From September 20-28, 2020, I visited Leadville, Colorado. My mission was to document the historic scenery in the Tabor Opera House attic. This was the second phase of a project began last February. Six months ago, I examined all of the scenery stored on the Tabor Opera House’s stage. Last month I returned to document the scenery placed in the attic after the Tabor Opera House was renovated, 1901-1902.
During my stay, I was interviewed by Nancy Lofholm at Colorado Public Radio. Lofholm wrote, “At The Historic Tabor Opera House, The Old Stage Scenery Is Now The Big Show.” Here is a link to her article from September 29, 2020: https://www.cpr.org/2020/09/29/at-the-historic-tabor-opera-house-the-old-stage-scenery-is-now-the-big-show/ You may have to cut and paste the link in your browser, as I am having a difficult time embedding it in my post.
I return to the life and times of Thomas G. Moses in 1921.
That spring Moses and his wife Ella journeyed south for nine weeks. The primary
reason was work; Mitchell and Halbach hired Moses to decorate the Majestic
Theatre in Dallas. Other projects included scenery for the Dallas Shrine and an
upcoming design for the Little Rock Scottish Rite.
Moses later wrote, “On our return home we stopped in Kansas
City for a day, and a day in St. Louis, after an absence of nine weeks. I could sit down for only a day before I was off
to Fort Wayne for a contract for a vaudeville act, which we got.”
Postcard of the Fort Wayne Depot
A constant stream of activity defined Moses’ career was often
characteristic of late-nineteenth-century and early-twentieth-century scenic
artists. Even those who represented a particular studio were often on the go,
as many projects still occurred on site.
As I track the travels of these artists I am astounded by the time spent
on the road. By 1921, Moses was working
for Sosman & Landis again, on annual contract. In 1918 he resigned as
president of the firm and sought other opportunities at New York Studios and
the Chicago Studios. He had previously
left the firm a few times before, always returning home to Chicago and the main
studio on Clinton Street.
In regard to Moses’ 1921 diary entry, he noted stopping by
Kansas City and St. Louis. This was
standard, as he kept close contact with fellow scenic artists, both friends and
competitors. For years, Moses stopped by the Noxon and Toomey Studio to visit
his good friend Patrick J. Toomey. Likewise,
there were several artists that Moses remained close to at the Kansas City
Scenic Co. The scenic art network was
essential during times of plenty, as one studio would draw on the resources of
another. For example, Kansas City Scenic
subcontracted Sosman & Landis in 1902 to deliver a large scenery installation
to the Elks Opera House (previously Tabor Opera House) in Leadville, Colorado.
The is when the past and present intersect. For the past
four years I have traced a network of scenic artists from 1870-1930, based upon
individual entries in the 1931 memoirs of Thomas G. Moses. I am daily astounded
at the scope of work produced by Moses during his career, 1873-1934. Until the
past twelve days, I have dutifully written 1 ½ pages each day about Moses’
life, work and colleagues. When I have
been on the road, I often transition from “Tales from a Scenic Artist and Scholar”
to “Travels of a Scenic Artist and Scholar,” describing a specific historic theatre
or scenery collection. From Sept. 20-27, 2020, I was in Leadville, Colorado, documenting a
historic scenery collection that was stored in the Tabor Opera House over a
century ago. The collection was primarily composed of historic pieces from
1879-1890, once used on the original stage before the Leadville Elks (BPOE) purchased
the building and renovated the stage. Upon returning to my office in Minnesota,
there would still be a month’s worth of research and writing to compile historical
analyses, conditions reports, replacement appraisals, and a collections care
and management program.
I posted many of my Colorado discoveries, with the intention
of returning to the Thomas G. Moses timeline on September 30 when I returned
home. Within two hours of my arrival in
Minnesota, we received a call from our eldest child about a medical emergency. By the next morning I was on the road again,
hoping to offer support while awaiting test results; we are still waiting for a
definitive diagnosis. On my 4+ hour drive, I planned for the worse and hoped for
the best. In the midst of everything, I was also planning the 14th
birthday celebration for our youngest child; I had scheduled my Colorado trip
to return with ample time to prepare for the event.
This brings me back to Moses’ mention of Fort Wayne in 1921.
This morning I decided that it was time to return to my blog; without writing
every spare moment I feel like a rutterless ship. Recognizing that I would likely never be able
to locate the specific show in Fort Wayne, I decided to search for a mention of
“Sosman & Landis” in Fort Wayne newspapers. Casting my net wide, they was a
mentioned in 1884, just as Landis & Sosman. The firm was competing for the
Masonic Temple scenery work, submitting a bid alongside Noxon, Halley &
Toomey, St. Louis; Kover & Sons, Cincinnati; and Moses & Co.,
Kalamazoo. The Moses & Co. is Thomas
G. Moses and Lemuel L. Graham; Graham being the future founder of Kansas City
Scenic Co. The irony is that I have been “living” in 1884 for the past two
weeks. While waiting for test results, I decided to start doing some
preliminary research on the Tabor Opera House attic scenery colleciton, tracing
down two artists and exploring their careers during the early 1880s. Keep in
mind that the original scenery for the Tabor Opera House was delivered in 1879,
with additional pieces being delivered in 1888 and 1890. In the meantime, the
Tabor Grand Opera House was constructed in Denver. Both H. E. Burkey and Henry
C. Tryon were associated with the venue; Burkey was also listed as a scenic
artist for the Tabor Opera House in Leadville.
As I traced the lives and careers of various Tabor Opera House artists,
Tryon kept popping back onto my radar; he and Burckey partnered for other projects
during this time too.
I have written about Tryon in the past, as he and Thomas G.
Moses not only worked together at Sosman & Landis, but also went on a
sketching trip to West Virginia in the 1880s. This brings me back to 1884, just
after Tryon painted scenery for the Salt Lake Theatre; at the time he was
listed as Henry C. Tabor, scenic artist of the Tabor Opera House, Denver. Between
1880 and 1884 Tryon published several lengthy articles on scenic art; I just transcribed
one from 1884 yesterday. It is one of the most comprehensive writings about the
trade and scenic art process, identified by region, that I have come across to
date. Last night, I was trying to figure out when to add this bit of
information into my blog. It seems that tomorrow is an appropriate time.
