ARTHUR JAMES KNORR. Quartet of set designs. Likely from his formative period working for the Roxy Theater and the Capitol Theater in New York City, circa 1940s. Gouache on stiff board. Three designs roughly 252x382 mm; 9 1/2x15 inches on 15x22-inch board. The fourth measures 5x8 inches on 11x17-inch stiff paper. Each signed in lower right.
Arthur James Knorr (1898-1966) was a theatrical set designer, producer, and director who began his career as a commercial artist in the 1920s. In 1928, he became Art Director for the Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Eastern Studios before he was hired as producer at the Capitol Theatre where he continued to design stage shows. Knorr also worked on several Broadway productions, becoming an executive at the Roxy Theatre in 1936. In television, he produced Milton Berle's popular Texaco Star Theatre and was responsible for the staging of many pageant extravaganzas, including Miss America, Miss Universe, and Miss USA. The 'Arthur and Ruth Knorr papers and designs 1908-1986' reside at Billy Rose Theatre Division, The New York Public Library for the Performing Arts. http://archives.nypl.org/the/21819.
