Directorial Visionary Rouben Mamoulian Highlighted on Eve of 125th Anniversary

One of Mamoulian’s first major successes was also one of his most consequential. His Broadway directorial debut was the 1927 play “Porgy,” which later became the basis of the jazz-inflected Gershwin opera, “Porgy and Bess.” Based on the novel by DuBose Heyward, “Porgy” was one of the first Broadway productions with an all-Black cast, something that was demanded by the producers, Dorothy and DuBose Heyward, and embraced by Mamoulian. The theatrical world took note of how Mamoulian was able to connect with the actors, encouraging them to display their authentic culture and personality in their acting, so as to bring the African-American experience to the public stage and reveal the realities of life in the American South at that time (the play was set in Charleston, SC).

In 1935, George Gershwin made “Porgy and Bess,” and Mamoulian was again entrusted with the directorial responsibility, to great acclaim. Featuring a cast of classically-trained African-American singers, the opera has gone down as a monument of the American stage as well as African-American culture; its songs, like Summertime remain standards in the vocal repertoire of classical and jazz singers. In 1943, Mamoulian directed the first Broadway production of Rogers and Hammerstein’s “Oklahoma!,” widely considered the landmark show that gave birth to the Golden Age of American Musical Comedy. Its run of 2,212 performances was unprecedented and it won Rogers and Hammerstein the Pulitzer Prize in 1944. Mamoulian continued to direct musicals on Broadway, at the same time (often within the same year) that he was directing hit Hollywood movies.

Mamoulian had begun his career as a film director with “Applause” in 1929. It was one of the early sound films, and displayed his innovative use of camera technique. As even his critics recognized, Mamoulian’s strength was in his innovations rather than his storytelling in one genre or another. Rather than being known as a great director of Westerns or a great director of comedies, he tried his hand at everything, even stating that he would be bored if he had to stay in one style all the time. “City Streets” in 1931, starring Gary Cooper, was a gangster film; in the same year came the classic horror film “Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde,” considered the definitive version of the novel by Robert Louis Stevenson, and for which leading actor Frederic March received an Oscar. (Though grouped in with “horror” today, Mamoulian disagreed with that categorization, Oganesyan states.) The year 1932 saw “Love Me Tonight,” a musical romantic comedy starring French crooner Maurice Chevalier and in 1933 Mamoulian directed Greta Garbo in one of her most legendary roles, the historical epic “Queen Christina.”

In 1935 Mamoulian became the first director to film a full-length feature in color; the period society drama “Becky Sharp,” based on Thackeray’s novel Vanity Fair. Comedies, dramas, and adventure films followed: 1940’s “The Mark of Zorro,” starring Tyrone Power and Linda Darnell was a landmark; it was the first Zorro film and in many ways foreshadowed the superhero genre as it featured a crimefighting masked man (comics authors later wrote the film into Batman’s backstory). The following year, Mamoulian again directed Power and Darnell in a story about a Spanish matador, “Blood and Sand.”

After the 1940s, Mamoulian’s career in film began to wane (he was famously fired from three separate films by industry head Darryl F. Zanuck), but he had a made an indelible mark. Throughout all his films, Mamoulian was noted for his innovative ideas, especially using dance techniques, sound and color. He used music and sound effects to express the emotions of the characters, notably in “Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde,” in ways that were groundbreaking at the dawn of sound films. He was known as an autocratic, controlling director, but also one who cared about the actors and bringing out their talents. He was also considered a go-to director for productions showcasing various cultures and “folk” traditions, which is how his work with shows like “Porgy and Bess” were characterized at the time, but which also included his films that took place in Spain, Russia, and Mexico/Spanish California.

Oganesyan said that as a stage and film director Mamoulian was dedicated to art, but rather than describing it as “art for art’s sake,” he preferred the phrase, “art for life’s sake.” Mamoulian was an idealist who believed that great art, including film and theatre in his case, could lift people up, and make our lives better. Oganesyan leaves us with two excellent quotes by Mamoulian: “The true vocation of the theater is to uplift, elevate the soul, enrich the heart, and ennoble the man,” and “A film must have two elements — it must deal with the real world, and show how it could be made better.”

A lively question-and-answer period followed the talk, which was moderated by Marc Mamigonian of NAASR. Jerry Papazian of the Armenian Film Foundation also mentioned that events and programs are being planned to celebrate Mamoulian’s 125^th anniversary in 2022.