Copyright © 2021 by Wendy Waszut-Barrett
William Joseph Smart (1893-1962) was a scenic artist at Sosman & Landis from approximately 1900 to 1921. His highest level of education was 8th grade, suggesting that he started working as a paint boy when he was 15 or 16 yrs. old.
Born on March 26, 1893, he was the son of Thomas James Smart and Emma Josephine Houlb. Thomas Smart was born in the Czech Republic. Arriving in the United States in 1880, over the years, his birthplace was listed as Austria, Pisek, Bohemia and Czechoslavakia. He was the son of James Smart (French) and Emma Josephine Strobel (Czech), with Czech being the primary language spoken at home.
Thomas and Emma were married on April 24, 1886. The couple celebrated the birth of five children: Tillie E. Smart (1889), William J. Smart (1891), Martha Emilie Smart (1891-1895). Blanche Helen Smart (1893-1962) and Arthur Frederic Smart (1901-1970). They would remain an extremely close-knit family over the year; The majority of adult children remaining at home.
The 1910 US Federal Census listed William J. Smart as a scenic artist, living with his parents and four siblings at 3921 W 16th St. in Chicago. His father Thomas was a machinist in the iron work industry, a position that he would continue for the majority of his career. At the time, sister
Tillie worked as a telephone operator and Martha as “tag marker” for a mail order house.
Like many Sosman & Landis scenic artists between 1910 and 1920, Smart was part of a shared workforce between the Chicago-based firm and their eastern affiliate New York Studios. The New York counterpart was established in 1910 by David Hunt, secretary and treasurer for Sosman & Landis. Hunt, Sosman and Landis had previously established a theatrical management firm in the 1890s known as Sosman, Landis & Hunt. Hunt and New York Studios’ close ties with Sosman & Landis necessitated a regional office in Chicago; this was to manage a shared labor force and resources.
In the 1970s, former Sosman & Landis scenic artist, John Hanny, recalled Smart working for New York Studios. Hanny also remembered Smart as a fine draftsman, a necessary skill for scenic artists who also designed at the firm. Hanny, Smart, Art Rider, and William Nutzhorn all joined the Brotherhood of Sign, Scene and Pictorial Painters, Local 830, in 1912. This denotes a shift in Sosman & Landis scene painting staff, and lead to increased tensions with local union leaders.
On May 5, 1914, the “Chicago Tribune” reported, “ARTIST HAS TO JOIN UNION TO PAINT THEATER CURTAIN.” Under the article headline read, “Edgar Payne Starts Work, but Strike Results, and Compromise Solves the Problem. There is a difference between an artist and a scene painter. This Edgar Payne, of 4 East Ohio street, learned yesterday when he started on a big western picture for the drop curtain of the new American theater at Ashland avenue and Madison street. No sooner had the landscape artist dipped his brush in a jar of blue paint than there was trouble. All the sign, scene, and pictorial painters of local 830 in the building laid down their tools and walked out. W. G. Lathrop, business agent for the union asserted the men would not work so long as a landscape artist remained. Moreover, not one man in the union would hang the curtain after it was decorated with the western mountains from the brush of a nonunion painter – Payne. “I am an artist, I am a landscape painter and mural painter, not a decorator – “ Mr. Payne trained to explain. But he had to join the union or lose the job. He joined the union and went on with the picture.” For context, Payne started as a scenic artist at Sosman & Landis in 1903, so he was not just coming in as an easel artist.
That being said, I am going to take a moment and address a major shift in the theatre manufacturing industry at this time.
By the second decade of the twentieth-century, an internal battle was brewing among scenic artists. The main tension concerned the perception of those who painted scenery for the theatre; were they artists or craftsmen? This was the beginning of a shift that has continued until today. Contemporary scenic artists are handed designs to paint, or sources to interpret. Many nineteenth-century scenic artists designed stage settings and machinery, as well as painting; in short, they were masters of scenic Illusion and intimately understood all aspects of various stage systems. The names and work of these nineteenth-century scenic artists were featured alongside producers and performers, sometimes with equal billing. Their work was highly-valued and drew crowds to not only theatre productions, but also outdoor amusements and spectacles. This cannot be discounted, as they were “masters” in marketing themselves and their services to the public.
By the turn-of-the-twentieth-century, the names of scenic studios continued to replace those of individual scenic artists, and the perception of scene painting changed for both the general public and theatre professionals.
