In 1924 Thomas G. Moses wrote, “July 30th, I started south to Memphis, where I had to go over into Arkansas to make a sketch in a dismal swamp. Architect Awsumb went with me. I believe everything in the line of insects and reptiles lived in that swamp and had been waiting for us. I made a sketch as quickly as possible and got all other data necessary.”
ArchitectGeorge Awsumb (1880-1959)
Moses was accompanied by the well-known architect George Awsumb (1880-1959). The two worked together on the Memphis Municipal Auditorium that year. I find their trip to an Arkansas swamp fascinating, as they were going on site to gather source material, likely for one of the exterior stage settings at the auditorium. Moses came from a generation of artists who gathered primary source work for both their stage settings and easel art.
Much has been written about Awsumb and his architectural endeavors, but here is a brief synopsis.
George Awsumb was born in Skien, Norway, on July 20, 1880. He emigrated to the United States with his parents in 1883 when he was three years old. The Awsumbs settled in Whitewater, Wisconsin, where George graduated from the high school in 1898. The family later moved to Eau Claire. He started college studies as an engineering student at the University of Wisconsin in Madison in 1901. His interest and studies changed, and he began studying architecture at the University of Illinois in Champaign. After completing a Bachelors in Science by 1906, he began working as a draftsman in Chicago at various architectural offices. By 1913, he founded his own architectural firm and became a member of the Chicago Architectural Club. He won the Club’s traveling scholarship and later became the president in 1919. That same year, he entered a competition with Charles O. Pfeil for the design of the Memphis Municipal Auditorium. On October 26, 1924, the “Leader-Telegram” reported, the designer and architect of the building was George Awsumb, son of Mr. and Mrs. S. J. Awsumb of this city. Mrs. Awsumb is at present visiting her son in Memphis. Mr. Awsumb was also the architect who designed both the city hall here and also the city auditorium.”
Pfeil & Awsumb operated until 1929, when Awsumb broke away and founded another firm under his own name. Eventually, his firm became Awsumn & Sons. Here is the link to the Awsumb Architectural Collection in the Digital Archive of the Memphis Public Libraries: https://memphislibrary.contentdm.oclc.org/digital/collection/p13039coll1/id/220/rec/1
We all experience those unique moments in life that fuel our artistic passions. We may be 18 or 80, but that moment is unforgettable and guides our path. At the University of Minnesota, I went from performance to painting in the blink of an eye. Historic scenery brought focus to my chaotic aspirations.
I first attended USITT as an undergraduate in 1989. That year the conference was held in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. The USITT Expo floor contained a potpourri of historic scenery and models that had been recently acquired by the School of Theatre and Dance at Northern Illinois University. This was during the same time that Lance Brockman was acquiring several historic design collections for the University of Minnesota, including the Twin City Scenic Co. collection, the Great Western Stage Equipment Co. Collection and Holak Collection.
Wendy Waszut at USITT in 1989.Wendy Waszut at USITT in 1989.Painted detailfrom the Scenery Collection at USITT in 1989.
The scenery on display at USITT was a very small sample of a much larger collection that was documented by Alexander F. Adducci in the 1980s. He painstakingly photographed each artifact with a crew of students and produced an exceptional slide collection. The slides were initially used as a teaching resource. Adducci was listed as the curator for “A Collection of Late 19th and Early 20th Century Scenic Art, Containing 3100 Color Images, Documenting a Rich Period of American and European Scene Painting and Opera Design.” The slide collections sold by the University of Northern Illinois were purchased by a variety of academic institutions and archives throughout the country in the late twentieth-century. Many of the slides now sit in their archival sleeves, carefully protected and often inaccessible. They remain untouched. Here is the link to the slide collection at the University of Minnesota: https://archives.lib.umn.edu/repositories/9/resources/1907
This collection ignited my own spark, a spark that continued to be kindled by dry pigment and barrels of size water. At the time, I did not truly understand the historical or cultural significance of the collection, only seeing the beauty of the brushwork. It is only now that I recognize the international significance of this collection. As the slide inventory states,”Housed in the Arts Annex of the College of Visual and Performing Arts at Northern Illinois University, the Scenic Collection includes elements from the settings of 90 operas, with approximately 900 backdrops and borders and more than 2200 framed scenic units. These sets illustrate an exceptional range of production styles between 1889 and 1932, reflecting the influence of Realism, Romanticism, Impressionism, Modernism and Art Nouveau in scene painting. In addition to the scenery there are 3 dimensional units including furniture and properties. Furthermore, the collection is supported by an extraordinary archive of production notebooks, property lists, inventories, expense records, performance time sheets, correspondence, original photographs of the sets, selected costumes, and opera stars of the period, ground plans and blue prints, painters elevations and renderings, original costume and set design drawings, and 120 exquisitely painted and detailed ¼” scale maquettes of the settings.”
