promoting the works of Paul and Jane Bowles in the written, musical and theatre forms The Theatre Music of Paul Bowles Copyright Notice All content on this page is the research work of The International Paul Bowles Society and has previously been published in our printed publications These graphics and text may not be used by any party ©The International Paul Bowles Society, 2000 Paul Bowles, Composer, 1945 For a condensed no-pic list please click here Page 1 of 4: 1936 to 1941 1936 - 'Horse Eats Hat' (adapted by Orson Welles and John Houseman from the Edwin Denby 1850s French farce 'Un chapeau de paille d'Italie.'). Opened at Maxine Elliott's Theatre, New York City, on September 26, 1936. This play, 'The Italian Straw Hat' is still performed today. Orson Welles updated it for the WPA Federal Theater Project under the different title of 'Horse Eats Hat' which starred Orson Welles and his female opposite number, Henny Backus, along with Arlene Francis and Joseph Cotten. Bill Baird worked with Welles as both a builder and an actor. He designed and built the horse puppet used in the show. A young man is on his way to his wedding when his horse eats the straw hat of a respectable lady. The latter is in the embrace of a French officer at the time. The lady cannot return home without her hat, so the officer compels the young bridegroom to search for a replacement hat. This was Paul Bowles' first music theatrical commission, and the play was a huge success, drawing more than 80,000 people in the first five months, which pleased Paul and encouraged him to continue with writing music for theatre. 1936 - 'Who Fights This Battle?' (Kenneth White) Spanish link. In returning to New York Paul Bowles immersed himself in Marxist politics and in 1936 he set up the Committee on Republican Spain. He wrote the music for this play, which was directed by Joseph Losey. 1937 - 'Doctor Faustus' (Christopher Marlowe and Orson Welles) Another WPA Federal Theater Project. Mercury Theatre, New York. Orson Welles taking the lead in his own production. At left: Program for Orson Welles in 'Doctor Faustus'. Production by Orson Welles. Produced by the Federal Theatre at Maxine Elliott's Theatre 1937. With Hiram Sherman, Paula Lawrence. Puppets by Bill Baird. Music by Paul Bowles. CAST: Orson Welles, Charles Peaton, J. Headley. Directed by Orson Welles. Music by Paul Bowles. 1937 - 'Yankee Clipper' (Ballet) (Lincoln Kirstein) Paul Bowles composed the music for this Kirstein Ballet. 1938 - 'Too Much Johnson' (William Gillete) Mercury Theatre New York. This play was dead before it got off the ground. The Paul Bowles 'Music for a Face' was written (and later named as such) to accompany Orson Welles' Mercury Theater projected production of 'Too Much Johnson' by William Gillette. Due to some predictably Wellesian circumstances, though, the show was never put on. Paul Bowles said, at the time: 'During the summer of 1938 I was living at Eze, on the Cote d'Azur, I planned to remain through the following winter. A wire from Orson Welles changed all that,and I rushed back to New York to write the score for his Mercury Theatre production of William Gillette's Farce 'Too Much Johnson' which was to star Joseph Cotton. A week at Stoney Creek, Connecticut, is as far as the project ever got. For some reason Welles decided to put on Danton's Death first. It was a flop and Johnson was dropped as well. Much of the music was to be used as accompaniment to a series of film sequences (done in the keystone comedy manner) which had already been made and which were to advance the action between the scenes. I made a suite out of certain parts, and the League of Composers gave it its first performance in 1939. The date of the piece, however, is 1938.' 1939 - 'Denmark Vesy' (Opera) (Charles-Henri Ford) 1939 - 'My Heart's in the Highlands' (William Saroyan) An experimental play, and Saroyan's first, which was produced by the Group Theatre at the Guild Theatre in New York in April 1939. The play was enthusiastically received and the critics liked it but were confused by its short simplicity. Reviewers said Bowles's music 'notably sweetens the occasion' (Brooks Atkinson - NY Times) and was 'evocative and effective,'(Richard Watts - NY Herald Tribune) 'just the right music,' (Otis Ferguson - The New Republic) and 'was probably good too, being a little weird.' (Burns Mantle - NY Daily News). Bowles wrote the music 'My Heart's in the Highlands' for this play. 1940 - 'Love's Old Sweet Song' (William Saroyan) Eddie Dowling and Saroyan put on this play at the McCarter Theatre in Princeton, NJ, opening night of Saturday April 6th 1940 and produced by The Theater Guild, which, according to George Jean Nathan 'demonstrates again that in Saroyan the American theatre has found the freshest, most imaginatively audacious and most genuine humorous talent that has tickled it in a round of many moons'. Paul Bowles wrote the music for the Saroyan lyrics of 'The Years', 'Of all the Things I Love' and 'A Little Closer, Please' for this Saroyan play. 1940 - 'Twelfth Night' (Shakespeare) A musical Comedy. Staged at the St. James Theatre in New York. The production opened on November 19th 1940 and closed after only 129 performances. Helen Hayes played Viola and Maurice Evans played Malvolio (both on playbill cover) directed by Margaret Webste. Sets designed by Stewart Chaney. Production under the personal supervision of Theresa Helburn and Lawrence Langner. Produced by The Theatre guild and Gilbert Miller. Music by Paul Bowles 1941 - 'Liberty Jones' (Philip Barry) The Theatre Guild again. 158 musical cues in the Score, which led to the extensive use of brass and string instruments. Music by Paul Bowles. 1941 - 'Watch on the Rhine' (Lillian Hellman) April 14, 1941, Martin Beck Theatre in New York City. The production opened April 1, 1941 and closed after a run of 378 performances. The play about confrontation between an underground fighter and a NAZI sympathiser starred Paul Lucas, Lucille Watson and Mady Christians. Directed by Herman Shumlin. Music by Paul Bowles. 1941 - 'Love Like Wildfire' (Richard Hepburn, brother of Katharine) Page 2 All theatre material researched by Josie Farmer Dedicated to the life and work of Paul and Jane Bowles ©The International Paul Bowles Society, 2000

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