Month: September 2020

Design for an olio drop by John Z. Wood, representing the Twin City Scenic Co. of Minneapolis, Minnesota.

This is part of the Twin City Scenic Co, Collection, Performing Arts Archives, University of Minnesota Libraries. The Twin City Scenic Co. Collection, Holak Collection, Northwest Studios Collection and Great Western Stage Equipment Co. Collection are all part of an online searchable database. Here is the link to the database with over 3000 images of historic designs produced by American scenic studios: https://umedia.lib.umn.edu/search?facet_field=collection_name_s&facets%5Bcollection_name_s%5D%5B%5D=Scenic+Collections

Copyright © 2020 by Wendy Waszut-Barrett

In 1921 Thomas G. Moses wrote, “Made a side trip to Little Rock to settle on the Scottish Rite Temple.  I hope to be able to close the contract very soon.  I enjoyed the trip as I saw some very interesting old buildings.” He later returned to Little Rock that summer, writing, “I spent a week and closed the contract for $9,548.00.” This was a verbal closure and all preliminary; the final contract would not be signed until 1923.

Scottish Rite scenery projects were massive and sometimes took years to land, and months to actually paint. Masonic stock scenery collections were often more than twice the size of that delivered to a commercial theater, ranging from 80 to 120 drops with dozens of set pieces. Masons did not always understand what they were purchasing or receiving, so the numbers went up and down as specific settings were added or removed during contract negotiations.  I am beginning to realize that there were few Scottish Rite Masons who understood the complexity of what was delivered or how to effectively use it. During the early twentieth century, the company selling the product often sent a representative to help stage and run the scenery during the first Scottish Rite reunion. Masonic stagehands were instructed in the appropriate handling of drops and the set up for stage effects.

By the time Scottish Rite Valleys purchased a second set of scenery, often from the same firm, there was no longer training offered with the installation. In some ways this is understandable; members were familiar with using painted settings for degree work. However, as time passed much information became lost in translation. It is like playing a game of telephone with a bunch of older white men, some hard of hearing; important information gets dropped and what made sense in the beginning becomes something entirely different.  Even the origins of the scenery become a little murky or completely lost.

To be continued…

Design for an olio drop by John Z. Wood, representing the Twin City Scenic Co. This is part of the Twin City Scenic Co, Collection, Performing Arts Archives, University of Minnesota Libraries.

The Twin City Scenic Co. Collection, Holak Collection, Northwest Studios Collection and Great Western Stage Equipment Co. Collection are all part of an online searchable database. Here is the link to the database with over 3000 images of historic designs produced by American scenic studios: https://umedia.lib.umn.edu/search?facet_field=collection_name_s&facets%5Bcollection_name_s%5D%5B%5D=Scenic+Collections

Copyright © 2020 by Wendy Waszut-Barrett

In 1921, Thomas G. Moses wrote that he secured a scenery contract with the Dallas Shrine. In addition to supervising Shrine settings being built in Chicago, Moses was also negotiating a new scenery installation for the Little Rock Scottish Rite Theater. Of the upcoming projects, Moses wrote, “ “I have plenty to do on Masonic models and I am afraid I will have to get some help.” 

This Dallas project was for Hella Temple, Ancient Arabic Order of the Nobles of the Mystic Shrine. Moses recorded that Sosman & Landis “furnished a big set for the Shrine which was done in Chicago.” This means the actual construction and painting for the setting was completed in Chicago; the setting was shipped to Dallas that spring. In April, the Hella Shrine Temple hosted the Shrine Director’s Association of North America annual convention. The painted setting was possibly for use at that event.

On 27 March 1921, “Galveston Daily News” announced “Six Hundred to Attend Dallas Shrine Meeting” (page 8). The article continued, “Dallas, Tex., March 26.- Reports received by the arrangements and reception committee for the convention of the Shrine Director’s Association of North America, which meets in Dallas April 7 to 9, are to the effect that about 600 delegates will attend. The directors are meeting in Dallas in the third annual convention for the purpose of checking up of the curriculum of events encountered along the desert sands over which the novices travel at each ceremonial given by the Shrine Temples in North America. The meetings in Dallas will not be open to the general membership of Hella Temple, but will be confined exclusively to the directors and the committees in charge. Hella Temple will be host to the convention and will entertain the visitors while in Dallas. James E. Forrest is president of the association.”