Backdrop from the Scenery Collection at USITT in 1989.Backdrop detail from the Scenery Collection at USITT in 1989.From the Scenery Collection at USITT in 1989.From the Scenery Collection at USITT in 1989.From the Scenery Collection at USITT in 1989.Painted detail from the Scenery Collection at USITT in 1989.From the Scenery Collection at USITT in 1989.From the Scenery Collection at USITT in 1989.From the Scenery Collection at USITT in 1989.
In an odd twist of fate, the Scenery Collection popped back onto my radar a few years ago while attending another USITT conference in Fort Lauderdale. I have since reacquainted myself with the collection as its future is in peril.I am going to start sharing images of these extraordinary artifacts, now housed in a leaking warehouse with an uncertain future. Although these precious pieces have been quarantined for quite some time, they deserve another moment under the spotlights. I will be working with Dave Doherty, and we will bring every nook and cranny of this collection to you online. Here are a few photos from when the scenery was featured at USITT in 1989.
In the spring of 1924 Thomas G. Moses wrote, “I have had a fearful cough for several months, begins to be chronic and running about in a car is not helping it very much.” For quite some time Moses had been suffering from both headaches and difficulty breathing.
Between securing contracts and competing projects, Moses was running himself ragged. Constantly being on the go was starting to take a toll. Between the spring of 1924 and the spring of 1925, Moses secured and completed a staggering amount of projects all over the country. At this same time, his health began to worsen. As many of us are prone to do, he ignored the warning signs and just kept plugging along. The breaking point occurred in California that April.
Moses and Fitch Fulton arrived in San Jose on March 27, 1925. He wrote, “Fulton and I got busy immediately, got a good start and pounded away pretty steadily until April 18th when my trouble that had been growing for the past four years came to a climax, and it was a case of life or death. Dr. Moore and Fulton got me to the San Jose Hospital on a Saturday night after an unsuccessful attempt to relieve me of my trouble.
The San Jose Hospital
“It took two nurses to keep me alive. When morning came, an operation had to be performed. Madam arrived from Los Angeles in the afternoon, several hours after the operation. I very soon recovered from the shock and while it was necessary to be kept quiet, the Madam was with me every minute, only going to the hotel at night. The day nurse, Vera Schultz, was a good strong girl, and delighted in taking me out in a wheelchair as the weather was fine. I enjoyed being out of doors, the hospital was very good and nicely situated in the city limits. I was in good condition by May 1st and I was taken again to the operating room for the second serious operation, which was successful, after which came the battle for strength. The weather became unsettled and gloomy, which did not help me very much. What I was obliged to go through in the hands of the doctor and the nurses was worse than the operation. All through my illness, I had to keep work going and had to ask the Madam to see that the salaries were paid and the work at the Consistory did not stop. It was opened on time and we were through on April 27th, a few days before my second operation. The members of the studio were very kind to me and my room was filled with flowers; the studio boys did not forget me. I here realized what brotherly love meant…On May 30th, I was allowed to go back to the hotel. I was very weak and could hardly walk. The Madam and I went to Santa Cruz for a week, stopping at the Casa Del Rey Hotel, which was very fine in every way. I made several sketches on the beach and fed the sea gulls. It was wonderful to be able to get out in the sunlight and drink in the pure air after such a long siege in the hospital.” And then he went back to work, picked up the pace and just kept plugging along – again. But this was a bit of a wake-up call for Moses. He would recall that his hospital experience dominated his entire California time that year, with projects being completed either “before or after the taking.”
