Derham Groves

The suite of six letterboxes in front of Holmesglen Institute of TAFE

Lachlan Michael

Muhummad Abid

En Yee Teh

Audrey Zerafa

David Young

Nur Zainal Abidin

Rubina Barooah

Sherlock Holmes – A Post-modern live radio play
The iconic detective as you’ve never seen … or heard him before—reincarnated in the weird world of ‘foley’ sound effects, visual and vocal gymnastics. Sherlock Holmes confronts his arch-nemesis, Professor Moriarty, in a tale of suspense, terror and bizarre Victorian morality—complete with French maids, cockney safe-crackers, Hackney cabs and … a gas chamber! With advice (in person) from the University of Melbourne’s own Sherlock Holmes expert, Dr Derham Groves, don’t miss this one-off event!

22 August 2pm
Union Theatre, ground floor, Union House
Tickets: $10/$5 SU Members at the door
Part of Mudfest 2011

Josiah Lulham as Holmes and Jemma Wiseman as Alice

Matthew Ducza as Bassick, David Harris as Watson, Michael Fee as Moriarty, Andrew Wong as Craigin, and Josiah Lulham as Holmes

Josiah Lulham as Holmes, Clancy Moore as Larrabee and Anrew Wong as Craigin

Some old ham

Albert Park Golf Clubhouse by A.W. Purnell

Miniature golf hazard by Tim Cameron

Albert Park Golf Clubhouse and miniature golf hazard by Yuan-Min Tao

Albert Park Golf Clubhouse by Gerry De Guzman

Albert Park Golf Clubhouse by Nur Zainal Abidin

Albert Park Golf Clubhouse by Avish Mungur

Clifton’s—One of my favourite places in Los Angeles

A step back into the 1930s

Westwood Cemetery—Another favourite place in Los Angeles

No caption required

Eddie Albert & Eva Gabor, the stars of Green Acres

Loretta King & Thor Johnson in Bride of the Monster (1955)

A new plaque for Don Knotts since I was there last year. (I liked the simpler, older one though.)

Jim Backus—Mr. Magoo & Thurston Howl III

John Cassavetes, a rebel with a cause

The El Royale Motel in Ventura Boulevard—A classic!

As seen in Boogie Nights (1997)

More classics …

I’ve started looking at motels

Anna May Wong’s star on the Walk of Fame

Zanja Madre (1992)—as seen in Batman Forever (1995)—designed by my buddy, Andrew Leicester

Not so classic …

Frank Gehrey’s bad detailing, Walt Disney Concert Hall

San Antonio, Texas

The Alamo. I just don’t get it.

The Riverwalk. “Would you like a large beer, sir?” “Yes thanks,” I said.

Another great neon

The march of time

Kingsville, Texas

Kingsville, the town where the city fringe killed the city centre

New Zealand actor Harry Plimmer played Holmes in Perth and Adelaide in J.C. Williamson’s 1902 production of Sherlock Holmes.

Canadian actor and William Gillette protégé Cuyler Hastings played Holmes in the other Australian state capitals in 1902.  The following photograph shows Hastings as Holmes (right), Redge Carey as Billy (centre) and J.B. Atholwood as Moriarty

Sherlock Holmes

In 1897 Conan Doyle wrote a play called Sherlock Holmes, which he sent to Herbert Beerbohm Tree, the flamboyant actor-manager of Her Majesty’s Theatre in London. Tree liked the play but wanted the part of the Great Detective re-written to feature more of his own idiosyncrasies rather than those of Sherlock Holmes. Conan Doyle was understandably reluctant to do this, and eventually lost interest in the idea of putting Holmes on the stage. His literary agent, however, sent the play to Charles Frohman, the American impresario, who in turn sent it to William Gillette, the American actor and playwright. Gillette received permission from Conan Doyle to rewrite the play, which he also called Sherlock Holmes. Speaking of the play during his Australian tour in 1920-21, Conan Doyle said, “When the play was being written—I didn’t write it, and it is a very fine play—[Gillette] cabled to me: ‘May I marry Holmes? I cabled back: ‘You can marry him or murder him or do anything you like with him!’”

Sherlock Holmes had its world premiere at the Star Theatre in Buffalo, New York, on 23 October 1899. This is also the date of Holmes’s resurrection, for it had been six years since the publication of “The Final Problem” in which a shocked reading public learned that Holmes had died as a result of his battle with Professor Moriarty. Certainly Holmes’s absence in print for six years contributed to the success of the play. According to a publicity postcard, by 25 June 1904 Sherlock Holmes had been performed 4,457 times, including 401 Australian performances.

Harry Plimmer

To bring Sherlock Holmes to Australia in 1902, impresario J. C. Williamson had to pay “the biggest price ever previously paid for any dramatic or musical play in this country.” Williamson hoped that Gillette would tour Australia and play the part of Holmes, but his “big success in London . . . prevented him from coming to Australia . . . as was in the first place practically arranged.” The play opened at the Theatre Royal in Perth, Western Australia, on 26 July 1902. The principal players were Harry Plimmer (Sherlock Holmes), Lumsden Hare (Dr Watson), J. B. Atholwood (Professor Moriarty), May Chevalier (Alice Faulkner), Edmund Gwenn (Sidney Prince), Hamilton Stewart (James Larrabee) and Mabel Lane (Madge Larrabee). The production was highly praised in The West Australian:

“A BRILLIANT ARTISTIC TRIUMPH was achieved on Saturday night, when Mr. J. C. WILLIAMSON’S NEW ENGLISH DRAMATIC CO. presented the sensational London success, ‘SHERLOCK HOLMES’ and, as was anticipated, West Australia adds to the LONG LIST OF SUCCESSES which this great drama has won throughout England and America. The CROWDED and DELIGHTED AUDIENCE showed their appreciation by continuous and concentrated interest and frequent bursts of applause, terminating in a scene of the WILDEST ENTHUSIASM on the final tableau of the FINEST PRODUCTION EVER WITNESSED, which will ever make memorable this INITIAL PRODUCTION in AUSTRALIA.”

