Making My Way to Salina, Kansas, on June 29
As I planned our return trip from Santa Fe, I wanted to visit the Scottish Rite theater in Salina, Kansas, to meet the new steward of the Masonic Center –Mary Landes, the founder of Salina Innovation Foundation. The organization intends to keep the Masonic Center ownership local, for use by the community to foster arts, education, culinary, and business in Salina.\
In 2010, I had the pleasure of evaluating the Salina scenery for the Salina Scottish Rite on one of my many trips to McAlester, Oklahoma, where I was restoring the Scottish Rite scenery there.
I wanted to see the scenery collection that was originally created for the McAlester Scottish Rite’s stage before their current 1929 home. The McAlester scenery was resold to Salina for their 1927 building. In 1922 the Salina Masons began planning a new Masonic complex that would be completed five years later.
McAlester sold the 1908 scenery to Salina when their third stage was constructed in 1929. Thomas G. Moses also listed both the 1908 and 1929 McAlester scenery in his resume as two of the installations under his supervision. In 1928, Moses created new designs and started painting the scenery for the 1929 McAlester Scottish Rite stage. An earlier scenery collection for McAlester was sold to the Santa Fe Scottish Rite in 1908 when the second Scottish Rite stage in McAlester was completed.
The 1908 McAlester stage replaced an earlier Masonic stage in a building called “The Tabernacle.” I photographed images of the Tabernacle stage scenery while restoring ye collection in McAlester. The Scottish Rite had several original photographs of the 1904 stage and scenery in a display case. At the time, I documented these precious photographs, as their placement in glass display cases subject to direct sunlight were taking their toll. Amazingly, I found the link between Santa Fe and McAlester while doing research for the Santa Fe Scottish Rite book. Here is a little historical context to explain the relationship between the Scottish Rite scenery collections in Santa Fe, New Mexico; McAlester, Oklahoma; and Salina, Kansas.
The Sovereign Grand Inspector General for Oklahoma until 1908 was Harper S. Cunningham. He had started out as Deputy for the Supreme Council of the Southern Jurisdiction in Indian Territory. In 1908, he transferred to Santa Fe, New Mexico. While advising on the planning and construction for the new 1912 Santa Fe Scottish Rite building, he encouraged the Santa Fe Scottish Rite to purchase the used scenery from McAlester. His reasoning was so that the members could practice the theatrical staging of degree productions during the construction phase of their 1912 theater. This is the same theater featured in “The Santa Fe Scottish Rite Temple: Freemasonry, Architecture and Theatre” (Museum of New Mexico Press, 2018).
In Moses’ scrapbook, he pasted a newspaper clipping about the used McAlester Scottish Rite scenery collection that was purchased by the Salina Scottish Rite in 1927. The article reported, ”The one hundred and seventeen drops of scenery that has been in use on the old stage for twenty-five years, has been sold to the Scottish Rite Bodies of Salina, Kansas, and it has been shipped to them. There was nearly a carload of it. Brother John T. Leibrand, 33°, Wise Master of South McAlester Chapter of Rose Croix, negotiated the sale to the Salina brethren who came to McAlester to inspect it. The scenery was painted by Brother Tom Moses under the direction of that great Scottish Rite Mason and student Bestor G. Brown, and was said to be the finest in the Southern Jurisdiction at the time. Brother Tom Moses is painting the scenery for our new stage settings. He is also building stage properties, and all will be the last thing in that line. The brother that does not see this great stage and these wonderful properties at our Fall Reunion will miss something. The Salina brethren are negotiating with Brother John G. Redpath, who had charge of the old stage for years, to superintend the hanging of the drops in their temple.” This used scenery collection was clearly marked with standard Sosman & Landis labeling in charcoal on both the stage right and stage left sides. The charcoal notations denote the degree; the size of 18 feet high by 36 feet wide; and the original venue as “So. McAlester.”
Before Salina purchased the 1908 collection from McAlester, they contracted Sosman & Landis to produced their original 1901 scenery. This installation was also listed on Moses’ resumé, but not recorded in his typed manuscript. I am hesitant to believe that Moses painted the 1901 Salina scenery, as he was quite busy with other projects and had left Sosman & Landis by 1901 to partner with Will Hamiton, forming Moses & Hamilton (1901-1904). The Moses & Hamilton studio offices and paint frames were all located in New York City. My research suggests that the original 1901 Salina Scottish Rite scenery was primarily painted by David Austin Strong, the Sosman & Landis artist who Moses referred to as the “Daddy of Masonic Design.” Strong was one of the original artists hired by Sosman when the studio opened and worked closely with Moses in the early years. Strong was also a Scottish Rite Mason in Chicago’s Oriental Consistory. In the context of theatre history, Strong was one of the original scenic artists for “The Black Crook” at Niblo’s Garden in 1866. Strong’s painting is still visible in scenery currently used at Scottish Rite theaters in Austin, Texas; Yankton, South Dakota; Pasadena, California; and Cheyenne, Wyoming.
But the current Scottish Rite scenery in Salina, Kansas, has another story connected to the venue; one that I discovered during the 2010 evaluation. On November 13th 1923, the Secretary of the Salina Scottish Rite received a letter from the executive offices of the Sosman & Landis Company, with a stamp noting that their new offices were now located at 6751 Sheridan Road. The letterhead also contained the address of their previous office location at 417 South Clinton Street in Chicago. In 1923, a new scenic studio was leasing the old Sosman & Landis space at 417-419 Clinton Street; the company was Chicago Studios.
In retaliation for Chicago Studios pretending to be Sosman & Landis, Perry Landis contacted many of the Scottish Rite venues 1923. The Sosman & Landis letter said,
“Dear Sir:
It has recently come to our attention that a certain studio is advising our old customers that they have bought the Sosman & Landis Company and are now operating some, combining it with their original company. We wish to assure you that this is not fact and that our original organization is intact, but our studio has been moved to new and better quarters. Mr. Thomas G. Moses, our Art Director would like the opportunity of meeting with your scenery committee to submit our designs and specifications covering your requirements. You will perhaps recall that we were favored with your original scenery order, working through the M. C. Lilley Co., and therefore, it is not necessary for us to give you any reference as to our ability and quality of our workmanship.” They were referring to the scenery created for Salina’s first Scottish Rite stage and before the purchase of the used 1908 scenery from McAlester, Oklahoma.
To be continued…