As Moses celebrated his birthday that summer, he wrote, “The 21st of July was my 69th birthday, and I believe I have a great deal to be thankful for, as my health is one hundred per cent better than a year ago, and we have a good business – there is nothing more to be wished for.”
In 1924 Thomas G. Moses wrote, “During July, we had a number of designs to make. We closed an $18,000.00 contract at Memphis for the Civic Auditorium; very big drops and asbestos curtains.”
This was the new Memphis Municipal Auditorium in Tennessee. The facility had been in the planning stage for quite some time, with early committees forming in 1912. By 1919, the architect’s drawings were published in local newspapers. The idea was to not only build an amphitheater that could accommodate eleven thousand people, but also design one that could be converted into an opera house that could accommodate between two-thousand and seven-thousand audience members. There would be a stage, orchestra pit, tickets offices and all other requirements for a modern theater. The first public gathering of the auditorium was on June 3, 4, and 5, 1924 for the United Confederate Veteran’s Reunion. Although the building was not complete, visitors were able to gather in the main auditorium. The formal opening was on October 17, 1924 with two free concerts conducted by John Philip Sousa, one in the afternoon and one in the evening. Dedicatory exercises as part of the evening’s entertainment.
The auditorium was located in downtown Memphis on the corner of Poplar Avenue and Main Street, right next to the railroad. The facility had a seating capacity for 11,000 and boasted 30,000 square feet of display space. It was a massive undertaking with an electric movable stage.
In 1926, “The Story of the Memphis Auditorium” was published and described building. One section thoroughly described the auditorium and stage: “The history of the large auditorium in America has been one of steady progress from the armory and amphitheater type of structure to the modern convention hall and opera house of today. The program for the Memphis Auditorium was an ambitious one, calling for a large convention hall seating about twelve thousand, with arrangement to be provided for converting it into an opera house of considerable size, with provision for a stage to accommodate the most elaborate scenic effects” (page 39).
Later in the book, the stage house and mechanics were described in detail:
“The stage is forty-two feet wide by the entire width of the auditorium back of the arena wall behind the circle of boxes and seats, which is one hundred thirty-five feet on the floor and one hundred thirteen feet between the fronts of the balconies above, the latter being the actual width of the enclosed stage house. Among the many peculiar problems of this building was the design and construction of the stage house. A stage house must be a fireproof structure, generally built of concrete or brick walls, be provided with gridiron arrangement for raising and lowering scenery and for hanging same when it is not needed on the stage. It must have a steel asbestos curtain to cover the entire stage opening which will automatically close in case of fire, and in an ordinary theater has a rear stage door for taking scenery in an out. Dressing rooms are generally arranged on either side of the stage.
“It was found necessary to build the upper part of this stage house of structural steel with reinforced concrete upon the inside from a height of forty-five feet to the arena floor to the roof of the building. This necessitated dropping the ceiling of the north hall at the point noted one hundred sixty feet from exchange street wall, and designing that part of the building in a separate unit as a large auditorium for the giving of operas, fetes, etc. from the stage. The stage house proper, then, is a solid concrete wall under a concrete roof one hundred and thirteen feet long by forty feet deep long and forty feet high at its highest point. This was ample height to install all machinery, gridirons, etc. When the stage is in use from wither hall, walls of special fireproof construction are let down by machinery from above, making a hollow wall below built up of steel and asbestos products, with a large air space in between. When these walls are in place for a theatrical production the stage house is similar to that of any other theater, with the exception of the method of construction and the fact that the stage has a proscenium opening on either side.
“The curtain openings are each seventy by thirty-two feet. The stage is deep enough to receive one hundred and twenty lines of scenery, which is all that could be required in present day theatrical performance, and up-to-date opera company using only about eighty. The stage house and openings are as large if not larger than in any other country. All of the fireproof walls, etc., which can go below permanent stage house can be raised into the latter by means of motors located on the gridiron level by the turning of a switch. The stage walls may be raised slowly in at this manner in forty-five minutes; while a complete change from two halls with stage into a large amphitheater may be made in eight hours.
