Month: June 2020

Copyright © 2020 by Wendy Waszut-Barrett

In 1920, Thomas G. Moses wrote, “The New Year was ushered in by a very cold day.  The Madam had the girls from the Bohemian House (another settlement House where she taught sewing) out for dinner and I am sure they enjoyed themselves.”

The “Madam” was Moses’ wife Susan “Ella” Robbins Moses. The “Bohemian House” was actually the Bohemian Settlement House. The Women’s Presbyterian Society established the Howell Neighborhood House for Home Missions in 1905, also known as the Bohemian Settlement House, located in the “Little Pilsen” neighborhood. The first settlement house was in a small building on the corner of Nineteenth Place and May Street. By 1912, a fund-raising drive resulted in a new building at 1831 South Center Street (now known as Racine Avenue). Since its establishment, the Bohemian Settlement House served a community predominantly composed of Bohemians, Poles and Czechs, offering social services and personal welfare assistance. Services expanded over the years, and by 1914 the there was a library, English Night School, Boys and Girls Clubs, and Sunday school.

The Bohemian House was featured in “Home Mission Monthly” in 1912 (Vol. 26, No. 5, page 125). Helen I. Duncan wrote an article entitled, “The Bohemian Settlement House:” Her is the article:
“In ‘Little Pilsen,” a district with a population of 40,000 Bohemians. The former May Street Mission, which appeared in last year’s report as the Centre Avenue Mission, has again changed its name, and now appears with enlarged facilities and opportunities as the Bohemian Settlement House. In seven years the work which started with a kindergarten for children of this crowded Bohemian neighborhood has so grown and developed that it now includes all the activities usually carried on by a social settlement. These activities are supported, however, by religious backing which so few social settlements believe to be essential.

“Most interesting phases of our educational work are the new Bohemian school for children and English school for adults. To the Bohemian school, held twice a week, come fifty children who want to learn to read and write the mother tongue, which they speak in their own homes, and which is often the only language the parents can read. In English school, as in most of our classes, no direct attempt is made to present the religious side of our work; Protestants, Catholics and Free Thinkers are welcomed without question. We are finding, however, that even when no words are spoken, the Spirit of Christ is working through these classes. They are proving a source of help and inspiration to many who can not yet acknowledge the Christian Church. But as we win confidence and trust, our church membership too is growing: we were glad to count fifty-four communicants at our Christmas morning celebration of the Lord’s Supper. For the last two years all the religious work has been under the charge of the Rev. Vaclav Vanek, a most able and gifted Bohemian preacher.”

By 1965 the Bohemian House merged with the Bethlehem Community Center to form the Neighborhood Service Organization. The new charter stated the Neighborhood  Service Organization’s goal: “To be a neighbor to the neighbors in such a way that families are strengthened, lives are made more meaningful and purposeful and individuals see and understand the dignity and worth that is theirs as children of God.” Over time, the demographics of the neighborhood changed, and by the 1970s Mexican immigrants replaced many of the Central European immigrants. The Bohemian Settlement House is still serving immigrants, and is now known as the Casa Aztlàn. Here is some additional information from the National Park Service about Pilsen Historic District, Cook County, Illinois: https://www.nps.gov/nr/feature/hispanic/2010/pilsen_historic_district.htm

Also, the University of Illinois at Chicago holds the Bethlehem Howell Neighborhood Center Collection, including the Bohemian Settlement House. In their special collection (MSBHNC70) Here is the link for more information: https://findingaids.library.uic.edu/sc/MSBHNC70.xml

To be continued…

Copyright © 2020 by Wendy Waszut-Barrett

As the year draws to a close in the life and times of Thomas G. Moses during 1919, there is one more event I need to mention. My grandparents, John H. Kohnen and Elvina Dressel were married that year. After meeting at a country dance, they became engaged to be married. However, before they began their wedded life together, my grandfather fought overseas in WWI and my grandmother survived the Spanish Flu. I never knew either grandparent well, as my grandmother passed when I was 1 year old and my grandfather passed when I was seven years old. They were older than most when they married, with my mother coming along fourteen years after that. It was the same case with my father’s family; both he and my mother were the last of three children, the babies born 15 and 14 year after their eldest siblings. It has been my mother’s stories that have kept my grandparents alive for me. Attached is their wedding picture from 1919.

