Month: November 2018

Part 570: Cleopatra at Kansas City’s Electric Park

In 1907, Thomas G. Moses wrote that he did one project “outside in the Electric Park.” He noted that it was a small Cleopatra production.

The Electric Park that Moses worked at was the second amusement park constructed by Joseph, Michael, and Ferdinand Jr. Heim, of Heim Brothers Brewery. It opened to the public May 19, 1907, and remained in operation until 1925 when it burned to the ground. The first Electric Park in Kansas City constructed by the Heim Brothers was built next to the Heim Brewery in 1899. At the time, Heim Brothers Brewery was the largest brewery in the world.

The first Electric Park was open from 1899-1906. When the first park closed, some of the attractions were moved to the second Electric Park. Both parks were known for their illuminated buildings and considered trolley parks.

Known as Kansas City’s Coney Island, the second Electric Park was served by the Troost Avenue, Woodland Avenue, and Rockhill lines of the Metropolitan Street Railway Company. The park featured band concerts, vaudeville theatre, a natatorium (outdoor swimming area), boat tours, soda fountains and ice cream shops. A variety of attractions included, an electric fountain, a ballroom, a German Village, and alligator farm, boat tours, and old mill ride, a scenic railway, a shooting gallery, ice cream shops, an air gun gallery, Chutes, Dips Coaster, Norton Slid, Hale’s Tour of the World, a Temple of Mirth, Flying Lady, Double Whirl, a carousel, pool room, penny parlors, Casino 5 Cent Theatre, fortune telling, palmistry, a covered promenade and horseless buggy garage.

In 1911, one million people visited Electric park, averaging 8000 visitors a day during the season. It was the second Electric Park, however, that would prove inspirational to Walt Disney when he designed Disneyland.

When the park burned to the ground in 1925, a young Walter Cronkite witnessed the event. In his 1996 memoirs, “A Reporter’s Life” he wrote, “Our hill overlooked, a half dozen blocks away, Electric Park…One night after closing it burned in a spectacular fire. The Ferris wheel seemed to turn as the flames climbed up its sides. The grease caught fire on the two parallel tracks of the Greyhound Racer roller coaster, and twin blazes raced up and down with the speed of the cars that once toured the Disorderly conduct tumultuous circuit…”

To be continued…

Part 569: Thomas G. Moses and “Lucky Jim”

In 1907, Thomas G. Moses wrote, “I made a big mountain set for Charles Forrester for “Lucky Jim.” It was a very effective set. Stage settings produced by Moses for the production included “a picturesque mountain scenery with Jim’s lovely cabin on the side of a ravine” (The Winnipeg Tribune, 3 1907, page 7). The description reminded my of the Hermitage composition that he painted for Masonic degree work produced at Sosman & Landis. I have attached some images of this York Rite setting.

“Lucky Jim” was a tabloid melodrama in two acts. Set in the Sierra Nevadas, Charles Forrester played the lead role of Jim Hamilton. Hamilton was featured in the production with his wife, Jane Courthope.

Of “Lucky Jim,” the “Winnipeg Tribune” described the show: “The locale is in the Sierra Nevadas and the opening scene shows Jim Hamilton and his dog Christmas Eve seated in his mountain cabin. Hamilton is about to put an end to his own and his dog’s existence, when a young boy comes in, starving and nearly frozen to death. Hamilton feeds the boy and in attempting to put him to bed, a neat line of comedy occurs. Finally the youngster tells of brutal treatment he received in a former camp, and they enter into a partnership to search for gold during the ensuing year.

