Part 386: For the times they are a-changin’
“Come gather ’round people
wherever you roam,
and admit that the waters
around you have grown,
and accept it that soon
you’ll be drenched to the bone.
If your time to you is worth savin’
then you better start swimmin’
or you’ll sink like a stone.
For the times they are a-changin’.”
Yesterday I quoted an author who used the term “patent medicine scenery.” He was referring to the painted product produced by scenic studios such as Sosman & Landis. The author went on to describe that studio drops were “produced almost entirely by mechanical means,” meaning a very specific formulaic approach to color application. During the late-nineteenth century, Chicago was a major manufacturing center for theatrical goods and Sosman & Landis Studio dominated the market. Their work was received with rave reviews and their marketing techniques remained unequalled. Soman & Landis represented the American school of scenic art that employed solid colors in an opaque manner. Their painted compositions were worked up from dark to light. At this time in America, there was a rivalry between two schools of scenic art. Scenic artists working along the eastern seaboard had a tendency to employ the English technique of glazing. Midwestern artists used a much more opaque application of colors.
Thomas G. Moses gives us some insight into the rapid growth of Sosman & Landis and their techniques to quickly turn out scenery installations, describing that when he started with the company in 1880 he was always on the road. He and Sosman traveled a great deal in the beginning, rapidly filling orders immediately after Landis secured the work. It would take six months before Moses even meet Landis, as the company salesman was constantly crossing the country to drum up work. They had a great marketing formula – a salesman on the road with a crew who followed and completed the orders. Work was nonstop for the company.
At first, Moses was employed for a weekly rate of $18, knowing that he could make between $35.00 to $45.00 per week at other theaters. This situation directly contributed to the overall growth and success of Sosman & Landis; it meant that they were hiring an employee at half any competitor’s rate and maintaining a higher profit margin that would allow the company to remain solvent. This also enabled the studio to keep Landis on the road, securing even more work. Of their painting, Moses wrote, “My work might not have been as artistic as some I saw in the theatres, but it pleased the people who paid for it.” He was referring to the rapid painting technique employed by the Sosman & Landis studio and the application solid colors? Keep in mind that the “slapdash” technique mentioned in regard to the Sosman & Landis studio was still very effective from a distance, and that was all anyone really needed to make a sale.
The times were certainly changing for theatre manufacturers and supply companies during the second half of the nineteenth century. Product needed to be quickly produced and reach the appropriate venue. As W. J. Lawrence wrote in 1889 “it is not unusual for these firms to receive an order by telegraph in the morning for a scene…which will be completed dried, and sent on its way to the purchaser before nightfall” (The Theatre, July 13, 1889, page 371-374). This was a time when the Midwestern region of the United States was experiencing a period of unprecedented growth. The scenic artists and their solid colors were currently winning, but their success would not last.
“Come writers and critics
who prophesize with your pen,
and keep your eyes wide
the chance won’t come again.
And don’t speak too soon
for the wheel’s still in spin,
and there’s no tellin’ who
that it’s namin’.
For the loser now
will be later to win
for the times they are a-changin’. ”
To be continued…
