Sosman & Landis: Shaping the Landscape of American Theatre. Employee No. 32 – Charles H. Ritter

Copyright © 2021 by Wendy Waszut-Barrett

Charles H. Ritter worked at Sosman & Landis sporadically throughout the 1880s and 1890s. Like most of the artists on staff, he was also affiliated with other theaters and even ran his own business during this time. He was part of the Sosman & Landis labor pool that produced a massive amount of scenery during this time. Although a definitive start date remains unknown, he was working for the firm in 1885 and moved into the new studio in 1886.

On Feb. 28, 1886, Ritter’s portrait was included with those of  David A. Strong, John H. Young, Walter W. Burridge, Thomas G. Moses, and Henry C. Tryon in the “Inter Ocean” Newspaper. All were featured in an article entitled “Up in the Clouds” (page 9).  The article included “Brief Sketches of Chicagoans Prominent in Difficult and Exacting Art.”  All of the scenic artists featured in the article were associated with the Sosman & Landis studio at the time.

Under Ritter’s portrait was the caption:

 “Chas. H. Ritter who is a present engaged at Hooley’s stand’s deservedly high in the profession, and has painted scenes at that house for the past five years. He was born in New York and studied with Richard Marston at the Union Square Theater for a period of eight years during the management of Shook and Palmer. He is the inventor of a foreground for the cylindrical panoramas, which adds much to the illusion by rendering the line between the foreground of properties as now used and the painted distance without possible detection.”

One month before the article appeared in the “Inter Ocean,” the new Sosman & Landis studio opened on South Clinton Street.  Costing over $50,000, the new building remained the permanent home for firm until 1923.  Moses and Strong were the first employees to work in the space during 1886; their project, a panorama.  Of this new studio, Moses wrote, “Our new studio on Clinton Street was now ready for us and Mr. Strong and I started on a very interesting panorama of Grant’s trip around the world.  We were alone in the big studio for some time before the whole force came over.  We enjoyed painting the panorama as it was continuous. There was some careful blending to be done.” Ritter was part of that force and had recently patented a structure for panoramas and dioramas.

Many of the scenic artists at Sosman & Landis were familiar with the painting and mechanics for both moving and stationary panoramas.  Ritter applied for a patent for “Dioramic or Panoramic Structure” on September 19, 1885. His patent was filed on March 16, 1886. Here is the link, https://patents.google.com/patent/US337869A/en?q=panorama&before=priority:18870101&after=priority:18860101

This was a little difficult to track down as the recognition software erroneously translates his last name as Bitter, not Ritter.

The mid-1880s were an exciting time for scenic artists in Chicago. The first exhibition of watercolor paintings by American Scenic Artists were the feature for “The Scene Painters’ Show during the fall of 1885. During the spring of that year their exhibit was planned. On August 1, 1885, the “Inter Ocean” reported, “The scenic artists of this city held a meeting this week at Parker Galleries and determined to hold an exhibition and sale of works in distemper at those galleries early in September. Among the artists present were Ernest Albert, John Mezzovico, Walter Burridge, David A. Strong, John Howard Rogers, Henry Tryon, George Dayton, Thomas Moses, John Howell Wilson, H. E. Bucky, Charles Ritter, and others” (page 4).  

Well-known scenic artists from all over the country descended on the Windy City and stayed. Sosman & Landis was able to hire the best and advertised this fact in their catalogues. By 1894, the firm advertised, “Our artists are selected with reference to their special abilities. Some excel in designing and painting drop curtains, others in landscapes, and others in interior scenes; so we divide out work that each is given what he can do best.” They streamlined the process by working toward the strengths of each employee. Ritter was especially well known for his exterior painting abilities.

Ritter was born in New York in approximately 1845. He was first listed as an artist in New York by 1867, residing at 128 Eldridge.