“The second scene, a year later, shows a path leading to Jim’s camp, where Alice Staffard appears, telling a tale of her former marriage, of her husband stealing the child and leaving for parts unknown. Arriving at Hamilton’s camp, she discovers her boy, and during the talk between mother and son, Jim appears and in Jim she discovered an old lover whom she jilted years before. Old love is rekindled and a pretty comedy finish is made. Fifty pieces of special scenery are used in this act, and the electrical effects are said to be perfect” (30 Nov. 1907, page 14)

The “Morning Oregonian” reported, “The scenic effects are particularly worthy of mention” (15 Sept. 1908, page 9). Until 1900, it was common for the production reviews to list an artist by name, or even a specific studio. About 1905, there is a distinct shift where the scenery might receive mention in the newspaper, but detailed descriptions and the artists who created the scenery begin to diminish. As with “Lucky Jim,” the scenery is mentioned, but not Thomas G. Moses or Sosman & Landis. My stance is that this is point in time where the perception of scenery begins to be identified as simply “backings.” Of course there are exceptions, but there is a notable shift in public perception of stage scenery. The appreciation for scenic illusion and the reverence the public held for the scenic artist starts to fade; scenic artists begin their gradual disappearance behind the scenes.

To be continued…

Part 568: Chicago Industrial Exhibit at Brook’s Casino, 1907

In 1907, Thomas G. Moses recorded that one of his projects was “Brook’s Casino Exhibit of the sanitary and unsanitary workrooms in Chicago,” noting that it was “ some stunt.” He wrote, “I had to go among some awful places to get some sketches for the work and not far from the studio.” He was talking about the Chicago Industrial Exhibit held at Brooke’s Casino from March 11-17 in 1907.

In 1905, the Chicago Woman’s Club held a conference on Women in Modern Industry. Two years later they sponsored the Chicago Industrial Exhibit. This event was held to depict current industrial conditions, representing the labor that fed and clothed the “modern” world. There were many displays that contrasted sanitary shops with insanitary shops and unacceptable conditions. Moses helped create displays that revealed the hard and material side of life that occurred in factories and workshops. One of the objects of the overall exhibit was to influence legislation to investigate of the conditions of working women and children at the time.

There were “Process Exhibits in Modern Industry” that showed groups of young men and girls working in their trades, depicting shop conditions, the hours of work, how workers are paid by the piece and not the hour, the speed, the skill and the overall youth. There were booths that depicted, “A Night Scene in a Glass Factory in Pennsylvania,” “The Coal-breakers,” “Boy miners three miles from daylight,” “Stogie-making in Pittsburg,” “Rag-stripping,” “The Custom Tailor Shop,” and “Cash Girls and Delivery Boys.” Other areas depicted boot and shoe making, glove making, printing/bookbinding, candy wrapping, bakeshops, woodworking factories, laundry facilities, and much more.

There was a handbook that accompanied the Chicago Industrial Exhibit including many photographs of the displays. Here is the link: https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=wu.89058507294;view=1up;seq=9 It is a very insightful publication that depicted the “sweated industries” of the time, women in industry, protected machinery and occupational diseases.

During the conference, presentations discussions “The Child in Industry,” “Risks in Industry,” “The Power of the Consumer Over Industrial Conditions,” “The Immigrant in Industry,” “Women’s Fitness For Industrial Life,” “Women in Industry – Special Problems,” “Industrial Education,” “Women in Industry – Remedies,” and “Demonstrations in the Evolution of Textile Processes.”

In the “Sweated Industries” area a group of typical Chicago tenement houses were constructed so that the contents of several rooms were clearly seen from without. The purpose of the exhibit was to promote remedial legislation covering sweating in food and clothes products, and to improve conditions tending to lower the health and morals of the workers in the sweated trades, by attracting the attention of the public to the conditions as they existed.

There was also an exhibit of an “Insanitary Tenement Sweatshop- old-fashioned foot-power shop.” The handbook noted, “In a room such as this a child with scarlet fever was recently found sleeping in a pile of sweatshop clothing. Several members of the family were finishing pants in this room when discovered. In this particular case the place was closed by a Factory Inspector, and the clothing disinfected by the Health Department. How largely the recent epidemic of scarlet fever in Chicago was due to the fact that the clothing is manufactured in tenement houses under such conditions as these is a matter of conjecture. This shop is shown in opposition to the sanitary clothing shop with mechanical power.”

