Copyright © 2020 by Wendy Waszut-Barrett
At the end of March 1920, Moses delivered Atlantic City Boardwalk scenery to the St. Louis Coliseum for a local charity event. At the time, he was working for Chicago Scenic Studios, having left both Sosman & Landis and New York Studios in Sept. 1918 and Sept, 1919 respectively.
By the spring of 1920, Moses wrote, “On the 20th of April, I signed an agreement to return to Sosman and Landis Company to draw $6,500.00 for the first year and my stock returned to me, which means I will have a chance to get more if I can make the business pay.”
He was returning to a dying company, one that would close within three years. He wrote. “I have painted a large autumn canvas for the Sosman and Landis Company office, as the offices are going to be very nice.”
There were also a few events leading up to his return. Just before he recorded his decision of a return to Sosman & Landis, Moses wrote, “My head aches all the time – not severe, but a dull ache that is very annoying.” The headaches were likely from his 1918 head injury. That year, he wrote, “October 10th, I was knocked down by a boy on a bicycle in Oak Park. It was dark and I did not see the wheel. It was thought by the doctor that I had fractured my skull. It was a couple of months before I recovered.” Moses didn’t take the time to let the injury properly heal and was on the road again too soon. The headaches continued to plague him for the next few years.
Moses was also having problems with his teeth, something that doctors also thought may be contributing to his headaches. Later in 1920 he wrote, “Had an X-ray taken of my teeth and found them awfully bad, so I had to get busy and have them all extracted, excepting six lower ones. It was some job. Not as much of a shock as I expected.” A few months later, Moses wrote, “My headache still continues and there seems to be no help for it. No one seems to know the cause, now that my teeth are all out, which everyone thought would be the remedy.”
But there was another dynamic at play before his return to Sosman & Landis.
That spring Moses wrote, “Mr. Hunt arrived from New York and remained for a few days, then left for California where he will remain several weeks. I interceded for Parker, formerly of Sosman and Landis with Mr. Hunt, and I think he will engage him to go to New York City.” Now this statement caught me by surprise. Moses had signed a one year contract with Chicago Studios during the fall of 1919, after having left the employ of David H. Hunt at New York Studios. Did he go back, and was New York Studios still considered the eastern affiliate of Sosman & Landis?
By early spring 1920, Moses wrote, “We are having a hard time to keep a man in the office. Nobody seems to please Mr. Hunt.” So, Moses was working with Hunt during the early spring of 1920, yet not associated with Sosman & Landis, but there was also no mention of Chicago Studios who he accepted a one-year agreement with from fall 1919 to fall 1920. After Moses’ returned to Sosman & Landis, Hunt is still in the picture. That summer, Moses wrote, ““Mr. Hunt sent Mr. Leo Staler on from New York to take my place and while he tried to be very nice about it, there was something about his attitude that didn’t ring true.” Mr. Hunt was also involved with Sosman & Landis finances, as Moses mentioned him in August 1920: “Mr. Hunt promised to send me a check for $700.00 on the 15th of August. I had to go without it, and received it in Colorado Springs after I had made all the arrangements for money to go with. We left for the West August 19th.”
The honeymoon phase of Moses’ return to Sosman & Landis had already worn off by summer. By the end of May Moses wrote, “The haggling and wrangling in the studio and office is certainly getting the best of me, and I will be glad when time comes for me to migrate to Clinton Street.”
Moses must have migrated to the main studio on Clinton Street after returning from his summer vacation, August 19-Sept. 28. Upon his return, he wrote, “ It took me a few days before I was in the harness again, and working just the same as I did before I left two years ago. Landis and I got out after business within a few days after my arrival and succeeded in landing a few good ones. I started to do some painting but it did not last long, as I had too much other business to do. I found the conditions altogether different from what I supposed them to be – too much overhead. It will be awfully hard to keep up the output to balance it all.”
Sosman & Landis had flailed about for two years during Moses’ absence. Although he had returned, it was too late to resuscitate the dying company. He was trying to make the best out of a bad situation. But he was also returning home. His scenic career really started in the Clinton Street studio in 1880. He was there were Sosman and Landis built the space. He would be there when the firm left the space in 1923 too. Good or bad, it was everything familiar to him. At the end of 1920, Moses wrote, “I am pretty well satisfied with the result of this year’s work and I feel that changing back to Clinton Street was the best thing for me to do, as I really belong there, as my money will always be there unless the business is sold.” I have to wonder if he had any idea that the business would be sold in under three short years. He was 64 years old at the time.
To be continued…
