Scenic artist Clarkston Dye was mentioned in the article “Well-known Drop Curtains in Philadelphia Theatres” published in “The Philadelphia Inquirer on Dec. 18, 1894.
“One of the prettiest landscape pictures on a drop curtain is that of the Kensington Theatre, painted by Mr. Clarkson Dye, giving a view of the river-bank of the Delaware. A picturesque bit of marsh land to the right, and a representation of the wharf traffic, with the empty boats, carts, dock-loafers, etc., in the foreground lend life to the scene.”
Built in 1888, the Kensington Theatre had a seating capacity of 1,400. Situated on the corner of Frankford Avenue and North Street. The land and building were surveyed by E. Hexamer & Son on February 23, 1889. The owner was John W. Hart, with Jacobs and Hickey as the lessees. The proscenium opening was 29 feet wide by 35 feet high. The distance to the back wall was 34 feet and this distance between the footlights to the curtain line was 4 feet. The distance between the side walls was 53 feet with the distance between the fly girders at 36 feet. There were five sets of grooves for scenery with the height of the grooves from the staging measuring at 18 feet high; they could be taken up flush with the gallery. The distance between the stage to the rigging loft was 44 feet.
Dye also painted a drop curtain for the Ninth Arch Street Museum in Philadelphia that was mentioned in the same article:
“A reproduction by Mr. Clarkston Dye of a very charming picture painted by Mr. Irving R. Wiles for the Academy of Music at Baltimore forms the drop curtains of the Ninth and Arch Street Museum. The flower market at the entrance of Central Park, New York, is the scene represented, with the wide boulevard thronged with stylish turnouts and promenading figures of pretty girls. The coloring is high, yet delicate, and the picture is altogether a fine specimen of the kind.”
Of the artist, I have been unsuccessful in locating any information at all beyond this article- a first for me.
To be continued…
