey Long is an American costume designer for stage and film. His most notable work includes The Producers, Hairspray, Nine, Crazy for You, Grey Gardens and Young Frankenstein.-Early life and education:...
, referred to Miles White as "his hero," in a recording made of the March 20, 2000, memorial service at the York Theater. In this audio recording, he also cited White's "exquisite drawings," works of art in themselves, in addition to their role as working design sketches.
Douglas Colby, expert on theater design, tells the story of accompanying Miles to a performance of Fall River Legend several years ago. He said, "The distinguished costume designer Patricia Zipprodt approached the urbane, monocled gentleman I was accompanying, my friend Miles White, and introduced him to her guests as 'God.' One understood what she meant," Colby concluded. This information appears in the Playbill booklet distributed at the March 20, 2000 Memorial Service.
In her book Theater in America, Mary C. Henderson mentioned that Miles White's designs were molded by both dance and the circus. "His costumes are constructed to move with the performer's body, not an easy feat," she wrote. After Oklahoma!, she noted, he dominated musical comedy costuming for more than 25 years."
Chronology
- 1938: Paradise Clue
- 1938: Right This WayRight This WayRight This Way is a Broadway production that opened at the 46th Street Theatre on January 5, 1938, and ran for fifteen performances. It was categorized as an original musical comedy and was set in Paris and Boston....
(Broadway Debut) - 1938: You Never Know
- 1939: Copacabana
- 1939: Walton Roof (Philadelphia)
- 1939: Versailles Supper Club
- 1940: It Happened On Ice
- 1941: Best Foot Forward
- 1941: Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey CircusRingling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey CircusRingling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus is an American circus company. The company was started when the circus created by James Anthony Bailey and P. T. Barnum was merged with the Ringling Brothers Circus. The Ringling brothers purchased the Barnum & Bailey Circus in 1907, but ran the circuses...
- 1942: The Pirate
- 1942: Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey CircusRingling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey CircusRingling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus is an American circus company. The company was started when the circus created by James Anthony Bailey and P. T. Barnum was merged with the Ringling Brothers Circus. The Ringling brothers purchased the Barnum & Bailey Circus in 1907, but ran the circuses...
- 1943: Ziegfeld FolliesZiegfeld FolliesThe Ziegfeld Follies were a series of elaborate theatrical productions on Broadway in New York City from 1907 through 1931. They became a radio program in 1932 and 1936 as The Ziegfeld Follies of the Air....
- 1943: Early To Bed
- 1943: Get Away Old Man
- 1943: Oklahoma!Oklahoma!Oklahoma! is the first musical written by composer Richard Rodgers and librettist Oscar Hammerstein II. The musical is based on Lynn Riggs' 1931 play, Green Grow the Lilacs. Set in Oklahoma Territory outside the town of Claremore in 1906, it tells the story of cowboy Curly McLain and his romance...
- 1944: Up In Arms ( film )
- 1944: Dream with Music
- 1944: Billy Rose's Diamond Horseshoe
- 1944: Bloomer GirlBloomer GirlBloomer Girl was a Broadway musical that premiered on October 4, 1944. Sig Herzig and Fred Saidy wrote the book, Harold Arlen the music, and E.Y. Harburg the lyrics. Agnes de Mille was the choreographer...
- 1945: CarouselCarousel (musical)Carousel is the second stage musical by the team of Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein II . The work premiered in 1945 and was adapted from Ferenc Molnár's 1909 play Liliom, transplanting its Budapest setting to the Maine coastline...
- 1945: The Day Before SpringThe Day Before SpringThe Day Before Spring is a musical with a book and lyrics by Alan Jay Lerner and music by Frederick Loewe.-Productions:The 1945 touring production closed in Chicago after three days due to a crippling coal strike...
- 1946: Gypsy Lady
- 1946: The Duchess of Malfi
- 1946: The Kid From BrooklynThe Kid from BrooklynThe Kid from Brooklyn is a 1946 comedy film starring Danny Kaye and co-starring Virginia Mayo, Vera-Ellen, Steve Cochran, and Eve Arden, about a milkman who becomes world boxing champion....
(film) - 1947: Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey CircusRingling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey CircusRingling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus is an American circus company. The company was started when the circus created by James Anthony Bailey and P. T. Barnum was merged with the Ringling Brothers Circus. The Ringling brothers purchased the Barnum & Bailey Circus in 1907, but ran the circuses...
- 1947: High Button ShoesHigh Button ShoesHigh Button Shoes is a musical with music by Jule Styne, lyrics by Sammy Cahn and book by George Abbott and Stephen Longstreet. It was based on the semi-autobiographical 1946 novel The Sisters Liked Them Handsome by Longstreet...