In this brochure there were some interesting statistics that provides a little peak into the history of working women:

-Of married women, 5.6% were gainfully employed

-Of gainfully employed women, 14.5% were married.

-There was a noted lack of occupation opportunity for women. In 1840, there were 140 employments open to women. By 1907, women were employed in 295 occupations, but over 86% were found in only 18 of these occupations.

The handbook stated, “Men seem to be crowding women out.”

 

Similarly, we remember why child labor laws were instituted. In 1907, the National Child Labor Committee called attention to the fact that there were no less than 450,000 children under 16 years of age at work in manufacturing and mechanical pursuits in the United States. This number did not include the thousands of children under ten years of age who sold newspapers and merchandise in the streets, nor the children classed as agricultural workers. The handbook included the statement, “The vast army of children, deprived of educational opportunities, stunted in growth, subjected too often to immoral influences, is a constantly increasing menace to our civilization.” In the history of the United States, that is really not that long ago.

 

To be continued…

Part 567: Thomas G. Moses and the McAlester Masonic Job, 1907

In 1907, Thomas G. Moses wrote, “South McAlister Oklahoma was a good Masonic job.” He was referring to the second scenery installation delivered to the Scottish Rite in McAlester, Oklahoma by Sosman & Landis. Moses was also involved with the delivery of the first and third installation to the McAlester Scottish Rite. For me, everything gets exciting at this point in Moses’ diary as many of the Scottish Rite installations that he worked on are still hanging in theaters across the country.

The used McAlester Scottish Rite scenery collection from 1907 is now used in Salina, Kansas. The drops are clearly marked with the original delivery location of “So. McAlister,” or sometimes, “McAllister;” the same misspelling that Moses used in his diary.  Other charcoal notations on the scenery note the original size of 18 feet high by 36 feet wide.

Here is the story of the three scenery installations for McAlester – 1901, 1907 and 1929. In 1901, Sosman & Landis delivered the first scenery installation to “South McAllister.” By 1907, there was the construction of a second theater that necessitated the purchase of a new scenery collection for McAlester, Oklahoma. As with many first-generation Scottish Rite scenery collections, it was returned to the studio for credit on a new purchase to be refurbished and sold to another venue.

The first 1901 collection was sold to the Scottish Rite in Santa Fe, New Mexico during the planning phase for their 1912 building. The purchase of the used scenery was requested by the SGIG (Sovereign Grand Inspector General) of New Mexico, Harper S. Cunningham. Cunningham was previously the SGIG to Oklahoma and instrumental in integrating theatrical productions as part of Scottish Rite degree work. He was known as the “Temple Builder.” When Cunningham requested that the Santa Fe Scottish Rite Bodies purchase the used McAlester scenery collection, he intended that the purchase old McAlester scenes would prepare the members for their new theatre; they would understand the logistics of theatrically staging degree productions.

At the time of the used scenery purchase, the Santa Fe Scottish Rite Masons met in a standard lodge room – the Masonic Hall on Water Street near the center of town. Like many Masonic meeting rooms, it was located in an upper-level space and was rectangular in format. In 1908, the hall was renovated to include a small stage for the McAlester, Scottish Rite scenery – this was also common practice at the time.

I made this discovery while doing research for the book “The Santa Fe Scottish Rite Temple: Freemasonry, Architecture and Theatre” (Museum of New Mexico Press, 2018). I recognized the drop curtain in a few historic photographs that were being used in another chapter. The drop matched images that I took of a historic McAlester Scottish Rite photograph. I compared the two sets of historic photographs and realized that they matched! The first-generation scenery is no longer in existence, with the exception of a possible grand drape piece that was rolled up and stored in wardrobe.

As with McAlester, both the first-generation and second-generation scenery collections for the Santa Fe Scottish Rite were produced by Sosman & Landis, a subcontracted project from M. C. Lilley & Co. Bestor G. Brown, western sales manager for M. C. Lilley, would contract all of the theatre work for a Scottish Rite theater and then subcontract portions of it, such as the scenery to Sosman & Landis and the lighting to Frank Adam electric.

