Copyright © 2020 by Wendy Waszut-Barrett
In 1920 Thomas G. Moses wrote, “June and July found us tied up with a lot of repaint stuff for the Junior Orpheum, all over the country, and there was some awful stuff sent in to be repainted, while there was some that was really good.” Junior Orpheum theaters were the Orpheum Circuit’s “popular-priced” vaudeville houses.
There are a few things to consider about Moses’ diary entry. The first is that stage settings were never meant to last. Repainting backdrops and flats were a common occurrence when theaters could not afford to purchase a new scene, or entire stock scenery collection. Due to the nature of the paints, the scenery did not just receive another coat of paint. The tempera paint was scrubbed down, effectively removed to leave a slightly stained piece of fabric that was ready for a new coat of paint.
Painted scenery was a major investment for any performance venue at the time. Scenic studio catalogues even offered the refurbishing of old flats and fabric as an alternative to purchasing new. From 1889 to 1894, Sosman & Landis catalogues included a “Special Notice.” The section noted, “When there is already a stock of Scenery on the stage, and it is desired to add some new scenes and wings, we can easily make them to fit the frames of present scenery, and they may be mounted on the backs of other ‘flats’ and ‘wings.’ We can do this work for you much better, and we think cheaper than you can have an artist do it on stage, and it will save you considerable trouble. If you intend putting any new Scenery this coming season, we hope we will hear from you, and we will try and make it to your interest to at least give us a trial order.” At the time, the firm advertised they had already supplied 1700 opera house, theaters and halls in the United States and Canada with stock scenery. By 1894, Sosman & Landis catalogues announced, “Over 4,000 places of amusement are to-day using scenery made by our firm.” By 1904, it was close to 6,000.
The Junior Orpheum Circuit was just one more client who opted to repaint existing stock scenery collections for upcoming touring shows and a variety of vaudeville acts.
Of the Junior Orpheum Circuit, the “Los Angeles Evening Express” interviewed Martin Beck, managing director of the Orpheum Circuit on April 9, 1920 (page 29). He explained the theater chain in seven cities that will be grouped under the name of the “Junior Orpheum” circuit. In the interview Beck stated, “In naming the theaters that are to make up the Junior Orpheum circuit, we intend calling them after the intersecting streets on which they are located. Thus, in Kansas City we have named that theater the Fourteenth-Main, and the one in Minneapolis has been called the Ninth-Hennepin. The Los Angeles theater will be known as the Hill and the name of the other street on which it will be situated. It is impossible to give the exact location of the Los Angeles theater at the present time, as the full title of the property has not been acquired.”
Mort H. Singer was the manager of the Orpheum Circuit. He explained, “By the establishment of the Junior Orpheum we will be able to book more and better material for the regular Orpheum system of theaters which has always been far above the best of any vaudeville circuit. Contract will be made for an entire year, and the acts will play first the regular Orpheum Circuit and then double back on the Junior Orpheum circuit, thus maintaining the same high-class performance on the Junior circuit and in the regular Orpheum theater. There will be no reserved seats in the Junior Orpheum theaters, and the admission charged will be at popular process. Patrons will be assured of more than three hours of high-class entertainment.” This reminded my of second run dollar theaters; same show, a little later, and a lot cheaper. Really quite brilliant from a business sense. You are able to extend the run of a show, and have a secondary venue simply based on volume.
Moses had previously worked with both Beck and Singer, so the Junior Orpheum selecting Sosman & Landis to refurbish all of their existing stock scenery is not a surprise at all.
To be continued…
