| Description | The archive of Lighting Designer Joe Davis (1912 - 1984). Contains: photographs, diaries, passport, lighting plots, news cuttings, account books, programmes, typed autobiographical recollections, medals and army papers. |
| AdminHistory | Joe Davis (1912 - 1984), Lighting Designer. As a young boy, Joe was taken to the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane, for Julian Wylie's Christmas Pantomimes and was entranced by the air of expectation as the house lights were dimmed, and the curtain rose. In 1926 he joined Strand Electric, an international theatre and television lighting company founded in 1914 in London's West End that supplies lighting fixtures and controls for the entertainment industry. With Strand Electric he worked on diverse projects such as the first TV installation at the Alexandra Palace, several London Pageants, the first season of open air theatre in Regent's Park, and many Albert Hall functions. In his long association with the creative arts he worked with many famous names, and was known as Marlene Dietrich's bespoke theatrical lighting designer.
In 1961 Joe Davis was the founder and first chairman of the Society of British Theatre Lighting Designers; later its Life President, a role he continued when it was enlarged as the Association of Lighting Designers. |