(original designs) - 1947: Bloomer Girl (original designs)
- 1948: Fall River LegendFall River LegendFall River Legend is a ballet based on the life of Lizzie Borden. One of choreographer Agnes de Mille's best-known works, it featured an original score by Morton Gould, lighting design by Jean Rosenthal and scenic design by Oliver Smith....
- 1948: Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey CircusRingling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey CircusRingling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus is an American circus company. The company was started when the circus created by James Anthony Bailey and P. T. Barnum was merged with the Ringling Brothers Circus. The Ringling brothers purchased the Barnum & Bailey Circus in 1907, but ran the circuses...
- 1949: Carousel (original designs)
- 1949: Gentlemen Prefer BlondesGentlemen Prefer Blondes (musical)Gentlemen Prefer Blondes is a musical with a book by Joseph Fields and Anita Loos, lyrics by Leo Robin, and music by Jule Styne, based on the best-selling novel of the same name by Loos...
- 1949: Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey CircusRingling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey CircusRingling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus is an American circus company. The company was started when the circus created by James Anthony Bailey and P. T. Barnum was merged with the Ringling Brothers Circus. The Ringling brothers purchased the Barnum & Bailey Circus in 1907, but ran the circuses...
- 1950: Bless You All (Tony Award)
- 1951: Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey CircusRingling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey CircusRingling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus is an American circus company. The company was started when the circus created by James Anthony Bailey and P. T. Barnum was merged with the Ringling Brothers Circus. The Ringling brothers purchased the Barnum & Bailey Circus in 1907, but ran the circuses...
- 1951: Oklahoma!Oklahoma!Oklahoma! is the first musical written by composer Richard Rodgers and librettist Oscar Hammerstein II. The musical is based on Lynn Riggs' 1931 play, Green Grow the Lilacs. Set in Oklahoma Territory outside the town of Claremore in 1906, it tells the story of cowboy Curly McLain and his romance...
(original designs) - 1951: Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey CircusRingling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey CircusRingling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus is an American circus company. The company was started when the circus created by James Anthony Bailey and P. T. Barnum was merged with the Ringling Brothers Circus. The Ringling brothers purchased the Barnum & Bailey Circus in 1907, but ran the circuses...
- 1952: The Greatest Show on EarthThe Greatest Show on EarthThe Greatest Show on Earth is a 1952 drama film set in the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus. The film was produced, directed, and narrated by Cecil B. DeMille, and won the Academy Award for Best Picture...
(film) - 1952: Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey CircusRingling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey CircusRingling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus is an American circus company. The company was started when the circus created by James Anthony Bailey and P. T. Barnum was merged with the Ringling Brothers Circus. The Ringling brothers purchased the Barnum & Bailey Circus in 1907, but ran the circuses...
- 1952: Pal JoeyPal JoeyPal Joey is a 1940 epistolary novel by John O'Hara, which became the basis of the 1940 stage musical comedy and 1957 motion picture of the same name, with music by Richard Rodgers and lyrics by Lorenz Hart....
- 1952: Three Wishes For JamieThree Wishes for JamieThree Wishes for Jamie is a musical with a book by Charles O'Neal and Abe Burrows and music and lyrics by Ralph Blane.Based on O'Neal's 1949 novel The Three Wishes of Jamie McRuin, the fantasy focuses on the title character, a young Irishman who, when offered three wishes by the Queen of the...
- 1952: Two's Company
- 1953: Oklahoma!Oklahoma!Oklahoma! is the first musical written by composer Richard Rodgers and librettist Oscar Hammerstein II. The musical is based on Lynn Riggs' 1931 play, Green Grow the Lilacs. Set in Oklahoma Territory outside the town of Claremore in 1906, it tells the story of cowboy Curly McLain and his romance...
(original designs) - 1953: Hazel FlaggHazel FlaggHazel Flagg is a musical with a book by Ben Hecht, lyrics by Bob Hilliard, and music by Jule Styne. The musical is based on the 1937 screwball comedy film Nothing Sacred...
(Tony Award) - 1953: Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey CircusRingling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey CircusRingling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus is an American circus company. The company was started when the circus created by James Anthony Bailey and P. T. Barnum was merged with the Ringling Brothers Circus. The Ringling brothers purchased the Barnum & Bailey Circus in 1907, but ran the circuses...
- 1954: The Girl in Pink TightsThe Girl in Pink TightsThe Girl in Pink Tights is a musical comedy with music by Sigmund Romberg; lyrics by Leo Robin; and a musical book by Jerome Chodorov and Joseph Fields. The musical opened on Broadway on March 5, 1954 at the Mark Hellinger Theatre where it ran for a total of 115 performances until it closed on June...
- 1954: There's No Business Like Show Business (film)There's No Business Like Show Business (film)There's No Business Like Show Business is a 20th Century Fox musical film that was released on December 16, 1954. The title is borrowed from the famous song in the stage musical Annie Get Your Gun....
