On January 12, 1912, “The News-Democrat” mentioned Sosman & Landis employee Victor Hubal. Hubal was painting scenery for the Kentucky Theatre in Paducah, a venue that first opened its doors on September 24, 1901. The Kentucky Theatre advertised “refined plays at family prices – 10, 15 and 20 cents. At the prices you can bring your family at least twice a week, pass a pleasant evening with them at this beautiful resort, and while being highly entertained save more than the price of admission asked in gas and fuel.”
On January 15, 1912, the Kentucky Theatre began a short season of permanent stock, with Manager Finney engaging the Garside Stock Company for fifty weeks. They were scheduled to perform two plays a week. The “News-Democrat” article continued, “Each play will be a production from a scenic point of view, as Mr. Vic Hubal, of the Sosman & Landis studio, Chicago, has been engaged to paint all the scenery, and is now hard at work at the Kentucky on the first production of ‘The Devil’s Kitchen,’ which will be the bill for the first three days, Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday.”
At the time, Hubel was 24 years old and living in Chicago, Illinois.
Victor J. Hubal was born in Chicago on May 10, 1888. His father, Felix Hubal (b. Nov. 1861), was a Czech immigrant. His mother, Theresa Mary Koranda (b. 1864), was born and raised in Illinois. Hubal’s parents both worked, his father as a baker and his mother as a seamstress. Like Thomas G. Moses’ family, there is no indication of any connection to the performing arts, yet Hubal entered the theatre industry at the age of 17 in 1905. The 1910 United States census reports Hubal as still living with his mother and two siblings, Otto (20, born 1890) and Lucy (18, born 1892) at 3528 W. Cortland St. in Chicago. The census lists Hubal as an artist and his sister as a stenographer, with his brother being unemployed. Seven years later in 1917, the WWI draft registration card reported Hubal’s appearance as “medium” in height and “medium” in build with gray eyes and dark brown hair. His draft card also noted that Hubal claimed exemption status based on “kidney trouble.”
In 1917, Hubal met and married a Minnesota girl, Eloise L. Strenlund (1897 – 1984), moving his new bride to Chicago. The couple’s first address was 5030 Hutchinson St, yet familial ties would prompt the couple to relocate to the “Land of 10,000 Lakes,” raising their family in Minnesota.
Eloise’s father was a Swedish immigrant. Anton Strenlund arrived in the United States in 1887 at the age of sixteen. Traveling west, he worked as a carpenter and finally settled in Minnesota where he married Alise Oberg on August 21, 1897. At the time, she was pregnant, giving birth to Eloise on November 12, 1897. The couple’s second child Arthur arrived on 29 September 1900, with their third child, Ernest William, being born on April 1, 1903. When Eloise turned 17, she moved to St. Paul and began working as a clerk. Her new profession and new address at 1010 Euclid Ave. were listed in the 1915 St. Paul Directory for the next two years before moving to Chicago. Life married to a scenic artist in Chicago must have been a been a far cry from her simple upbringing in Minnesota.
Like Moses, Hubal’s scenic art career extended for more than sixty years and his work was featured across the country in both live theater and film productions. After moving to Minnesota, he became an integral part of the opera and theatre scene.
Although Hubal’s scenic art career began in 1905, little is known of his early work or the studios that he was associated with for the first six years. By 1912, however, he was working for Sosman & Landis in Chicago, as well as continuing as an itinerant artist, picking up work across the country during slow times.
Hubal’s 1972 obituary in the “St. Paul Dispatch” reported, “His work graced some 50 productions of the St. Paul Civic Opera, as the organization was then known, from the initial one, ‘Samson And Delilah’ in 1933, to ‘The Merry Widow’ in 1963. He also did the decorations and designs for a number of the International Institute’s, “Festival of Nations” at the Auditorium and was responsible for the mounting of major productions at Andahazy Ballet Borealis. (Feb. 20, 1972).” Other Andahazy production settings painted by Hubal included “Slavonic Scenes,” “Les Sylphises,” “Swan Lake,” “Spectre de la Rose,” “Aurora’s Wedding,” “The Miraculous Stag” and “Scheherazade.” I discovered a 1954 article that provided some insight into the scenery produced by Hubal for the Andahazy Ballet Borealis company at Northrup Auditorium on the University of Minnesota Campus. The “Star Tribune” described the scenery for “Les Sylphides:”
“The setting, a woodland glade, by Victor Hubal, had a spacious, semi-transparent effect which enhanced the quality of the ballet” (Minneapolis, Minnesota, 0 July 1954, page 29). The article also noted that the ballet company was composed of 40 dancers and headed by Lorand Andahazy and Anna Adrianova.
In regard to Hubal’s “Swan Lake” scenery, an entertaining tale was published in the “St. Paul Dispatch.” During the execution of scenery for “Swan Lake,” Andahazy accidentally upset a pail of dye onto the canvas and apologized. “Hubal said, ‘Never mind” [and] with deft strokes he converted the dark blotch into a rocky formation and balanced the composition by converting some trees into more rocks on the other side.” The “Dispatch” article ended with a description of the artist’s character: “A man of artistic sensitivity and great skill and accumulated knowledge of his craft, Hubal labored largely in obscurity, for he was shy and retiring by nature and had no talent for self-promotion. But the contributions to the community to which he made in his self-effacing way for so many years were great, and they can be remembered with respect and gratitude
One more insightful story about Hubal appeared in conjunction with his scenery for the St. Paul Civic Opera’s production of “Rigoletto.” Hubal’s past with the film industry was also described in a newspaper article:
“When the curtain rises Wednesday it will be on the work of a man who might have been prominent in his field in motion pictures as Wallace Beery and Charlie Chaplin are in theirs, had it not been for the fact that he found black and white too monotonous. He is Vic Hubal, scene designer for the opera association. When the motion pictures were in their infancy, Hubal, already an accomplished scene designer for some of the largest production and road shows in the country, wandered into the old Essanay Film company’s lot in Hollywood. There he went to work on designing backgrounds against which Charlie Chaplin, Ben Turpin and Beery were to cavort. But the backgrounds were all black and white, because those were the only colors to film well. There were relieving incidents once in a while, as he when he would be called down from his scaffold to take the part of a cop, or when he was called into the dressing room to make up Turpin for his monkey roles, but on the whole, black and white was too confining for a true scenic artist. Hubal went on to train with Fred Scott, Ansel Cook and Fred Lewis…” Scott and Cook both worked at Sosman & Landis, therefore, the article is likely referencing his time at the studio around 1912.
I will continue to explore the life of Vic Hubal tomorrow, as there is too much to put in one post.
To be continued…
This is an amazing surprise to come upon; I am Victor Hubal Sr.’s grandaughter ( :
I am glad that you found it!