Not all early twentieth-century scenic artists were willing to throw their lot in with a group who worked as ornamental painters, and decorators. This was a specific mindset shared among many high-caliber American scenic artists; it had been reinforced for quite some time. In the 1880s and 1890s, Sosman & Landis catalogues took an entire page to discredit the ability of decorative painters in the production of stage scenery. They used the same wording in catalogues from at least 1889-1894:
“Our prices on Scenery invariably come in competition with some so-called “Scenic Studio,” the Local Fresco Artists and Sign Painters. All are emphatic in stating their ability to paint Scenery as good as the best. The utter absurdity of such statements should be apparent at a glance. [Their bold print] We expect competition, but such parties are not worthy competitors, and it is impossible that they should in any degree equal Artistic and Correct Scenery made by us with our Corps of Skilled Artists – many of whom have held positions as Chief Artists in the Best Theatres of this Country.”
This nineteenth-century sentiment remained with older artists at the onset of the twentieth century. The older generations of artists who worked at Sosman & Landis in he twentieth-century were very different from those who began as paint boys during this time. The younger artists may have been trained in the old ways, but their perception of the work was radically different. They were striking out against the establishment and the old establishments were their scenic art predecessors; those who had outfitted theaters all over the United States during the 1880s and 1890s, delivering the same stage aesthetic that had been used for generations in both North American and Europe, The scenic art period from 1880 to 1900 is what I personally consider the “heyday” of scenic art. My reasoning is their popularity and prosperity at this time remains unparalleled.
The success of Sosman & Landis was based on a stream of highly skilled scenic artists coming in to do what they did best, and then leaving. This cut down on the studio’s overhead, while securing some of the best talent at the time. By 1902, Sosman & Landis had delivered scenery to 6,000 stages in the United States, Canada, Mexico, Jamaica, and South Africa; they knew what they were doing and did it well. It is very possible that the paint boys who came on to the scene at this time did not fully understand the contribution of those who came before them. The same can be said for scenic artists who represented the new school of Modern Design. From 1880-1910, the Sosman & Landis name was synonymous with “quality;” quality of not only scenic art, but also stage machinery.
The late nineteenth-century and early twentieth-century success of Sosman & Landis was linked to the reputations of their artists and mechanics; those who sporadically appeared for projects and then went on to something else. In 1894, their catalogues stated, “Our Artists are selected with reference their special abilities. Some excel in designing and painting drop curtains, others in landscapes, and other in interior scenes; so, we divide our work that each is given what he can do.”
That all being said, there was still a core crew of painting staff who never worked for other employers or on their own. It is not that they were the “B-Team,” but they decided to stay in one place and at one job. This created an entirely different set of expectations for those “long-haulers” at the firm.
In the early twentieth century, scenic artists, like many other theatrical positions, were becoming increasing specialized; a shift that caused in-fighting among painters themselves. As noted above, Payne started as a scenic artist at Sosman & Landis in 1903. That being said, he was becoming increasing well known for his easel art. In the nineteenth-century, this would have been a feather in his cap among fellow scenic artists. However, by 1914 there was a resentment of those who are well-recognized and respected for their work in multiple fields, working beyond the confines of a scenic studio. Payne, like many scenic artists at Sosman & Landis, took time off from scene painting to work on other projects, returning to help out when needed. This did not sit well with those full-time employees who stayed behind for years.
It also happened to Thomas Moses when he returned to Sosman & Landis for the fourth time in 1904. He left a profitable scenic business in New York to become the vice-president and immediate supervisor of all design, construction, painting and installation at the firm. Upon his return in 1904, Moses wrote, “When Mr. Sosman announced to the ‘gang’ that I was coming back and would take charge of all the work, there was much dissention among a few. Fred Scott tried to start a mutiny and went as far as he could by quitting, hoping the others would follow. But none did, and he came back and asked for a job. I put him on for he was a clever painter.”
I personally think that much of this stemmed from jealously. Those who remained at a single studio longed for the freedom to paint whatever and wherever they wanted. Keep in mind that some of the really great artists at Sosman & Landis would suddenly leave to form a brief partnership, yet still return to fanfare and laurels for individual projects; immediately resuming their old position at the studio. This must have really irritated those who stuck it out through thick and thin at the studio, never really leaving or accepting outside work.
William Smart was a Sosman & Landis scenic artist who stayed around until almost the bitter end, well passed Sosman’s departure from the studio. Smart did not strike out on his own until the early 1920s, when he joined with four other former Sosman & Landis employees to establish Service Studios in Chicago.
Smart’s WWI Draft Registration card from June 5, 1917, listed that he was still an artist at Sosman & Landis in Chicago, Illinois. In 1920, the extended Smart family moved from 3921 W 16th St. in Chicago to the nearby western suburb of Cicero in Cook County (south of where many Sosman & Landis scenic artists lived in Oak Park). Their new home was located at 1846 57th Ave, Cicero. Thomas was still a machinist, Tillie a telephone clerk, William a scenic artist, Bartha a “checker”, and Arthur, a bookkeeper. For some reason, his sister Blanche remained at home, likely helping their mother manage the household. My own maternal grandmother was placed in this role. I cannot imagine how difficult it is to watch all of your siblings lead lives of their own each day while you stay home to cook, clean and wash their clothes. You remain trapped in a role; one that you did not choose and are only free when your parents die.