Cuyler Hastings

On 30 August 1902 Sherlock Holmes opened at the Theatre Royal in Adelaide, South Australia, with the same cast as in Perth. In Melbourne, Sydney, Hobart, and Brisbane, however, a young Canadian actor named Cuyler Hastings replaced Plimmer as Holmes. Two years earlier, Hastings had played the part of Holmes in a production of Gillette’s play which had toured the southern, central, and northern states of America. Hastings also played the part of Holmes in two Melbourne revivals of Sherlock Holmes — one in September 1903 and the other (which was also his Australian farewell season) in June 1904. On 20 June 1904 the drama critic for the Melbourne Age remarked, “Mr. Cuyler Hastings will always be remembered best in Australia for this part.” Sherlock Holmes opened in Melbourne at Her Majesty’s Theatre on 13 September 1902. The following is the review from the Melbourne Age of 15 September:

“The United States have lent or given to the Australian stage some of its most popular ornaments, including Edwin Booth and Laura Keene, Mary Prevost, McKean Buchanan, Joseph Jefferson, Edwin Adams, Genevieve Ward, Mr. J.C. Williamson and Mrs. Brown Potter, with many others of lesser note. And they have sent us, in the person of Mr. Cuyler Hastings,  an actor who has succeeded by entirely legitimate methods in achieving a great and equally legitimate success. His first appearance at this theatre on Saturday evening (as) … Sherlock Holmes, stamped him as an artist of exceptional ability, who brings a well trained intellect to bear upon the analysis and exposition of a character of abnormal sagacity and penetration. The piece itself is necessarily a sensational one; the pivot upon which it hinges being the efforts of a gang, or rather a powerful combination, of scoundrels, professional and otherwise, to obtain possession of certain documents of extreme value for purposes of blackmail; and the splendid ingenuity and resolute determination with which the detective foils the desperate devices of the conspirators to gain their own ends and to destroy him. It is a conflict between brains and inflexibility of purpose on the one hand, and craft, violence and numerical strength on the other; one man pitted against an organised force, with abundant resources at its command, and patiently countermining and ultimately defeating his opponents. … Sherlock Holmes … seizes upon the attention of the spectators of the performance from the first scene, and never relaxes its hold upon them until the curtain falls on the fourth and final act. Nor were the intervals between each sufficiently long on Saturday evening to allow of that attention being distracted or diverted. … Intensity of feeling combined with quietude and self-restraint in its expression are the prominent characteristics of Mr. Hasting’s acting in the part of Sherlock Holmes. He has rarely occasion to raise his voice above a monotone, and he is most impressive when his delivery is most subdued. … Mr. Hastings … (interprets) a character who derives all its strength from the complete victory which the intellect has obtained over the emotions. … The will is supreme, and the passions are its bond servants; and if, as is now and then the case, a flash of anger breaks forth from the detective, it is as brief as it is sudden, and only serves to heighten by contrast the unruffled serenity of his habitual demeanour, and the deliberate calmness of tone and icy coldness of speech which have become, by practice and of deliberate purpose, a second nature with him. As presented … by the actor, he becomes a highly interesting subject of psychological analysis, and you recognise with pleasure the care, intelligence and insight which its representative must have bestowed upon it in order to embody it with such consistent verisimilitude. Perhaps the most effective scene in the drama is that in which Holmes and Professor Moriarty, the directive head of a great criminal organisation, meet in the house of the former; and the colloquy which then arises between a would-be assassin and his intended victim was listened to and watched with the deepest interest and anxiety by a crowded theatre. When the curtain fell, Mr. Hastings was called three times before it to receive the enthusiastic plaudits of the audience; and the same compliment was awarded to him at the close of the third act. … The cast of Sherlock Holmes is a generally effective one. Miss May Chevalier, as Alice Faulkner, sustains the character with grace and feeling, and carries with her, in her physical sufferings and mental anguish the sympathies of the spectators, against which Miss Mabel Lane is called upon to struggle throughout as the accomplice of her husband, a stage villain of a somewhat conventional type, energetically and effectively played by Mr. Hamilton Stewart, while the character of Dr. Watson found a gentlemanly and appropriately undemonstrative representative in Mr. Lumsden Hare. With a little toning down, so as to free it from a tendency to exaggeration, the part of Professor Moriarty, which is filled by Mr. Atholwood, would have been still more acceptable than it was. As a character actor, Mr. Edmund Gwenn, who played Sidney Prince, the expert burglar, has proved to be a great gain to the Australian stage. … Mr. Gwenn possesses … the faculty of humour, and this relieves the generally serious character of a drama like Sherlock Holmes. Nor must we omit a word of praise to Master Carey for his bright and pleasant rendering of the part of Billy; nor to Mr. Scardon, for his amusingly dignified Parsons. The play has been handsomely mounted, and the emphatic fervour with which it was received upon the first night offers the promise of a long run, while it is pretty sure to become a topic of general conversation.”