On the last day of the convention, Frank H. Cromwell, of Ararat Temple, Kansas City was chosen president of the association (Austin America-Statesman, 9 April 1921, page 1)

To be continued…

Scenic design by Sosman & Landis Scene Painting Studio of Chicago, Illinois. This painted setting was designed for a Masonic clientele; the Masons used theatre as an instructional tool for members. Scottish Rite theaters were constructed to produced dramatic productions, teaching a specific lessons, similar to a morality play.

Here is the link to the cut drop design on the scenery collections database: https://umedia.lib.umn.edu/item/p16022coll116:1585?facets%5Bcollection_name_s%5D%5B%5D=Scenic+Collections&page=2&q=masonic

Here is the link to the backdrop design on the scenery collections database: https://umedia.lib.umn.edu/item/p16022coll116:2115?facets%5Bcollection_name_s%5D%5B%5D=Scenic+Collections&page=2&q=masonic

The backdrop and cut drop design are part of the Holak Collection, Performing Arts Archives, University of Minnesota Libraries. The Holak Collection, Twin City Scenic Co. Collection, Northwest Studios Collection and Great Western Stage Equipment Co. Collection are all part of an online searchable database. Here is the link to the database with over 3000 images of historic designs produced by American scenic studios: https://umedia.lib.umn.edu/search?facet_field=collection_name_s&facets%5Bcollection_name_s%5D%5B%5D=Scenic+Collections

I post a historic scene every day to my FB Group Dry Pigment and my FB Page Wendy Rae Waszut-Barrett.

Copyright © 2020 by Wendy Waszut-Barrett

In 1921 Thomas G. Moses wrote, “Did two watercolors for Mr. Hoblitzelle, which I trust will be pleasing to him and his wife.” This was immediately after Moses painted the asbestos curtain and decorated Hoblitzelle’s new Majestic Theatre in 1921.

Much has been written about Karl St. John Hoblitzelle, namesake of the Hoblitzelle Foundation.

The following write up about Hoblitzelle is included as part of the foundation’s history (https://hoblitzelle.org/about):

“Karl St. John Hoblitzelle was born in St. Louis in 1879.  While serving as an event manager at the St. Louis World Fair in his early 20s, Karl Hoblitzelle met performers and concession operators who indicated the south, in particular Texas, lacked venues to showcase their work and talent.  Upon the fair’s closing in 1903, Karl Hoblitzelle came to Dallas, Texas with $2,500 and began to build a chain of vaudeville theaters. At its peak, Interstate Theater Company held 160 theaters across Texas and the Southeast.  These theaters were soon transformed into movie houses, and the success of this entertainment business created financial resources which he invested in the growing oil and gas, real estate, and banking industries in Texas. 

Karl Hoblitzelle married Esther Thomas in 1920, a Broadway starlet who had performed under the name of “Esther Walker” and come to Dallas to perform at one of the theaters.  Both were active in the social, civic, and cultural activities of Dallas, and did not have any descendants.

Prudent management of their financial assets resulted in the accumulation of significant wealth, which upon the death of Mrs. Hoblitzelle in 1943 and Mr. Hoblitzelle in 1967, became the corpus of Hoblitzelle Foundation.

For more information about the history of Karl Hoblitzelle, please refer to the book published by Paul W. Harris, President and CEO from 1986-2017: https://static1.squarespace.com/static/5b33b0daec4eb7c0b38e600e/t/5b48f821f950b785d85bde19/1531508870948/Hoblitzelle75thAnniversaryBook2018.pdf ”

It was likely that Moses first met Karl St. John Hoblitzelle at the St. Louis World’s Fair. Moses attended the event with his wife Ella, checking on several attractions delivered by the Sosman & Landis Studio for the event. Moses frequently gifted a painted to client’s he considered good friends by the end of a project. It is no surprise that Hoblitzelle was the recipient of two watercolor paintings. I wonder where they are now?

To be continued…

Copyright © 2020 by Wendy Waszut-Barrett

In 1921, Thomas G. Moses wrote, “Mitchell of Mitchell and Halbach has engaged my services for Dallas, Texas, for the new Majestic Theatre.”

To clarify, a well-known interior decorating firm subcontracted some of the work for the new Majestic Theatre in Dallas to Thomas G. Moses, representing Sosman & Landis.  Since the establishment of Soman & Landis, the firm delivered stage scenery and painted décor for a variety of venues. This does not mean that Moses was credited for any of the Majestic Theatre painting as a subcontractor.