- 1954: Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey CircusRingling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey CircusRingling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus is an American circus company. The company was started when the circus created by James Anthony Bailey and P. T. Barnum was merged with the Ringling Brothers Circus. The Ringling brothers purchased the Barnum & Bailey Circus in 1907, but ran the circuses...
- 1955: Ankles AweighAnkles AweighAnkles Aweigh is a musical with a book by Guy Bolton and Eddie Davis, lyrics by Dan Shapiro, and music by Sammy Fain.The plot centers on Hollywood starlet Wynne, who violates a clause in her contract by marrying Navy flyer Bill while filming a movie in Sicily...
- 1955: Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey CircusRingling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey CircusRingling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus is an American circus company. The company was started when the circus created by James Anthony Bailey and P. T. Barnum was merged with the Ringling Brothers Circus. The Ringling brothers purchased the Barnum & Bailey Circus in 1907, but ran the circuses...
- 1955: Strip For Action (Closed prior to NY)
- 1956: Around the World in Eighty DaysAround the World in Eighty Days (1956 film)Around the World in 80 Days is a 1956 adventure film produced by the Michael Todd Company and released by United Artists. It was directed by Michael Anderson. It was produced by Michael Todd, with Kevin McClory and William Cameron Menzies as associate producers. The screenplay was written by James...
- 1957: Eugenia
- 1957: Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey CircusRingling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey CircusRingling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus is an American circus company. The company was started when the circus created by James Anthony Bailey and P. T. Barnum was merged with the Ringling Brothers Circus. The Ringling brothers purchased the Barnum & Bailey Circus in 1907, but ran the circuses...
- 1957: Time Remembered
- 1957: JamaicaJamaica (musical)Jamaica is a musical with a book by Yip Harburg and Fred Saidy, lyrics by Harburg, and music by Harold Arlen. Harburg was blacklisted in Hollywood at the time of the writing of the musical...
- 1957: The Carefree Heart
- 1958: Tristan
- 1958: Oh, Captain!Oh, Captain!Oh, Captain! is a musical comedy based on the film The Captain's Paradise, which had been written by Alec Coppel and Nicholas Phipps. The film starred Alec Guinness as a philandering ship's captain, with a wife in one port and a mistress in another. The musical starred Tony Randall, and updated the...
- 1959: Cheri
- 1959: Take Me AlongTake Me AlongTake Me Along is a musical based on the Eugene O'Neill play Ah, Wilderness, with music and lyrics by Bob Merrill and book by Joseph Stein and Robert Russell.-Background:...
- 1959: Show Business (Carol Channing on tour)
- 1960: Bye Bye Birdie
- 1960: The Unsinkable Molly BrownThe Unsinkable Molly Brown (musical)The Unsinkable Molly Brown is a musical with music and lyrics by Meredith Willson and book by Richard Morris. The plot is a fictionalized account of the life of Margaret Brown, who survived the sinking of the RMS Titanic, and her wealthy miner-husband....
- 1961: Show Girl
- 1961: Milk And HoneyMilk and Honey (musical)Milk and Honey is a musical with a book by Don Appell and music and lyrics by Jerry Herman. The story centers on a busload of lonely American widows hoping to catch husbands while touring Israel and is set against the background of the country's fight for recognition as an independent nation...
- 1962: Song of Norway (on tour)
- 1963: ZendaZenda (musical)Zenda is a musical with a book by Everett Freeman, lyrics by Lenny Adelson, Sid Kuller, and Martin Charnin, and music by Vernon Duke.Based on the 1894 Anthony Hope novel The Prisoner of Zenda, it sets the action in contemporary times and transforms the protagonist into British song-and-dance man...
- 1966: Ice CapadesIce CapadesThe Ice Capades was a traveling entertainment show featuring theatrical performances involving ice skating. Shows often featured former Olympicand National Champion figure skaters who had retired from amateur competition....
- 1969: 1491
- 1969: Oklahoma! (original designs)
- 1970: Candida
- 1971: A Day In The Life Of Just About Everyone
- 1972: A Quarter For The Ladies Room
- 1973: Tricks
- 1976: Best FriendBest Friend (play)Best Friend was a 1976 Broadway play written by Michael Sawyer that premiered at the Lyceum Theatre on October 19, 1976 and closed on October 23, 1976 after 8 performances.-Setting:In the present at an apartment on the Upper West Side.Act I - 5;30 p.m...
- 1977: The Ice Show
- 1989: Jerome Robbins' BroadwayJerome Robbins' BroadwayJerome Robbins' Broadway is an anthology comprising musical numbers from earlier shows that were either directed or choreographed by Jerome Robbins. Robbins won his fifth Tony Award for direction of the show....
("High Button Shoes" segment)