Copyright © 2020 by Wendy Waszut-Barrett
For the past month, I have explored the lives and careers of various scenic artists who worked for the Tabor Opera House in Leadville, Colorado, and Tabor Grand Opera House in Denver, Colorado. Last week, before I left for Richmond, Virginia, I was in the midst of exploring Tabor Grand Opera House scenic artist Henry C. Tryon. Beginning his life as Henry B. Hoornbeck, he officially changed his last name to Henry C. Tryon in 1882. This is similar to the British actor Ebenezer J. Britton, who painted under the alias Harley Merry.
It is important to recall the timeline for both Leadville’s Tabor Opera House and Denver’s Tabor Grand Opera House. The Tabor Opera House in Leadville opened on November 20, 1879. By March 1880, H. A. W. Tabor announced that he purchased land in Denver to build another opera house. The new venue was named the Tabor Grand Opera House, and designed by Edbrooke and F. P. Burnham of Chicago. Keep in mind that these the architects provide another concrete connection with Chicago scenic artists of the day. The Tabor Grand Opera House opened on August 1, 1881. That year, newspapers across the country described the theater:
“The stage is constructed and fitted up on a scale that would cause envy in many Eastern theatres. The decorations in the body of the theatre itself are of the most beautiful description, and one can see at a glance that expense was not considered in the least” (New Orleans, 6 Dec. 1881, page 9). “Harry Miner’s Dramatic Directory” described the Tabor Grand Opera House: “Size of stage, 45×75; size of proscenium opening, 34×33; height from stage to grooves, 20; height from stage to rigging loft, 66; depth under stage, 12; traps, 6, and 2 bridges; number sets of scenery, 50.”
Henry C. Tryon painted for the Tabor Grand Opera House. Various newspapers and theatrical directories identify Tryon as the scenic artist there from 1881 to 1882. In addition to working in Denver during 1881, Tryon also painted in Cincinnati, Minneapolis, and Chicago. Like other scenic artists at this time, Tryon was constantly on the go and zipping across the country at an amazing speed to complete numerous projects.
Interestingly, another artist was credited with the Tabor Grand Opera’s drop curtain – Robert Hopkin (1832-1909). At the age of 49 yrs. old, Hopkin was a well-known artist all across the country, but primarily lived in Detroit. On March 5, 1881, the “Detroit Free Press” reported “Robert Hopkin, the artist, and his son William G., left for Colorado on Thursday to paint the scenery and curtains for three opera houses. Before leaving “Bob” remarked to a scribe of THE FREE PRESS, “the boy is up to the old man with the pencil, and ain’t much behind him with the brush” (page 1). Even year later, article about Hopkin would recall, “He decorated and painted the drop curtain and scenery for Tabor’s opera house at Denver, at the time one of the finest theaters in America.
I have written about Hopkin in the past, as well as his connection to Thomas G. Moses. Both Tryon and Moses worked as assistants to Hopkin Sr. in 1875 on a production of the “Naiad Queen.” Moses kept in touch with Hopkin, and also admired his artwork. In 1884, Moses visited the Tabor Grand while on a sketching trip with three other scenic artists: Edward Morange, Hardesty Maratta, and John H. Young. The four traveled from Chicago to Breckenridge, Colorado, to gather source material and hone their artistic skills. While on their trip, the visited the Tabor Opera House in Denver to see the drop curtain by their friend Robert Hopkins. The next year, Moses went on another sketching trip to West Virginia with Young and Tryon. Of the Colorado trip, Moses wrote, “We all attended the theatre, the famous Tabor Grand, and we found it all we had expected it would be, nicely decorated and fine woodwork. The Drop Curtain was very good: an old ruin with some poetical feeling that pleased everyone. It was painted by an old friend of mine, Mr. Robert Hopkins, of Detroit, Michigan. This is a favorite subject of his, having done a similar one in Detroit” (The palette & Chisel, Vol. 1, No. 3, March 1928). A photograph remains of Hopkins’ drop curtain for the Tabor Grand Opera House, now part of the Denver Public Library’s online collection.
Years later, the “Detroit Free Press” interviewed Robert “Bob” Hopkin and touched upon the drop-curtain for the Detroit Opera House (23 Sept 1906, page 51). The article reported, “Bob tells me that he grew up on the Detroit wharves, passed through an apprenticeship in mixing colors for decorators, drifted to scene painting, and finally made easel pictures. As he fished around in his boxes and albums for souvenirs of his early life, as last he brought up a faded photograph of the first drop-curtain of the Detroit Opera House. The theme was an allegorical landscape, surrounded by Corinthian columns, supporting a flat arch – an arch that builders have always said was impossible. But a fig cared Bob, the scenic artist, for these mechanical criticisms. He also showed me a drawing of the second curtain bearing the familiar lines: “So fleet the works of men back to their earth again; Ancient and holy things fade like a dream.” Hopkin’s drop curtains for both the Detroit Opera House and the Tabor Opera Grand Opera House used the same inscription below the ruins of a Greek temple.
The front curtain was often considered a project in itself, sometimes taking much longer than most other scenery delivered to a theater. Many nineteenth century articles identified artists who specialized in drop curtains. In 1894, the “Philadelphia Inquirer” reported, “The drop curtain is the most expensive piece of furniture in any playhouse. Managers are more solicitous about the care of a handsome curtain that almost any other appointment in their theatres. They are usually painted by artists of wide fame in a particular branch of art which they represent, whose charges for the work range from $1,000 to $3,000.” That amount is today’s equivalent of $29,000 to $89,000 for the front curtain.
So, consider the 1881 drop curtain painted by Hopkins for the Tabor Grand Opera; an incredibly expensive items for a theater, possibly one of the most expensive appointments at a performance venue. Theatre owners, artists and patrons understood the importance of this large-scale artwork; a drop-curtain set the tone for the interior and was a culmination of the painted décor.
To be continued…