To be continued…

Copyright © 2020 by Wendy Waszut-Barrett

On September 10, 1919, the “El Paso Herald” announced, “El Paso Scenic Artists in Okla.” (page 13). The article reported, “Friends of Ben F. Tipton, former scenic artist of the Redmond Follies and Art Phillips, who spent one year in El Paso as scenic artist of the Raymond Teal company, will be pleased to know that they have opened a studio in Tulsa, Okla., and are doing a good business. Tipton left El Paso about two weeks ago to join Phillips who had preceded him to Tulsa and arranged for the opening of the studio. ‘Tip’ writes that the company at present has more scenery than it can handle and that Tulsa at present is a live wire town as a result of the Oklahoma oil boom.”

The Phillips Tipton Scenic studio was credited with providing the scenery for “All Aboard” by the next spring (Morning Tulsa Daily World, 21 April 1920, page 9).

By July 7, 1920, Oklahoma newspapers announced the opening of another scenic studio – Southwestern Scenic Studio.  The “Daily Law Journal” announced, “Certificate of Partnership of the Southwestern Scenic Studios…That Chas. Cassius and Raleigh Dent, are associated as partners in the business of furnishing theatrical scenery of all descriptions in the City of Oklahoma city, Oklahoma County, Oklahoma, Scenic Studios; that said partnership is a general partnership, dating from the first day of May, 1920” (page 4). Both Phillips Tipton Scenic Studio and Southwestern Scenic Studio were relatively short-lived, a common trait as scenic studios continued to pop up like daisies all over the country. The abundance of firms often saturated an area, quickly causing supply to outweigh demand and prompting the closure of new companies.

As in the 19^th century, American scenic artists followed the work. Scenic studios were established in areas experiencing economic growth and building booms. In 1919, the Ben Tipton cited the Oklahoma oil boom as the cause for an abundance of painting projects. Although the oil boom began in 1897, the money was still streaming in by 1919. Great influxes of money into the economy supported theatrical growth and even shifted the theatrical centers throughout North America. After the 1871 Chicago fire, a period of unprecedented theatrical construction activity drew scenic artists and other theatre technicians from all over the country to the Windy City. By the turn of the Twentieth century a similar period of activity in New York, especially Coney Island and coastal attractions such as the Atlantic Boardwalk shifted the theatrical centers again. Although many believe that the theatrical center remained in New York throughout the duration of the 20^th century (Broadway), there were a series of building booms that drew people westward. Oil money offered ample opportunities for scenic artists to secure work, whether it was for live theatre, public spectacles, or residential murals in mansions of the wealthy. During the severe recession that hit the United States in 1920 and 1921 scenic artists left the larger metropolitan areas of the east. Sometimes labeled as a depression, western opportunities in successful towns funded by oil money continued to support a variety of artistic endeavors during this time.

There is something else to consider at this time. There was also the stylistic shift in scenic art that prompted artists to move west. As the “new art” for the stage diminished the demand for painted illusion, film offered additional opportunities for those experienced in romantic realism for the stage. Moses and many of his Chicago colleagues dreamed of both living and working in California.  It was not only a vibrant theatre scene, but also an artistic hub for fine artists. Moses actively sought work in the Oakland area, starting in 1918 when he was working for New York Studios (Chicago branch). He became a member of the Laguna Beach Art Association (1est. 919).

Those specializing in traditional scenic art were able to tweak their skill set, tighten their brushwork to produce realistic film backgrounds. It is understandable that the west coast drew and abundance of highly skilled and well-known scenic artists. Those transitioning to work in the film industry likely had an easy choice when examining the set designs of the modern designer. Film offered the continuation of painting large and picturesque vistas.

To be continued…

Copyright © 2020 by Wendy Waszut-Barrett

Times were changing for many professional scenic artists in 1919. In addition to the rejection of painted illusion for the stage and traditional scenic art, there was an increase in amateur dramatic organizations. The Little Theatre movement was gaining ground across the country. It caused a divide between theatre practitioners, with some seeing it as an obstacle to professionals.  Other declared the movement an opportunity, allowing the doors of the industry to swing wider for “courageous young producers.” Beginning around 1912, the Little Theatre Movement provided a unique outlet.  I am actually going to quote two lines from Wikipedia as says it all: “The Little Theatre Movement provided experimental centers for the dramatic arts, free from the standard production mechanisms used in prominent commercial theatres. In several large cities, beginning with Chicago, Boston, Seattle and Detroit, companies formed to produce more intimate, non-commercial, non-profit-centered, and reform-minded entertainments.” Here is a link for more information about the movement: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Little_Theatre_Movement and the Encyclopedia Britannica entry https://www.britannica.com/art/little-theatre-American-theatrical-movement.

