Copyright © 2020 by Wendy Waszut-Barrett
Robert P. Carsen was a scenic artist, stage mechanic and studio founder. He was the one who many scenic studios contacted when they needed to subcontract a carpenter. Over the years Carsen was associated with Buhler, Peltz & Carsen Studio, Peltz & Carsen Studio and the Robt. P. Carsen Scenic Studio. He worked as over hire at many places too, including J. C. Becker & Bro. In the 1920s and 1930s, Robt. P. Carsen’s studio letterheads included, “constructors and painters of theatrical scenery.” His studios address was the same previously cited by Peltz & Carsen, 1507 North Clark Street, Chicago. Peltz passed away in 1919, but his son was also a stage carpenter that worked at Peltz & Carsen.
Robert Peter Carlsen was born on May 27, 1876, in Blooming Prairie, Minnesota. Like some other artists, he changed his last name to Carsen by the turn of the twentieth century. He was the son of two immigrants, Emelia Olsen (b. 1855) from Norway and Peter Carlsen (b. 1840) from Denmark. Robert was one of five children born to the couple after their marriage in 1875; two boys and three girls. His sisters were Hilda (b. 1883), Roze (b. 1886) and Helen (b. 1880), with an only brother was named Lewis O. (b. 1878). Lewis went by “Louie.” Both Robert and Louis worked in theatre.
In 1880, the Carlsen family resided at 157 Ivering Street in Faribault, Minnesota. By 1900, each of the boys was listed as a theatre “stage man” in the US Federal Census. At the time, the Carlsen family was living at 276 Goodhue, St. Paul.
The 1910 US Census reported Carsen in Chicago, living with his future wife and her son at 1364 Sedgwick St. Robert was lodging with Herman M. Peltz, Alice McGinnis, and her son Frank McGinnis, Jr. Alice’s maiden name was Bernstein, she was divorced from actor Frank McGinnis. Alice and Frank were married on Aug. 4, 1898.
On Oct. 31, 1912, Carsen married Alice L. Bernstein. He was 36 years old and she was 31 years old. Five years later, Carsen’s 1918 WWI draft registration card lists that he was a contractor and owns his own business at 1507 N. Clark St. This would have been Peltz & Carsen. He was described as tall, with a stout build, blue eyes and sandy hair.
In 1923, Carsen placed advertisements in education journals, business directories, and drama publications. For a why, he specialized in rentals and focused on amateur productions. The 1923 December issue of “The Drama Magazine” included a “Robt. P. Carsen Scenic Studios” ad space noted, “Rent everything in Scenery” (page 120). They were taking a new approach, offering an educational department:
“An announcement
SUSAN STUBBS GLOVER
Authority on lighting and settings for the amateur stage. Is director of our Educational Department. Mrs. Glover’s Screen Stage Settings have had editorial recognition from The Theatre, Variety and The Drama Magazine and her advice is sought by Schools, Colleges and Little Theatre. If you have a stage problem write for our questionnaire.”
In 1924, Carsen delivered scenery for “Two Little Girls in Blue” at the Harlequin Club in Layfette, Indiana (Journal and Courier, 2 May 1924, page 2). Of the settings, the ‘Lafayette Journal and Courier” reported, “Most of the action of the play takes place aboard ship, making it necessary to provide an elaborate ship setting. The settings that will be used are an exact duplicate of the sets used in the original Erlanger production secured through the Robert Carsen scenic studio of Chicago.”
On May 15, 1925, Moline’s “Dispatch” reported, “The scenic investiture of Robin Hood presents a problem to amateur productions from Chicago, where he arranged with the Robert P. Carsen scenic studios to rent the original DeWolf Hopper scenery and properties as used in the Great Northern theater this winter. This scenery, amounting to almost a carload, will be shipped to Moline and patrons of the opera will be assured at least of the authentic period scenes of the well-loved Sherwood and Nottingham environs. In order that the opera may meet the high standard set by its promoters the costuming will be done by the New York Costume company, one of the finest costume houses in America.” (Moline, Illinois, page 20).
In 1927, Robert P. Carsen Scenic studio was credited with the new system at the Kenosha Theatre in Wisconsin. The “Kenosha News” reported, “The designing construction and rigging of the most modern stage equipment through which a theater giving stage presentations such as the Kenosha must hope to operate smoothly is the result of the efforts of the Robert P. Carsen Scenic Studio of 17507 N. Clark street, Chicago. The stage equipment, which has been pronounced by experts to be without fault, is the sum total of decades of experience in outfitting theater stages.
Carsen married for the second time, Katharine L. Slack in Clinton, Iowa, on July 8, 1941. Carsen passed away on March 10, 1958. At the time, he lived in Michianna Shores, Indiana, and was 81 years old. the death certificate listed his “usual occupation” as a manufacturer in the stage equipment industry. Interestingly, his death certificate lists his parents as Peter Carsen (not Carlson) and Emily Forsythe (not Olsen).
Like Herman Peltz, of Peltz & Carsen, the studio outlived him. The name of Carsen morphed into the studio of ACME, CARSEN & PAUSMACK.
To be continued…
