A drop curtain by H. J. Reid was described in the article “Well-known Drop Curtain in Philadelphia Theatres” (The Philadelphia Inquirer, Dec. 18, 1894). The J. was a misprint, as the scenic artist was Hugh Logan Reid (1853-1928).
The Empire Theatre, located at Broad and Locust Streets from 1891 to 1898, produced large scenic productions during seven-years existence. Originallydesigned by architect Willis G. Hale, the building was soon razed for the construction of the Walton Hotel in 1898.
Of Reid’s drop curtain for the theater, the “Philadelphia Inquirer” reported:
“Curtains that show reproductions of famous paintings are among the most expensive in the world to obtain, because it is not every artist who is willing to put his name to the painting which is going to be critically compared to, perhaps, the greatest painter in the world, and when he does make up his mind to do so, he will want to work very slowly and to be paid a very good sum for his worry and time. Such a curtain is the masterpiece displayed at the Empire Theatre. This subject was selected by Manager J. B. Worrell, during one of his European trips. The curtain was painted in 1891, by H. J. Reid, of New York, a young artist rapidly rising to fame. The scene presents the interior of the ducal hall. The duchess appears seated, her ladies in waiting about her, and her husband, the duke, standing behind her, when an old musician, with a battered mandolin, and accompanied by his blind daughter and a lean, apparently half-starved dog, enters the apartment. The old musician plays while his blind daughter accompanies him in song. The well-kept dog belonging to the duke meanwhile scrapes and acquaintance with his less fortunate canine friend. Through an open door at the rear is seen an attendant entering with a tray, containing wine and other refreshments for the half-famished visitors. So realistic is the scene that the ruffled up edge of the large moquette rug in the foreground of the picture seems not to have been painted, but to be actually placed on the curtain. There are eleven full-sized figures in the scene, not including the dogs. The border of this curtain is painted with a conventional design, representing a deep gilded frame, ornamented with dimple-cheeked cherubs, busts of women, wreaths, and festoons of flowers, with medallions in bas relief in the lower corners.”
Reid was well-respected as a figure painter. Reid was an associated with the Providence, Rhode Island, area, but he also worked in many eastern cities as an itinerant artist, such as Boston, Philadelphia and New York. In Harry Miner’s American Drama Directory, for the 1882-1883 season, Reid was listed as the scenic artist at the Providence Opera House.
By 1883, Reid was working from coast to coast. According to the “Boston Globe,” he furnished scenery for a new theatre at Los Angeles (7 Oct. 1883, page 10),. That year, Reid also worked with Jos. Clare to produce the sets for the “Duke’s Motto, ‘I am Here!’” at the Fifth Avenue Theatre in New York (Boston Globe, 8 Dec. 1883, page 7).
By 1884 Reid entered into another partnership with Harley Merry and J. L. Getz, establishing “Getz, Merry & Reid.” Getz was also from the Boston area, with Merry located in Brooklyn. The firm lasted approximately five years. Theirbiggest success was the creation of scenery for Wm. J. Gilmore’s “The Twelve Temptations,” an attraction advertised as “a scenic, ballet, and pantomimic spectacle.” The painted settings included sixteen full stage pictures with a moving panorama.
In 1887, Reid created scenery for Imre Kiralfy’s “Grand and Colossal Revival of the Famous Ravel Pantomime, Mazulm the Night Owl” (The Times, Philadelphia, 25 Dec. 1887, page 9). At the time, Reid was listed as the scenic artist for the Globe Theatre. Another notable production with scenery credited to Reid was E. E. Rice’s “World’s Fair” in 1890 (The Boston Globe. 27 July 1890, page 10). By 1891, the “Boston Globe” reported that Reid was “one of the most noted scenic artists in the country (13 Sept. 1891, page 9).
Reid moved to New York City and officially established his residence there. In New York Reid began painting for a variety of theaters, but was primarily associated with Daly’s Theatre of Manhattan (The Standard Union, Brooklyn, 17, Aug. 1902, page 15).
