Travels of a Scenic Artist and Scholar. The Gaiety Theatre Act Drop by William T. Hemsley.

Copyright © 2023 by Wendy Waszut-Barrett

Throughout my career, I have encountered examples of scenic art that took my breath away. My most recent experience occurred during a visit to the Gaiety Theatre and Opera House in Douglas, Isle of Man.

The act-drop, painted by William Thompson Hemsley (1850-1918), is exquisite.

Photograph by Mike Hume while I am attempting to document painted details.

It is obvious that Hemsley was at the peak of his painting career when he produced this large-scale artwork. Hemsley’s economy of brush stroke and color combinations are quite remarkable. In fact, they are inspirational. Seeing this drop should be on every scenic artist’s bucket list. You will learn so much about the brevity of scene painting when examining his work.

Detail of dancer’s foot in W. T. Hemsley’s act drop at the Gaiety Theatre.

This post will examine Hemsley’s drop in detail, placing it within the context of theatre history. It will also examine its current condition and past repairs. My next post will look at the life and career of scenic artist W. T. Hemsley (1850-1918). Then I will continue with my last two theater visits in the UK during September 2023.

As with most front curtains for Victorian performance venues, Hemsley’s design for the Gaiety Theatre unifies the auditorium’s color palette and décor. Although the central subject exhibits an exotic eastern theme, the painted surround seamlessly blends with the architectural surround and auditorium designed by Frank Matcham.  

Detail of painted curtain next to proscenium arch.

Detail of painted curtain next to proscenium arch.

I am going to briefly touch on theatre terminology first. Hemsley’s “act drop” design is identical to many “drop curtain” designs in the North America. Drop curtains, also labeled in the US as front curtains and main rags, were frequently lowered in between acts, unless an advertising curtain was employed. In many cases the terms act-drop, drop curtain, painted front curtain, and main rag can be used interchangeably. Terminology is based on where you live. It is very important to not get caught up in the name, but to look at the actual function of the scenic piece. I think of the dispute between “hot dish” and “casserole” in the United States. They are both a one-dish meal, baked in the oven. Same thing, different name.

Back to the act drop…

This type of scenic design frequently includes a central “painting” – one that often replicates a popular artwork or subject matter.  This central “artwork” is surrounded by an ornate frame, draped in lush fabrics. These drop curtains were often the pinnacle of an auditorium’s décor, tying everything together while concealing the magical realm behind the footlights. As audience members waited in their seats for the show to start, or the next act to commence, the drop curtain (act-drop) provided theatre patrons with an opportunity to study the grand work of a scenic artist. The proscenium opening became a gallery wall, providing many scene painters with an opportunity to flaunt their artistic abilities. Painting a successful drop curtain required extensive skill, as well as a thorough understanding of distemper painting techniques for landscapes, architecture, draperies, and, in some cases, figure painting.

There is an article entitled, “Well-known drop curtains in Philadelphia, published in The Philadelphia Inquirer on Dec. 18, 1894.” It examines the significance and subject matter of drop curtains at the time. The article describes the work of Matt Morgan, Russell Smith, William M. Voegtlin, Alfred Voegtlin, Hugh Logan Reid, E. H. Chase, Lee Lash, Gaspard Maeder, and Frederick Schaefer, are featured in the article.  Here is an excerpt from the article:

“The drop curtain is the most expensive piece of furniture in any playhouse. Managers are most solicitous about the care of a handsome drop curtain than almost any other appointment in the theatres. They are usually painted by the artists of wide fame in the peculiar branch of art which they represent, whose charges for the work range from $1000 to $3000…It is claimed by managers that a handsome drop curtain has much to do with the drawing qualities of the house. A charming landscape depicting the greenest of lawns, sparking fountains, rare shrubbery and bright flowers, the dimpled surface of a placid lake, with magnificent hills or rugged mountains in the distance to kiss the brightest fleecy clouds, forms an ensemble well calculated to put the audience in good humor to witness a play. And when let down between the acts, it has a tendency to calm the soul after turbulent passages and rouses it to cheerfulness after tearful ones.”