Since the late nineteenth century, Mitchell and Halbach were well known interior decorators and furnishers, located at 1715 S. Michigan Ave. in Chicago, Illinois. In 1921 they advertised as “specialists in high class interior decorations and furnishings for public and private buildings.  Moses had even hired Mitchell & Halbach to decorate the rooms in his own home.

Later in 1921 Moses specified his contribution to the Majestic Theatre in Dallas, writing, “I was successful with the asbestos curtain, and then went on to the wall decorations, which were very interesting and finally the playroom which was doubly interesting.” Moses remained in the south for nine weeks, working on the Majestic Theatre,  Dallas Shrine scenery, and negotiating future contracts with the Scottish Rite in Little Rock, Arkansas.

Moses was accompanied by his wife Ella [Madam] when they headed south that February, writing, “On the 15^th I started for Dallas, where I arrived the next day, late in the afternoon.  I was pleased to get this work as it was away from the extreme cold weather and a novel adventure for the Madam and myself.” 

Later that spring, Moses wrote, “Made a side trip to Little Rock to settle on the Scottish Rite Temple.  I hope to be able to close the contract very soon.  I enjoyed the trip as I saw some very interesting old buildings.  On my return to Dallas, it didn’t take me long to complete the work. 

Of Moses’ Majestic Theatre painting, advertisements announced, “In the vast auditorium that seats 3,000, a Roman Garden has been reproduced in detail. Overhead a sunset sinks to rest, sending the flaming amber tinted farewell to a sky that heralds the night with its millions of twinkling stars. One every side, seen over flower-covered walls, is a vision of ‘Gods Out-of-Doors, cloud-kissed hills with dormant  Vesuvius rising on the distance to greet them” (Corsica Daily Sun, 1 April 1921, page 10).

The Majestic Theatre in Dallas opened on April 11, 1921. It was advertised as the “New 2 Million Dollar Peak on the Dallas Sky-line” (Corsicana Daily Sun, 1 April 1921, page 10). This was the flagship of Karl St. John Hoblitzelle’s Interstate Amusement Company chain of theaters. Replacing Hoblitzelle’s previous Majestic Theatre from 1905 that burned to the ground in 1916. Located at the corner of Commerce and St. Paul streets, the five-story building boasted 20,000 square feet and was also home to business offices for Hoblitzelle. The Renaissance Revival structure was designed by John Eberson.” Later in 1921, Moses would write, “Did two watercolors for Mr. Hoblitzelle, which I trust will be pleasing to him and his wife.” Moses frequently gifted fine art paintings to his theatre clients. It was a personal thank you for the work and added credibility to the artistic works for the stage.

On October 13, 1921, the “Corsicana Daily Sun” reported, “When Fair visitors go to Dallas this year there will be one place they will all want to go – The New Majestic of Dallas, For to come to Dallas and fail to see this palatial show house would be like going to Rome and forgetting to visit the Vatican. The New Majestic of Dallas is conceded to be the peer of all playhouses in the world for it possesses a Majesticland. A playground that is all of 90 feet long and 50 wide- containing all manner of toys, animals, merry go rounds, slides, etc. Mary Garden the famous diva of the Chicago Symphony Opera Co. declared that even she – in her plans and ambitions for an ideal playhouse never dreamed of such innovation and theatredom as Majesticland. But Majesticland is the only one of the many perfect details of this beautiful theatre. Throughout it is an example of the highest art. Patterned after the beautiful decorations of Louis Sixteenth it stands alone in its simple elegance of beauty n in the entire southwest” (page 10).

Advertisements stated, “The ancients never thought of going to Rome without visiting the Coliseum. No one thinks of going to Paris without visiting the Louvre. No one thinks of going to Washington, D.C. without seeing the Capitol Building and White House. Correspondingly – on one thinks of going to Dallas without visiting the New Majestic Theatre – the Greatest Amusement Institution in America”  (Dallas Express, 8 Oct. 1921, page 7).

The “Scenic Artists” column in “The Billboard” that year reported, “Thos. G. Moses, art director for the Sosman & Landis Studios, is at Dallas, Tex., painting the new curtain and mural gardens in the new Majestic Theater now under construction. Mr. Moses states that this new Dallas House is one of the most wonderful in the country, having a number of unique features that make it interesting.” This article was clipped by Moses and placed in his scrapbook. There is no exact date or page number.

