Part 384 – Sosman & Landis – A Leading Firm in Their Line
Yesterday, I listed Sosman & Landis scenery installations that were delivered between June 1881 and July 1882. Only nine years earlier the same Macomb Journal reported, “our young friend Joe Sosman” was assisting the “eminent artist T. B. Harrison, of Chicago” (Macomb Weekly Journal, 17 April 1873). Harrison had worked as the scenic artist and produced the stock scenery for the Moore’s Opera House in Nevada, Missouri; Lamar Opera House in Lamar, Missouri; and the New Odeon Theatre in Maquoketa, Iowa (Harry Miner’s Theatre Directories 1884 and 1887).
In Macomb, Illinois, Sosman was Harrison’s assistant when they were painting scenery for the stage – “the focal point” of C. V. Chandler’s Opera House. Of Sosman, the Macomb Journal reported, “Joe has superior abilities, and our citizens will wake up some fine morning and find in him, that Macomb has a first class artist.”
Here is the Macomb Journal 1882 article titled, “SOSMAN & LANDIS – A Leading Firm in Their Line in Chicago – The Senior a Macomb-Raised and Educated Boy” (The Macomb Journal, 13 July 1882). Here is the article in its entirety:
“Nearly all the county readers of the Journal know “Joe” Sosman, and that he is in Chicago in the scenery-painting business, but few, if any, are aware of the prominence of the firm of which he is the senior partner. “The News Letter,” a paper devoted to the theatrical interest, in an article not long since, gave some account of the prominence and business of the firm, which article we append below. We know it will be perused with interest by hundreds of the “Journal” readers, who have a lively solicitude not only for Mr. Sosman, but for every McDonough county boy who goes out in this great world to carve his fortune, his head and hand being his only capital. Here is the article:
“One of the surest indications that Chicago is fast becoming one of the most important dramatic centers in America is the evidence before us, that in all matters pertaining to the theatrical profession Chicago has become, so to speak, a manufacturing center. Theatrical printing, etc., have long been staple industries, but of late years, matters which hitherto might have been considered as peculiarly belonging to the great metropolis of the East, have taken prosperous root in Chicago. Among the industries we refer to is that of fitting up opera houses and out of town theatres.
Some five years ago, Messrs. Sosman & Landis, a firm composed of a couple of enterprising young fellows established in this city what they termed a scenic studio. The beginning gave them a good deal of hard work, but in the period we have mentioned above, their business has grown from comparatively nothing to being one of the most important of its description in the United States. This all speaks volumes for Chicago as a theatrical center, and say what we may, there is no disavowing the fact that next to New York city, Chicago is without a question the most important locality in America in all matters pertaining to general amusement affairs.
Perhaps no better recommendation could be given to the firm we have referred to above than the information which is contained in their circulars to managers, and which tells the actual number of houses they have fitted-up since the first of June, 1881. We give the list as a matter of curiosity as much as anything else:
New Opera House, Rockford, Illinois
Academy of Music, Minneapolis, Minnesota
Grand Opera House, Richmond, Indiana
Hill’s Opera House, Ann Arbor, Michigan
Humblin’s Opera House, Battle Creek, Michigan
Union Opera House, Kalamazoo, Michigan
Russell’s Opera House, Bonham, Texas
Brownsville Opera House, Brownsville, Texas
My Theatre, Fort Worth, Texas
Leach’s Opera House, Somerville, Tennessee
Kahn’s Opera House Boliver, Tennesse
King’s Opera House, Jackson, Tennessee
Stummer’s Hall, Washington, Georgia
Vicksburg Opera House, Vicksburg, Mississippi
McWhinney’s Opera House, Greenville, Ohio
Yengling Opera House, Minerva, Ohio
City Hall, Athens, Ohio
Freeman’s Opera Hall, Geneseo, Illinois
Odd Fellows Hall, Peshtigo, Wisconsin
Hyde’s Opera House, Lancaster, Wisconsin
Klaus’ Opera House, Green Bay, Wisconsin
Storie’s Opera House, Menominee, Wisconsin
