Peter Feller
Peter L. Feller (November 7, 1919 – March 13, 1998)[1] was an American theatrical set builder who worked primarily on Broadway.
Early career
Feller was a third-generation theatre technician. His grandfather and father both worked as set builders.[2] Feller's father, also named Peter, was a stagehand at the Metropolitan Opera House.[3] Feller began building sets when he was 15. His father got him a job with Vail Scenic where he worked on Jimmy Durante's show "Jumbo" at the Hippodrome.[4] Feller joined the Army during World War II.[5] He applied for the Irving Berlin musical, This Is the Army. Berlin had worked with Feller's father on Yip Yip Yaphank during World War I and hired Feller as the head technician for the show. Feller toured the world as a master sergeant. After World War II, Feller worked at Imperial Scenic Studio as a head carpenter for nine years before starting his own business.[4]
Feller Scenic Studios
Feller was the owner of Feller Scenery Studios in the Bronx. He acquired the shop, which was previously a metalworking shop, around 1960.[2] Feller created unique and huge Christo-Vac thermo-forming machines to make the walls for the Vatican Pavilion at the 1964 World's Fair in New York City. Feller Scenery Studios became a one-stop-shop for theatrical designers when it merged with Costume Associates, which was owned by Feller's wife, Katy.[6] By the mid-1970s, the studio was building sets for almost half the shows being produced on Broadway, and employed anywhere from 35 to 130 workers depending on the work-load.[2]
Feller innovated the use of electronically operated winches for moving scenery around the stage and was among the first theatrical set builders to spot the stage potential of plastics.[2] He used the vacuum forming machines to create a plastic set of armor for Man of La Mancha.[6] In 1975, the company changed its name from Feller Scenery Studio, Inc., to Theater Techniques, Inc., when it moved from the Bronx to an abandoned hangar in Stewart Airport in Newburgh, New York. The Rolling Stones were rehearsing in the space and brought Feller up to build their set. Feller liked the space and decided to move in.[4] Feller's son, Peter, owns Feller Precision, a theatrical engineering company that grew out of Feller Scenery Studio. His other son, Philip, was a stagehand on Cats for most of its run.[3] When Feller Scenery was forced into bankruptcy,[7] Feller divided his company between each of his department heads. His head sculptor, Nino Novellino, received the Christo-Vac.[6] Nino and his wife, Mary, eventually moved the firm where the new company was named Costume Armour. Roger Gray, another ex-Feller employee, began Center Line Studios in 1987 just next door to Novellino.[7]
Theatrical career
Feller was the stage mechanic and designer for more than 1,000 Broadway shows.[8] He worked on Fiddler on the Roof, West Side Story, Fiorello!, Cabaret, Sweeney Todd, and Cats, among other shows.[5] He built sets for Shakespeare in the Park and numerous operas.[4]
Awards
In 1952, Feller won the Tony Award for Best Stage Technician for Call Me Madam.[9] In 1984, he won a Special Tony Award in recognition of his "theater stagecraft and magic".[8]
Personal life
He was born in New York City on November 7, 1919. His wife was Katherine "Kay" Feller. Together, they had two sons, Peter and Philip, and three granddaughters. Feller had two sisters. He died in 1998, at the age of 78, in Melbourne, Florida, where he was living.[5] His memorial service was held at the Winter Garden Theater, where Cats was performing.[3]
References
- ^ "Peter L Feller". Retrieved June 13, 2020.
- ^ a b c d Grover, Stephen (February 26, 1975). "Building Stage Sets Involves Much More Than Meets the Eye". The Wall Street Journal. p. 1.
- ^ a b c "Nine Lives, Nine Memories". The New York Times. April 21, 2000.
- ^ a b c d Poche, Ward (August 25, 1975). "Stage Sets Don't Grow Full-Sized in Theaters". The Evening News. Newburgh, New York. pp. 1B.
- ^ a b c "Peter Feller, 78, Set Builder on Broadway". The New York Times. March 21, 1998. p. A13.
- ^ a b c Rozycki, Bob (June 24, 2007). "Art For Another Art's Sake". Hudson Valley Biz.
- ^ a b Cordtz, Kay (December 13, 2006). "The Dream Factory". Hudson Valley Magazine.
- ^ a b Freedman, Samuel G. (4 June 1984). "'Real Thing' and 'La Cage' Dominate the Tony Awards". The New York Times. pp. C11.
- ^ "'Fourposter,' 'King' Win Perry Awards". The New York Times. March 31, 1952. p. 15.