Earlier this year I received a travel grant from the Iran Heritage Foundation to visit Iran to look at patterned and sculptured brickwork.  I went on the 22nd of November and came back on the 13th of December.  I visited Tehran, Isfahan, Shiraz, Yazd, Kashan, and Tabriz.  I’m happy to report that Iran is no evil empire.  The people are friendly and kind and the only time that I was in danger was crossing the road (regardless of whether the light is green or red, everybody just goes!).  The brickwork was fabulous too—not just the old stuff, but the new stuff as well.

Pomegranates, not onions.

No similarities between the scary mannequins and me whatsoever.

This coffee table was presented to the Shah of Iran’s wife, Farah Diba, by Australia’s Governor General, Sir John Kerr.  I couldn’t see any grog stains on it though.

The culture of martyrdom.

Iran Heritage Foundation Grant Report: Patterned and Sculptural Brickwork in Iran
Derham Groves

I visited Iran between the 23rd of November and the 11th of December 2010.  My primary purpose was to look at patterned (i.e. 2-D or flat) and sculptural (i.e. 3-D or raised and recessed) brickwork.  I visited Tehran twice, Isfahan, Shiraz, Yadz, Kashan, and Tabriz.  Most commercial, domestic and public buildings in Iran are made of fired bricks.  These buildings are either solid brick or brick veneer (it is sometimes difficult to tell which).  I also saw lots of very old mud brick buildings, especially in Kashan.  I gave a lecture on Australian polychrome brickwork (i.e. the use of different coloured bricks to delineate figures or patterns) at Shahid Beheshti University in Tehran and also at the Tabriz Islamic Art University in Tabriz.

Throughout Iran fired bricks are generally very good quality.  In Yadz I visited two neighbouring brick factories.  One produced extruded bricks that were fired in a huge Hoffman kiln, which was nearly a kilometre long.  The other factory produced pressed bricks that were fired in a less sophisticated downdraught kiln.  The sizes of bricks seem to vary throughout Iran.  A common or standard brick is approximately 210mm long x 95mm wide x 55mm high (this particular brick was measured in Isfahan).  Half-height bricks (210mm x 105mm x 40mm, also measured in Isfahan), known as “Roman” bricks in Australia, and a wide range of unusually shaped and sized bricks, which occasionally are glazed in blue or incorporate small squares of blue tile or mirror, are very popular throughout Iran.  And some very old buildings have square fired bricks, such as the Arg-e Karim Khan, an old citadel in Shiraz (230mm x 230mm x 50mm), and the Arg-e Tabriz, an ancient (ruined) fortified mosque in Tabriz (175mm x 175mm x 50mm).

As most of my work to date has focused on polychrome brickwork, (illogically) I expected to see more of this in Iran.  But Iranian brickwork is almost exclusively monochrome—the vast majority of bricks being yellowish-buff in colour.  The small amount of polychrome brickwork I saw was rather docile compared to that seen in Australia.  However, in many respects monochrome brickwork is more challenging to design than polychrome brickwork because all that the designer has to play with are the patterns of the bricks and mortar, known as “bonds”, and the effects of light and shadow.

Bricklaying is generally of a very high standard in Iran.  Bricklaying techniques that require a high degree of skill, such as arches, corbels, perforated brickwork, and vaults, are routine throughout the country.  I also observed many different types of brick bonds, including basket weave, header, herringbone, Flemish, and stack.  Interestingly, to emphasize the horizontality of brickwork, the vertical mortar joints or “perpends” are very frequently eliminated and the bricks simply butt jointed, and occasionally slithers of blue tiles are pushed into the bed joints as well.

In Iran it appears that traditional bricklaying skills are effectively passed down from one generation of bricklayers to another.  However, there is a recent trend to use materials such as concrete and steel especially for commercial and public buildings, which is driven by the speed of development, the need to ‘earthquake-proof’ buildings and current architectural fashion.  This may eventually lead to an erosion of bricklaying skills, as has happened in Australia over the years.

I anticipated seeing a lot of decorative brickwork on old and historic buildings and I was not disappointed.  The Arg-e Karim Khan in Shiraz, for example, has large continuous diamond or diaper 3-D patterns around each buttress at the four corners of the citadel, which ‘jump out’ due to them catching the light and casting shadows.  Some mud brick buildings also have this sort of decoration, such as the minaret at the Jameh mosque in Kashan.  Also the variety and intricacy of the 2-D patterns on the inside of the brick domes of the bazaars and mosques is truly amazing—circles, diamonds, hexagons, squares, stars, triangles, etc.  At Shahid Beheshti University I met Dr. Tehrani, an expert on the construction of brick domes in Iran, who gave me a CD of his research on the brick domes of the Masjed-e Jameh mosque in Isfahan.

I was surprised by how much decorative brickwork I saw on modern buildings.  For example, two impressive early 20th century brick buildings I saw were the redbrick building next to the former Senate (and now the Assembly of Experts) in Tehran, and the National Museum of Iran also in Tehran.  The former building is approximately 85 years old and has very elaborate brick friezes, columns and curlicues, which are perhaps best described as “Baroque”.  The French architect and archaeologist André Godard designed the redbrick National Museum of Iran in 1937 (but it looks decades more modern than that).  It has ‘spiky’ round columns made of specially shaped bricks and a huge parabolic vault or “iwan” at the entrance.