He became the primary scenic artist for Henry W. Savage’s the Castle Square Opera Company during 1899. Other scenic artists for the venue during the company’s existence included Thomas G. Moses, Walter Burridge, Frank King, and John Clare. Reid’s design’s included “The Grand Duchess,” “Rigoletto,” “Olivette,” “La Gioconda,” “Mikado,” “The Merry Wives of Windsor,” “Carmen,” “The Barber of Seville,” “Faust,” “Il Trovatore,” “Romeo and Juliet,” and “Aida.” (The increased volume of subscriptions during the first three seasons of the Castle Square Opera Company, supported Savage’s plan to establish at the American Theatre a permanent home for opera in English. The opera company also had branches in Chicago and St. Louis. By 1900, it was advertised as “the largest operatic company in the world,” having “gained a larger clientele than any other established musical organization.” A commemorative book, “500 Times,” documented the success of the Castle Square Opera Company’s performance of operas in English by Monday, October 16, 1899.
For other theaters, he worked alongside Richard Marston, Walter Burridge, John H. Young, Homer Emens, and Harley Merry onvarious projects. This same group created the scenery for Margaret Mather’s “Cymbeline” at the Columbia Theatre (Evening Star, Washington, D.C., 13 Feb. 1897, page 24).
Reid placed an advertisement in Julius Cahn’s Official Theatrical Guide for the 1902-1903 season. It, he listed his studio office at 1380 Broadway, New York City. He listed past projects at the following New York theaters: Fifth Ave. Theatre, Murray Hill Theatre, Metropolis Theatre, Manhattan Theatre, People’s Theatre, Miner’s Bowery Theatre, and the Weiting Opera House (Syracuse). Other theaters included the Lyric Theatre (Allentown, PA), Columbia Theatre (Boston), Grand Opera House (Boston), Bowdoin Square (Boston), Lyric Theatre (Hoboken, N. J.), and the Bijou Theatre (Brooklyn).
In 1902, Reid was credited with producing scenery for “one of the most important theatrical events” for the season” – “The Tempest.” The “Standard Union” reported, “The scene of storm and shipwreck with which the play opens will be one of those realistic and marvelous episodes which are rarely seen except on stage of the old Drury Lane Theatre in London…The new scenery for this production has been painted by H. Logan Reid, for many years the scenic artist at Daly’s Theatre in Manhattan” (Aug. 17, 1902, page 15). Of Reid’s association with Augustin Daly, the Saint Paul Press” commented, “The several scenes, which were painted by H. Logan Reid, who was associated with Augstin Daly for so many years, are by a multiplicity of beautiful transparencies made to melt one into the other, as if by the very agency of magic which pervades the original text of Shakespeare. This treatment has had the best results in the opening scene of the play, which gradually changes from a peaceful fairy-like forest glen to the shore of the island, showing the tempest tossed ocean, with the great ship bearing the more mortal characters of the story to its treacherous rocks” (4 March 1903, age 4).
Interestingly, the John Rothgeb papers at the Harry Ransom Center included a letter written by Charles H. Stewart of Somerville, Massachusetts that mentioned H. L. Reid. Stewart wrote, “I do know he was an old man when he died, for my father worked with him in the Opera House season 1909-1910. I am still looking – he was fired so Urban could take over. Urban had a studio/office in Boston in 1910 but soon left for New York.” What an interesting tidbit of lost theatre history to know that an aging scenic artist lost his position to the up and coming Joseph Urban, twenty years his junior. Reid was 57 years old at the time.
In 1915, Reid
created a succession of painted settings for a submarine attraction for the Panama-Pacific
Exposition. He was sixty-one years old at the time. World Fair midway passengers
entered the steel submarine and toured the labyrinths of Neptune, a succession of
painted scenes. Of the attraction, “The Red book of Views of the
Panama-Pacific International Exposition” described:
“The first thing to greet the eye of the visitor to this great spectacle is an
allegorical front, with cascades of moving water typifying the restlessness of
the ocean. Neptune sits proudly over all, basking in the beams from a
near-by lighthouse. At the dock the passenger enters a steel submarine,
is taken beneath the waters where he sees a shipwreck, marine animals, and a
typical ocean floor. Landing again, he is taken through the labyrinths of
Neptune, a succession of wonderful scenes by H. Logan Reid of New York City.”
To be continued…