When the third McAlester Scottish Rite stage was planned, their second scenery collection was sold to the Scottish Rite in Salina, Kansas, for their new building during 1927.

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.”

To be continued…

Part 566: Nicholas J. Pausback

In 1907, Thomas G. Moses split his time between Sosman & Landis’ 20^th Street studio and the main studio He wrote, “Did a great many scenes and drop curtains and we kept a good force at 20^th Street. I depended a great deal on Pausback to look after the work while I was away. Everyone seemed to work hard.”

Moses was referring to the scenic artist Nicholas John Pausback Jr. (5 May 1881-13 May 1953), His obituary referred credited him as a “scenic artist de luxe”(Chicago Tribune 14 May 1953, page 36).

Pausback stayed in the theatrical scenery business for 45 years, not retiring until 1947. He became the founder of Pausback studios, a company that lasted for exactly twenty years, from 1927-1947.

Prior to his work for Sosman & Landis in Chicago, Pausback worked in St. Louis, Missouri. Records show that his two eldest children were born there during 1905 and 1906. By 1907, Pausback is working with Moses in Chicago. In 1908, Pausback is noted as a shop manager at Sosman & Landis, taking charge of their 20^th Street studio studio by 1911. In 1916, Pausback installed New York shows with Harry Nailer, stage carpenter. Pausback founded Pausback Scenery Co. Living at 6606 Woodlawn Ave., in Chicago Illinois during the late 1920s His scenery company was located at 3727 Cottage Grove Ave., Chicago (Chicago Tribune 2 Dec. 1928, page 2).

In 1928, Pausback also wrote a book on Stage Craft (Dec. 17, 1928). Trying to track down a copy now! The following year, Pausback Scenery Co was credited with a modern idea to meet the requirements of gigantic Christmas trees – spangles in various shapes and sizes, some that measured 10 inches in diameter! (Chicago Tribune 9 Dec. 1929, page 3).

His company pops up again in several internet searched during the 1930s. In 1934, the management of the Century of Progress world fair in Chicago thanked Pausback Scenery Co. for providing properties for Wings of a Century. I have included the entire program as it is quite interesting in itself. Toward the end of his career, Pausback was also working with Art W. Oberbeck (Blue Island Sun Standard Archives, 15 June 1944, Page 6). Oberbeck and Pausback has worked at Sosman & Landis during the same time. Oberbeck started as a paint boy at the studio in 1904.

Pausback was also an amateur magician. As a member of the International Brotherhood of Magicians and the American Society of Magicians, he was known as “Nicodemus, the Magician” (Chicago Tribune 14 May 1953, page 36).

Pausback passed away in 1953 and was buried in St. Mary Catholic Cemetery. He was survived by his wife Ottlia Groebl Pausback; daughters Elvira Pausback Howard, Mrs. Mary Crescentia Pausback Welsh and Mrs. Therese Pausback Curtis; sons the Very Reverend Nicholas Albert Pausback/Father Gabriel of the Carmelite Order, Raymond Joseph and Lawrence; and nine grandchildren.

 

By 1959 there would be advertisements for ACME CARSEN PAUSBACK scenic studios (“Back Matter.” Educational Theatre Journal 11, no. 1 (1959): I-Xxxviii. http://www.jstor.org/stable/3204606.). The three names caught my attention. In regard to ACME studio, several disgruntled Sosman & Landis employees for Service Studios in 1920. Service Studios soon became ACME studios in Chicago. I have an ACMR studios sales book and they simply replicated existing Sosman & Landis Scottish Rite designs.

The Carsen of Acme Carsen Pausback Studio was Robert W. Carsen. He a scenic artist and stage mechanic, working as over hire at J. C. Becker & Bros. Carsen also ran his own studio, Robt. W. Carsen, advertising as “constructors and painters of theatrical scenery.” His studios were located at 1507 North Clark Street, and he was hired to build some Masonic scenery for the Moline Scottish Rite during 1930.

By the 1950s, Acme Carsen Pausback, were delivering stage curtains for Chicago area schools, including an elementary school in district 7 of Chicago.