An interesting article about Little Theatres appeared in the April 1917 issue of “The Theatre” (Vol. 25, page 292, 314).  “Mr. Belasco has recently declared, in the New York Herald that we must “protect our drama” from “amateur dramatic organizations”….The so-called “Little Theatres” which are springing up all over the country, not only in New York, but in Detroit, St. Louis, Cincinnati, Milwaukee, Chicago, Philadelphia, and other places, are amateur theatres, with their faults and weaknesses, their failures, their fads. Their audiences, numerically, are but a drop in the bucket. Yet they are a sign, a portent, which cannot be ignored. They are a protest against the easy, safe professionalism which has divorced our drama from all serious contact with problems of actual life, which has reopened the gap which Herne, Fitch, Moody, Eugene Walter, George Ade and other seemed a few years ago on the point of bridging; which has left the public without any control over its esthetic expression in the playhouse. Just as soon as these amateur efforts result in any considerable popularity and financial stability, they will visibly and definitely begin to effect our theatre for good, and the doors will swing wider open to the courageous young producers like John Williams and Walker Wanger. In New York this winter we have seen “The Yellow Jacket” established on Broadway, we have seen Stuart Walker’s amateurs playing for a month, we have seen Gertrude Kingston come up from the East Side, we have seen the Washington Square Players move from beyond Third Avenue into the Comedy Theatre, and there remain. In every case something was added to our stage which it sorely lacked, and the contribution was welcomed by a substantial public. The way has been made easier for further experiments, for future dramatists with something fresh to say. If Mr. Belasco honestly believes this to be a bad thing for our theatre, if he honestly fears this sort of competition, he has delivered the most scathing self-criticism ever written. At any rate, the drama of to-morrow in America must be reborn out of the amateur spirit, and the increasing number of amateurs who are giving themselves gladly to task to-day is the most hopeful sign in our theatre.”

Little Theatres also weathered the 1919 actors’ strike. This was mentioned at the end of an article by Uarda McCarty in 1919. On Sept 14, 1919, McCarty wrote an article entitled “Melodrama Again is Coming Into Own As Style Wheel of Stage Makes Circle.”

“Drama, it appears, like all things else, must needs feel the influence of change. Style waves in the dramatic world, sweep with as sure and effect as waves of reform, politics or any other trend in life.

And the era for change is apparently at hand. The movement in the drama, this season, as evidenced by the late summer attractions, and early fall openings, seems to be more in the nature of a reverting back to old forms than the introduction of anything new. And the particular child of the past, which American drama has decided to resurrect and endow as the heiress of this season’s accomplishment, is melodrama.

‘Not any sophisticated, full-grown child of new ideas and forms, but the good old-fashioned, ‘dyed-in-the-wool, blood-and-thunder melodrama. The kind with the old types villain, the wronged girl, the old-fashioned trusting parents and other regalia of melodrama of half a century or so back.’  So says Maude May Babcock, director of the Little theatre, who has recently returned from a month in the east studying the theatrical situation.

One of the noteworthy examples of this type is ‘John Ferguson,’ a severe tragedy set in the north country of Ireland. It is a play with the religious element strongly predominating – for it opens with the old father, the principle character, sitting with an open Bible on his knees and closes with the same picture. But withal, the play is a melodrama, for in it appears the wronged maiden, the villainous villain and the virtuous hero.

Its popularity is attested by the fact that it ran all during the summer months and is still booked for Gotham presentation, at the Fulton theatre on Forty-fifth street.

Another play, forecasting the same trend, is ‘The Challenge’ at the Selwyn theatre. Both theatres weathered the actor’s strike, ‘John Ferguson’ the entire time and ‘The Challenge’ for a goodly portion. ‘The Challenge’ was forced to close by a walkout on August 16.

The reason for ‘John Ferguson’ continuing was because the actors playing are members of the Little Theatre guild, and organization growing out of the old Washington Square Players and the Producing Managers’ Association, against whom the strike was called, had no connection with the production.

One of the leading characters of ‘John Ferguson’ is portrayed by Rollo Peters, a leading man new to Broadway – that is, new in the art acting.”

