Mielziner, Jo

Mielziner, Jo mēlzēˈnər [key], 1901–76, American theatrical scene designer, b. Paris. Mielziner made his Broadway design debut in 1924 with The Guardsman. He designed sets, and usually the lighting, for more than 200 productions, including Strange Interlude, Carousel, A Streetcar Named Desire, Death of a Salesman, The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie, the film Picnic, and the ballet Who Cares? The most influential set designer of his time, he often utilized scrims and multiple playing areas that allowed the action to flow seamlessly from one setting to another. During World War II, he was a camouflage specialist with the U.S. Air Force. Mielziner was, with Eero Saarinen, codesigner of the Vivian Beaumont Theater in New York City's Lincoln Center.

See his memoir, Designing for the Theatre (1965), and his The Shapes of Our Theatre (1970); biography by M. C. Henderson (2000).

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