To be continued…

Part 565: 1907 Sketching Trip to Kitzmiller

After visiting the Jamestown Exposition in 1907, Thomas G. Moses wrote, “We finished the trip by going to West Virginia on a sketching trip.” His first sketching trip to West Virginia was in 1885 with fellow scenic artists Henry C. Tryon and John H. Young. The three men had drifted from place to place, capturing picturesque scenes of the region. Finding lodging for three itinerant artists was far easier than a middle-aged married couple.

In 1907, Tom and Ella encountered a problem securing lodging in the area. Moses wrote that they visited “first Schell, no hotel, then to Blaire, W. Virginia, no hotel, then Kitzmillerville, Md. Across the river from Blaine, no hotel. Only a coal miner’s boarding house. Finally got the landlady to keep us overnight. Some come-down after our fine hotel at Norfolk.”

The river that Moses referred to is the North Branch of the Potomac River. Located on the wide and winding river was the Kitzmillerville. In 1907, the town derived its economic livelihood from the mining and transport of coal; it was the single most important industry in the town for 75 years. The town now has a Coal Mining Museum, celebrating its heritage and a designated historic district. The historic district is composed of approximately 175 buildings within the town of Kitzmillerville, a coal and lumber town. The town is now known as Kitzmiller.

The area supported a variety of industries. In 1853 Ebeneezer Kitzmiller established a woolen mill and shirt factory. The first trains of the West Virginia Central and Pittsburg Railroad arrived in the early 1880s, ushering in a new era of cutting and shipping lumber. By the late 1890s, coal companies made an appearance in the area. Among these were the Blaine Coal Co., the Garrett County Coal Co., the Potomac Valley Coal Co. and the Hamill Coal and Coke Company. Unlike may mining towns, Kitzmillerville was not a company town, the majority of houses owned by residents instead of coal or railway companies. The town prospered during the early twentieth century, reaching a peak population of 1500 during the late 1920s and supporting a range of business and entertainment, including an opera house. A series of unfortunate events contributed to Kitzmillerville’s decline, including repeated floods, the first significant one in 1924. In terms of economic devastation, strikes, the Depression, and a decrease in coal demand added to the shrinking of the town. Today, many of Kitzmillerville’s homes stand empty. The bustling town once visited by Tom and Ella Moses has been reduced to a population of 321. There are now only 126 households at the time.

Across the river form Kitzmillerville is the small settlement of Blaine. Blaine remains a small unincorporated community in Mineral County, West Virginia. It is located near the intersection of West Virginia Route 42 and the North Branch of the Potomac River. Like Kitzmillerville, the community was named after businessman, James G. Blaine. Kitzmillerville.

Of their stay in the area during 1907, Moses wrote, “Got some good sketches and had a fine time. We remained at the boarding house. I have written this trip in detail.” Unfortunately, I have not located Moses’ travelogues about any of his sketching trips beyond what was published in the Palette & Chisel Club newsletter.

To be continued…

Part 564: Thomas G. Moses at the Jamestown Exposition, 1907

1907 was a busy year for Thomas G. Moses at Sosman & Landis studio. However, he managed to get away for short trip with his wife Ella. They traveled east to visit the word fair in Norfolk and stayed for a few while so that Moses to do some sketching in West Virginia. Their travels included New York, Trenton, Philadelphia, Washington and Norfolk. They visited the Jamestown Exposition on September 27; it ran from April 26 to November 30 that year.

The Jamestown Exposition commemorated the 300th anniversary of the founding of Jamestown in the Virginia Colony on May 13, 1607.  It was held at Sewell’s Point on Hampton Roads in Norfolk, Virginia, and celebrated the first permanent English settlement in America. The 367-acre site featured a port that hosted the rendezvous of more than 50 warships from around the world. Fourteen Nations were represented at the International Military & Naval Celebration. Sixteen warships from President Theodore Roosevelt’s newly modernized fleet were also in the harbor. On June 28, 1917, President Woodrow Wilson bought 474 acres for the base, including 367 acres of the exposition grounds. The site of the Jamestown exposition became part of the Hampton Roads Navy Base after World War I.