Many contemporary buildings have friezes and panels of 2-D patterned and 3-D sculptural brickwork on the balconies (not only the sides, but also underneath), fences, parapets, and spandrels.  In the case of houses, it appears that the more elaborate these decorations are, the more prosperous the homeowners are.  This was particularly evident in Shiraz where some of the most elaborate panels and friezes on houses I saw were in the obviously well to do district near Shiraz University.

My trip to Iran has sparked several ideas.  Over the next year I shall survey and reassess Australian monochrome brickwork, which was very popular in the 1950s and 1960s, but fell out of fashion soon afterwards.  The students in my architectural theory seminar at the University of Melbourne, where I teach, will design some monochrome brick walls based on the Iranian examples I saw and the Australian examples I shall find, and then apprentice bricklayers from a local trade school will build a selection of the architecture students’ walls.  I shall also design a specially shaped brick based on those I saw in Iran, and hopefully a local brick company will make a test batch of these.

Generally speaking, the Iran I experienced was totally different from the Iran you see on the six o’clock news.  The most dangerous thing I did in Iran was cross the road (regardless of whether the light is green or red, people just go!).  And the most frightening things I saw in Iran were the mannequins in the menswear stores (they were truly scary!).  Everyone was extremely helpful and very kind to me, especially Ms. Yalda Sourani, Ms. Sepideh Masoodinejad and Dr. Morteza Mirgholami.  I also wish to thank Mr. Richard West, Mr. Craig Hinrichs, Austral Bricks, and the Iran Heritage Foundation for their assistance.

The Doll Theatre Project

Derham Groves

The first cohort of students to do the new Bachelor of Environments degree at the University of Melbourne completed the course in semester two of last year, 2010. “Architectural Design Studio 4: Fire,” which I coordinated, was the Architecture Major students’ final design subject. The task of the 183 students who did it was to design a theatre exclusively for performances of Ray Lawler’s three classic Australian plays: Summer of the Seventeenth Doll (1955), Kid Stakes (1975) and Other Times (1976), known as the “doll trilogy.”

The idea of designing a theatre specifically for Ray Lawler’s doll trilogy came to me after reading an article about Agatha Christie’s amazingly enduring play, The Mousetrap, which has been running continuously in the West End of London since 1952 (until 1974 at the New Ambassadors Theatre, and since then at St. Martins Theatre). In addition, there are a number of composer-specific/playwright-specific theatres around the world, including the Bayreuth Festival Theatre in Bayreuth, Germany, where only the operas of Richard Wagner are performed, the Globe Theatre in London, where only the plays of William Shakespeare are presented, and the Wrestling School in London, where only the works of Howard Barker are staged.

Summer of the Seventeenth Doll is the best known and arguably the most important play of Ray Lawler’s doll trilogy. While it was written first, it actually takes place after Kid Stakes and Other Times. The story running through the three plays unfolds over a period of seventeen years—from 1945 to 1953—in a boarding house in the inner Melbourne suburb of Carlton.

The structure of Summer of the Seventeenth Doll is relatively simple, but its plot is complex, revolving around the lives of the Queensland cane-cutters, “Roo” and Barney, and their girlfriends, the Melbourne barmaids, Olive, Nancy and (later) Pearl.  Each year the men spend five months—the cane-cutting off-season—living with the women in Carlton.  But this arrangement is upset when Nancy marries and the sceptical Pearl replaces her.  Summer of the Seventeenth Doll addresses some complex and universal themes, including resistance to change, the search for happiness, the loss of idealism, and the concept of Australian male-centric mateship.

When Summer of the Seventeenth Doll was written, Australian society was in a state of flux.  The country led by Prime Minister Robert Menzies (1894-1978) was experiencing a post-war economic boom, and an aggressive (pro-white European) immigration program was in place to quickly boost the workforce.  As a result, the traditional Anglo-centric make-up of the population began to change, along with the accepted view of what it meant to be an Australian (migrants, especially Greeks and Italians, were called “New Australians”).  At the same time, Australian artists like Sidney Nolan (1917-1992) and Arthur Boyd (1920-1999) and writers such as Patrick White (1912-1990) and Frank Hardy (1917-1994) started to be noticed; people anticipated that the 1956 Melbourne Olympic Games would put Australia on the map; and the imminent introduction of television threatened to change almost every aspect of Australian family life.  It was in this context that Ray Lawler wrote Summer of the Seventeenth Doll in 1955.

The opening night of Summer of the Seventeenth Doll marked a turning point in Australian theatre history.  For decades, foreign plays and actors had dominated Australian theatres, but all of a sudden an Australian audience was presented with an Australian story, told in vernacular language and familiar accents, using local urban—as opposed to bush—references.  Unlike so many Australian plays that preceded it, Summer of the Seventeenth Doll was not a shallow appeal to patriotism or stereotypes, but instead it dealt with universal concerns in an Australian context, which presented Australians on stage in a realistic manner for almost the first time.

All of the students doing Architectural Design Studio 4 were required to read Summer of the Seventeenth Doll. Since a large number of them had never seen a live theatre performance before, we arranged for the students to attend the Union House Theatre’s production of Sweeney Todd (1973) at Melbourne University’s Union Theatre—the theatre where Summer of the Seventeenth Doll premiered in 1955—which happened to be on at the time.

