Copyright © 2022 by Wendy Waszut-Barrett
In 1902, Thomas G. Moses wrote, “Walter C. Hartson and Arthur Barr joined our forces and our work kept on increasing. We now had an office in the Broadway Theatre Building, a bookkeeper and an office boy, with a very swell uniform. We were getting very classy. We were also starting a big payroll.”
In 1900, Moses left Sosman & Landis to strike out on his own. In New York, Moses partnered with Will Hamilton to establish Moses & Hamilton. By 1902, they secured the paint room at the 14th Street Theatre, subsequently increasing their paint frames to six on total. Although their partnership was short lived, it was extremely successful. When Moses returned to Sosman & Landis in 1904, several scenic artists accompanied him, including Barr. Barr only remained in Chicago for a very brief period of time before continuing west. By 1905, he was associated with San Francisco’s Tivoli Opera house and working with Oscar L. Fest.
In California, Barr’s live began to unravel.
When Moses first encountered Barr in New York, he was full of artistic potential, with a beautiful wife and young daughter in tow. A decade later, he died unknown in Louisville, Kentucky. This is such a tragic tale, and I have yet to understand what really happened between 1902 and 1912.
Arthur Leo Barr was born on Feb. 18, 1878, and grew up in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. He was the youngest son of John C. Barr (1837-18889) and Sarah A. Toner (1841-1941). His father was a prominent attorney and newspaper man, listed as a printer in 1880. US Federal Census. That year the Barr children included: Mary (b. 1867), Anna (b. 1869), Maud (b. 1873), J. Carroll (b. 1873), J. Toner (b. 1876), and Arthur (b. 1878). The family affectionately nicknamed Arthur “Tookie.” There is actually a picture of him in paint clothes posted to ancestry.com.
Little is known of Arthur’s childhood, but his father passed away in 1889; he was only eleven years old at the time. By 1896, Arthur was listed as a sign painter in Pittsburgh, living at “McCully, n St. Clair.” That was the same residence of his brother Carroll Barr. His brother J. Toner was also living nearby, at McCully, near Mellon. At the time, Carroll was working as a civil engineer and J. Toner as a draughtsman.
As with most scenic artists at the time, Arthur traveled quite a bit for work, going from one project to another. The photograph referenced above shows that at one tome he worked in St. Louis, Missouri, too. Barr married Annie Rose Bradley (b. 1877) in Mahoning, Ohio on Jan. 13, 1889. Annie was also from Pittsburgh, the daughter Michael Bradley and Margaret Ducker (Dufour in some records). Between 1898 and 1900, the young couple moved to New York.
Over the new few years, the two celebrated the birth of two daughters, Georgeanna and Maude.
Only Georgeanna survived to adulthood. She was born in New York on March 15, 1900. Her birth certificate listed that her father was employed as a scenic artist that year. In 1900, the Barr family was living in Manhattan at 566 7th Avenue, alongside other painters, actresses, property men and theatre folk. 20-yrs. old John Boaty and Annie’s 18-yrs. old sister, Maggie Bradley, were living with them.
By 1902, Barr was working for Thomas G. Moses alongside many other well-known scenic artists, including John H. Young, Harry Vincent, Otto Armbruster, Al Roberts, Ed Loitz, and Walter C. Hartson to name a few.
Sometime between 1902 and 1905, Barr headed west without his wife and daughter. It remains unclear if he abandoned them, or if was no longer able to adequately provide for his family. I wonder if it had something to do with the death of his daughter Maude. To date, I have yet to locate any information about her birth or passing.
By 1905, Barr was working in San Francisco, California. That same year, “Arthur Barr” named as part of the Advertised Letter list in the “Santa Barbara Weekly,” suggesting that he spent some time in the city during 1905 (June 8, 1905, page 8).
By now he was separated from his wife, who had returned to Pittsburgh with their daughter. In 1906 Annie married Charles Edward, a motorman in the Pittsburgh area. Edward’s WWI Draft Registration card described him as tall, thin with blue eyes and light hair. The two remained married until Annie’s passing in 1926. Georgeanna grew up under their care and went on to get married herself. In the end, she cared for her step father in his old age and never left Pittsburgh.
When Georgie was about nine years old, her birth father began faulter in California.
In 1909 Barr was listed in the Los Angeles Directory as an artist, working at the C. F. Thompson Scenic Co., residing at 464 Witmer. However, 464 Witmer was the business address of Charles’ F. Thompson’s scenic studio. For context, Thompson established his first scenic studio in Chicago, before moving west. Over the years, his established a series of regional branches across the country, including in Dallas, Texas, and Detroit, Michigan. Between 1908 and 1909, the C. F. Thompson Scenic Co. was doing quite well and expanding its studio staff and sales team. In 1909, Barr was working at Thompson Scenic Co. with Ansel Cook, another former Sosman & Landis scenic artist. Projects at that time included a new drop curtain for the Home Theatre in Hutchinson, Kansas. On January 22, 1909, the “Hutchinson Daily Gazette” described the composition: “The center is a redwood scene with stage coach and a group of horsemen approaching a watering place” (page 5).