External links
- Peter Feller at the Internet Broadway Database
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- Dora Chamberlain / Ira and Rita Katzenberg / Jules Leventhal / Burns Mantle / P. A. MacDonald / Vincent Sardi Sr. (1947)
- Vera Allen / Paul Beisman / Joe E. Brown / Cast of The Importance of Being Earnest / Robert W. Dowling / Experimental Theatre Inc. / Rosalind Gilder / June Lockhart / Mary Martin / George Pierce / James Whitmore (1948)
- No award (1949)
- Maurice Evans / Philip Faversham / Brock Pemberton (1950)
- Ruth Green (1951)
- Charles Boyer / Judy Garland / Edward Kook (1952)
- Danny Kaye / Beatrice Lillie (1953)
- No award (1954)
- Proscenium Productions (1955)
- Fourth Street Chekov Theatre / City Center / The New York Public Library Theatre Collection / The Shakespearewrights / The Threepenny Opera (1956)
- American Shakespeare Festival / Jean-Louis Barrault / Robert Russell Bennett / William Hammerstein / Joseph Harbuck / Paul Shyre (1957)
- Mrs. Martin Beck / New York Shakespeare Festival (1958)
- Russel Crouse and Howard Lindsay / John Gielgud / Cast of La Plume de Ma Tante (1959)
- Burgess Meredith and James Thurber / John D. Rockefeller III (1960)
- David Merrick / The Theatre Guild (1961)
- Brooks Atkinson / Richard Rodgers / Franco Zeffirelli (1962)
- Alan Bennett, Peter Cook, Jonathan Miller and Dudley Moore / Irving Berlin / W. McNeil Lowry (1963)
- Eva Le Gallienne (1964)
- Gilbert Miller / Oliver Smith (1965)
- Helen Menken (1966)
- No award (1967)
- APA-Phoenix Theatre / Pearl Bailey / Carol Channing / Maurice Chevalier / Marlene Dietrich / Audrey Hepburn / David Merrick (1968)
- Leonard Bernstein / Carol Burnett / Rex Harrison / The National Theatre Company of Great Britain / The Negro Ensemble Company (1969)
- Noël Coward / Lynn Fontanne and Alfred Lunt / New York Shakespeare Festival / Barbra Streisand (1970)
- Ingram Ash / Elliot Norton / Playbill / Roger L. Stevens (1971)
- Fiddler on the Roof / Ethel Merman / Richard Rodgers / The Theatre Guild-American Theatre Society (1972)
- The Actors Fund of America / John Lindsay / Shubert Organization (1973)
- Actors' Equity Association / A Moon for the Misbegotten / Candide / Peter Cook and Dudley Moore / Harold Friedlander / Bette Midler / Liza Minnelli / Theatre Development Fund / John F. Wharton (1974)
- Al Hirschfeld (1975)
- George Abbott / Richard Burton / Circle in the Square Theatre / Thomas H. Fitzgerald / Mathilde Pincus (1976)
- Cheryl Crawford / Equity Liberty Theatre / Barry Manilow / National Theatre of the Deaf / Diana Ross / Lily Tomlin (1977)
- Irving Berlin / Stan Dragoti and Charles Moss (1978)
- Walter F. Diehl / Eugene O'Neill Memorial Theater Center / Henry Fonda / Richard Rodgers (1979)
- Richard Fitzgerald / Helen Hayes / Mary Tyler Moore / Hobe Morrison (1980)
- Lena Horne (1981)
- Radio City Music Hall / The Actors Fund of America / Warner Communications (1982)
- No award (1983)
- A Chorus Line / Peter Feller / La Tragedie de Carmen (1984)
- Yul Brynner / New York State Council on the Arts (1985)
- No award (1986)
- George Abbott / Jackie Mason (1987)
- Brooklyn Academy of Music (1988)
- No award (1989)
- No award (1990–1992)
- Oklahoma! (1993)
- Hume Cronyn and Jessica Tandy (1994)
- Carol Channing / National Endowment for the Arts / Harvey Sabinson (1995)
- No award (1996)
- Bernard B. Jacobs (1997)
- Edward E. Colton / Ben Edwards (1998)
- Uta Hagen / Arthur Miller / Isabelle Stevenson (1999)
- Dame Edna: The Royal Tour / T. Edward Hambleton (2000)
- Paul Gemignani (2001)
- Julie Harris / Robert Whitehead (2002)
- Cy Feuer / Russell Simmons' Def Poetry Jam on Broadway (2003)
- James M. Nederlander (2004)
- Edward Albee (2005)
- Sarah Jones / Harold Prince (2006)
- No award (2007)
- Robert Russell Bennett / Stephen Sondheim (2008)
- Jerry Herman (2009)
- Alan Ayckbourn / Marian Seldes (2010)
- Athol Fugard / Philip J. Smith (2011)
- Actors' Equity Association / Hugh Jackman (2012)
- Bernard Gersten / Ming Cho Lee / Paul Libin (2013)
- Jane Greenwood (2014)
- John Cameron Mitchell / Tommy Tune (2015)
- Sheldon Harnick / Marshall W. Mason / National Endowment for the Arts / Miles Wilkin (2016)
- James Earl Jones (2017)
- John Leguizamo / Andrew Lloyd Webber / Chita Rivera / Bruce Springsteen (2018)
- Rosemary Harris / Marin Mazzie / Terrence McNally / Sonny Tilders and Creature Technology Company / Jason Michael Webb / Harold Wheeler (2019)
- The Broadway Advocacy Coalition / David Byrne's American Utopia / Freestyle Love Supreme / Graciela Daniele (2020/21)
- Angela Lansbury / James C. Nicola (2022)
- Joel Grey / John Kander (2023)
- Alex Edelman / Abe Jacob / Nikiya Mathis / Jack O'Brien / George C. Wolfe (2024)