Lemuel Ayers

Ayers, Lemuel (1915–55), designer. A New Yorker, he studied at Princeton and the University of Iowa before being chosen by Leonard Sillman to design sets for 1939 revivals of Journey's End and They Knew What They Wanted. Major recognition came with his costume designs for the Maurice Evans–Judith Anderson Macbeth (1941). Ayers's settings were subsequently seen in, among others, Angel Street (1941); The Pirate (1942); Harriet (1943); Oklahoma! (1943); Song of Norway (1944); Bloomer Girl (1944); Cyrano de Bergerac (1946); Inside U. S. A. (1948); Kiss Me, Kate (1948) and Out of This World (1950), both of which he co‐produced; Kismet (1953); and The Pajama Game (1954). He sometimes designed costumes for these shows as well. Ayers was a master at creating a sense of vast spaciousness within a proscenium frame. His stylized settings for Oklahoma! and his richly beautiful settings for Out of This World were noteworthy examples of this gift. One critic suggested that despite Cole Porter's superb score and Charlotte Greenwood's memorable performance, Ayers's settings were the “real star” of Out of This World.