Rollo Peters was not only an actor and director, but also a scenic artist who embraced the new stage art. He was also one of the individuals who benefited as the doors of the theatre industry began to open for a younger generation of theatre artists.

I have noticed that few people enthusiastically embrace change, especially when if they already benefit from the status quo. Amateur theatrics in the United States was nothing new, but it gained momentum during the second and third decades of the twentieth century. Scenic studios had to adapt, with many firms targeting the manufacture of stock scenery for academic institutions and other non-profit venues. Our industry was teetering on the pinnacle of change. It was the convergence of Little Theatre movement, the increased construction of cinemas, and the rise of the modern stage designer that all contributed to massive aesthetic shift in scenic art. In the past, I have said that this is when scenic painting shifts from an art to a craft, and I still stand by the statement. The necessary scenic art skill set was dramatically shifting, ushering in a new era of painting. What I consider as the golden age of the American scenic artist was nearing an end.

To be continued…

In a world of limited travel and social distancing, I find myself revisiting favorite locations with my brush; painting is a means of escape for me. My previous series “Quarantine Travels” helped me weather the first wave of COVID 19 from April 28-June 19, 2020.

Here is a new series about Colorado that will hopefully do the same as numbers continue to increase across the country. I will post each completed painting in the series to this page.

This series of thirty-five paintings was completed on February 21, 2021.

Here is a link to my previous series “Quarantine Travels” –

Travels of a Scenic Artist and Scholar. Quarantine Travels.

Here is a link to my current series “Mountains of Rock” –

Mountains of Rock: Scenes of the Canadian Rockies.

Copyright © 2020 by Wendy Waszut-Barrett

On June 14, 1919, the “Brooklyn Citizen” reported that six well-known scenic artists were engaged at the Metropolitan Opera for the coming season – Boris Anisfelt, Joseph Urban, Norman Bell-Geddes, James Fox, Willy Pogany and Pieretto Bianco (page 10).

Two weeks earlier, Norman Bell-Geddes was quoted as saying, “The painted scenery is the material, the lighting is the spirit” (New York Tribune, June 1, 1919, page 37). It was now light that gave spirit to the scene, no longer the skill of the scenic artist. This is one of the moments highlighted in many theatre history books, a professed pinnacle moment in American theatre. It signals a departure from the past and the continued evolution of theatre based on a chronological depiction of historical events. What it replaced is often dismissed; there may be only a paragraph or two written about the prior century of American popular entertainment. The painted illusion produced by generations of scenic artists is abandoned for the new stage art. This is a significant moment, especially if we contemplate what was lost.

By 1919, Thomas G. Moses (1856-1934) was sixty-two years old. He had been a scenic artist for over 45 years and founded three scenic studios.  In addition to working as his own boss, Moses had also worked for Chicago Studios, New York Studios, and at Sosman & Landis. At Sosman & Landis, he had transitioned from vice-president to president by 1915, first starting with the company in 1880.

Now imagine, you are an extremely skilled and a well-known artist picking up a newspaper. You are reading about the up-and-coming generation of scenic artists. By this point you have trained at least three new generations of artists, possibly four. Many of your one-time paint boys are leading designers in the field. The article that you are reading signals the ending of your era and the demand for a new art form with a new set of scenic skills. You are now lumped in with the “past,” and this past needs to be completely destroyed for the new generation and new art to proceed. The older generation of scenic artists, like Moses, were part of the “establishment,” moreover part of the “problem.” Unlike the generation before you, whose passing was lamented and the skills of the artists fondly recalled, everything that you worked for is now a target. The American theatre industry splintered into factions, with one segment denouncing the significance of another. We no longer lifted each other up, supplementing established skill sets with new technology. Instead, we promoted new art forms by destroying the past, as well as anything perceived as accepted or traditional. This attitude helped usher out the romantic realism on the stage and use of painted illusion, severing connections to the past. It is a fascinating time and one where the new artists explain, ‘If managers would only realize that it is not necessary to spend such large sums on scenery.” This statement took shot at the scenic studios, such as Sosman & Landis. This statement threatened the living wages earned by those who spent decades perfecting their skills.

On June 1, 1919, an article in the “New York Tribune” describes the “new art” in glowing terms and as breaking through the “barbed wire of inertia and stupidity, which always blocks the way of any innovator.” The article continued to explain that young scenic artists are leaping the “trenches of opposition and safely passing through the barrage of ridicule” (page 37). They are labeled the “soldiers of the new art,” and all were “native born Americans.”