In 1921, the Smarts were listed in the “Cicero City Directory.” Employers were listed, Thomas working for the Crane Mfg. Co., William working for Sosman & Landis Studio, and Tillie working for the Chicago Tel Co.
By 1923, Martha Smart is also working as a cashier, with Blanche still working at home. This continues until the matriarch of the family passes away in 1925. Her obituary remembered her as the “ beloved mother of William J., Arthur F, Tillie E., Martha E., Mara, Blanch H. Sister of Mary Schultz, Julia Rizicka and Frank Holub. Member of Cicero Chapter, OES., No. 741, and Shepherd Shrine No. 42 Ottikar Temple No 318” (“Chicago Tribune,” May 21 1925, page 12).
Life changed a bit for the Smarts by 1930. The census that year lists the Smart’s home residence as 1832 Austin Blvd., Cicero, Cook, Illinois. Thomas’ occupation is listed as a pattern maker in the pipe fitting industry, with Tillie as a manager at the telephone company and William as a scenic artist. Blanche was still at home. On March 12, 1930, William married Jessie L. “Loraine” Merow in Chicago. Loraine was the daughter Louis Alexander Merow (1880), a theatre performer, and Ida May Merrean. At the time, she was working as a hairdresser, living at 311 Central Ave. in Chicago.
The patriarch of the Smart family passed away on Jan. 2, 1938. Thomas Smart is buried in the Bohemian National Cemetery, Chicago. At the time of his passing, his occupation was still listed as a pattern maker. Thomas Smart’s online memorial at www.findagrave.com states: “Adventurer, inventor, enjoyed music, good sense of humor, family man. Spoke several languages. Always encouraged education. Raised silkworms, traded around world for butterflies and unusual insects. Donated large cabinet of these trays to high school in Crystal Lake, Il.” Here is the Link: https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/5532295/thomas-james-smart
William only left his home in Cicero after his father passed away. He and his new wife Loraine moved to the East Coast in 1940. The census that year listed 45-yrs.old William living with his 33-yrs.-old wife and his 25-yrs. old brother-in-law (Loraine’s younger brother) Donald M. Merano (25 yrs.). The three were living at 199 Westside in Hempstead, Nassau County, New York. William was listed as a scenic artist at General Motors, while Donald was a stock boy in a model airplane factory. William and Loraine eventually returned to his old home to briefly lived with his sister Blanche in Cicero, Illinois.
William’s 1942 WWII Draft Registration Card again listed his home as 1832 S. Austin Blvd, Cicero, Illinois, with a second address as 61 Parson St., Detroit, Mich. Interestingly, he listed his sister Blanche as the person who would always know where he lived. Like her brother William, Blanche also got married after their father died. She married Rudolph H. Pidrman, an assembler at the Electrical Manufacturing Co. The couple settled in the Smart family hose at 1832 Austin Blvd, Cicero; Blanche’s old home.
William’s WWII draft, Williams’ employer listed as George Wittbold, with offices at 4623 Woodward, Detroit. On May 6, 1940, “Automotive News” reported, “Wittbold Sets Up ‘Exhibit’ Business; Built ‘Futurama.” The article continued, “DETROIT. – George Wittbold, who gave up a $300,000-a-year retail flower trade in Chicago last spring to construct the General Motors “Futurama” at the New York World’s Fair, is going into the exhibit business himself. “Exhibit engineering” is the way Wittbold describes in his announcement. His headquarters will be in Detroit. Although he has spent much of his life in his family’s florist business, Wittbold’s interest was captivated by the construction of miniature displays. For years he had been staging the GM motor shows in New York’s Waldorf-Astoria and elsewhere, making them less floral backgrounds than masterworks of dioramic building. When GM asked him to take charge of building the “Highways and Horizons” futurama, which Norman Bel Geddes designed, Wittbold sold his flourishing flowed business to his employees in Chicago and embarked upon one of the most difficult tasks of his life” (page 7).
William died on July 9, 1962, in Los Angeles, California. His obituary was published on July 12, 1962 in the “Chicago Tribune” (page 31). It simply announced:
“Smart – William J. Smart of California, beloved husband of Loraine; dear brother of Mrs. O. R. Rank, Mrs. Martha E. Mara, Arthur F. Smart, and the late Blanche F. Pedrman [sic.]. Masonic services at Arcana lodge, No. 717, A. F. & A. M., Thursday at 8 p.m. at the George Schubert Chapel – 6617 Cermak road, Berwyn, Funeral Friday, 1 :30 p. m. Interment Bohemian National. ST 8-1092.”
Loraine passed 25 years later on March 11, 1987. She died in Long Beach, California.
To be continued…