To be continued…

Design for an olio drop by John Z. Wood, representing the Twin City Scenic Co. Information on the back of the color rendering notes that the composition depicts Bordighera, Italy. This is part of the Twin City Scenic Co, Collection, Performing Arts Archives, University of Minnesota Libraries.

The Twin City Scenic Co. Collection, Holak Collection, Northwest Studios Collection and Great Western Stage Equipment Co. Collection are all part of an online searchable database. Here is the link to the database with over 3000 images of historic designs produced by American scenic studios: https://umedia.lib.umn.edu/search?facet_field=collection_name_s&facets%5Bcollection_name_s%5D%5B%5D=Scenic+Collections

I post a historic scene every day to my FB Group Dry Pigment and my FB Page Wendy Rae Waszut-Barrett.

Copyright © 2020 by Wendy Waszut-Barrett

Thomas G. Moses visited Minnesota in January 1921. Of the trip, he wrote, “Took a short trip to Louisville to get measurements for data for a big picture set, coming directly back and going to Le Roy, Minn., where I closed a contract for a decoration of a big pavilion used for dancing at the Oak Dale Farm.  I found some zero weather and had to go several miles out of town to the farm in an old bob-sled.” Moses later wrote, “I found the Le Roy job still hanging fire, so I had to go up and superintend the installing.  Everyone pleased.  We certainly got a good effect out of the ceiling panels.”

Le Roy was in the southeast corner of Minnesota, just a mile from the Iowa state line.

The dancing pavilion project was quite a project. At the time, Oakdale Farm near Le Roy, Minnesota, had a reputation for being the largest establishment of White Leghorns near that place. Stopping here to comment that it is hard not to visualize the cartoon character of Foghorn Leghorn. I guess that I am a product of Saturday morning cartoons.

By 1920, Oakdale farm comprised 80 acres and was stocked with 4,000 and 5,000 birds (New Ulm Review, 13 Oct. 1920, page 12). Each year, Oakdale Farms hosted an annual exhibit advertised as “More Fun Than a Circus! – More to See Than a Fair!” (Star Tribune, 3 Aug 1921, page 8). Advertisements announced, “Start early and make this a real picnic. Good places to park your car, and you’ll certainly enjoy the trip. 25,000 people expected, and there is room for all. Picnic tables free on the ground and arrangements have been made to serve cafeteria style at a nominal charge all those who do not care to bring their own picnic dinners. Plenty to eat for all.” I bet chicken was on the menu. There was “something ‘doing’ every minute!” that included aero-planes, vaudeville, band concerts and lectures.

The 1921 advertisement also  noted, “You will have an opportunity to ‘star’ in our motion pictures. The William A. Lochern Film and Slide Co. of Minneapolis are sending down their most expert crew to take picture for us of the crowds. We expect to show the film in every locality possible afterwards. Don’t miss getting in on this picture.”

On July 17, 1921, the “Star Tribune” included a picture of the dance pavilion announcing, “Oak Dale Farms Famous for Chickens” (page 33). The caption noted, “People who spend their vacation at the Oak Dale farms in Leroy, Minn., will have enough to eat. One of the farms is a famous poultry ranch and hatches out 50,000 chicks every month; if they cook them as well as hatch them, and it is said the do. Dancing in the pavilion should be postponed until some time after dinner. The other farm has gained notice for its stock. The photograph shows the corner of the dance pavilion at the farms.” This was a big enterprise that also functioned as a tourist destination. 

“Oakdale Farms, Inc.” made the newspaper multiple times in 1921. On August 21, 1921, the Star Tribune” reported, “Liens on Thomson Farm Break Records….Austin, Minn., Aug. 20. – All records for liens against an individual estate were broken here today with the filing of 56 liens, totaling $19,018.43, against Oakdale Farms, Inc. owned by R. J. (Cy) Thomson, embezzler of $1,890,000 from George A. Hormel & Co. The liens filed do no include those filed against Oakdale Farms at Le Roy, but are against property here and in Blooming Prairies. Liens against the LeRoy farms are filed in Cresco, Iowa. The amounts range from $621 to $3,956.49” (21 Aug 1921, page 11).