“The large truss at the north side of the stage house, which carries a large part of the load, has a span of two hundred feet and weighs sixteen hundred tons. All of the steel work in connection with the stage house is fireproofed with hollow tile or concrete. The stage itself when in position is five feet above the arena floor and three feet above the floor of the concert hall. This stage is set on a series of screws which operate by motors to raise or lower it to any desired height. When the stage is lowered to the arena floor and all walls are raised to the attic, a fireproof collapsible ceiling is suspended over the opening of the stage house and below the hanging scenes, asbestos curtains, suspended walls and border lights. When this is done the auditorium is open for its entire length. The boxes, circle seats, and balcony seats continue south below and at each end of the stage house, so that the amphitheater is two hundred feet wide for a distance of two hundred and twenty feet from the north wall and one hundred and thirteen feet wide from this point to the south wall.
“At each side of the stage house above the balcony and on a level with the bottom of the permanent stage house – that is, forty-five feet above the arena floor – is a space forty-two feet wide by fifty-five feet long, designed to be used as an organ loft. These is also a connecting space eleven by one hundred and thirteen feet south of the stage house at this same level, which will be used in distributing the sounds from the two parts of the organ into the concert hall when the music is wanted there. The organ blowers and motors are all on this same level. Baffles will be used to direct the sound room from the organ to either the north hall or the south hall as desired. The organ is not installed at the time the building was built, but is now being provided for.
“Another very necessary feature of an auditorium which has full theatrical equipment is ample dressing room area. This is provided for in a unique way. On the stage floor level at either side are two star dressing rooms with private toilets, a stairway up to ta mezzanine dressing room section and a door to the main corridor thirteen feet wide, into which auto trucks can be driven with scenery, equipment and trunks. The larger pieces of scenery are brought in through the center, north or south doors, as the case may be, to the back of the stage. The orchestra pit has the usual connection to men’s chorus room and retiring rooms in the basement.”
In 1924, Thomas G. Moses wrote, “Went down to Iowa where I closed another order in the State Prison hall.”
Of all the jobs that Moses mentioned in his memoirs, this one surprised me. I guess that I never really thought about state prisons as a theatre client. In many cases, the theaters were referred to as “chapels,” seating hundreds of inmates for a variety of events and lectures. At Iowa’s State Penitentiary and Men’s Reformatory there were prison bands. Orchestras and choirs were organized at both men’s and boy’s reformatories in the state. These groups presented concerts on Sunday’s and holidays. Visitor’s gate receipts also funded other performances, lectures and concerts. By the 1930s, movies were offered to the prisoners.
Locating any images of prison theaters became quite a challenge. I finally came across an image from one at the state prison in Des Moines, Iowa. It made me think of the bare-bones academic stages or Liberty theaters during WWI.
As I searched the 1924 newspapers for articles about any mention of a prison performer, one particular story caught my eye. On March 30, 1924, the “Des Moines Register” published a full-page article that headlined, “Sweet Alice, Omaha Beauty, Prefers Saving Souls to Stage. She is back home singing for poor and unfortunate.”
The article described the life and career of Alice (Alyce) McCormick, who started her career at the age of four singing to prison inmates. The article detailed, “Alyce was the first girl who ever sang in the Charlestown prison,” said Major McCormick. “No women had ever before been allowed there until Mrs. Booth secured the consent of the prison authorities to conduct religious services. That was in the days when prisoners’ beards were allowed to grow. “Alyce, a tiny little girl with long auburn curls, faced rows of grizzled whiskered faces and sang without a trace of fright. Many of those men had been imprisoned for long terms of years without seeing a single woman or child. Tears came into their eyes as Alyce sang and as I carried her from the building many reached out gently and touched her clothing and caressed her curly head,” said her father. During the summers since that time Miss McCormick has sung in the prisons of Trenton, N.J., Joliet, Ill., Anamosa, Ia., Lincoln, Neb., Leavenworth and Lansing, Kansas, Los Angeles, Cal., and Pontiac, Ill. the Charlestown prison in Charlestown, Mass.”
In 1924 Thomas G. Moses wrote, “Went to Saginaw where I closed a small order for Masonic work.” The small order was likely for the temporary Masonic quarters after the 1924 fire.
