Copyright © 2019 by Wendy Waszut-Barrett
I stumbled across an interesting publication while looking for information about Jackson, Michigan. “How to Enter Vaudeville” was published by the Frederic LaDelle the same year that Sosman & Landis delivered scenery to the town. The content of the book is interesting and cover a lot of ground, providing an interesting snap shot of the production process in 1913. Below is the list of what was contained in LaDelle’s publication:
“CONTAINING – – The Keynote of Success Now to Start in Vaudeville, How to make a success. How to secure an original act. What kind of act to get up. Rehearsals. How to report for rehearsals. How to rehearse. Breaking in your act. Cues. Properties. How to finish your act. How to dress your act. Where to work on the stage. Scenery. Billing and property lines. How to get some publicity. Vocal and instrumental music, free. Conduct off the stage. A dictionary of stage terms, fixtures and appurtenances, Vaudeville slang and phrases. Characterization and impersonation. The orchestra. Headliners. How to overcome stage fright. Encores. How to get a reputation quickly. Distinctiveness and originality. How to enter the dramatic profession. Ordinary acts and big reputations. Theatrical publications. Circuits, Contracts, House rules. Booking agencies. Writing to booking agencies. Booking agents partial to beginners. Salaries. Seeing booking agents personally. Writing for engagements. Professional letterheads. Stage conduct. After receiving contracts. Presenting yourself to the stage manager. Handling your baggage. Behavior toward stage managers. Closing an engagement. Booking your act through Europe and the continent. Firms dealing in theatrical goods. Securing press notices. Advertising your act. How acts are reported. Questions and answers. Ninety vaudeville acts explained. How to interest your audience. Eccentric wardrobe and makeup. Eliminating crudity and amateurishness. Process of making up illustrated. Making up for various races, nationalities and characters.”
However, it was the inclusion of “a dictionary of stage terms, fixtures and appurtenances” that really caught my eye. We often look for technical terms in technical manuals. We forget to consider other sources, such as “How to Enter Vaudeville.” Although written for the performer, it provides a wealth of information about theatre technology. Stage terms vary from country to country, region to region, and sometimes decade to decade. LaDelle’s publication provides insight into theatre terminology specific to Jackson, Michigan, in 1913.
In LaDelle’s dictionary section (page 48), I want to point out the following definitions as it forms some technical context for this period as I continue to write about the life and times of Thomas G. Moses:
Box set. A set of flats representing a scene, where each piece is lashed to the other forming a square box.
Battens. Wooden strips attached to drop.
Border lights. Those lights suspended above the stage.
Bunch lights. A cluster of lights in a reflector attached to a movable iron stand.
Cyclorama drop. A suspended drop that encircles the stage from back up to tormentor wings
Drop. A painted scene suspended by ropes through pulleys in gridiron.
Dimmer. A dimmer is an electrical device for gradually brightening or lowering the lights of the theatre. It is used for production effects as sunrise, twilight, etc. The larger theatres have their own dimmers, but where the act calls for this effect they should be included in the property of the performer.
Flats. Pieces of scenery that are made rigid by frames and are placed and replaced by hand.
Fancy borders. Strips of painted scenery suspended across the stage to match different scenes.
Footlights. Row of lights sunk just below the floor level at the front of the stage.
Grand teaser. A fancy border suspended behind the asbestos curtain and in front of the house curtain.
Grips. Those stage hands that place and replace flats on stage by hand.
House curtain. This curtain is the first back of the asbestos curtain and is generally painted with some attractive scene, such as a landscape or some similar view. A good many houses also paint advertisements of local merchants on the house curtain.
Leg drop. A suspended scene with an opening cut out of it, forming a leg on each side.
Olio or street drop. A suspended scene representing a street dropped directly behind tormentor wings. [Note that this defines the olio as a scene and not machine].
Stage braces. Strips of heavy wood, with hook in one end and eye in the other. They are hooked into the eye in the flats and the other end screwed down to the stage to brace the piece of scenery.
Sky borders. Strips of blue cloth suspended by lines across the stage to represent the sky.
Scrim drop. A suspended scene with an opening in it backed with transparent gauze. [does this not sound like what we call a cut drop?]
Spot lights. A circle of intense white light thrown from the balcony or gallery, upon the performer while on the stage. Flood lights are produced by enlarging the circle of light so as to light the entire stage with strong light from the front of the house.
Strip Lights. A strip of lights at either side of the stage opening.
Tormentors. Fancy draped and painted wings, one on each side of stage, fixed permanently.
Tormentor border. The strip of painted drapery suspended above and just behind tormentors.
Working in one, two, etc. The stage is divided on each side by imaginary spaces or entrances which are between each wing; for instance, working in one, means that an act is using that space on stage from street scene to footlights; being the space from the footlights to an imaginary line from one tormentor wing to another. Working in two, means using the space in front of the second wing which is generally set four feet back of the tormentor wings. The same idea holds for working in three, four, full stage, etc.
For more definitions and a scan of the entire publication, here is the link from the Library of Congress page on Bob Hope and American Vaudeville:
http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/ampage?collId=bobhope&fileName=hope41Apage.db&recNum=0
To be continued…
