Four drop curtains painted by Lee Lash were described in the article “Well-known Drop Curtains in Philadelphia Theatres” published in “The Philadelphia Inquirer” on Dec. 18, 1894 (page 45).
Of the four, two depicted American scenes. Capturing life in the United States became a more prevalent theme as the nineteenth century progresses. Scene of the old world, its
Lash painted a drop curtain for the Chestnut Street Theatre by 1894:
“What might be called realism in scenic effects-the representation of actual sights and scenes of daily life-is becoming more and more, a feature of stage curtains. Bits of “local color” appear on several of these, as in the drop curtain of the Chestnut Street Theatre, painted by Mr. Lee Lash, which is a view of Broad street, looking south from Jefferson with the Public Buildings silhouetted in the distance. The big bus unloading a flower-laden troop of pretty women and children, the hand-cart, the street gamin, and other characteristic Broad street sights, are prominent in the foreground. At the right is the Mercantile Club building, in process of construction. The picture is a fine, bold piece of coloring and the figures are admirably life-like.”
The first Chestnut Street Theatre was located on the north side of Chestnut Street, between Sixth and Seventh. It was referred to as the “New Theatre,” to distinguish it from the “old” theatre in Southwark. Built in 1792, it was destroyed by fire on April 2, 1820. The second Chestnut Street Theatre opened Dec. 2, 1822, and was also later destroyed in 1856. It was rebuilt and later opened by William Wheatly on January 26, 1863. The third Chestnut Street Theatre was located 1211 Chestnut Street in Philadelphia. It was the third Chestnut Street Theatre that Lash created a drop curtain for by 1894.
Lash’s second curtain noted in the 1894 “Philadelphia Inquirer” article was for Philadelphia’s National Theatre. As with the Chestnut Street drop curtain, it depicted an American scene:
“The curtain of the National Theatre, by the same artist [Lee Lash], illustrates the picturesque side of American village life. The foreground figures, a group of women and children gossiping at a quaint old-fashioned well, are faithfully rendered, and the effect of sunshine on the whitewashed exterior of the quaint country cottages is excellent.”
Lash painted a third curtain for the People’s Theatre in Philadelphia. Originally opening in 1890, the venue’s seating capacity was over 2,200. The building was located on Kensington Avenue at the corner of E. Cumberland Street. In 1914, Thomas Lamb was hired to remodel the People’s Theatre. Part of the renovation included the reduction of seats to approximately 1,930. From 1924-26, the People’s Theatre was renamed the Desmond Theatre. In 1927 the theatre was remodeled again and renamed Kent Theatre by the Stanley Theatres Corporation.
The People’s Theatre drop curtain by Lash depicted a French scene:
“A fishing village in the south of France furnishes the motive for the picture curtain of the People’s Theatre. Grouped against the clear horizon are a picturesque handful of old houses, while on the wharf in the foreground is a cluster of fisher girls and men engaged in lively “chaffening” over the day’s catch. Large figures to the left of a young girl and her dog, and the realistic basket of coils of rope, etc., scattered around, are effective bits of still-life.”
The article then noted Lash’s drop curtain for Forepaugh’s Theatre too:
“The same artist who painted this, Mr. Lee Lash, designed also the striking curtain at Forepaugh’s Theatre, a broad boulevard in the Champs Elysees, Paris, with the commanding arch of the Porte Smarting in the background, a statue of Beethoven to the left, and the mounted figures of fashionable dames and a fine tally-ho adorning the foreground. The whole is a handsome effective piece of work.”
I have covered Lash in several posts over the past three years, but here is a lovely article from 1935, that briefly sums up his career. It was printed in the “Latrobe Bulletin,” on 25 June, 1935.
“The story of Lee Lash is an epic in American Art annals. At 70 he has achieved an artistic goal from which he sidetracked in youth and kept in the paths of commercialism for more than 33 years. Today the name of Lee Lash known the country over as the perpetrator of advertising drop curtains, is acclaimed with true artistic fervor. His first one mane show just held in the Keppel Galleries, New York, has revealed an artist of the first water, a painter of rare power and sensitive feeling.
The most discriminating of critics, remembering what the Lee Lash Studios stood for, were taken aback when they gazed upon the exquisite pictures to which the man has devoted his life for the past years. Not only were critics unstinted in their praise but the public came to admire and buy as well. His lovely vistas of New York roofs and skylines have been purchased by private collectors.
Lash was born in San Francisco and began to draw before he could write. His father a prosperous reporter from Prague recognized and encouraged his son in his artistic ambitions. He studied in San Francisco and then in Paris. He was already an excellent artist well on the road to fame when his father’s business crashed. Lee’s career as an artist was checked. He had to earn money. The advertising drop curtain was the result. At first he followed the European idea of surrounding the central scene with advertisements. Then he placed the “ads” in the picture itself, as signs in the landscape. The Lash family recuperated its fortune even though the art sense of the country suffered.
Today Lash, who lives with his wife in frequently changed, sky-high apartments where he studies new view, has been compensated. At this exhibition 67 picture, ranging from Brooklyn in the clear morning light, to Manhattan through its customary haze, gave glimpses of roofs, skylines – all breathing the spirit of New York” (page 3).
Other newspaper articles throughout the course of his career note that Lee Lash drop curtain composition were often street scenes or country lanes, often blocked with commercial ads. For another perspective on Lee Lash and the history of the American ad drop, see past installments 578-580.
To be continued…