Final attendance numbers were recorded as 2,758,692 for total attendance, with 1,401,409 paying for entry. Admission prices were fifty cents for adults and twenty-five cents for children. Newspapers reported that actual attendance numbers did not meet anticipated projections. There were both logistical and financial problems, as with many world fairs in America; the fair did not generate the expected revenue and a government loan was required to finish the preparations. Toward the end, there was a bustle of activity, and as the opening deadline approached construction materials became scarce. This necessitated the erection of a sawmill on site. Unlike previous world fair delays where the opening was pushed back a few days, the arrival of the ships in the harbor meant there was no option for any postponement.

On the fairgrounds there was an amusement area was known as the “Warpath,” with the tag line “Meet us on the warpath!” Attractions included a wild west show, cycloramas of Gettysburg and Manassas, the “Temple of Mirth,” the “Beautiful Orient,” “Streets of Cairo,” Ferrari’s Wild Animal Show, “Destruction of San Francisco,” Baby Incubator, Deep Sea Diving, the “Klondike Gold Mine,” Princess Trixie and Paul Revere’s Ride, the Old Mill, “Fair Japan,” Colonial Virginia, the Ostrich Farm, American Monorail Exhibit, plus an Intra-Mural and Miniature railway concession. In 1975, twenty of the remaining exposition buildings were placed on the National Register of Historic Places as an entire historic district.

Of their visit to the Jamestown Exposition, Moses wrote, “Took the boat from Washington to Norfolk and had a delightful trip immensely, excepting that we found no art gallery in the exposition.” By this time, Moses was a member of both the Salmagundi Club in New York and the Palette & Chisel Club in Chicago, continuing with his fine art work. Previously on the trip, Tom and Ella visited the Carnegie Art Gallery, This was Moses’ first time to the Carnegie Art Gallery and he was delighted with the various artworks.

To be continued…

Part 563: Thomas G. Moses’ Oak Park Studio

At the beginning of 1907, Thomas G. Moses wrote, “I started right by painting all of New Years day on several oil paintings. My new studio on the third floor is certainly the right thing. I have more than made the cost from work done in the studio.”

Moses’ third-floor studio was in the same house that he and Ella purchased on May 1, 1893. This coincided with the opening of the Columbian Exposition; projects leading up to the world fair funded the Moses’ ability to look for a home in the Oak Park area. In 1892, Moses’ work turned a $5,000 profit, today’s equivalent of $130,000. The couple eventually selected a one-year-old house in Oak Park, Illinois. Moses recorded that their new home had “very fine wood-work, a large stable, driveway, and a 60 x 178 foot lot.” They bought the house for $8,575.00, today’s equivalent of $222,238.22. Moses also had a perfect spot for a home studio with plenty of light and away tucked away on the third floor.

Moses had always kept a studio in their previous homes, justified by the income he brought in from any extra work. In 1885 he wrote, “I had the front room nicely decorated by Mitchell and Halbach and I more than enjoyed the little studio. With the extra work from the outside, it paid me to keep the room for a studio.” Similarly in 1907 he wrote, “My new studio on he third floor is certainly the right thing. I have more than made the cost from work done in the studio.” By 1913, he commented, “I had over three hundred pictures in the studio.”

The third floor studio in his Oak Park home was his escape. It was located high above the bustle of daily household activities, offering a peaceful space to work hone his artistic skills, remember past sketching trips and plan for the future. The house was always full of people; first there were the children, and then later grandchildren. Their youngest Thomas “Rupert” Moses followed his father into the theatrical trade, with his family lodging with them in both Chicago and California. While Rupert, his wife, and their three daughters lived with Tom and Ella, there was the rule to not disturb grandfather while he was painting in his studio.

