My final day at the St. Louis Scottish Rite was spent in their library. The librarian had approached me earlier that week, excitedly describing the many treasures. I knew that my time on the stage was extremely limited as a dance recital was scheduled for the weekend. Friday morning was their final dress rehearsal.
I entered the building that Friday morning and was greeted with a potpourri of glitter, spangles, and Lycra. Beautiful blond cherubs prancing around in tutus gathered at the entrance of the theatre, waiting for their next song. I had to chuckle to myself and wonder if the original membership had any idea that the auditorium would host legions of young girls gyrating to modern musical selections. Ironically, dance recitals and weddings make up the two main rental groups for fraternal theaters nationwide. The subsequent rental income from this type of clientele helps keep the lights on and pays for much needed repairs. Unbeknownst to the performers on the stage, they are all playing a game of Russian roulette as both the rigging systems and historical scenery collections are perilously close to failing and falling onto the stage floor.
No matter how many times I warn fraternal theaters about the dangers posed to those on stage, rentals continue. The scenario of impending doom always makes me feel like I am about to witness a tragedy. Here was Nell tied to the railroad tracks and I hear the whistle of the oncoming locomotive. It is just appearing around the bend and those able to help are distracted by the pretty flowers and scenery, not noticing the tragedy that is about to befall the heroine.
As I passed the souvenir stands and wandered down into in the basement of the St. Louis Scottish Rite Cathedral, I began to wonder what the librarian might consider “treasures.” Nothing could have prepared me for the neat stacks of file folders, all divided by Scottish Rite degrees. Each folder had black and white photographs, sketches, and designs produced by Volland Studios. The librarian explained that Volland Studios had gifted these old files years ago and they had just kept them in a neat little pile, waiting for some “expert” to tell them what to do with the acquisition.
Some of the photos depicted the current St. Louis Scottish Rite scenery. Others depicted schematics of set pieces and various props. As at the Harry Ransom Center, I photographed everything that I could lay my hands on. Quickly, I realized that I would never be able to document everything in two hours and I would have to return that afternoon. I had already been approached by the executive secretary about being hired as a guest speaker that fall and knew that I would plan enough time to fully photograph or scan these images.
Paging through the contents of each degree, I immediately identified designs from other collections that I had recently evaluated and entered into my Scottish Rite scenery databases. With this set of designs, I could now cross-reference Sosman & Landis, New York Studios, Great Western Stage Equipment Company, Becker Bros. Studio and Volland Studios. It was almost too exciting to contemplate.
As new designs were created for the Fort Scott collection and fully included in Moses’ 1931 model, so too did Volland create several new designs for the Valley of St. Louis. I noticed that for both the 1924 Fort Scott and St. Louis designs, the foreground objects dominate the composition and take on a “larger than life” appearance. For example, the Fort Scott columns from the 15th degree ruins were massive – dwarfing any actor that might stand next to the painted detail. Similarly, the wood leg and cut drops in St. Louis reminded me of the redwood forests. The tree trunks of the drops were easily six feet wide!
I thought back to some of the earliest painted illusions for the stage. The incredible depth suggested on a relatively shallow stage was magical. The feeling of awe that I experienced in St. Louis was magical. I had seen hundreds of painted scenes in Masonic theatre across the country, but the designs for Fort Scott and St. Louis were the next step in the evolution of Scottish Rite stage design.
To be continued…