He first studied with Richard Marston at Shook & Palmer’s Union-Square Theater in 1871. Subsequent listing from 1875 to 1880 in the New York Directory continued to included Ritter at 69 Fourth Av. and then 202 B 16^th. He remained at the Union Square Theare for eight years before moving west to Chicago where he became associated with Hooley’s Theatre, the Grand Opera House and Sosman & Landis.  By 1888, Ritter was prominently listed in the Chicago Directory as Hooley’s scenic artist, boarding at the Southern Hotel. His affiliation with Sosman & Landis was still mentioned when Ritter painted scenery in Indianapolis a decade later.  The firm placed Ritter at the Grand in Indianapolis at the same time they placed Fred McGruder at the Pike Theatre in Cincinnati, Ohio. This was after the establishment of Sosman, Landis and Hunt, a theatrical management firm. They staffed their new theaters with some of their best scenic artists to paint scenery and other shows for the season. This was brilliant, as it also provided regional offices to efficiently produce scenery.

On November 2, 1898, the “Indianapolis Journal” reported,

“The man who had a prominent hand in the beautiful stage settings seen at the Grand during the past three weeks and who has, up to this time, been unknown here, C. H. Ritter. Mr. Ritter came from the studio of Sosman & Landis, at Chicago, six weeks ago, and will remain all winter at the Grand, getting up scenery for each production. While, of course, he has been furnished every week with an outline of just what is needed for the coming week’s play, the artistic portion of the painting is altogether his own. He has given ideas here and there, but, in the main, the beautiful scenery, which affords so much pleasure each week to the eye, can be credited to his brush. Mr. Ritter is said to be one of the best scenic artists in the country. For nine years he was the artist at the Union Square Theatre, New York, and for seven years was engaged in a similar capacity at Hooley’s Theatre, Chicago. He painted all of the stock scenery of the Grand Opera House, Chicago, and his more notable achievements for stars and road companies include all of the settings for Richard Mansfield’s production of “The First Violin,” Modjeska’s plays, Roland Reed’s plays, “The Devil’s Island” and the last act of “The Moth and the Flame,” which was seen at English’s last week. Sosman & Landis regard Mr. Ritter as one of the most capable scenic artists ever in their studio, and they selected him for the Indianapolis work with a view to giving this city the best possible results in the scenic line. Mr. Ritter, with the help of one assistant, gets up all the scenery for the stock company’s production” (page 5).

As with McGruder in Cincinnati, the artistic process was described in detail for an upcoming production. It was a brilliant marketing move. On March 29, 1899, the “Indianapolis News” reported:

“GRAND’S SCENE PAINTER.

A Visit to His Workshop in the Theater.

A Network of Ropes and Much Apparent Rubbish Turn Out to be Parts of an Ordinary System of Scenic Arrangement.

The beautiful scenery used at the Grand Opera House, which has become so much a feature of every play, Is the work of Charles H. Ritter, head of the scene-painting department of the stock company. To reach Mr. Ritter’s workshop, a long, narrow, rickety flight of stairs must be mounted. The place looks like a neglected attic, with rubbish scattered about In apparent confusion. A network of heavy ropes confuses the senses. The piles of “rubbish” are soon seen, however, to be articles useful in decorating a stage or portions of scenes, while the network of ropes become an orderly, systematic arrangement of “stays” and “guys” by which pieces of scenery are raised or lowered.  Immediately behind this mass of cordage Is a platform, about five feet wide, supported by large cables at either end. On this narrow, swinging base, the men who paint the scenery that pleases comfortably-seated audiences nightly, are obliged to stand while they work. On each side of this platform Is a “paint-frame.” which Is also suspended by guide-ropes. One of these paint-frames is twenty feet high and forty feet long, while the other is twenty-six feet in bight and forty feet In length. These frames are the supporting background for canvas, while it Is being transformed, by the artist’s strokes. Into interior and exterior scenes of greater or less beauty, as the exigencies of the play demand. Bold relief and strong coloring being required for scenic effects, there is considerable difference between the Implements employed by a scene painter and those found in the studio of a landscape or portrait artist. Mr. Ritter and his two assistants, when seen at work, were laying on colors with brushes that resembled those used by house painters. When work on a scene Is first begun, the effect is as though the coloring were being literally daubed on the canvas, but in a short time a realistic picture takes form. The first step In painting a scene of any description is to “lay on” the background. After this is done, the details of the scene are blocked out, to be filled In later.