By the summer of 1909, however, Barr’s mental health faltered. Little is known about the artist at this time, with only newspaper accounts providing some insight.
Barr was living in Santa Barbara when he attempted suicide in Needles, California, that June.
On June 5, 1909, “The Needles Eye” reported, “Attempted Suicide.
Arthur L. Barr who recently came here from Santa Barbara, according to statements made by him, tried to commit suicide last Wednesday afternoon by cutting his wrist with a piece of glass. He had scratched the back of his wrist in several places and the underside of the writs was more or less cut. He struck no vital artery but bleed quite a little. When arrested by the officers he was taken to the office of Dr. D. W. Rees who dressed the wounds after which he was taken to the jail where he remained until the next evening when he was taken to the County Hospital by Deputy Sheriff George Acuna. Barr is a man of about 32 years of age, and seemed to be possessed of his faculties, but a letters he had left behind would indicate he was not in his right mind. The letters read as follows: “My name is Arthur L. Barr, Would like my mother notified in case of sudden death, also Louis Dressler California and Division St. California. “Mrs. Sarah T. Barr, care of G. G. O’Brien 5th Ave. Pittsburgh. Was to be taken from Priests House at 7 o’clock tonight to be terribly tortured by yags, tramps. Ask Sheriff West will not go out with man Woodruff, or any other Detective Woodruff supposed friend of my brother Tooner [sic.] and Carroll” (page 6).
For additional context, Gerald G. “George” O’Brien was a decorator in Pittsburgh, listed in the 1909 Pittsburgh Directory, 1002 5th Ave. The 1910 Census listed him as a sign painter, living at Fifth Avenue, with his wife, children and extended family. O’Brien was likely a close friend of Barr’s from his sign painting days in Pittsburgh.
His brothers J. Toner and Carroll had been actively looking for their brother, sending detectives all over the country. Arthur’s sad tale of attempted suicide did not end in Needles, California. He tried again on his way from Needles to San Francisco. “The San Francisco Chronicle” fully described the sad tale on June 5, 1909 (page 10). The article reported:
“Fails in Two Attempts at Suicide. San Bernardino, June 4. – Arthur L. Barr of Santa Barbara was driven insane by the intense heat at Needles yesterday and attempted suicide by slashing his wrists with a pocketknife. While en route to this city in charge of Deputy Sheriff George Acuna he made a plunge head first through the window of a swiftly moving Santa Fe overland, escaping with slight bruises on the head, though in the fall he went over a fifteen-foot embarkment. Barr, who is a mineral surveyor had been two days on the desert north of Needles. When he found his hands were hanging by threads of flesh. When the train was passing Barstow the officer left Barr alone in the seat. Suddenly the demented man rushed down the car, pursued by Acuna. Seeing a window open he took a header. His severe jolt apparently restored his reason. To-night he talks sanely and regrets his rash attempts.” (page 10).
Barr seems to have temporarily recovered somewhat, enough to continue work as a scenic artist. He remained in California and was listed in the Los Angeles Directory was working for Edwin H. Flagg. The 1911 Los Angeles city directory listed:
“Barr, artist, E. H. Flagg Scenic Co. r 1638 Long Beach av.” I
Interestingly, this was also the address used by C. F. Thompson studio in 1909 want ads for labor – suggesting an alliance, or shared space, between the two studios.
Unfortunately, this was the last listing for Barr. Sometime between 1911 and the summer of 1912, Barr moved from California to Kentucky. He passed away from tuberculosis at the Waverly Hill Sanatorium in Louisville during the summer of 1912. At the time of his death, no one knew his background or next of kin. As there was no family to claim the body, his remains were donated for medical research at the University of Louisville.
Fortunately, his brothers arrived in town, before Barr’s body was dissected. Their discovery made the headlines across the country.
On August 28, 1912, the story was published in “The Courier-Journal” of Louisville, Kentucky (page 8). The article was entitled, “Body Consigned to Pickling Vat is Recovered By Dead Man’s Relatives.” It reported, “The relatives of Arthur Leo Barr, a scenic artist and member of a prominent family of Pittsburgh, who died at Waverly Hill Sanatorium July 14, were able to take the body yesterday with them to their home city yesterday is due to the fact that the winter semester of the medical department of the University of Louisville has not begun its sessions. The body had been turned over to this department for dissecting purposed, as it is customary in cases where a body is not claimed by relatives or friends within a month after death. J. Toney Barr, a civil engineer, and J. V. Carroll Barr, brothers of the dead man arrived here yesterday, and with the aid of a local detective department and Dr. Ed Grant, City Health Officer, they were enabled to trace the body of their brother to the morgue of the medical department of the university, where it was found in a good state of preservation.
Barr, who was 34 years old, had not been heard from his relatives for nine years. He is said to have been an artist of ability, but he was of a roving disposition and had refused to give the name of any relative or friend when received at the hospital. Under these circumstances it was impossible to locate his relatives, and it was by accident they heard of his death here.”
Arthur L. Barr was buried at Calvary Cemetery in Pittsburgh.
To be continued…