The Masonic Temple in Saginaw, Michigan.
That spring, the Saginaw Masonic Temple burned. On March 11, 1924, the “Lansing State Journal” reported, “SAGNIAW, March 11. – Fire damaged the South Saginaw Masonic Temple early Tuesday, destroying the two upper floors of the building, occupied by three Masonic orders and a lodge of Maccabees. A dry goods store on the first floor of the building was flooded with the water poured on the fire. The damage may reach $70,000.” As in most cases, the Masons rebuilt their home, but outfitted temporary quarters during the planning and construction phase.
In 1926, Saginaw’s new Masonic Temple adjoined and equally new Temple Theater, located at 201-211 North Washington Avenue.
This reminded me the early days when Sosman & Landis first opened their doors. Moses may have been taking direction from the old Sosman & Landis playbook. In the beginning, the firm followed theatre fires, securing one project after another. In many ways, it was almost guaranteed work; there was always a plan to rebuild.
In 1923, Thomas G. Moses wrote, “June 22nd, I took a run over to Ft. Scott and met the committee on Masonic work. At this new Temple Roy Givens came down and we had quite a showing. Our old work is in the present Temple and as they are well please with it, I feel that we stand a good chance on it, but one can never tell.”
After closing the Fort Leavenworth Masonic scenery contract in 1924 Thomas G. Moses wrote, “Went to Kansas City where I met Roy Givens. A day’s rest in a hotel bed made me fit for another jaunt on to Denver where we rested for a day before going to Cheyenne…. Givens went back to Denver after we had a showing of our model, without getting much encouragement as to our chances on a $16,000 contract.”
I am still a little perplexed about Given’s relationship with Moses. In 1920, census records report that Givens was the manager of a uniform factory. It is possible that Givens was supplying fraternal regalia, working with Moses to deliver complete installations, similar to the agreement between Bestor G. Brown of M. C. Lilley and Joseph Sosman of Sosman & Landis. They worked together to delivered scenery to Scottish Rite stages during the 1890s and first decade of the twentieth-century. Moses may have been trying to establish a concrete Masonic link with western Masons again.
James Roy Givens was born on August 23, 1885 in Salina, Kansas. He was the son of John Wesley Givens (1842-1921) and Penina Jane McCall (1847-1966). As a young many, “Roy” Givens was featured as an excellent student, participating in both musical and theatrical productions. He went on to law school, graduated from college and was admitted to the bar by June 1905. He even made the headlines with a few of his cases. And then he joined the fraternity…
On Oct. 20, 1906, the “Salina Evening Journal” announced, “Roy Givens and George Meyers received the first degree in John Brown Lodge, A.F. and A.M. last night” (page 3). This was John H. Brown Lodge, No. 216, A.F. & A.M.
By the next spring, the “Salina Semi-Weekly Journal” announced “Roy Givens will be secretary to Grand Master Wellington” (1 March 1907, page 7). The article reported, “Roy Givens, a young man who has lived in Salina all his life, and who for the past year has been private secretary of T. L. Bond, grand master of Kansas Masons, left Wednesday for Ellsworth, where he will take a similar position with E. W. Wellington, who was elected to succeed T. L. Bond as grand master at the grand lodge at Wichita last week. Roy is an excellent stenographer and his association with Mr. Bond for the past year, and the fact that he took care of a great deal of the grand master’s private Masonic work, makes him peculiarly fit for the position. He has many friends in Salina who will regret to see him leave this city, but he will not be so far away to come home for a visit occasionally.”
Grand Master Wellington was Waldo Wellington. A year later the two were mentioned in the newspapers again. On Nov. 12, 1908, the “Ellsworth Messenger” announced, “Roy Givens, of Kansas City, spent a few days this week in Ellsworth with his friend, Waldo Wellington. While here he received his degree in Ellsworth Chapter, No. 54, R. A. M.” This means that after completing the third degree and becoming a Master Mason, he entered the York Rite.
In 1911, Givens married Florence Grace Robb (1882-1964). The couple celebrated the birth of two daughters Nina-Belle Givens (1912-1983) and Sarah Jane Givens (1915-2010). Both were born in Kansas City, Missouri.
