Copyright © 2020 by Wendy Waszut-Barrett
During the spring of 1918, Thomas G. Moses wrote, “My fingers itch to get back on special scenery. This awful grind of stock scenery is and has been almost impossible.”
In 1918, many touring shows still contracted agreements that required theatres to provide stock scenery and props. Moses mentioned stock scenery in an article that he wrote for the Palette & Chisel Club Newsletter in 1927. It was part of a previously written article that Moses titled “Stage Scenery 1918.” Here is what he wrote:
“Thirty years ago most of the scenery was painted in the theatre, a room or paint bridge being arranged on the stage of adjoining room for that purpose. Each theatre furnished the necessary sets for the traveling company, which was headed by some big star. In the larger cities, the theatre employed a scenic artist and an assistant to keep regular stock scenery in good condition and to supply and special scene needed. While the regular stock scenery in each theatre was nearly complete there was always a call for some scene not to be found in stock. As the scene plot was sent ahead and turned over to the scenic artist, the required scene was built and painted. Often the scene was painted on an old drop, or over old framed wings.”
An 1894 catalogue listed various options for stock scenery delivered by Sosman & Landis. Moses painted stock scenery collections for theaters and opera houses nationwide. In 1895 alone, he was credited with painting stock scenery for the Valentine Theatre in Toledo, Ohio; the Lowell Opera House in Massachusetts; the Avenue Theatre in Pittsburg; the Broad Ripple Theatre in Indianapolis; the Hillsboro Theatre in Waterbury, Connecticut; and the Opera House in Racine, Wisconsin. By 1918, Moses was an old hand at stock scenery, and it must have seen mundane. After all, how many kitchen parlors or prisons does one ever want to paint.
The demand for stock scenery remained constant from the late nineteenth century to early twentieth century. The 1894-1895 Sosman & Landis catalogue divided stock scenery installations into three categories: traveling combinations, small opera houses and halls, and ordinary halls. Although I posted this information a few years back. Here are the descriptions.
Set No. 1 was for traveling combinations. These would be the larger performance venues that booked headliners and large-scale productions. Stock scenery for these stages included a drop curtain and at least eight backdrops depicting a fancy parlor scene, plain chamber scene, prison scene, wood scene, garden scene, street scene, rocky pass scene, and ocean view scene. In addition to the drops, there were 4 parlor wings, 4 kitchen wings, 6 wood wings, 2 front wings (tormentors), 1 grand drapery border, 3 sky borders, 3 set rocks, 3 set waters and 1 set cottage. In some cases, the parlor scene and kitchen settings were delivered as an interior box set; 4×8 flats that were lashed together with cord and cleats. Occasionally the interior flats were double-painted with a fancy interior on one side and a rustic interior on the backside.
There is need to clarify a few other terms detailed in the 1894-1895 Sosman & Landis catalogue too. Tormentor wings depicted painted columns with an “elaborate base and rich drapery at the top and side.” These wings were stationary ones that were set three or four feet back of, and parallel with, the drop curtain. The grand drapery border was painted to represent rich and massive drapery that matched the drapery on the tormentor wings.
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Set No. 2 was for smaller venues, such as 200-500 seat opera houses and halls. Their stock settings included 1 drop curtain and five drops: parlor scene, kitchen scene, street scene, prison scene, and wood scene. In addition to the backdrops, there were 4 parlor wings, 4 kitchen wings, 4 wood wings, 2 front wings (tormentors), 1 grand drapery border, 2 sky borders, 3 set rocks, 3 set waters and 1 set cottage.
Set No. 3 was intended for limited spaces, such as an ordinary meeting hall for a social or fraternal organization. This option included 1 drop curtain and following drops: parlor scene, kitchen scene, street scene, and wood scene. In addition to the drops, there were 4 interior wings, 4 exterior wings, 2 front wings (tormentors), 1 grand drapery border, 2 front borders, and 2 sky borders.
The catalogue noted that the scenery was created with “extra heavy material painted in bright durable colors, by the best skilled Scenic Painters, and are warranted strictly first-class in every particular.” By 1894, Sosman & Landis advertised, “Over 4,000 places of amusement are to-day using scenery made by our firm.”
To be continued…