The article headline stated, “Mr. Bell-Geddes and Others. The Young American Scene Painter Arrives – Present Activity of the Younger Generation Made Possible by Work of Urban and Anisfeld.”  The article provides great historical context for Moses’ career in the 1920s, as he continues to encounter ever-increasing obstacles and the demand for painted scenery diminishes.

Here is the article in its entirety:

“Our singers and actors may not equal those of our past, our composers and dramatists may lack inspiration and vitality, but at least we have our scene painters. In the establishment of a national school of opera or drama this may be beginning hind end foremost, but some beginning is better than none at all. The Metropolitan Opera House, so long the abode of extreme conservatism, has of late years even been taking the lead in the encouragement of what is new in the art of the scenic artist. It has given us Urban, and Paquerau, and Pogany, and Boris Anisfeld, and though we still have the glittering gullibilities of Mario Sala, of Milan, Metropolitan audiences no longer believe that this painter’s ‘Aida’ is a masterpiece of scenic investiture. Whatever may have happened to our ears, our eyes have been opened.

It undoubtedly is Josef Urban to whom we owe managerial recognition of the new art. He broke through the barbed wire of inertia and studpidity which always blocks the way of the innovator, leaped the trenches of opposition, and passed safely through the barrage of ridicule. Behind him came the others, younger men all, who dug in and held their positions, where at last reports they were considering the offer of an armistice. And happy we may be to realize that the youngest of these soldiers of the new art are native born Americans. Robert Edmond Jones, Rollo Peters and Norman Bell-Geddes, Granville parker, Arthur Hopkins and the Russian Ballet have acquainted us with Mr. Jones’s work. Mr. Peters has painted sets for Mrs. Fiske, for Henry Miller, and now for the Theatre Guild; Mr. Bell-Geddes last season made fifteen Broadway theatre productions and one for the Metropolitan. It is indeed these young artists who offer what is most vital and significant in the American theatre to-day. Before them our actors and our playwrights and our composers ought to hang their heads; they have technique, but they also have courage and ideals. In short, they are real. When our Broadway playwright begins to talk of the drama our yawns are uncontrollable; when our actors, though here we will make a few blessed exceptions, speak of acting, we remember we have an engagement at the dentist’s; but when our young scene painters discuss scene painting we sit down and listen.

The career of Mr. Bell-Geddes is of interest in this connection. It shows how these young men originally were enthusiastic amateurs, whose interest gradually deepened until they virtually were forced into the theatre. Mr. Geddes, whose painting of the scenery of ‘Legend’ at the Metropolitan at once brought him into prominence, was born in Detroit, and attended for a very short while art schools in Cleveland and Chicago. He then took up the portrait painting and magazine illustrating, in which work he was exceedingly successful. At that time, however, he also wrote a play, but, finding it of a type unsuited to the average theatre stage, her determined to make a study of the theatre. In furtherance of this plan, he obtained access to the stage of one of the Detroit theatre, where he studied all that went on, and where he studied all that went on, and where he helped the stage hands and electricians. He also constructed in his studio a stage of his own, on which he made experiments in all sorts of appliances, especially in the matter of lighting. After leaving Detroit he lived for two years in Los Angeles, where he designed the scenery for a stock company and further improved his knowledge of practical stage conditions. His first work in the East was in designing the last act set of ‘Shanewis’ at the Metropolitan Opera House, after which the Broadway managers seized upon him. It is only in his set of ‘The Legend’,’ however, that New York has as yet allowed him even to moderately full sway, but in the coming production at the Metropolitan of Henry Hadley’s new opera, ‘Cleopatra’s Night,’ he hopes to show Metropolitan audiences what he is capable of accomplishing. Meanwhile he has finished designs for settings of ‘Pelléas et Mélisande’ and of ‘King Lear,’ and is about to set to work on another play. It is these settings and those which he made for a stock company in Milwaukee last summer, of which he and Robert Edmond Jones were directors, which he hopes will be considered his, rather than the work he has done for Broadway managers.

‘We young chaps ought to be tremendously grateful to such men as Josef Urban and Boris Anisfeld,’ said Mr. Geddes recently. ‘These men with world-wide reputations have opened the door through which we youngsters, who are in the developing stage, can pass. Without them, our enthusiasm and whatever merit we may express probably would have been powerless to break down the innate conservativism of the average American manager. But those men have opened the eyes both of the public and of the managers, and so we now are able to get an opportunity of being seen. Of course, we often have to compromise, and of course the average Broadway show gives little scope for imagination, but, at least, we get in our hand.’