Only a small percentage of historic backdrops that I have documented include figures, especially on those dubbed drop curtains. Most recently, I documented an 1897 drop curtain for the Forum Theatre in Bronzeville, Illinois (a community on the south-side of Chicago).  The forum scene depicts very small figures to suggest the scale of their monumental surroundings.

Painted detail from Sosman & Landis drop curtain at the Forum in Bronzeville.

My hand showing scale of the figures on the Forum drop curtain.

The inclusion of larger, or full-scale figures, is extremely rare in extant scenery collections. In fact, the only times that I have consistently encountered figure-work is painted on scenes at Scottish Rite Theatres; specifically, group scenes for 18^th degree productions. For context, many North American Freemasons theatrically stage their “degree work”, like a morality play. It is performed for the educational purposes of members. Here are a few examples from Scottish Rite scenes for context.

Painted scene by Toomey & Volland Studio (St. Louis, Missouri) at the Masonic Theatre in Deadwood, South Dakota.

Painted scene by Toomey & Volland (St. Louis, Missouri) at the Masonic Theatre in Quincy, Illinois.

Although some of the work is quite skilled, in some cases there have been few questionable choices. This detail of a foot may simply indicate the speed at which these scenes were painted. Keep in mind that most American scenic studio artists were working in a factory setting to mass-produce painted illusion.

Painted detail from cut-drop created for the Scottish Rite Theatre in McAlester, Oklahoma, c. 1908. This painted scene is now used at the Scottish Rite Theatre in Salina, Kansas, USA.

The Gaiety Theatre act drop holds a unique place in World Theatre History, when considering not only the artistic skill of Hemsley, but also the subject matter.

When I first encountered Hemsley’s design for the Gaiety Theatre, it reminded me of a drop curtain design by scenic artist John Z. Wood (1846-1919). At the time, Wood was working for the Twin City Scenic Co. in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Wood’s design also incorporated a dancing girl. Interesting aside, Wood was born in England and emigrated with his family as a young both, eventually settling in Rochester New York. For more information about Wood and his artistic style, here is a link to one of the many posts that I have written about him: https://drypigment.net/2019/12/10/tales-from-a-scenic-artist-and-scholar-john-z-wood-scenic-artist-1846-1919/

Wood, John Z. “Drop curtain.” University of Minnesota Libraries, Performing Arts Archives., Accessed November 02, 2023.

Painted detail. Wood, John Z. “Drop curtain.” University of Minnesota Libraries, Performing Arts Archives., Accessed November 02, 2023.

Painted detail. Wood, John Z. “Drop curtain.” University of Minnesota Libraries, Performing Arts Archives., Accessed November 02, 2023.

Wood’s scenic designs are part of an online digital database.Here is the link to the design: https://umedia.lib.umn.edu/item/p16022coll116:1819

Sadly, Wood’s central composition is somewhat obscured under a layer of glue; another central design was pasted over this original composition at a later date. The original work was discovered when the Twin City Scenic Company Collection was catalogued, under the supervision of my mentor, Prof. Emeritus, C. Lance Brockman. Between 1999 and 2000, I assigned metadata to each of the artifacts. My familiarity with four scenery collections in the online database has allowed me to help link designs with extant scenery over the years. Here is the link to access the collection in its entirety: https://umedia.lib.umn.edu/search?facet_field=collection_name_s&facets%5Bcollection_name_s%5D%5B%5D=Scenic+Collections

Although I have read descriptions of exotic eastern scenes for Victorian stages, few have survived. Here are some photographs of Hemsley’s act drop so that you can appreciate his skill and attention to detail.

Central dancer.

Dancer’s shoes.

Looking even closer at fabric and brush stroke.

Reclining man.

Hand detail of man in composition.

Detail of frame.

Fabric and frame detail.

Fabric and frame detail.

Painted detail of floral arrangement.

Painted detail of tapestry.

Another painted detail.

Painted fabric next to practical fabric.

Tassel detail.

