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CHAPTER TWO

Starting Out

BEFORE PLUNGING INTO an account of the first successful Broadway play I designed, let me say a word: On the first day of my first job — I was thirteen — I gave an enema to a goat. This was in 1943, farmhands were fighting the war, and for ten dollars a week I worked at a dairy farm. I’ve often thought of that first sunny afternoon and I’ve been encouraged. Nasty work, but the goat was relieved, perhaps even pleased, and I was an effective soldier in our war effort — a proud member of a team.

Good luck followed, and I will come to that. What I want to do now is to speak of the first successful Broadway play I designed. This may seem abrupt, but it serves to introduce the thought process of designing LONG DAY’S JOURNEY INTO NIGHT. This was a remarkable opportunity for a young designer to support the work of Eugene O’Neill, thought by many to be our greatest American playwright. (Note the word “playwright.” Plays, we say, are wrought, not written. We write and direct, design, act, dance, or sing: we develop our work in process — with others.)