ALBERT, ERNEST

(1857-1946)

   In the 1880s, the Brooklyn-born scene designer worked as art and scenic director for Pope's Theatre in St. Louis and formed an important partnership—Noxon, Albert, and Toomey—that created scenic elements for theatres all over the Midwest. Ernest Albert moved to Chicago to participate in planning the layout for the World's Columbian Exposition of 1893. Then he went on to design scenery in New York, including The Pacific Mail and Gismonda in 1894; A Round of Pleasure and A Ward of France in 1897; Ben-Hur in1899; Broadway Tokio, Sapho, The Casino Girl, and Monte Cristo in 1900; Twelfth Night and A China Doll in 1904; and many spectacular musicals. Albert was also regarded as a leading landscape artist and in 1919 was elected the first president of Allied Artists of America.