Carl Callaway, Laguna Pageant Technical Director, Dies at 56

Carl Callaway, technical director of the Laguna Beach Pageant of the Masters since 1953, died of a heart attack Tuesday at the age of 56--just two days after working the last pageant of the summer season on Sunday.

“We’re all stunned,” said Sally Reeve, the event’s public relations director for 23 years. “He was the pageant. . . . He was completely responsible for that pageant getting on every night.”

As technical director and stage manager, Callaway’s responsibilities included set design, lighting and sound for the pageant, an annual event staged since 1933, in which live models are used to re-create famous works of art. He was also operations manager for the Festival of the Arts, which includes a large outdoor arts and crafts display held on the adjacent grounds.

Callaway’s association with the pageant began at the age of 10, when he would follow the electricians around the grounds and even help out occasionally. He applied for and received his electrician’s license in 1946, when he was just 12 years old, and started working for the pageant.

After 1953, Callaway’s duties were year-round. When one season closes, “the director is already selecting the artworks we’ll do next year,” Callaway said in a 1972 interview. “And as soon as he does, I have to start work planning and building the sets.”

The job was “a constant challenge,” Callaway said. “There is nothing else like this in the world.”

Reeve said Callaway was in the hospital for two days last week for an adjustment in his blood pressure medication but was released with a clean bill of health and came back to work for the season’s final show Sunday.

“The wonderful part of it was, he finished that last show,” Reeve said. “I talked to him after the show, and he was happy as can be.”

The Mission Viejo resident is survived by his wife, Marilee; three sons, Robert, Sean and Stuart; a daughter, Deborah, and a grandson, Nicholas.

A graveside service will be conducted at 10:30 a.m. Wednesday at Pacific View Memorial Park, 3500 Pacific View, Newport Beach. The family asks that in lieu of flowers, donations be made to the newly formed Festival of Arts Carl Callaway Memorial Scholarship Fund.