Holt’s Opera House, Anamosa, Iowa
King’s Opera House, Hazleton, Iowa
Opera House Nanticoke, Pennsylvania
Opera House Athens, Georgia
Opera House Gainsville, Texas
Opera House Reidsville, North Carolina
Edsell Opera House, Otsego, Michigan
New Opera House, Howell, Michigan
Stouch Opera House, Garnett, Kansas
Germania Hall, Blair, Nebraska
Bennett’s Opera House, Urbana, Ohio
Klaus’ Opera House, Jamestown, Dakota
Opera House, Westville, Indiana
City Hall, Mineral Point, Wisconsin
City Hall, Lewisburg, West Virginia
Opera House, Denison, Iowa
Opera House, Nevada, Ohio
Opera House, Hoopeston, Illinois
Opera Hous,e Cambridge, Illinois
Turner Hall, LaSalle, Illinois
Kolter’s Opera House, Wausau, Wisconsin
Opera House Moberlv, Missouri
Krotz’s Grand Opera House Defiance, Ohio
Opera House, Montague, Michigan
Opera House Eutaw, Alabama
Opera House, Greyville, Illinois
Opera House, Carthage, Illinois
Masonic Hall, Macomb, Illinois
New Hall, Good Hope Illinois
Music Hall, Eau Claire, Wisconsin
Temperance Hall, Seneca, Illinois
Opera House, Jefferson, Iowa
Opera House, Waupaca, Wisconsin
Soldiers’ Memorial Hall, Milwaukee, Wisconsin
Opera House, Mexia, Texas
Opera House, Wilson, North Carolina
Opera House, Newbern, North Carolina
Opera House, Goldsboro, North Carolina
Grand Opera House, Cheyenne, Wyoming
Cosmopolitan Theatre, Miles City, Montana Territory
Arbeiter Hall, Ludington, Michigan
Opera House, West Bay City, Michigan
Opera House, Detroit, Minnesota
Opera House, Lockport, Illinois
Opera House, Fort Atkinson, Wisconsin
Opera House, Grass Lake, Michigan
Opera House Demopolis, Alabama
Opera House, Unionville, Missouri
Opera House, Harrodsville, Kentucky
Opera House, Hancock, Michigan
City Hall, New London, Ohio
Opera House, Stevens’ Point, Wisconsin
A visit to the studio of Messrs. Sosman & Landis, in this city, reveals the fact that these gentlemen at this time give employment to five of the best scenic artists in the United States, and that their facilities for turning out first-class work with promptitude and at reasonable figures is unequaled by any establishment in America. At this very moment these gentlemen are actively employed in fitting-up the interior of one or two of the best theatres in the West, and their large corps of artists and stage carpenters are constantly kept busily at work.
We take some little pride in the success of these gentlemen. It has always been, and still is, our ambition to see Chicago ahead in all matters pertaining to western dramatic affairs, and the unusual success which has attended the venture of Messrs. Sosman & Landis is a feather in the cap of our wishes.
It is true that much of the success attended these gentlemen has been due to the fact that they have proved entirely reliable in all their transactions, and that their work has always been of the very best. They take contracts to fit up the entire stage of any new house in course of erection, and we venture to say from undoubted information that no contract that they have ever undertaken has proved aught but most highly satisfactory. With their success the success of Chicago as a dramatic center is blended, and we are more than glad to see that to-day, in nearly every opera house in the West which is under erection, the contract for fitting up the stage has been let to Sosman & Landis.”
From 1880 to 1889, Sosman & Landis outfitted 1000 thousand theatres. By 1889, the company employed twenty-five individuals. By 1894, the company’s brochures advertised that 4000 places of amusement were using scenery made by their firm. This scenic studio was shaping the industry and they were painting with solid colors as in the Central European approach.
In 1880, Thomas G. Moses wrote that he and Sosman traveled a great deal in the beginning and Landis was always away, traveling to secure orders; Sosman and his crew painted what Landis sold. It would take six months before Moses even meet Landis after being hired as he was constantly traveling across the country to drum up work. Interestingly, Thomas G. Moses left the Sosman & Landis studio for the first time during May 1882, just a few months before this article was published. He left the firm to partner with Lemuel L. Graham. Graham would later found Kansas City Scenic.
To be continued…