Mr. Geddes believes that lighting counts for more than painting in the modern history.

‘The painted scenery is the material, the lighting is the spirit,’ is the way he puts it. ‘There is no need of modern scenery being so horribly expensive. With proper lighting it is possible to do almost anything, the only trouble being that the lights are no only arranged scientifically in most of our theatres. With a triad of any color or combination of colors can be obtained and extraordinary effects in intensifying the mood can be produced be merely intensifying the lights.

‘The science of color is definite, yet the average stage manager knows nothing of it, save in the barest outline in Europe Adolph Appia has perhaps gone further in this respect that any other manager, though Reinhardt has absorbed and applied the ideas of others. Gordon Craig was of use as a path breaker, but he writes and talks rather than carries out his ideas. In America Belasco makes the height of the old idea, and because of his thoroughness and care he deserves high credit. Arthur Hopkins has been extraordinarily open to the new art and other managers, and, of course, Signor Gatti-Casazza, are showing increasing interest in it all.

‘If managers would only realize that it is not necessary to spend such large sums on scenery., the new ideas would travel more quickly even then at present. Let me give an instance; Edward Sheldon’s ‘Garden of Paradise,’ was only given several years ago at the Century Theatre with scenery costing $54,000. The play was a failure. Last summer we gave it is Milwaukee with the cheapest sort of scenery and yet, by the use of proper lighting the settings were of a beauty, which, I believe, was equal to the Urban sets at the Century. Moreover, our production was the greatest success of what lighting can do. The scene in the foyer with the Trilby singing in the theatre was accomplished by the simplest means, yet we produced the atmosphere and by a gradual intensifying f the lights brought the mood to such a vibrancy that the audience went wild.

‘I firmly believe that the proscenium arch destroys much of the illusion of reality and have patented plans for a theatre in which the present stage is replaced by a dome within which sets may be placed and lowered into the basement, where they are run off on a truck and another set immediately raised into its place. There is no curtain, the scenes being totally obliterated by the use of lights. Moreover, in this theatre I have produced three auditoriums, the largest of which seats three hundred people more than the Century Theatre without the use of a gallery, while the seat furthest in the van is the same distance from the stage as the last row if the Metropolitan Opera House. In this theatre each row of seats is an aisle, the auditorium entering and leaving parallel to the stage. Indeed, the theatre has illimitable possibilities of improvement. Managers are naturally conservative, but once they see the practicability of new ideas they will adopt them. It simply takes time to make them see it.’

This tonic note of restrained optimism is what the American theatre, be it dramatic or operatic, sorely needs. Our young scenic artists are furnishing it. If only our playwrights and our actors – well, our own Mr. Brown has referred to our ‘Ostermoor school of drama.’ In opera we have had the ‘Pipe of Desire,’ ‘The Canternury Pilgrims,’ ‘The Legend,’ and ‘The Temple Dancer,’ if only our composers – well, as least we have our singers.”

To be continued…

Copyright © 2020 by Wendy Waszut-Barrett

I came across an interesting article about scenic artist Charles Squires while researching the life and times of Thomas G. Moses (1856-1934) in 1919. On April 20, 1919, the “Dayton Daily News” published an article about Squires entitled, “Gang Battle Brought Artist to His Career” (Dayton, Ohio, page 36). This one is just delightful.

Here is the article in its entirety:

“When Charles Squires, scenic artist for the Brownell Stork players was hesitating over a decision as to whether he would become a policeman or president when he should grow up, the desire to paint struck him, and the blow was a lasting one.

The ‘gang’ that made headquarters on one of Burlington’s numerous hills and numbered young Squires among its members, fought its way downtown one day and took up a position to the rear of the town’s ‘opry house,’ from which strategic point, epithets and stones were hurled at the opposing forces with such excellent marksmanship, both physical and vocal, that the invaders were left in possession of the alley and in close proximately to the mysterious door beyond which loomed in semi-darkness the summer crop of scenery and dusty properties that serves to emphasize the emptiness of a theater’s stage when the season is over.

On the day of the invasion, however, there was activity within the building, as the more adventurous members of the gang learned upon cautious investigation. Straggling inside and edging along gradually until their bare feet were collecting splinters from the very center of the stage, they stod [sic.] in awe before the biggest picture frame they had ever seen and watched white-clad artists wield bog brushes and daub gallons of paint over the canvases which the boys had never seen before beheld at closer range than the distance between the gallery and the stage.