Granddaughter Marilyn fondly remembered her grandfather’s studio in a an article “My Grandfather: Artist Thomas G. Moses.” Her reminisces were shared with me by a great-grandson in 2017. Marilyn wrote, “Grandfather had a studio on the third floor of his house. He spent most of his time up there painting…Grandmother tried to ‘protect’ Grandfather from his grandchildren or maybe it was his working time which was important. I didn’t realize the reasons behind the rules. I would go up to the studio to watch. It was quite exciting to see the sets develop. Grandfather taught me how to make furniture out of cardboard and put me to work. I made tables, chairs and lounges.”

To be continued…

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…

Part 561: Sosman & Landis and Jamestown Flood for the White City

I continue with the amusement park attractions described in White City Magazine. One article included information pertaining to the Johnstown Flood attraction with scenic contributions by Sosman & Landis studio.

The Johnstown Flood show initially appeared at the Pan-American Exposition in 1901. An article from “Snap Shots on the Midway” for the Buffalo Exposition advertised the Johnstown Flood attraction as “a scenograph, the logical evolution of the cyclorama, the diorama and the scenic theater, accomplishes the illusion, which is set on an ordinary stage and is in reality a performance in pantomime, where all the actors are what would be called in stage parlance, “properties.” It was transported to Luna Park at Coney Island where it was featured from 1902-1905. When White City was planned, key figures visited Coney Island during the planning phase to identify specific attractions that they would replicate for their own amusement park. One was the Jamestown flood, initially designed by Harley Merry. Other amusements parks also featured the Johnstown, such as White City in Louisville, Kentucky and Electric Park in Baltimore.

Many amusement park attractions were based on staged versions of disasters. On May 31, 1889, a dam near Jamestown, collapsed and flooded the valley with twenty million tons of water. There was virtually no escape as everything was destroyed in the water’s path. Prior to destruction, Jamestown was one of the most prosperous manufacturing towns in Pennsylvania. Including its suburbs, the city had a population of 35,000 persons. Situated at the convergence of the Conemaugh Rover and Stony Creek, the reservoir was approximately fifteen miles northeast from Johnstown. After many days of heavy rain, the dam burst, spilling the entire contents of the reservoir and annihilating the entire town; thousands of lived were lost.

For the White City Amusement Park, Sosman & Moses provided the scenery and effects for the simulated disaster. The White City Magazine included an article on the Johnstown Flood, advertised as “a special feature of the White City, “the most impressive and realistic of all scenic productions and constructed on a gigantic scale. A triumph of scenic art and startling realism.”

Here is the article in its entirety:

“Johnstown Flood. Grandest and Most Spectacular Scenic Production Ever Shown.

The Johnstown Flood, pronounced to be the greatest scenic production ever offered to the public, will be seen at White City.

It was first shown at the Pan-American Exposition at Buffalo, and it proved to the greatest success of many attractions of this great Fair. It is pronounced by experts to be far superior to the Galveston Flood shown at St. Louis.

The Johnstown Flood, which will be located in White City is a new one, with the scenic work by Sosman & Landis, and will be an improvement over the one at Buffalo. The entire city of Johnstown is shown, with the hills and great reservoir in the distance. This is not a painting, but each of the buildings of the city of Johnstown is truthfully reproduced in miniature. The production opens with the peaceful city of Johnstown with its citizens, commerce, and industry. Men and women are seen going about their pursuits, trains pass through the city, and teamsters are seen transferring freight, while pleasures vehicles drive through the streets. Then comes a storm, and the flood.

Small at first is the stream of water which trickles down the mountains in the distance; the alarm is given, and those who are fortunate enough to apprehend their danger are seen rushing for the hilltops. With a rumble that forebodes the death for hundreds of souls, the walls of the great reservoir give way and down into the valley rushes the tremendous volume of water which submerges the city and crushes great buildings like egg shells. Hundreds of persons are caught in the tremendous torrent and within a few minutes the city is devastated.

The production is correct in all details, the buildings being actual reproductions of those which crumbled beneath the great tidal wave.

The scenic effects are excellent and may be said to be a triumph of stage craft.”

To be continued…