Each student designing the doll theatre also had to analyse the design of one of 30 selected overseas theatres, which included, for example, the Gutherie Theatre (2006) in the USA, designed by Jean Nouvel and Architectural Alliance; the Casa de Musica (2004) in Portugal, designed by OMA; and the National Theatre (1960-1981) in Brazil, designed by Oscar Niemeyer; and give a 10-minute PowerPoint presentation about it in class. The students also attended a series of lectures related to the design of the doll theatre, which included a lecture by Keith Streames, the architect who designed the Malthouse Theatre in Melbourne, on the basics of theatre design; a backstage tour of the Union Theatre at the University of Melbourne; a lecture by Peter Bickle from the architectural firm, ARM, which designed the Melbourne Theatre Company’s new MTC Theatre in Melbourne; and a screening of Season of Passion, the 1959 Hollywood movie based on Summer of the Seventeenth Doll, which starred Ernest Borgnine as “Roo,” Anne Baxter (Frank Lloyd Wright’s granddaughter!) as Olive, John Mills as Barney, and Angela Lansbury as Pearl. (This is not Ray Lawler’s favourite film, to say the least. To this day, he has never seen it!)

Carlton is an integral part of the doll trilogy. (Indeed, one reason for Ray Lawler’s dislike of Season of Passion is because the film producers set it in Sydney rather than Carlton.) Therefore, the site chosen for the doll theatre was on the corner of Faraday and Rathdowne streets in Carlton. The idea was to clear the site of its existing buildings (the houses at numbers 111 and 113 Faraday Street and the Silver Top Taxi depot next door at 52-54 Rathdowne Street) and start from scratch.

Keith Streames, Ray Lawler and myself developed the design brief for the doll theatre. Ideally, the form and space of the building needed to allow for a wide range of staging formats.  For example, one production of Summer of the Seventeenth Doll might require the focus of the action to be on the stage, while another production of the play by a different director might call for the actors to spill out into the auditorium, the foyer or even outside. The doll theatre had three distinct zones that the Architecture Major students had to consider in their designs.

The first zone was the theatre space, which comprised a 250-seat auditorium that had a raking floor to provide the audience with good views of the stage; a 9-metre wide by 9-metre deep stage; two side wings to the stage, each 4 metres wide, with a “prompt corner” at the left hand edge of the stage; a 10-metre “tall space” over the stage; an overhead lighting bar, 6 metres above the stage; and a 3-metre wide by 3-metre deep control room equipped for two technicians, located towards the rear of the auditorium.

The second zone was the back-of-house, which comprised four dressing rooms—two 15 square metres in area and two 20 square metres in area—adjacent to the stage and at the same floor level as it; a rehearsal or “warm-up” room, 50 square meters in area; sufficient toilets and showers for the performers and the back-of-house staff; a technicians’ office/storeroom/workshop, 50 square metres in area; a loading dock, which was adjacent to the stage and had direct access to outside of the theatre; a carpentry storeroom/workshop, 50 square metres, that was adjacent to the loading dock; a wardrobe room, 20 square metres in area, where costumes were cleaned, repaired and stored; an office, 16 square metres in area, for the theatre director; and an open-plan office, 20 square metres in area, for a touring theatre company.

Finally, the third zone was the front of house, which comprised a foyer, 180 square metres in area; a café and bar, as large as possible, which ideally could be opened when the theatre was closed; a box or ticket office; and an open-plan office for five administrative staff, 60 square metres in area; and sufficient public toilets for the theatre and café.

The doll theatre definitely challenged the students’ abilities, as it was meant to do; however they did an excellent job and produced some interesting and provocative buildings. At the end of the 12-week project, I sent a few of the doll theatre designs to Ray Lawler to look at (even though he lives in Elwood, throughout the project we communicated with each other via “old fashioned” letters). He was both impressed and surprised by them. “Dear Dr. Groves,” Lawler wrote. “Thank you for allowing me to see the wide and interesting range of ideas that have come forward in response to the doll theatre concept.  I am impressed.  I had wondered if a space devoted solely to productions of the Trilogy might have curbed the imagination, but the students haven’t let it stymie them, and have used it as a springboard for all sorts of variations.  And their ability to present these with such clarity by means of modern technology amazes me—I am of a generation that relied for theatrical visualisation in terms of sketches and a model of the set.  I marvel, too, when you write that this is only the third building these students have designed—would you congratulate them for me? … Warmest regards Ray Lawler.”

Sparks showcases a large number of the students’ doll theatre designs—in glorious black and white—which might otherwise have been “lost.” It is an excellent record of the work that the Architecture Major students did in Architectural Design Studio 4: Fire in 2010, as well as being a very useful resource for those students who have yet to tackle the subject. My sincere thanks go to the playwright, Ray Lawler; Peter Bickle from ARM; Tom Gutteridge, the Artistic Director of the Union House Theatre; Katie Frank from the Faculty of Architecture, Building and Planning; of course, the Architecture Major students in 2010; and my dedicated team of design tutors in 2010—Larry Cirillo; Kirsten Day; Phuong Quoc Dinh; Peter Hogg; Lee-Ann Joy; Jason Pickord; Ann Rado; Toby Reed; Mikel Roman; Ilana Rubenstein; Keith Streames; Chris Walker; and Taras Wolfe. Last but not least, my special thanks go to Tim Chandler from the Faculty of Architecture, Building and Planning for putting Sparks together.