This mention on Moses’ diary shows the variety of projects that came into a scenic studio, ranging from rural Minnesota dance pavilions to metropolitan coliseums. In 1921, Sosman & Moses also delivered scenery to the Acadia Dancing Hall. These firms delivered painted scenes and decorations all over the country to stay afloat.  My greatest question was why a poultry producer south contracted a Chicago scenic studio, rather than one in the Twin Cities. However, there was the mention of Oakdale Farm’s connection to Hormel in Chicago, also a client of Sosman & Landis.

To be continued…

Copyright © 2020 by Wendy Waszut-Barrett

In 1921, Thomas G. Moses wrote that early in January they closed a contract with Mrs. John Alden Carpenter for a fashion show.

Moses had previously worked with Mrs. John Alden Carpenter on a Boardwalk show at the Chicago Coliseum in 1919. His scrap book included newspaper clippings pertaining to the event. On showed Moses at work with Mrs. Carpenter nearby. Of the 1919 event, Moses wrote, “Early in February we put the fashion show on, and it was quite a success.” I have written about this project in the past. On Nov. 24, 1919, the “Chicago Tribune” announced, “New Ocean Ready to Roll at Boardwalk.” The article continued, “Mrs. John Alden Carpenter’s painted ocean is finished it the last wave and all ready to roll up under Atlantic City Boardwalk at the Coliseum on dec. 6, when the bazaar for the benefit of the Passavant Memorial Hospital building fund is opened. The ocean and all other decorations have been designed by Mrs. Carpenter, who evolved the idea, bringing the board walk to Chicago, and are being executed by Thomas G. Moses” (24, 1919, page 7).

Of Mrs. Carpenter’s fashion show, the “Chicago Tribune” reported, “Mrs. John Alden Carpenter has decided to capitalize her skill in interior decorating but not for herself. She has elected to contribute her artistic ability as a gift for needy children. In future she will charge for services, but the money will go to the Illinois Children’s Home Aid Society. Mrs. Carpenter’s first’ professional’ job will be the decorations for the Fashion Show, to be held in First Regiment Armory Feb. 9 to 19, by the Chicago Garment Manufacturers’ association, the wholesale milliners’ association, the Chicago Furrier’s association. The check for her services will be sent directly to the children’s society. The transplanting of the Atlantic City board walk to Chicago’s Coliseum last winter was the work of Mrs. Carpenter, who also did the decoration for the Pageant of the East, for the Ten Allies ball in Madison Square Gardens in New York, and for Russian section of a pageant given for the Red Cross of Long Island. Everything in women’s wear for spring and summer, from hats to shoes, will be exhibited in little French shops along a street that will be an exact replica of a street in Paris” (14 Jan. 1921, page 15).

On “Designer of gowns and millinery, carpenters and painters, 150 beautiful models, and manufacturer and whole salers are rushing preparation for the Fashion Show and Merchants’ Fair to be held in the First Regiment armory, Feb. 9 and 19, inclusive. Mrs. John Alden Carpenter, who designed ‘Le Boul Miche,’ the boulevard of French shops to be erected in the armory, daily goes to 417 South Clinton, where the shops are being built and painted, and personally directs the work. The beautiful models selected for the nightly promenade to display Milady’s wear, are being fitted to the coats, suits and gowns and other apparel they will wear. It will require quick work to get the boulevard of shops erected in the armory, as the automobile show will not get out of the armory until Feb. 7, and then fashion show opens two days later. The show is under the auspices of the Chicago Garment Manufacturers’ association” (31 Jan. 1921, page 5).

Mrs. Carpenter has stuck in the back of my mind since 2017 when I came across the image of Mrs. Carpenter and Moses. It was not a new image, or a new name to me. When I compiled two indexes for Moses’ scrapbook and diary as an undergraduate, there was an entry for Mrs. Carpenter. When I expanded this index to 127 pages in 2006 (I was on maternity leave), I came across her name and picture again.

What I found so remarkable about the undocumented newspaper clipping in Moses’ scrapbook is the inclusion of the paint table. There are a few things to notice about Moses’ paint table in the picture.  There is an abundance of “pots” – containers for the dry pigment paste when painting a drop. This also ties into the name “pot boys,” mentioned by Sosman & Landis employee John Hanny. Pot boys was another name for paint boys.  Hanny explained that pot boys were given this name because they filled the pots of paint with pigment. These are not individually mixed colors for the composition, but pots for pure colors; they function like dollops of paint on an artist’s palette – a really big artist’s palette. This may be the only image of a paint palette used by Moses during his career from 1873-1934.

To be continued…