Over the next few years, Givens was repeatedly connected with the fraternity, and then nothing. Moses only mentioned Givens in 1923 and 1924. By 1930, Givens was the manager of a refrigeration factory in Kansas City. He continued in that capacity for the next decade. I have uncovered very little else so far. Givens passed away on Nov. 16, 1959 in Kansas City, Missouri.
My post about the Scottish Rite scenery at Fort Leavenworth from 1924 included the standard Sosman & Landis design for the 18th degree. Labeled “Peristyle,” the design included a landscape with river dividing the scene, a pelican feeding its young, and a few other symbolic objects. The pelican was supposed to be piercing its breast to feed its young – a symbol of sacrifice.
Correct image of pelican posted to the Traveling Templar. here is the link: https://www.travelingtemplar.com/2013/08/the-pelican.html
This image is not unique to Freemasonry at all. It is found on stained glass windows in churches and even on the Louisiana state flag.
At Fort Leavenworth, however, Moses painted the pelican is feeding its young a worm.
18th degree setting at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas.Detail painted by Thomas G. Moses – pelican feeding a worm to its young.
He had done this before – many times. Besides, pelicans are water birds, and don’t really search for worms in the ground. I had always wondered who kept adding the worm and should have made the connection long before now. After all, in 1904, the artistic direction at the studio was handed over to Moses when he returned and became the vice-president of the firm. Moses and Fred Megan purchased the Sosman & Landis name after the company liquidated in 1923 and continued to deliver Scottish Rite scenery. It was seeing the pelican with a worm on the Fort Leavenworth scenery this week that made me realize Moses was the culprit. After all, he didn’t become a Mason until 1925, so it is understandable. What I find humorous is that it wasn’t immediately pointed out, or quietly fixed over the decades.
Correct depiction of pelican painted when Thomas G. Moses was not in charge of Masonic scenery production at Sosman & Landis.Scottish Rite scene for Winona, Minnesota, painted under Thomas G. Moses’ supervision.Scottish Rite scene for McAlester, Oklahoma painted under Thomas G. Moses’ supervision, 1908. This scene was later sold to the Salina Scottish Rite.Scottish Rite scene for St. Paul, Minnesota, painted under Thomas G. Moses’ supervision.
There are few Scottish Rite scenes that were solely designed for Masonic degree productions. Most stage settings that were used by the Fraternity originated for other venues. Many stage compositions had been used for centuries in a variety of theatrical and operatic productions. Palatial interiors, cathedrals, catacombs, dungeons, classical interiors, mausoleums, Egyptian temples, desert scenes, forests, rivers, landscapes, Gothic armories, rocky coasts, and garden scenes were all used for both commercial and fraternal productions.
The “INRI Peristyle” scene for the eighteenth degree, however, was unique. It would become a standard setting in many Southern Jurisdiction Scottish Rite theaters during the first decade of the twentieth century. This scene used a translucent lighting effect. The words “Infinity,” “Nature,” “Reason,” and “Immortality” were typically placed at the tops of columns. The first letter of each word (I.N.R.I.) was backed with red silk, allowing it to glow.
I am frequently asked questions about the subject matter and necessary symbolism in degree production scenery. How did the artists know what to paint? How did the Masons ensure appropriate symbolism on each backdrop without revealing any secrets? Did all of the scenic artists understand what they were painting on drops? The short answer is, “No, look at the pelican; it’s a perfect example of a detail being lost in translation.”
The pelican is an integral part of the eighteenth degree. In many stage settings it either appears on the backdrop or cut drop. Sometimes it is included as a set prop or light box.
Pelican piercing its breast light box for the 18th degree at the Scottish Rite stage in Grand Forks, North Dakota.
Screwing up this significant image is a big deal, and yet many Scottish Rite scenes still have a Pelican feeding a worm to its young.
This major faux pas, however, was not unique to Sosman & Landis. Once Volland installation at the Scottish Rite in Hastings, Nebraska has a lone Pelican piercing its breast – no young anywhere in sight. It’s like a pelican suicide.
Pelican painted by Volland scenic artists for the Scottish Rite in Hastings, Nebraska.