Here is a sample:

Fiorn Lee

Francis Atkinson

Annie Harrison

Alison Dane

Marwin Hasim

Jas Johnston

Choong Chong

Cathrina Lee

Sarah Skillington

Quinland Yip

Filip Dans

Slavco Jovanoski

Natalie Ma

The stars of Season of Passion, the 1959 film version of Summer of the Seventeenth Doll

Anne Baxter, who played Olive, and Ernest Borgnine, who played ‘Roo’

Anne Baxter, who played Olive

John Mills, who played Barney, and Angela Lansbury, who played Pearl

Ethel Gabriel, who played Emma

Vincent Ball, who played Johnnie, and Janette Craig, who played Bubba

In 1959 Peter E. Sayers, a serious young man from St. Kilda East, and nine other ‘young Australian ambassadors’ embarked on an amazing 3-month ‘grand tour’ of the USA.  They saw the best and the worst of Cold War America, which Sayers faithfully recorded in his travel diary (which runs to approximately 25,000 words).  Each student in my Popular Art, Architecture and Design course was assigned a different entry from Sayers’ diary in order to create a postcard based on that day’s events.  Here are a few examples (both postcards and their accompanying diary entries):

Kim Peeters

Weather: Fine.  This morning we went by bus to the General Electric plant about eight miles from the hotel. Statistics are 23,000 employees, approximately 100 acres of factory space and 1,000 acres of grounds. The car park had approximately 9,000 cars in it.  We saw the washing machines being made.  A point about production: When a machine is liable to cut a factory worker’s fingers off, they make him push two buttons, one for each hand, which are located above his head.  Later we saw some modern home settings featuring G.E. appliances.  When washing dishes in a dishwasher do not take the fat off the dishes as it combines with the detergent to do the job of washing the dishes.   We came back to the hotel for lunch then we went out to Brown Forman Distillers to see how they make Bourbon whiskey.  Taxes make up 65 percent of the cost of whiskey, which amounts to $500,000 in taxes per day.  An interesting point to note is that the law forbids the process for making Scotch whiskey in the U.S.A.

Alexandra Wall

The Australian flag flew at the hotel today. Had breakfast in the hotel’s drugstore.  First thing after breakfast we were shown over the hotel, including $150 per night penthouse. In the morning we went to the University of Houston, after having our photo taken in front of the hotel’s diving board.  The Chancellor [President] of the University [General A.D. Bruce] welcomed us and then we met the sports boss and talked on his subject (Allen Lawrence from the university had just become the two-mile world record holder the day before.)  We had lunch in the cafeteria and met one of the Australian summer scholarship boys.  Then we saw the University’s film unit, TV studio and radio station. (Some of the paths around the University were made of seashells.)  We left after 3.00 P.M. after thanking our host, the Head of Languages. We returned to the hotel by bus (same way as we went).  We then went out to the Rue Ranch (2,000 acres).  It is owned by A.E. ‘Snake’ Bailey who breeds French cattle (whitish colour, noted for quick growth).  When we were being driven round by ‘Snake’ in his $10,000 325 horsepower Lincoln Continental Mark III (a Caddy only costs $7,000) he shot off the road after a jackrabbit (hare).  We slithered and slid over damp pastures for about a quarter of a mile chasing it.  We went out to the ranch in two cars.  The first was driven by Mr. Paris (the manager of the Shamrock Hotel).  He had a unique pair of cufflinks: one was the workings of a watch and the other was the face of a watch.  The hotel’s public relations man drove the second car, a Ford Country Sedan.  We had to teach him how it worked because he did not usually drive this car.  (Doors that open by button in car.)  I went out with him.  ‘Snake’ has a project underway whereby people lease an acre lot of his ranch and become a member of his club, which has a livery stable, etc.  One bloke at the stable had a gold $50 (Mexican) piece as a figure on his tie (cowboy type).  We all had a ride on the horses.  [Richard] Blaiklock fell and so did a girl (the horse fell and hit its head and lay on her leg.  I think both came out OK, although when we had tea in the club (steak, etc.) she was chaired out.  When we came home at 10.00 P.M. we ran over a skunk.  I met at club Mr. C.A. Carter [President of Tex-Tube Inc.].

Claire Welsh

Weather: fine.  We got up at 7.10 AM and at 7.50 AM had breakfast with the manager and another fellow who used to live in Melbourne and Sydney.  At 9.00 AM the Pratt & Whitney Aircraft Company were our hosts.  They took us in two station wagons firstly to their training centre where we saw people learning to use lathes and do maths, etc.  Secondly, we went to their private airport where we had a ride in a helicopter that seated three and the pilot.  We flew over the town of Hartford, the capital of Connecticut.  Then we went by station wagon to the main plant to have a look, it was filled with precision tools and had great security regulations.  Then we had lunch in the ‘Junior Executive Dining Room’. I had a V-8 cocktail, roast loin of pork and a butterscotch sundae.  After lunch we went to the experimental station where the boilers and pipes and control panels were gigantic.  At 3.00 PM we were at the airport again and at 3.30 PM we left by Convair (one of the company’s private planes) for Boston, 120 miles away, it only took half an hour.  Only us and one other chap was on the plane.  We took a taxi to the Statler Hilton hotel, not as good as the Statler Hilton hotel in Hartford.  I received a letter from Midge, one from the U.K. and a duplicate of Mum’s New York letter.  Tonight I had tea in a cafeteria and washed, wrote diary and letters.

