Copyright © 2020 by Wendy Waszut-Barrett
When there is a major disruption in production, industries change for the better or worse. WWI, the measles epidemic, the Spanish flu and the 1920-1921 recession all hit in a relatively short period of time. Factor in prohibition and it may have seemed like the end of the world. Many studios did not weather these storms. One dying company could fuel another in times of trouble, and such was the case when five Sosman & Landis employees left to form Chicago Service Studios in 1920. Troubles began with Thomas G. Moses resigned as President of Sosman & Landis to work for New York Studios during the fall of 1918. He wrote, “September 1st, I resigned as President of the Sosman and Landis Company which severs my connection with the firm after thirty-eight years of service. I joined the New York Studios and expect to get a studio and an office to do business.” This must have signaled the end for his fellow scenic artists at the firm.
Service Studios was initially located at the corner of State and 20th street in Chicago in a building that was previously known as the Marshall Field Store. The firm soon moved to 2919 W. Van Buren and set up an impressive space after when the Mashall Field estate sold the building. On June 26, 1921, the “Chicago Tribune” reported: “Old Time Marshall Field Store Building is Sold. The Marshall Field estate has sold the southwest corner of State and 20th. 155×120, to L. R. Warshawsky, for $75,000. After the Chicago Fire Marshal Field & Co., then Field, Leiter & Co., used part of the property for their retail store for some time. Later they used it for wholesale purposes. It is now used for a scenic studio by the Chicago Service Studios. The property is improved with a four story building contains eight stores and eighteen flats with a two story building on the rear. Mr. Warshawsky intends to make extensive alterations and will use a portion for his automobile accessory business. S. C. Iverson of Hubbard Porter & Brother, represented both parties” (June 26, 1921, page 26). The scenic studio in the old Marshall Field Store, must have been a temporary situation as the new studio was prepared in 1920.
Much of what we know about the founding of Service Studios was recounted by scenic artist John Hanny decades later. Hanny was one of the firm’s five founders. Originally a Sosman & Landis artist, Moses hired Hanny in 1906 at the age of 16. Near the end of his life, Hanny would write, “As I look back over the years, I now realize that I have had a full and exciting life – hopefully a productive one – and have known and rubbed elbows with some wonderful generous people including Tom Moses and Wm. Nutzhorn for which I am most grateful.”
In six years, from 1906 until 1912, Hanny progressed at Sosman & Landis’ to become one of their journeymen painters, going from a salary of $6 to $35 a week. Hanny recalled, “Came up the line by painting tormentors and grand drapery border, AD curtains – lettering excepted, surroundings for Front Curtains, Streets, and Olios, etc. Later complete Front Curtains surroundings and picture – figures excepted.”
Hanny wrote a brief biography of his career when asked about his experiences in 1979. On October 8, 1979, he wrote a letter to Dr. John Rothgeb, stating, “I stayed with Sosman & Landis until 1920 when four other men and myself decided to go it on our own and formed the Service Studios. We remodeled – with borrowed money, a Jewel Tea Co. barn of 18 horse stalls into a studio of five 24’ x 48’ and one 24’ x 38’ paint frames, plus floor space of 50’ x 50’ – This was the best equipped studio in Chicago – Sosman & Landis excepted.” Hanny’s mention of the remodeled space would have been the Marshall Field space described in the aforementioned “Chicago Tribune” article. Hanny went on to write, “We rented several frames to Hoyland and Lemle company on which to paint their Ad Curtains.” In 1924, the Hoyland-Lemle business address was listed as 6751 Sheridan Road in Chicago, the address as William Lemle’s residence (certified List of Domestic and Foreign Corporations for the year 1924). Hoyland and Lemle would continue to rent frames after Service Studios closed in 1926.
By 1926, the demand for painted scenery was beginning to wane and the firm was struggling. Service Studios sold out to Art Oberbeck of ACME Studios. Oberbeck had also started as a young artist at Sosman & Landis, two years before Hanny in 1904. In 1926 Oberbeck moved ACME Studios from 36 West Randolph Street to the Service Studios at Van Buren and Sacramento Street (2919 W. Van Buren).
On April 8, 1928, the “Indianapolis Star” included an advertisement about ACME Studios, noting, “Handling the largest amount of scenic work in Chicago and the United States, the ACME Studios products must necessarily reflect quality and completeness. The advertisement added, “All work is personally supervised by A. W. Overbeck [sic.], himself a scenic artist of ability who has spent more than twenty years in the profession. The firm delivered “stage dressings” for the new Granada Theatre of the U. I. Theatre Circuit, Inc. The company was credited with executing stage scenery and draperies for the U. I. Circuit, Inc., and furnishing stage settings and draperies for “numerous other large photoplay and legitimate theatres, such as Balaban & Katz, Marks Bros. and others” (page 74). ACME Studios was still located at 2919-23 Wes Van Buren St. in Chicago.
To be continued…
