Tales from a Scenic Artist and Scholar. Part 1139 – Thomas G. Moses and Stanley C. Warner of the Denver Scottish Rite, 1922

Copyright © 2020 by Wendy Waszut-Barrett

During the first four months of 1922, Thomas G. Moses worked on scenery projects in Tacoma, Seattle, San Francisco and Oakland. He then headed to Denver, Colorado, writing, “On arriving at Denver, we went to the Oxford and secured a fine room.  Met the Scottish Rite Bodies and Mr. Stanley Warner, regarding their new Temple, then started for Kansas City where we stopped for only a day.  Got a line on what was wanted, then started for home.  We arrived home May 14th after an absence of five months and a fine old trip.”

Moses was referring to Stanley C. Warner, a well-known Denver Mason and attorney who became the Sovereign Grand Inspector General (SGIG) of Colorado.

Stanley Clark Warner was the son of Sidney Warner and Minerva Jane Clark, born in Wilton, Ontario, Canada, in 1863. In Canada, Warner established himself as an attorney after graduating from Victoria College in 1884 and being admitted to Canadian Bar in May 1887. By the fall of 1887 he married Mary Ella Smith (1863-1935) in Utica, New York, and the couple settled in Napanee, Ontario. In 1903 the Warners moved to Denver where Stanley became extremely active in both Public Service and Freemasonry. Warner was a partner in the firm Herrington, Warner & Grange before becoming a judge. From 1923 to 1929, he worked as the Public Administrator for Denver and by 1929 was a Colorado Agent of the Corporation Trust Co. of New York.

In regard to Freemasonry, Warner belonged to the Scottish Rite, York Rite and Ancient Arabic Order of the Nobles of the Mystic Shrine. Warner was even the Grand Commander of the Knights Templars.

Interestingly, in 1926, Warner delivered the “Gettysburg Address” in honor of Lincolns birthday for radio. It was broadcast from the Scottish Rite cathedral in Denver, presented by Colorado Consistory No. 1, Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite of Freemasonry (“Aspen Times,” 11 Feb 1926, page 2). When Moses met with Wagner and the Scottish Rite Bodies in Denver during 1922, it was to discuss scenery for this building.

In 1910, Sosman & Landis delivered scenery to the Denver Scottish Rite, so this project should have been pretty simple to land. Unfortunately, times had changed. Scenery delivered to Scottish Rite theaters became more complicated by the 1920s, as the Mason’s attitude toward purchasing scenery began to shift.  Before WWI, Sosman & Landis worked in conjunction with M.C. Lilley, a major fraternal supplier. Working together, they delivered entire theater packages to new buildings. This meant an almost guaranteed sale when they began to design the scenery collection. By the 1920s, Scottish Rite scenery projects became more  independent of the entire theater project, simply representing one element and going to the lowest bidder. This changed the success rate for Sosman & Landis when going after a project.

Sosman & Landis continued their standard practice to secure a contract; meeting with a client, creating designs and then writing contracts for the desired work.  The problem is that they invested too much time in the preliminary process; time that their competitors did not necessarily invest in. In short, competitors let Sosman & Landis do all the upfront work, and then swept in to under bid it. Furthermore, the Masonic design process was extended, the scope for massive complexes taking years to complete. A project began in 1922 may not come to fruition until 1925, 1926 or 1927.

In the end, Sosman & Landis invested too much time into lost work.

To be continued…