In the mind of at least one of the rapt audience that watched the artist at their annual task of retouching the theater’s scenery there was born the desire to emulate their achievements. Charles Squires resolved to be a scenic artist.

Ensued a period of feverish activity within the gang. The biggest barn in the hill neighborhood was chosen as a theater and studio. A monster production of “The Siamese Twins” was planned with “That Squires Boy” as dramatic director, leading man and – scenic artist.

As to the dramatic value of “The Siamese Twins” Mr. Squires refuses to be quoted. Certain it is, though, that it was a huge success, and it was responsible for the present fact that Mr. Squires is one of the ablest scenic artists in America. As soon as parental consent could be obtained he journeyed to Chicago and began the long apprenticeship which is necessary if one would qualify as a real artist. Study and application have helped him to forge ahead, and specimens of his work are to be found in the theaters of New York, Chicago, Winnipeg, Minneapolis, New Orleans, Washington, Denver, and half a dozen other cities scattered over the continent.

This versatile genius and master of the art of scene painting will become closely acquainted with a number of young folks who will avail themselves of the opportunity offered by the Brownwell-Stork Players to serve an apprenticeship upon the scene bridge. Under the excellent instructions of Mr. Squires it is expected that the various classes will make rapid progress, so that their own creations on that canvas may form part of the settings of the various plays to be offered.

While these instructions will be absolutely free of charge, no application will be considered unless recommended by a member of the hostess committee.”

To be continued…

Copyright © 2020 by Wendy Waszut-Barrett

There are thousands of productions with scenery delivered by Sosman & Landis that were not recorded by Thomas G. Moses in his memoirs. In 1919, new scenery for the “Let’s Go Peggy” was designed and delivered by Sosman & Landis and Kansas City Scenic Co. The two firms had partnered together on many projects, including the scenery for the Elks’ Opera House in Leadville, Colorado in 1901.

The “Topeka Daily Capital” reported, “a carload of scenery is being built in Chicago for the production and will be received here in time for the stage rehearsal scheduled for next Monday night” (20 Oct. 1919, page 6).The setting for the first act was in Madrid and the setting for the second act was in Palm Springs.

The “Topeka Daily Capital”  reported,  “’Let’s Go Peggy Will Be A Home Grown Production By James A. Darnaby” on October 13, 1919 (page 6). Here is the article in its entirety:
“’Let’s Go Peggy’ arrived in Topeka yesterday with James A. Darnaby and his corp of assistants who will direct the production of the fall show for the Elks. Mr. Darnaby has written the show expressly for the Topeka Elks to include several features not unusually written into a play of this character. In it are incorporated part of the original draft of ‘Janitor James’ and ‘Who Do You Love.’ He will open the same show with a professional company in Chicago January 1.

’Let’s Go Peggy’ starts in Spain where Major Hamilton, member of a socially prominent family is about to leave for America. A stunning and very rich widow desire to marry him. His son, however objects to the match, likewise, her daughter. To overcome their objections the elderly couple agree with the youngsters that if the son and daughter don’t marry they must not stand in the way of papa and mamma marrying.

The second act includes a minstrel oleo sketched in as the performance of a blackface glee club at a charity ball in Spain and the cast requires about thirty blackface comedians. Mrs. Anne Saunders Darnaby has written all of the music.

Madame Chenault will arrive Tuesday to direct the ballets and Miss Helen Runyan, musical director, will direct the choruses.

The first rehearsal will be held Tuesday and Mr. Darnaby will confer with the entertainment committee of the Elks’ club this morning with regard to a selection of the cast. The performance will be given at the Grand, October 28, 29 and 30.

Miss Runyan is staying with her aunt, Mrs. James Cannon, who is in Topeka with her husband, James Cannon, who is superintending the contract for building the East Sixth Street concrete road.

Everything which goes with the show will be new. The Kansas City Scene Co. is building a complete set of scenery for the entire show and Lester o Chicago, is making new costumes for the parts.”

Later advertisement would note that scenery for the show was provided by “Sosman & Landis, Chicago, and Kansas City Scenic Co., Kansas City” (Washburn Review, 22 Oct. 1919, page 3).

On October 25, 1919, the “Topeka State Journal” reported, “Delegations of Elks from all over the state will see the opening performance of ‘Let’s Go Peggy’” (page 6).