In 1924 Thomas G. Moses wrote, “On my way to Fort Leavenworth very soon, where I closed a small Masonic job of $2,000.00… I started home by way of Omaha. On arriving home, I started to work on Fort Leavenworth drops…Megan on the road most of the time makes the studio work so much harder for me, especially when I want to paint more.”
Moses’ $2,000 scenery project was for Boughton Memorial, Fort Leavenworth, Kansas. The Masonic Temple was dedicated during the summer of 1922. On June 23, 1922, the “Leavenworth Times” reported, “Hundred Witnessed Dedication at Fort. Impressive Ceremonies Held Last Night at Boughton Memorial, Masonic Temple.” The article continued, “One of the most impressive and interesting ceremonies ever held by Masons at Fort Leavenworth was held last night when Boughton Memorial, the Fort Leavenworth Masonic Temple, was dedicated. There was an unusually interesting program and hundreds of Masons, including two thirty-third Degree Masons, Col. E. B. Fuller and W. L. Burdick.” (page 1).
On June 12, 1924, the “Plainville Times” announced, “Army Lodges Confer Scottish Rite Degrees” (page 6). The article reported, “Fort Leavenworth, Kans. – During the great war the Scottish Rite Bodies of this city were of necessity somewhat disorganized but the bodies are now re-established and are comfortably housed in their new temple. Considerable equipment has been provided and the work is being conducted with efficiency and enthusiasm.”
The “considerable equipment” was the new scenery and properties painted by Moses for the stage. This “small Masonic job” both referred to the number and the size of the drops. The drops are approximately 12-feet high by 18-feet wide.
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On Nov. 14, 1921, Hugo R. Volland passed away. Six months later, Patrick J. Toomey died on March 12, 1922. Then, Volland’s wife Laura passed away on January 12, 1923. Within fourteen months the president, vice president and secretary/treasurer of Toomey & Volland passed.
The 1914 St. Louis Directory listed Patrick J. Toomey as the president of Toomey & Volland, Hugo R. Volland as the secretary of Toomey & Volland, Laura A. Volland as the vice-president of Toomey & Volland. Toomey was the senior partner, a remarkable and talented man. Volland was also talented, and the key individual who landed many of the Masonic projects. The partnership was extremely successful by 1920, continually landing one large project after another. Although Toomey’s son did not follow in his footsteps, both of Volland’s son’s did follow there father and were working for him in 1920..
That year Louis Jerome Volland and Victor Hugo Volland worked as scenic artists at the Toomey & Volland studio. In the end, they were the two who lost the most, but also gained a firm.
I am intrigued with Laura Volland’s involvement with the company. She was not an anomaly; it was not unusual for a wife to fill the position of president or vice-president at a scenic studio. I think of David Hunt’s wife who was listed at the president of New York Studios around this same time. Many women were involved with the studios, both on paper and in the offices.
Headline when Mrs. Laura Volland passed away.
On Jan. 13, 1923, the “St. Louis Star and Times” announced the passing of Mrs. Laura Volland (page 3). Her obituary notice reported, “Mrs. Laura Volland, 5865 Enright avenue, died in the women’s retiring room at the American Theatre at 10:10 p.m. yesterday a few minutes after she had complained of feeling ill. The cause of death was given at heart disease.
Hers was the third death of persons stricken in local theaters in the past week. Last Saturday night Robert E. Adreon, president of the American Brake Company, collapsed and died at the Orpheum, Joseph Stanhope, an actor in the Woodward Players, collapsed on the stage at the Garrick Saturday evening and died early Sunday morning.
Mrs. Volland had gone to the American with her sons, Louis J. and Victor H. Volland, and a young woman. She complained of feeling faint and went to the women’s rest room, where she collapsed.
Dr. George T. Gaffney, 4942 Laclede avenue was called from the audience to attend her. An inquest will be held Monday.
Mrs. Volland, who was 51, is the widow of Hugo Volland, treasurer of the Toomey & Volland Scenic Painting Company. Volland also died suddenly, in November 1921, of heart disease. His widow lived with her two sons and a daughter, Miss Rose Volland. Funeral services will be held Monday at the home with cremation at Valhalla Cemetery.”
