Cleveland Artist John Lorin Black
Of the many wooden printer’s blocks used in the creation of early marketing pieces for the Cleveland Play House, this is a favorite. "You Are Cordially Invited to a Marionette Evening" was the work of Cleveland artist John Lorin Black (possibly 1894-1963.)
image detail on reverse of printer's block. Cleveland Play House Archive
On March 15, 1918 the Play House puppet group presented two short marionette plays; Shadowy Waters by William Butler Yeats, and, The Soul of Chopin adapted from Liszt's Life of Chopin. Black also designed the set and served as a reader for Shadowy Waters. The following amusing description of the evening is from chapter nine of Julia Flory's The Cleveland Play House: How it Began.
"The scene of this first play was the deck of an ancient ship with a golden sail against a purple sky. I was up on the bridge this time manipulating the strings of the queen with "hair the color of burning" while statuesque Martha Yeager, perched nearby, read the lines and provided the forlorn "keening." There was much keening, much Gaelic gloom, weird beauty, poetic grief.
The other manipulators were Emma Joseph, Blanche Nicola, Marian Morris, and Helen Joseph, while the zealous readers were Harry Mereine, Ralph Silver, Lorin Black (Johnnie) and Ray W. Irvin.
With some embarrassment I now chronicle that, after many weeks of these rehearsals in unmitigated gloom, the reaction of the cast was natural and complete. When the final curtain fell, a group of them grasped hands and dashed down to the Roxy (Burlesque) Theatre as an antidote."
