Part 562: Thomas G. Moses and “The Reward” by Otis Colburn, 1906
Here is one project that Thomas G. Moses did not record in his memoirs during 1906. He designed and painted scenery for a new play called “The Reward,” written by Otis Colburn and produced by Mr. and Mrs. Arling Alcine. This is an example of the projects completed after hours at Sosman & Landis. One of the ways that the studio retained Moses was by offering him supplies and a space for freelance projects. As I have previously mentioned, this was a fine line to walk as you gave valued staff members freedom and the opportunity for additional income, but you didn’t want to foster a competitive firm that would late steal business. In 1906, work was plentiful and the competition jovial, without the cut throat dealings that began to emerge in the 1902s.
There was an article about the “The Reward” and Moses’ scenic contributions, published in the “Inter Ocean” during July 1906. Here is the article in its entirety:
“Colburn Breaks In.
A new American play in one act entitled “The Reward,” by Otis Colburn, a Chicago newspaper man, was produced in the Coliseum theater last week as a curtain raiser. The playet gives a glimpse of life in Colorado. The scene is in a cabin in the Rocky Mountains. An Eastern man, dying of consumption, his patient young wife, and a hearty young man driven in by a storm are the characters, and a secret concerning all three comes out. Leon McReynolds played the sick man with realism, dying across a couch with a newspaper clutched across his face. His wife tears the paper away, revealing the dead face with a little blood oozing form the corner of his mouth. Arling Alcine played the visitor in a manly, hearty manner, and Grace Hamilton brought out the sweetness and devotion of the wife. The little play was staged with a cabin interior prepared and painted especially for the production by Thomas Moses” (Chicago, 1 July 1906, page 27).
In regard to his newspaper career, in 1887, Otis Colburn was reported to be the editor of the South Minneapolis News. He was credited with giving a theatre party at the People’s Theatre for thirty of his closest friends. (The Saint Paul Globe, 16 Dec. 1887, page 3). In 1896, Colburn was part of the Milwaukee Press Club (The Buffalo Enquirer, 23 June 1896, page 1. That year, he was also associated with the daily paper, the Evening Penny Press, of Minneapolis, Minnesota (Julius Cahn’s Official Theatrical Guide 1896-1897). By 1911, Colburn was the correspondent for the Dramatic Mirror (Salina Daily Union, 15 Nov 1911, page 1).
As a playwright and poet, in 1890, Coburn published an entertaining soliloquy in “The Theatre” magazine (24 Jan. 1890, Vol. 7, No. 14,page 242). Here it is, enjoy:
“The Tragedian’s Soliloquy
He sits wit his face in his hands
And, close to him, wan Care,
With squalid shawl and hair;
Both basking in the Square.
He waiting for the wage which pride demands
He oft had trod the stage.
He knows each mighty mood
Of man, and shows with shrewd.
Keen revesimilitude
The grander passions, particularly rage.
Soft, he
Mutters mournfully’
“Once had I a diamond rare.
Perfect as Juno’s brow.
Beautiful as maiden’s tears!
Tell me, where is it now?
But stay, I do not care.
Bauble! Bauble!
“Once had I a gold-head staff,
Carved, the gold head bore
Words of fame inscribed with love;
These words I have no more.
The tinsel present’s baser half;
Stick and bauble!”
Otis Colburn
To be continued…
