Howard Bay (May 3, 1912– November 21, 1986, New York City) was an American scenic, lighting and costume designer for stage, opera and film. He won the

Tony Award The Antoinette Perry Award for Excellence in Broadway Theatre, more commonly known as the Tony Award, recognizes excellence in live Broadway theatre. The awards are presented by the American Theatre Wing and The Broadway League at an annual ce ...

for Best Scenic Design twice.

Career

Howard Bay was born in

Centralia, Washington Centralia () is a city in Lewis County, Washington, United States. It is located along Interstate 5 near the midpoint between Seattle and Portland, Oregon. The city had a population of 18,183 at the 2020 census. Centralia is twinned with Ch ...

to parents who were teachers; his father was an art teacher, his mother an English teacher. Over 50 years he designed the sets and lighting, as well as occasionally the costumes, for some 105 Broadway plays and musicals as well as operas and television shows."Howard Bay Designs at the New York Public Library for the Performing Arts"
NYPL, accessed January 27, 2010 Bay designed sets for the Federal Theatre Project in New York City, for four operas for the National Orchestral Association, performed at Carnegie Hall, 1939–40 and for the operas ''Capriccio'' and ''Natalya Petrovna'' for the

New York City Opera The New York City Opera (NYCO) is an American opera company located in Manhattan in New York City. The company has been active from 1943 through 2013 (when it filed for bankruptcy), and again since 2016 when it was revived. The opera company, du ...

, 1965.Biography
filmreference.com, accessed January 27, 2010 Bay first designed the sets for

Broadway Broadway may refer to: Theatre * Broadway Theatre (disambiguation) * Broadway theatre, theatrical productions in professional theatres near Broadway, Manhattan, New York City, U.S. ** Broadway (Manhattan), the street **Broadway Theatre (53rd Stree ...

for the play ''Chalk Dust'' in 1936. In the field of musicals, he designed, among others, sets and lighting for ''

Show Boat ''Show Boat'' is a musical with music by Jerome Kern and book and lyrics by Oscar Hammerstein II. It is based on Edna Ferber's best-selling 1926 novel of the same name. The musical follows the lives of the performers, stagehands and dock worke ...

'' (1946), ''

The Music Man ''The Music Man'' is a musical with book, music, and lyrics by Meredith Willson, based on a story by Willson and Franklin Lacey. The plot concerns con man Harold Hill, who poses as a boys' band organizer and leader and sells band instruments ...

'' (1957) and '' Finian's Rainbow'' (1955 ets 1960). He designed the original sets, lighting and costumes for '' Man of La Mancha'' in 1965 and all revivals. For dramas, for example, he designed the sets and lighting for ''

The Little Foxes ''The Little Foxes'' is a 1939 play by Lillian Hellman, considered a classic of 20th century drama. Its title comes from Chapter 2, Verse 15 of the Song of Solomon in the King James version of the Bible, which reads, "Take us the foxes, the lit ...

'' (1967), ''My Mother, My Father and Me'' (1963), '' Toys in the Attic'' (1960), and ''

The Big Knife ''The Big Knife'' is a 1955 melodrama directed and produced by Robert Aldrich from a screenplay by James Poe based on the 1949 play by Clifford Odets. The film stars Jack Palance, Ida Lupino, Wendell Corey, Jean Hagen, Rod Steiger, Shelley Winte ...

'' (1949). For television he was the Art director for the ''Fred Waring Show'',

CBS CBS Broadcasting Inc., commonly shortened to CBS, the abbreviation of its former legal name Columbia Broadcasting System, is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the CBS Entertainm ...

, 1953–55; ''Somerset Maugham Theatre'', CBS and NBC, 1954–56, and ''Mr. Broadway'', CBS, 1964. He worked on the films ''The Exile'' (1947) and ''Up in Central Park'' (1948), as the production designer. He taught theater arts at

Brandeis University , mottoeng = "Truth even unto its innermost parts" , established = , type = Private research university , accreditation = NECHE , president = Ronald D. Liebowitz , ...

for 14 years. Bay was president of United Scenic Artists for many years.

Personal

He married Ruth Jonas on November 23, 1932, and they had two children, Ellen and Timothy. He died of a

myocardial infarction A myocardial infarction (MI), commonly known as a heart attack, occurs when blood flow decreases or stops to the coronary artery of the heart, causing damage to the heart muscle. The most common symptom is chest pain or discomfort which may ...

in 1986.

Awards and nominations

*Tony Award Best Scenic Design - ''Cry for Us All'' (nominee) (1970) *Tony Award Best Costume Design - ''Man of La Mancha'' (nominee) (1966) *Tony Award Best Scenic Design - ''Man of La Mancha'' (winner) (1966) *Tony Award Best Scenic Design (Play) - ''Toys in the Attic'' (winner) (1960)

References

External links

* *
Howard Bay designs and technical drawings, 1934-1985
held by the Billy Rose Theatre Division,

New York Public Library for the Performing Arts The New York Public Library for the Performing Arts, Dorothy and Lewis B. Cullman Center, at 40 Lincoln Center Plaza, is located in Manhattan, New York City, at the Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts on the Upper West Side, between the Metro ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bay, Howard 1912 births 1986 deaths Drama Desk Award winners Tony Award winners American scenic designers Federal Theatre Project people