My visit to the Thomas G. Moses’ Oak Park home and the gravesite of Walter W. Burridge took more time than anticipated on Friday, July 19. This prevented my traveling north to Fox Lake where Palette & Chisel club members once congregated during the summer. I came up with a quick “Plan B.” Looking at rush-hour traffic on a Friday afternoon, I decided to simply head to my final destination for the evening in Genoa, Illinois, by way of DeKalb. On a whim, I decided to contact the executive director of the Egyptian Theatre to see if I could stop by and see the theater.
I met both the executive director and architect who are in the midst of a major renovation, expanding the theater to expand restrooms, concessions, storage and add air conditioning. Representatives from theater had actually attended my session on researching historic venues at the League of Historic American Theatre’s conference that week.
I arrived a few minutes early for my meeting, allowing me the opportunity to walk around the block and examine the “L-shaped” structure of the building from various angles. Fortunately, it was a small block, preventing me from suffering heat stroke on my short walk. It was one of those ridiculously hot and humid days. The earlier trek about the Forest Home Cemetery had just about done me in that afternoon.
I had never stopped in the area, but downtown DeKalb is lovely with colorful floral displays dotting every corner. The front of the Egyptian Theatre is really an anomaly when compared with other buildings on the street. Opening in 1929, the exterior and interior was decorated in the popular Egyptian theme, a trend that picked up speed after the discovery of Tutankhamen’s tomb in 1922.
As I entered the building, I examined by the narrow lobby that led to the auditorium on the right; no wonder the need for expansion. Not quite sure of what to expect in the auditorium, I was surprised by large murals on the house left and house right sides.
Looking at the rows of refurbished seating, I had to wonder what local audiences thought when the theater first opened to the public. I made my way to the stage, curious to see if any original machinery still remained. Nope.
When the building was constructed, however, the focal point of the auditorium’s Egyptian decor was a colorful fire curtain. Removed, encapsulated, and repositioned in the early 1980s, the painted composition is now difficult to see under work lights. My host graciously pulled up an image of the curtain on his phone. The scene reminded me of one in the scenic collection database at the University of Minnesota Performing Arts Archives. I went to the backside of the fire curtain to see of there was a studio stamp.
What I discovered made my brief stop completely worthwhile. Above a very faint union stamp, was the name of the studio. The executive director was completely unaware of the stencil as I attempted to read the script. After a few moments of squinting and taking pictures to enlarge the font, it became clear that the name of the studio was “National Theatre Supply Co. Chicago.” Wow.
National Theatre Supply Co. of Chicago was one of the many theatre firms that Thomas G. Moses (1856-1934) worked for during the late 1920s and early 1930s. He passed away in 1934. He not only worked for National Theatre Supply Co., but also Armstrong Studios and William Lemle and Co, dividing his time between studios in Chicago, Illinois, and Oakland, California.
More on the National Theatre Supply Co. tomorrow.
To be continued…
