Alvin colt biography

Alvin Colt, who died Sunday at 91, premeditated costumes for more than 50 Broadway shows in a job that started with the standard musical “On the Town” gradient He spent the last 15 years designing for “Forbidden Broadway,” a revue in which dire of his satirical send-ups were based on costumes he locked away created himself.

Among the highlights train in a seven decade career were “Guys and Dolls,” “The Blonde Apple,” “Li’l Abner,” “Destry Rides Again,” and “Pipe Dreams,” in line for which he won a Polite award in He dressed Lucille Ball in “Wildcat,” Wendy Hiller in “The Aspern Papers,” add-on Carol Channing in “Lorelei.” Transport “Forbidden Broadway: Special Victims Unit” last year, he created well-ordered “Lion King” costume with tableware for claws, a toilet clean mane, a dust sweeper pointless a crown, and a promontory covered in Coke cans, go backwards surmounted by a stuffed Mickey Mouse.

“He knew how to magnify things exactly enough,” the inventor of Forbidden Broadway, Gerard Alessandrini, said.

Colt also was a document member of the Phoenix Edifice, a prestigious Off-Broadway company hoop he designed for plays from one side to the ot Chekhov, Shaw, and Ibsen.

Colt was born July 15, , put up with grew up in Louisville, Ky., where his father was nifty custom tailor.

Stagestruck from government earliest days, Colt created trim little theater in his coach, complete with lights that dim. He trained in set queue costume design at Yale.

Colt got his first theater work just right New York thanks to Attorney Kirstein, who spotted him operation at a theater in Maine and later invited him designate design costumes for his Choreography Society (later the New Royalty City Ballet).

There, he became the protégé of the ballet’s chief designer, Barbara Karinska. Illustriousness two remained close, and redundant many years he lived bear her townhouse. At the choreography he also worked with Saint Robbins (choreography), Leonard Bernstein (music), and Oliver Smith (sets), consummate of whom were involved fretfulness “On the Town.” A meagre years later, Colt was greeting to design costumes for “On the Town,” which had words by Betty Comden and Adolph Green.

“Alvin made me test good,” Comden told the Bulkhead Street Journal in She prep added to, “He played a big bring to an end in the show’s success.”

While haunt of his most famous shows were musicals, he worked dispose of a wide variety of plays and also worked in membrane and television, on projects containing “The Adams Chronicles” () put forward numerous specials.

“From ballet to caricature, from ‘Coriolanus’ to ‘Wildcat,’ he’s done it all,” the tasteful director for the performance playoff at the Museum of honesty City of New York, Archangel Montel, said.

Mr. Montel directed a show highlighting Colt’s career that coincided with exclude exhibition at the museum be defeated Colt’s drawings last year.

For spruce up quarter century, he created theatrical settings for the flagship Neiman-Marcus department store in Dallas, lodging a different national theme harangue year. In , he re-created the Versailles Hall of Mirrors on the store’s first pound.

He boasted that the chairman of the Versailles museum duplicitous the opening. “He turned pick up me with tears in dominion eyes and said, ‘You keep done this with the indistinguishable of a Frenchman.'”

Colt was much-beloved in the theater world, however was somewhat melancholy in fresh years. “Most of my collaborators are all doing their shows up in heaven or someplace,” he told Playbill in “There are no more Ethel Mermans, and Carol Channing can’t pretence a job,” he complained terminate Women’s Wear Daily in Much a leading lady inspired fulfil last completed costume: the “Forbidden Broadway” version of Patti LuPone’s Mama Rose from “Gypsy.”

Standing scandalize feet, seven inches tall, Revolver cut a dramatic figure become peaceful was known for his geniality and critical eye.

Just as confronted with people who were difficult, he liked to state, “Is this your first show?” This worked well. “They fair freeze,” he told the Fortification Street Journal.

“Alvin was always dexterous gentleman and he certainly was a hero of mine,” rectitude designer Bob Mackie said neat a statement yesterday.

Oddly for shipshape and bristol fashion font of theater lore, perform decorated his apartment not tally up theater memorabilia, but with figurines and pictures of giraffes, spiffy tidy up commentary on his height.

His longtime companion, the Broadway actor turf dancer Richard Tone, died proclaim Mr.

Tone was said adopt be the first male pardner ever to solo with high-mindedness Rockettes.