The first mention of John Z. Wood as a scenic artist was from 1889. That year, he and Dennis Flood were noted as the scenic artists for the H. R. Jacobs Opera House in Syracuse, New York,. Flood would later be noted as Wood’s “life-time friend.” H. R. Jacobs was the owner of numerous theaters throughout the country, including the H. R. Jacobs’ Academy in Syracuse. Newspaper articles noted that they painted not only a 25’ x 28’ drop curtain, but also the set of stock scenery for the venue. The drop curtain depicted an elaborate conservatory with a tropical garden view in the distance. Spending several weeks on site, they painted remaining stock set that included a palace exterior, a fancy interior, a dark wood exterior, a classical garden, a rocky pass, a mountain landscape, a pastoral landscape, and a lakeside exterior.
As I was examining other performance venues in the city where Wood might have painted, it was the drop curtain at Syracuse’s Weiting Opera House that caught my eye. I came across a photograph of the drop curtain with two men in front of it, possibly the artists in front of their work.
The composition and paint application is characteristic of many Wood designs contained in the Performing Arts Archives. It is the shape of the building, the draperies, and the placement of boats and figures that I believe are characteristic of Wood’s compositions. This drop curtain would have been for the old Weiting Opera house before it was destroyed by fire.
By 1898, Wood was also painting scenery with Gates & Morange for the New Baker Theatre in New York City. He produced all of the exterior scenery for the venue, while Gates & Morange produced the borders, trips, and other specialty drops. His travel to New York occurred shortly after a financially devastating incident that will be covered in the next installment.
By 1907, Wood left Rochester and moved to several other locations, including Winnipeg, Minneapolis, and Los Angeles. For the 1908-1909 season, Wood was listed as the staff scenic artist at the Winnipeg Theatre.
Previously, John C. Baatz and David M. Hartford were listed as the scenic artists for the 1906-1907 season as noted in the Souvenir Program.
Walker’s Winnipeg Theatre was over a decade old when Wood moved there in 1909. In 1897, Corliss Powers Walker and his wife Harriet, moved to Winnipeg from Fargo, North Dakota, at the suggestion of the president of the Northern Pacific Railway who understood Walker’s business ambition in the field of theatre. Harriet Walker was a musical comedy actress on the New York stage. Winnipeg was the northern terminus of the railway and provided an excellent opportunity to extend Walker’s Red River Valley Theatre Circuit, associated with the Theatre Syndicate in New York. This included several theatres he owned in North Dakota, also referred to a his “Breadbasket Circuit.” The extension of the circuit allowed Winnipeg theatregoers to enjoy the latest Broadway shows soon after they opened in New York, as well as international celebrities in operas and concerts that otherwise would never have gone beyond St. Paul. Walker promptly leased the old Bijou and renamed it the Winnipeg Theatre on September 6, 1897. He added a new raised stage and gallery to increase the seating from 500 to 800.
The Bijou was originally christened Victoria Hall when constructed in 1882. It was a brick-veneer wooden building with several stores on the ground level. In 1890, it was renamed the Bijou Opera House when Frank Campbell, a local entrepreneur, renovated the performance hall to house a stock company that he had brought to Winnipeg. The Manitoba Historical Society published an article in 2002 titled “On Stage: Theatre and Theatres in Early Winnipeg.” It noted, “Awkwardly placed pillars on each side of the stage supported an old-fashioned drop curtain that came down with a thump that shook the house at the conclusion of each act.”
Under Walker’s direction the Winnipeg Theatre inaugural program boasted that in terms of its size, stage, scenic equipment, and lighting, the theatre was superior to anything west of Chicago. The renovated theatre auditorium accommodated 1,000 persons, although the theatre still remained on the second floor. This became a point of contention with local citizens who grew increasingly concerned about audience safety during a fire. The theatre burned to the ground on December 23, 1926, taking the lives of four firemen.
To be continued…
