New-York tribune., 1918-01-27
Ancient Greeks
Did Not Always
Dress in White
Livingston Platt Finds
Fashion Plates Dated
500 B. &.

lnC lWpIeSSAOIl nus SoI ABOUT tnAt
Tho ancient Greeks always dressed in
sootless white and eschcwed bright
,olers as something vulgar. But Liv-
insston Platt, who has designed the
settings and costumes for the Margaret.
Angln-W Walter Damrosch Greek plavs
to bo given, beginning Wednesday
February 6, at Carnegie Hall, does not
believe it. He has consulted the
fashion plates Of the time to sustain
his argument.
"In reality" he says, "thc Greeks, 81
most stages of their civilization, rioted
in color. have seen the fabrics which
Professor Schleimann dug up from the
ruins of Mycen@-cloth preserved
through the centuries in the sealed
sarcophagi of the tombs. They arc
dyed, painted or waxed in brilliant
colors-bright reds, rich greens, bril-
liant blues and soft oranges. and q
great deal of black besides. The wall
paintings and vase decorations pre-
served from the period suggest that
this variety snd profusion of color was
consistently maintained in Greek dress
as in Greek sculpture and architecture.
The Greeks painted their statues in the
brightest OF colors. Tho Parthenon,
which the layman supposes to have
been a dazzling blaze of whitencss, was
IN reality heavily painted without and
within, traces of the color still remain
ing.
Our notion that the Greeks were
dressed in puro white, with only
fringe Of color, is really an accident.
We get most of our impressions of
things Greek from what we know of the
Periclean age. Now it happens that
during the Pcriclean age there was
reaction against color in dreas. The
leaders Of fashion, looking about for
novelty, decrccd that color should be
barred. The Paul Poiret Of the time,
whoever he was, dressed his r,anne-
quins in spotless white. and whitc be-
came all the rage. But it did not be-
come the rage because it represented
Greek taste but rather because il
Didn't. mean to say, it was accepted
as a novelty.
In planning our costumes for the
'Nedea' and the Electra Miss Anglin
and I preferred to so to the period of
the stories. rather than to the Peri
clean age, in which they were written.
some five centuries later. SO we were
justified by archaeological as we'll as BY
artistic reasons for using all the color
We wanted. The coloring Of the Flee
IA We have kept low in tone, in keep
ing with the spirit Of the play. But
the 'Nedea,' which is an amazing
drama, or even melodrama, Of human
passion, justified a brilliant color
scheme. So | have made the costumes
N the spirit and hues of the fabrics
which Professor Schleimann dug up
from Nycena, the reds, blues, green's
and blacks which represented the last
word IN the modiste's art Of the time.
We dye and even weave the material
ourselves In our studios, SO as to Get
not only the tint, but the texture and
Aans OF the clothes exactly as nv
1ashlon plates, on Greek friezes and
vases, indicate.
don't know whether you would call
mis- use of eXuberant color taking a
Hperty with the Greek plays. We know
precious little about the actual condi
Sons OF Greek performance anyway. +
But the most serious liberty one could
'ahe with them would be to make them
unlntercsting. They fascinated the
creeks of their own day, and if they
DO not hold the interest Of twentieth
century Americans it is because they
arc not played for their dramatic VAL
ues. Miss Anglin and Mr.. Damrosch
INSIST that these plays must be human,
dramatic, interesting to the ordinary
american theatregoer. And in provid-
ing the bright colors for the 'Medea'
am only carrying out the first intcn-
'on Of the dramatist, which was the
same for Euripides as for Eugene
Walter, namely, to keep the audience
on the jump"
All Of which would have been consid-
sraply harder for Mr.. Platt if he had
not found the fashion plates from the
Nycene Of 500 B. c.