Neo Fu

We left the hotel for City Hall (a great building) where we met the Mayor of Los Angeles [Norris Poulson] and I presented him with some brochures about Sydney.  This was shown on C.B.S. [Commercial Broadcasting System] at night.  We saw the council in session and then the view from the top of the building. In the morning reps of McDonnell Douglas picked us up and took us about 15 miles to their aircraft plant where we saw two types of jets under construction.  After lunch we watched two films: one on the naval jets we saw being built, which were for a big aircraft carrier, and the other on the DC-8.  McDonnell Douglas then drove us to N.B.C. [National Broadcasting Company] studios in Burbank (it took about an hour along freeways).  At N.B.C. we saw The George Gobel Show, the best TV show I’ve seen.  George is a great comedian; not corny.  Nat King Cole was the guest artist.  The nationwide program ran for an hour.  Then half of us came home by two buses via Hollywood (for about the eighth time).  We had tea and packed and wrote in our diaries.  P.S. On our travels we have seen trains with up to 120 carriages.

Lavanya Arulanandam

Fine. Today was another full day in the bus (8.30 A.M. to 7.00 P.M.).  When we left Charleston (Capital of West Virginia) we followed a valley which contained chemical factories and the such for some time.  Most of the rest of the way we went through hillbilly country, timber is the main industry in the area.  Then towards Richmond (Virginia) the country became hill and dale.  The bigger hills today were real ones, bigger than yesterday.  We booked in at the Richmond Hotel and had tea.   Jim and I are in a two-bed room.  I write this at 8.40 P.M.  I will now start letters.  [Break in time.]  I thought I would, but I did not.  As per usual at these big hotels there was a convention and this was no exception, except it was the High Schools of Virginia ‘Beta Club’ (80 per cent grade and over in form work).  Well, to cut a long story short, we went to their dance at the John Marshall Hotel.  After I danced with two or three other girls I met Freda Ashworth (near 17) from Rocky Mount. Before the dance John Hammond talked over the phone to a woman who used to live in Perth.  They danced a little jive, a Paul Jones and two or three modern waltzes.  Freda was a good dancer.  We were at the dance from 10 to 11 (the Beta Club members had had dinner beforehand).  When they announced that the Australians were present we got a very warm clap.  After the dance I went with Freda up to the 11th floor to the Rocky Mount High School rooms for a party.  We sat around on beds, etc. and ate brownies and drank soft drink.  I told them about Australia.  Before I left at 12.30 A.M. Freda gave me her little red and white cap and I gave her a Qantas flying Kangaroo pin.    I got lost on the way home and after about 10 minutes I got a lift to the Richmond Hotel with a chap who was picking up his girl there. (He was only my age and had a new tank.)  By the way, at the Richmond Hotel there were a lot of the Beta Club members.  Anyway, to cut a long story short, I found myself sitting in amongst a group of students in our passage about 17 to 18, about 15 girls and 3 boys telling them all about Australia.  Then later the other boys that went to the dance (6 of us) came out of the lift to go to their room (they had been put out of the other hotel at 2.00 A.M. by the cops) I called them up and we all had a talk.  The hotel detective had came round earlier, we softened him up but at 3.00 A.M. the manager in a rage sent us to bed. Some of the other kids went to the students’ rooms first off but unluckily I had gone to mine and was trapped with the manager outside my door so I went to bed.  Some of the others got to bed at 6.30 A.M.  P.S. The bandleader in making his speech at the dance thought it was very good that no one had made a number request (eg. Sweet Georgia Brown).  He did not appear to like brash music and was glad to see the young people were not that fond of it request it.  P.P.S. The road for the great part of today was only one lane each way.

Ryan Hajeb

At about 9.15 A.M. the whole group set off in a limousine for the Town Hall where we met the Mayor [Sarto Fournier] who gave two of the boys a pair of cufflinks to give to Mr. Menzies and the Mayor of Sydney.  The woodwork in his office was carved out of teak.  Over here in Canada it appears that woodwork inside is a feature.  After that we went in our limousines to the St. Lawrence Seaway and a look around town then we went to the Mount Stephen Club (where Princess Margaret had a meal) a very reserved club with beautiful wood panelling and stained glass windows where we had lunch with a firm of advertisers connected with Johnson & Johnson after which we went to the International Civil Aviation Organization (U.N.) and sat in the meeting chamber where we met the president and told all about the organization and Australia’s part in it.  Our chauffer today was a walking directory of the history of Montreal.  Sixty-five percent of the population of Montreal are French, but in the heart of Quebec the figure is nearer 80%.  At the seaway they had to raise or convert some bridges that crossed the St. Lawrence.  Crosses are about every [?].  At night I went to the home of Mrs. Elizabeth Somerville (Haig) Hall (Ma’s cousin) at 4358 Coalbrook Avenue, Montreal where I met her, her daughters Violet and Alison Hall who live with the mother.  Also the youngest of Mrs. Elizabeth Hall’s family Kenneth Hall and his wife Margaret and their children David 13 and Margaret 8.  Kenneth Hall lives at 5253 Trans Island Avenue N.D.G Montreal, Quebec, HUI-4278.  I had tea and talked till 12.00 midnight.  I came and went by taxi.  People in this of Montreal are mostly English speaking.  The Halls are Presbyterian.  Kenneth would be about 45 I should think. Mrs. E. Hall is just 88 years old. Kenneth is a strict father, more English than me.

Maria Haenichen

Weather: Cloudy.  At about 8.30 AM we went by taxi to the wharves to be shown over the fastest ship afloat, The United States.  (It only has the butcher’s block and the pianos made of wood.)  It is streamlined and mostly made of steel.  It was very nice, but I prefer the Queen Mary. We then had out picture taken outside two good picture theatres in New York.  Then we went via the Waldorf (and recorded an interview with the Voice of America for Australian radio) to Colgate Palmolive (just over the road) for a very nice private luncheon (very high standard).  I had my picture taken with the boss.  An Australian representative of Colgate Palmolive was present.  We were told that some products would be sent to our homes when we got back to Australia.  At 3.00 PM we went to the QANTAS-BOAC booking offices and saw the very large booking offices.  The advertising of Australia in the QANTAS section was mostly photograph enlargements (very good).  At night I went to Some Like it Hot starring Marilyn Monroe (free) with Jim.  Had tea at 9.30 PM then came home and washed and wrote.