Works by a “Plot.”

Mr. Ritter receives a “plot” each week of how the completed scene should appear, from Stage Manager Bellows, telling whether the scene is to be an Interior or an exterior, and, If an Interior effect, the locations of the various walls, doors, etc. In the “plot” reproduced, which is the scene shown in act 2 of “The Charity Ball,” a drop curtain at the rear of the stage Is called for, in which, through the windows of the room represented on the stage, the audience can see a street or park In winter— a street, housetops being shown. Having received this “plot,” Mr. Ritter then devises some form of “Interior” or “exterior.” If he Is to paint a room, he must get up appropriate designs to represent wallpaper and celling decorations. Understanding that he is to paint a winter scene for the background. he is left to choose what kind of scene it shall be. For interior settings he finds the sample-books issued by wallpaper manufacturers, for use by their traveling salesmen, very helpful in choosing designs for mural decorations. He also picks up Ideas from his dally observations. For example, he frequently sees an arch over the front of a private house that suggests to him a valuable Idea for a similar piece ml decorative work to be used on the stage.

Liquid paint is not used by scene painters. The coloring employed by them comes In the form of powder, contained In large paper sacks. When used this powder is mixed with “sizing” or glue, which performs the function of holding the color firmly to the canvas, and thus a quickly mixed liquid paint Is obtained.

Mr. Ritter’s Career.

Charles H. Ritter has been in the scene painting business all of his working life. He obtained his first Instruction at Shook & Palmer’s Union-Square Theater In 1871 from Richard Marston, one of the greatest scenic artists of that period. After remaining at the Union Square for nine years. Mr. Ritter went to Hooley, of Chicago. He remained there seven years, when the rapid development of traveling companies made unnecessary the employment of a local scenic artist. Mr. Ritter then opened a studio in the Grand Opera House at Chicago. While thus engaged, he did work for prominent people in the theatrical world, and assisted In the production of many plays. Rice and Dixey engaged him to paint the scenery for their “Adonis.” Robson and Crane had him furnish the settings for “The Two Dromio’s.” Mr. Ritter cherishes a commendatory letter which he received from Stuart Robson, In regard to the scenes painted for this play. Richard Mansfield drew on Mr. Ritter for some of the scenery in “The First Violin.” Perhaps the most recent notable work Mr. Ritter has executed previous to his engagement with the Grand stock company, was the scenery employed by James H. Wallhick In producing “Devil’s Island,” which was seen at English’s Opera House recently” (page 11). 

By 1910, Ritter was living in New York.  The 1910 Census still listed Ritter as an artist in the painting industry, now 65 yrs. old. The report clearly lists him as divorced (“D”), and living with fellow artist James Wilson on West 24^th Street. James Howell Wilson had also worked in Chicago and participated in the planning of the 1885 Scene Painters show.  Their participation was mention by John Moran in his article about the Scene Painter’s Show for “Art Union, a Monthly Magazine of Art” in 1885 (Vol. 2, No. 4,p. 85): “Other works deserving of notice are Messrs. George Dayton, Sr., George Dayton, Jr., the late L. Masha, C. Better, Chas. Ritter, H. Buhler and John Howell Wilson, whose “Country Road ‘76” is especially fresh, verdurous and bright. It is to be hoped that this is only the forerunner of many like exhibitions and it marks a decided growth in the national art spirit.”

I have yet to find any specifics concerning Ritter’s birth, marriage or death. There were many men named Charles H. Ritter who lived at this time; the majority remained farmers their entire lives.

To be continued…