Behind The Scenes: From Hollywood To Broadway- A Book Review by Phillip Grayson

Behind The Scenes: From Hollywood To Broadway    

By Ray Klausen

Independently published, 2021, 397 pages

Paperback $14.95, Ebook $8.95

Review by Phillip Grayson

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Behind The Scenes: From Hollywood To Broadway chronicles the life and career of award-winning designer, art director, sculptor, and author Raymond Klausen. Ray designed over 400 productions, including nine Broadway shows and ten Academy Awards shows. He received eleven Emmy nominations and won three Emmy Awards for art direction. 

The book is divided into two parts.  The first seven chapters are a chronological survey from Klausen’s birth in 1939 through to completing Yale’s graduate set design program in 1967. Ray’s decision to become a designer came at age 16 when his high school English teacher Fran Dryer took the class to see LI’L ABNER on Broadway. Ray was quite taken with Tina Louise portraying Appassionata von Climax. 

Ray’s career began with completing a B.A. degree at Hofstra University in 1961 and teaching art at a junior high school. Worried about the possibility of being drafted, Ray joined the Army. While serving in the Army, he enrolled at NYU and completed an M.A. degree in art in 1963.  Ray’s mentor was Patton Campbell, a set design instructor. With Campbell’s encouragement, Ray applied to the Yale School of Drama and was accepted into the design program in 1967. His next mentor was Donald Oenslanger. Ray completed the three-year program at Yale, earning an M.F.A. 

 Ray describes his social evolution and summer stock experience with stars such as  Dorothy Lamour, Jayne Mansfield, and Martha Raye. In his second summer stock season at the John Drew Theatre at Guild Hall in East Hampton, New York, he designed ten shows. After graduating from Yale, Ray was offered a Bates Travel Fellowship and embarked on a six-week trip to study theatre in Europe. At his first stop, Amsterdam, Ray met John Harrington, his future partner of 50 years. 

The remaining chapters of the autobiography detail each phase of Ray’s career. In New York, he secured his first TV job as assistant on ANDROCLES AND THE LION, starring Noel Coward. After ANDROCLES, Ray found work in New York scarce, so he agreed to design two shows at the Loretto Hilton Repertory Theatre in Saint Louis. The producer wanted him to design a third show, and Ray cut a deal that included a plane ticket to Los Angeles. He had three shows under his belt as well as the ticket to L.A. 

On January 15, 1968, Ray relocated to Los Angeles. He became the assistant to Jim Trittipo (also known as “Tritt”), the best designer in television at that time. Ray worked on THE HOLLYWOOD PALACE and designed a set for Diana Ross and the Supremes. 

Eventually, Ray worked on the 41^st Annual Academy Awards. Subsequently, he designed ten of the Academy Awards shows and earned Emmys for two of them. Ray continued to design numerous shows in Los Angeles, such as Bing Crosby’s Christmas Special, Dick Clark’s AMERICAN MUSIC AWARDS (27 times), THE PEARL BAILEY SHOW, CHER (without Sonny), and JOHN DENVER AND THE MUPPETS.  

Each book chapter is filled with stories. Many are humorous and some sobering, such as Ray’s harrowing escape from the MGM fire in 1980. More than eighty people perished in the fire. Ray tied bed sheets together, launched himself onto his sixth floor balcony, and lowered himself to the ground, also assisting a woman to safety as he passed the second floor.

Later in his career, Ray returned to New York and by 1994 he designed his first Broadway show, COMEDY TONIGHT. He went on to design a total of nine Broadway shows, including BIG RIVER, James Earl Jones (ON GOLDEN POND and CAT ON A HOT TIN ROOF) and Liza Minnelli (LIZA’S AT THE PALACE). 

In 1994 Ray took a six-month sabbatical from theatre design to see if he could pursue sculpture. The book includes a list of group and solo shows of Ray Klausen’s sculpture.  Another appendix lists all his assistants with a brief paragraph about each. There is also a complete list of all Klausen’s shows through his entire career. Besides the illustrations in the book, many of his designs can be viewed on YouTube.

In 1985, Ray created a scholarship at Yale to support design students. After retirement in 2013, Ray has been writing mystery novels. His publications include DUPLICITY, DEEP DUPLICITY, DUPLICITY IN 3 ACTS, and DUPLICITY, CARE TO DIE? They are available through Amazon.

Readers of the Klausen autobiography will learn about a delightful and talented individual with a stellar career. Readers will enjoy stories about the familiar stars of stage and television. Just as important, readers will learn a history of the evolution of set design over the past fifty years.

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Phil is a retired designer and technical director. He was on the faculty of James Madison University, Eastern Mennonite University, and Bridgewater College. In the mid-70s, he was a stagehand in Los Angeles and worked on several shows designed by Ray Klausen. 

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