Month: December 2017

There were two scenic electric theaters on top of the Chicago Masonic Temple in 1894. Both were created and managed by the Sosman & Landis scenic studio. Joseph Sands Sosman was a Scottish Rite Mason and member of the local Oriental Consistory.

The first production was an imitation of “A Day in the Alps,” an attraction that had been popularized at the Columbian Exposition in 1893. The second production depicted a specific scene from the Columbian Exposition – the “Court of Honor.” The view of the setting was from the agricultural building, looking northwest. As with “A Day in the Alps,” it included a transformation scene.

The “Court of Honor” opened with a vision of the world fair in the morning. Sunrise transitioned into brilliant sunlight that illuminated massive white buildings surrounding a lagoon. In front of the administration and electricity buildings, gondolas and electric launches added to the charm to the scene while band music played in the background. As evening approached, electric lights outlined the White City and were reflected in the water’s surface.

The February 24, 1894, issues of “Western Electrician” described, “Searchlight effects flash from one building to another, and administration building, with its handsome decorative lighting scheme, shines resplendent under these streams of light.” The article also noted that some of the illumination was achieved using a Packard mogul lamp (300-candle power), that produced the scenic changes and color shifts.

The Court of Honor lighting also included a luxauleator, or “a curtain of light.” This creation consisted of a border of incandescent lights around the four sides of the stage opening. An invention credited to Steel MacKaye, newspapers reported it as “a peculiar optical illusion” originally created for the Spectatorium in Chicago (The Wichita Eagle, May 26, 1893, pg. 6). Unfortunately, the construction of this massive scenic electric theater was never completed for the Columbian Exposition and the project was abandoned (see past installment #187). MacKaye’s luxauleator used rows of lamps that were placed in conical shaped reflectors. The newspaper article further reported, “The modus operandi was very simple, the mere turning of a switch being all that is necessary; the same movement of the switch that throws the current of electricity into the lamps of the luxauleator, also turns out all the lights upon the stage and the effect produced the same as if one were sitting in a brilliantly lighted room and endeavored to look out into darkness.”

MacKaye’s patent claimed, “In combination with the proscenium opening, a series of lamps bordering the same and provided with backings adapted to throw the space back of the lamps and the opening into complete shade, while flooding the opposite portion of the space with light so as to form in effect a vivid curtain or screen of light that will intercept all sight of persons or things occupying the shaded portion of the space, substantially as described.”

The Sosman & Landis electric scenic theater attractions in the roof top garden only lasted a year. The venue changed hands by May 1895 and reopened with “several new novelties” under the management of George A. Fair. The Chicago Tribune reported, “Everything connected with the roof garden is new, and the visitor last night saw but little to remind him of the same place last year. The electric scenic theater still remains, but the other stage has been moved around to the northeast corner of the roof. The present location affords a good view of the entertainment from every part of the roof. Directly In front of the stage are 3,510 opera chairs, while the rest of the floor space is given up to refreshment tables. A new feature of the garden is the concrete walks built around the dome of the roof, where an excellent view of the city and surrounding country can be obtained. It is the intention of the management to remove part of the glass roof, affording an opportunity of enjoying the view and listening to the entertainment going on below” (May 20, 1895).

I have to question the use of 3510 opera chairs. That was a dramatic increase from the original 150 for the two original theaters.

To be continued…

“A City Under One Roof – The Masonic Temple” was an article in “Scientific American” (Feb. 10, 1894). It reported, “Of all the buildings of our Western sister Chicago, none is more remarkable than the Masonic Temple, a structure which, in its functions, dimensions and construction, is one of the unique buildings of the world. In spite of its name, it is proudly claimed to be the “highest commercial building in the world.” In it we find exemplified the union of Freemasonry and commerce, a four and one-half million dollar building supplying beautiful halls and parlors for Masonic rite, as well as an unequaled collection of business offices.”

The Masonic Temple was situated on the corner of Randolph and State Streets and measured three hundred and two feet high. The architects were Burnham & Root, with Burnham also being selected as the Columbian Exposition’s Director General of Works. The general dimensions were 175’ (front) by 113’ (depth). The building was eighteen stories high with fourteen elevators. The seventeenth and eighteenth floors being occupied by Masonic rooms, York Rite Drill rooms and Scottish Rite stages.

The main entrance was a granite arch that measured 45’ high by 38’ wide, larger than most proscenium arches for Scottish Rite theaters at the time.

A “Western Electrician” article reported, “Upon entering the building a visitor’s attention is attracted by a large sign composed of incandescent lamps in the form of a hand pointing upward and the words ‘Electric Scenic Theaters.’ From the tip of the forefinger of the hand a row of lights extends upward the entire height of the building to the garden. This is called a “chaser,” and the lamp globes are of different colors. By means of a switch light passes along the line, changing in hue as it ascends, until it reaches the glass roof of the building.” This switch, as well as many of the devices in the Masonic Temple theaters, was designed and built by C. D. Baker, the electrical engineer for Sosman & Landis. There is much more information about the technical aspects of the lighting system posted at Chicagology. Here is the link: https://chicagology.com/goldenage/goldenage026/

When the Columbia Exposition closed during the fall of 1893, Sosman & Landis began plans to convert the Masonic Temple roof into two electric scenic theatres. Articles noted that the new theatre went beyond the mere imitation of “A Day in the Alps” with “extended improvements and with more attention paid to detail.” The roof garden space atop the Masonic Temple was 302 feet from the ground, an incentive to draw any audience to see a show. It was Sosman & Landis of Chicago who designed and managed the venue.

Each electric scenic theater was designed with a seating capacity of 75. The first theatre replicated “A Day in the Alps” from the Columbian Exposition’s Midway Plaisance, presenting an alpine scene where a mountain stream formed a motion picture screen. Upon the river’s banks were houses and a nearby chapel. A mill in the foreground and bridge were included, allowing villagers to cross. High upon a snow-peaked mountain was a lovely castle. The production was also called “A Day in the Alps.” The show started with the midnight toll of the bell. The gloaming of dawn was followed by a brilliant. As on the midway, a thunderstorm approached, passing over the scene with vivid flashes of lightning and loud rolling thunder. Dusk soon appeared and the moon rose into the night sky until the clock struck midnight again. Twenty-four hours of in an alpine setting. Focusing lamps, rheostat boxes, switches, reflectors and other devices for the atmospheric effects were placed behind the scene.

To be continued…