“Lets Go Peggy” continued to be a success at Elks’ venues over the years. The show went on tour to other Elks theaters over the years. On March 24, 1922, the “Ottawa Herald” reported the show was “declared by many to have been the best home talent production ever presented “in Ottawa, Kansas (page 4). J. A. Darnaby and Anne Saunders Darnaby were still traveling with the production that involved thirty locals.

To be continued…

Copyright © 2020 by Wendy Waszut-Barrett

Chicago’s Empress Theater opened in 1913. The venue was located in the Englewood neighborhood of Chicago. Six years later the building was renovated and purchased new scenery. The Chicago Studio of Sosman & Landis was contracted to supply the new sets. This is not to be confused with Chicago Studios, the company that Thomas G. Moses worked for in 1919 after leaving New York Studios.

In 1919, Moses wrote, “A new contract was entered into between the Chicago Studios and myself for one year. I hope it will prove to be a paying one in which I participate in the profits and a raise in salary, which means my old salary of $100.00 and a bonus.” Chicago Studios was a competitor of Sosman & Landis. It was also the same name as midwestern branch of Sosman & Landis Scene painting Studios, making the history a bit complicated. On Nov. 1, 1919, Chicago Studios placed a want ad in the “Chicago Tribune”:

“MEN-YOUNG, BETWEEN THE AGES OF 16 and 21 to learn to paint theatrical scenery; must start in as paint boy and work up; salary to start $15 per week; an excellent opportunity for one who wishes to learn the trade. Apply Chicago Studios 15 W. 20^th-st” (page 25).

This is from the same time when Moses was working at Chicago Studios; he needed to expand the staff.

Of the Sosman & Landis’ Chicago Studio, the “Herald and Review” credited the firm with the new Empress Theater sets in 1919 (Decatur, Illinois, 10 Aug 1919, page 18). The article reported, “Empress Theater Opens Next Week. Interior has been redecorated and new stage lighting system installed. After being closed for a period of six weeks for redecorating, the Empress will open for its fall and winter seasons next Sunday afternoon. Extensive improvements have been made during the closed period, the interior being entirely newly decorated, new seat covers for the orchestra chairs and the scenery department supplied with new sets from the Chicago studio of Sosman & Landis. A new lighting system has been installed, exactly like the one being used on the stage of the Great State-Lake theater, Chicago. Twelve sets of lights, each containing a 500-watt nitrogen lamp, set in a specially constructed reflector, will throw 6,000 watts of light on the performers, making it one of the brightest stages in this art of the country.”

To be continued…

Copyright © 2020 by Wendy Waszut-Barrett

Thomas G. Moses resigned at Sosman & Landis on September 1, 1918 and began working for New York Studios that fall. In 1919, he left the employ of David H. Hunt at New York Studios and signed a new contract with the Chicago Studios. Even though Moses was no longer affiliated with Sosman & Landis the company trudged on under the management of Perry “Lester” Landis, son of the co-founder Perry Landis. Much of the scenery credited to the studio in 1919, however, had been completed under the direct supervision of Moses before his departure.

In 1919, Sosman & Landis studio was credited with the scenery for the DeKoven Opera Company’s production of “Robin Hood.” Ironically, the scenic art was still credited to the firm’s two founders Sosman and Landis. On May 19, 1919, the “Post Crescent” reported,

“APPLETON THEATRE. ‘Robin Hood.’

Did you really ever see a first class performance of the best COMIC OPERA any American Composer has written? ROBIIN HOOD is worth seeing and hearing, for both is joy. The time you remember as the 13^th century and the locale is the Medieval City of Nottingham in England where the ubiquitous ‘Sheriff’ is the ‘Pooh Bah’ of the town. Here is where Ed Andres the veteran comedian shines. Later his activities extend to Sherwood Forest, and his complicated drolleries seem never ending. The scenic artists Sosman & Landis have achieved a remarkable piece of work in both of these settings for the DeKoven Opera Company, the Central square of Nottingham being a magnificent panorama of the middle ages and the forest scene with its rustic beauties a vista of rare beauty. The choral effects, the clever dances, the kaleidoscopic lighting, and the delightful ensembles which Mr. DeKoven wove into his most successful opera form a cycle of entertainment which those who witness at the Appleton Theatre next Monday May 17 will long remember” (Appleton, Wisconsin, page 7).

To be continued…