Part 478: Thomas G. Moses and “The Red Café” and “Mazeppa”
In 1903 Moses & Hamilton produced the scenery for “The Red Café” and “Mazeppa.” Little is known of the specific shows with which they were associated, but they are worth mention as they are just two examples of over two-dozen projects that they worked on during that season The plots of each featured the trials and tribulations of foreign characters; one set in Russia and one set in Poland.
“The Red Café” was advertised as a melodramatic spectacle in five acts. The play was an adaptation of Matthew Brennan’s novel “Zetka,” telling the story of a soldier to the Czar and his efforts to marry the woman he loves. “The Boston Globe” reported, “The play, telling the story of Russian life, has many thrilling scenes which keep the audience at a high pitch. The scene in the czar’s palace at St. Petersburg, where the sentence of exile to Siberia is read, is excellently staged and very interesting. The uprising of the serfs and the quelling mob with the arrival of the czar in the second act is another highly picturesque scene” (The Boston Globe 29 Sept 1903, page 8). Little else is known of this production other than that it traveled with two carloads of special scenery and effects produced by Moses & Hamilton.
The same year, Moses & Hamilton produced scenery for another foreign story – “Mazeppa.” The well-known tale had been performed for decades by 1903 and is often cited the first equestrian dramatic spectacle. “Mazeppa; or, the Wild Horse of Tartary,” was a play adapted from Byron’s 1819 poem. It is based on a popular legend about the early life of Ivan Mazepa (1639–1709), who later became Hetman (military leader) of Ukraine. In the poem Mazeppa has an affair with a young Polish Countess while serving as a page at the Court of King John II Casimir Vasa. The count punishes Mazeppa by tying him naked to a horse and letting the horse run wild. Much of the poem described the traumatic ride of the young man strapped to the horse.
“Mazeppa” was first adapted for the stage by H. H. Milner and performed at Astley’s during 1831. It remained a popular show for the next thirty years, but in 1863 Adah Isaacs Mencken (1835-1868) became the first woman to portray the Tartar Prince. Menken caused a sensation when she wore a nude-colored outfit on stage; it created the illusion of nudity as she rode the horse. In previous productions performers used a “dummy steed,” but Menken allowed herself to be bound to a real horse for the thrilling ride.
The production that Moses & Hamilton likely created settings for was the 1903 tableaux version. “The Philadelphia Inquirer” reported, “the Mazeppa Tableaux is being exhibited at one of the popular theaters,” after a local reader inquired about the history of Ivan Mazeppa (7 Oct. 1903, page 8). I have not been able to locate any information pertained to the painted settings for the tableaux.
When I think to the process to design and paint scenes for dozens of productions over the course of one year, my mind whirls a bot. Many of the settings that I have located depict elaborate compositions, such as a Russian Czar’s palace or the palatial home of a Polish Count. Moses & Hamilton were creating complex painted compositions that also needed to travel; it was a daunting task to be sure.
To be continued…
