Water, Water Everywhere
Water damage is always the antagonist in historic scenery stories.
Scenery painted with dry pigment and diluted hide glue, or “size,” is water-based and non-permanent. The colors reactivate with the introduction of water, being displaced upon the surface as the water carries pigments elsewhere on the fabric. Highly concentrated areas of color are re-deposited along the edges of water damage and are difficult to conceal. They need to be sealed and then touched up. In some cases all of the color is removed, reverting sections of the composition to raw fabric.
The Fort Scott collection was in amazing condition when we placed it into storage on November 23, 2015, at the age of 91 yrs. old! The date when Moses finished the last drop for the collection was November 17, 1924. The scenery was in much better shape than any other historical collection I had come across to date. Part of the reason for the minimal deterioration was the lack of water damage. You have to understand that it is almost unheard of for a Scottish Rite scenery collection to not have some type of water damage; either from pipes that burst or a roof that leaks. Fortunately for us, there were no pipes above the scenery in Fort Scott and no detectable roof leaks!
Water can also damage drops when it sneaks in through the smoke doors high above the stage and slowly drips down onto the painted scenes. Smoke doors above the stage have a straightforward purpose, allowing the smoke and fire gasses to escape through the stage area and not into the auditorium. These vents above the stage which, when open during a fire, will draw smoke out of the auditorium and up out of the roof, enabling a safer evacuation of the audience. The vents are often attached to compressed springs, so that when activated, they will stay open. Various requirements are determined by the size and the height of the stage. Unfortunately, over time smoke doors can leak.
The reason for the smoke doors is clear – audience safety. In 1903, the Iroquois theatre fire in Chicago killed approximately 600 individuals, many children, during an afternoon matinee. Piles of bodies were discovered lined up in the aisles trying to exit through the locked theatre doors. After this tragedy and the many others that had preceded it, there was an increased effort toward both audience safety and fire prevention. Many fire codes were put in place and included exits, fire barriers, and smoke doors.
Interestingly, the Fort Scott smoke doors were placed above the stage left side. Any leaking that might have occurred happened away from the painted scenes in the off-stage area. I had made a mental note at the time that I would have to keep an eye out for this building anomaly in the future. Was it really an anomaly, or were the architects who worked closely with theatre professionals at that time aware of the potential damage to the scenery and lighting fixtures? If it was taken into consideration for one Scottish Rite theatre, there could be other examples elsewhere.
And then I encountered the issue of smoke doors at the MMHC theatre during the spring of 2016. I was sitting at a construction meeting when I realized that the MMHC smoke doors were centered above the stage and would automatically open when a fire alarm was pulled. I immediately expressed a concern that if the doors popped open during a rainstorm, the contents of the historic scenery would be completely destroyed. Had no one thought of this?
I then continued stating that the collection had a replacement value of over $1,000,000.00 and the majority of it could be destroyed in an instant. Everyone at the meeting looked toward the CEO for clarification and direction. The room was silent. Then I realized that this was a moot point for the CEO he moved on to the previous topic – the need for some safety mechanism to prevent workers from falling through the opening if the doors sprung open.
I kept wondering, “Why did they really want any historic drops in the space if they didn’t care what happened to them after the installation?” After all, what was the point of replicating an historic theatre space to accommodate an entire Scottish Rite scenery collection?
To be continued…