Rebecca De Haas

Down for breakfast with Mr. and Mrs. King and two sons at 7.30 A.M. in the Hilton hotel where we were staying.  The Chamber of Commerce then supplied a bus for us to see the old town, army and navy installations, university, hospital and medical centre, etc.  Most architecture was on the Old Spanish line (with flat roof).  Saw Australian girls today for a few minutes at bus depot before they left, which was just before we left at 11.30 A.M. The country on the south side of town is much more fertile looking than the way in with trees and ordinary hilly country then we went into semi-flat treeless country for most of the way to Roswell (we had lunch at a small town on the way).  We spoke to two typical teenagers 16 and about 14 on going steady, etc.  At Roswell two girls in a car tried to pick up some of the boys.  Left Roswell at 5.10 P.M. after being in the town for one hour and twenty minutes.  We now passed through quite humble farm homes in the valley we passed along then dark came.  When we got to El Paso we were amazed at its size as I expected a small town. We booked in at Hilton hotel and three of us had tea at a restaurant (café type) at approximately 10.30 P.M.

Katie Miller

We left El Paso about 8.00 A.M. (I felt bilious all day.)  We had lunch at Pecos at 1.40 P.M., just outside the town, but I did not eat. We got to San Antonio at 10.15 P.M. and went straight to bed at the Hilton hotel.  The country we passed through was most interesting in as much as it was varied.  We had at the start semi-desert with sand laying about some hilly country, somewhat like New Mexico hill formation type.  Great fairly well grassed cattle country with slight dips and rises.  And towards the end of the long day’s trip we went through (in the dark) country that was hilly and well watered (I think).  San Antonio is a city of about half-a-million people.  It has many tall buildings.  It has a river flowing through it (like Venice). Three people were in my room, which was overlooking a waterfall that could have kept you awake if you were not tired.  P.S. In most parts we have been to, static electricity has given us a few jumps.

At 9.00 A.M. we rose to the sound of bells all over town playing something from the Desert Song.  We had breakfast downstairs (I was much better this morning).  I posted the two El Paso papers and returned to hotel (with Jim).  On this walk I observed better-dressed friendlier people, better dress shops (in other words, I approved of the town).  After lunch at the Menger Hotel (100 years old 3 days ago), which was near the Alamo (we had a good look at that).  I missed out on seeing the Old Spanish village just behind.  The weather has been as good as gold.  We set out again by bus at about 3.15 P.M. for Corpus Christie on the Gulf of Mexico.  The country was generally lightly wavy with scrub or none but all was quite green as the country was apparently in a wet spell.  Other was just at dust we saw a house (?) on fire.  We had tea at another ordinary restaurant you expect over here. Got to White Plaza Hotel about 8.00 P.M.  Jim and I in a room.

Sandra Mrowetz

Weather: Fine.  Rose about 8.45 A.M. and after breakfast in drugstore Scott and I went to the White House.  We went in the long file that the ordinary public go in, filing through the Red room, the Blue room, the Ballroom and others (the number of visitors passing through the White House must be great, thousands a day, four days a week).  After that Jn and I went to the Museum for a short time and had a look at the weapons of natives from the Pacific Islands and Australia.  After lunch at the cafeteria next to the hotel, I took a rest, I didn’t like doing it, but I needed it.  After tea in the coffee house in the hotel all of the boys except the two Jns went in two taxis to the home of one of the girls that we met at the Richmond hotel (Beta Club) and had a party with some of the girls. The party comprised of 8 boys (us), about 10 girls, Cokes, Pepsis, potato chips, records, dancing, and charades in a basement very tastefully finished in an air force man’s nice home. The hosts took us home at 12.30 A.M. and I got to bed about 1.15 A.M.

Amanda Tan

Church at St. Bartholomew’s just across the road from the hotel at 10.45 AM.  It is an unusual dome type church, big inside, but it was full today.  The ushers wore morning suits.  The service was very similar to St. Mary’s except the Psalms and the responses were spoken.  After lunch outside the hotel with Jim, he and I went to the International Car Show at the Coliseum.  We left the hotel at approximately 4.40 PM for the bus which ultimately got us to the Statler Hilton Hartford, a very modern hotel, at 9.30 PM where our photos were takes as per usual.  I am with Scott in a room on the 18th floor.  This hotel is what experts come from all over the world to see, it’s the most efficient hotel with no comfort sacrificed, only 2 years old.

Architecture students doing my Popular Art, Architecture and Design course at the University of Melbourne have designed and made pairs of shoes for the Chinese-American actress Anna May Wong, which will appear in a book about Anna May to be published by the Culicidae Press early next year.  Here is a sample of the shoes:

Cheryl HeapAlexandra WallYoke Kim Lee

Tim Clarke

Neo FuKatie MillerEnjie WuAudrey ZerafaLinton HartScott O’ReillyAmanda TanLachlan MichaelFransisca SugiartoCallista SieNur Zafira Zainal AbidinZoe LewisLinna ZhengAndrew Robinson from the Footwear Department at RMIT gives the students some words of advice at the beginning of the project