Hemsley’s act-drop is the first fully-framed drop that I have ever encountered. It also meant that the cleaning of this act drop in the 1990s became problematic. The restoration team requested that the framed piece be relocated upstage and face the paint-frame floor. Roy McMillan describes the process in his book A Full Circle, 100 Years of the Gaiety Theatre and Opera House:

McMillan wrote,

“To carry out the work, the drop had to be removed from its fly-bar at the front of the stage, walked (that is, moving one end forward a few feet while the other remains stationary, then repeating the process with the other end) halfway to the back, rotated through 180 degrees, then re-flown and the cleaning done from the paint frame floor. When Mervin and David were releasing it from its fly-bar onto the floor, the side struts nearly buckled. The canvas ballooned out like a wind -caught sail; a few seconds more of the strain and the drop would have been gone forever…[They] managed to haul it back into its original position on the fly-bar and decided another method would probably be safer. It would, however, take more time.

They fixed the drop by three tie lines along a bar. It was moved back one side at a time, one bar at a time, with both of them clamoring up and down ladders to secure it or to untie it, to the center of the stage. Once there, two of the three ties were released, and the center left alone. The intention was to rotate it, so the painted side faced upstage and be attended to on the paint frame floor. But as they turned it, they realized that it was three inches wider than available. This was not a design feature of the drop or a miscalculation. It was because a bridge between the left and right side of the fly floor gallery had been built at the front of the stage, making it impossible to turn the drop round. This bridge was not in the original theatre and has since been removed to allow the house curtain to rise correctly, but it was very much present at the time. Faced with the choice of cancelling the first project of the restoration, or dropping the act drop onto the floor again, they chose a much more straightforward means of solving the problem. They cut a chunk out of the bridge…Once in position, the backing canvas was removed. On the painted side of the canvas itself, the copper-headed nails that held it to the frame had oxidized and rotted the canvas in the immediate area…Its delicacy meant it had to be repaired in situ and the frame rebuilt around it.”

The preservation of the painted composition is also described in McMillan’s publication. McMillan wrote, “In order to avoid glare when lit by the footlights the drop had to be painted in stage paint. This is a powdered water-paint mixed with size – a sticky, globby gel that serves as a fixative.”

[I am going to pause here to correct this statement. This drop was painted with distemper paint. The distemper painting process necessitates that dry pigment is turned into a paste and placed on the scenic artist’s palette.  Some artists in the UK refer to distemper painting as Size Painting. Regardless, during the painting process dry pigment paste is mixed with diluted hide glue (size) on the palette and directly applied to the drop.  The size cannot be used as “a sticky, globby gel.” If the size were this consistency, it means that it has been mixed too strong and will dry with a sheen, thus reflecting stage lights.  When size it properly mixed, it will not gel, unless a studio is kept at an abnormally cold temperature. In my humble opinion, there is no way, that Hemsley (then at the age of 50 yrs. old) would have made this amateur mistake. If he had, the whole drop would look like the painting were sealed with a gloss coat.

Here is an example of a restoration process that used size that was too strong and formed a sheen.

Scene at Scottish Rite theatre in Louisville, Kentucky.

McMillan continues to describe the restoration process:“However, as it was water-based, if the surface was rubbed, the paint smudged immediately,”

[I must explain that distemper -“water-based”- paint is not subject to dusting unless the binder has failed over time. There are hundreds of extant drops, c. 1900 or earlier, that show no signs of dusting and are stable.]

McMillan continues “To clean it required an intermediary layer between the surface and the restorer’s brush. It was achieved using mulberry tissue paper, infused with a liquid that caused the dirt to soften on the paint surface and stick to the paper, leaving clean paint of the original drop beneath.”

I am curious to know what about the “liquid.” I have cleaned hundreds of historic scenes cannot envision how this process worked. However, it may explain the extensive spotting throughout the composition.

Spotting that looks like small areas of water damage as there are tide lines and pigment loss.

Areas with spotting near the bottom of drop.

Spotting that looks like small areas of water damage as there are tide lines and pigment loss.

Spotting that looks like small areas of water damage as there are tide lines and pigment loss.

In the past, I have removed both surface contaminants and embedded dirt from extant drops. If the pigment is relatively stable (meaning that the binder is still working) surface contaminants are easily removed with low-suction dust extraction, Absorene putty, and/or Absorene sponges.

Example of removing surface contaminants with low-suction dust extraction.

Example of using Absorene sponge to remove surface contaminants left after low-suction dust extraction.

Half of a scene that was cleaned at the Scottish Rite Theatre in Duluth, MN.

If the pigment is severely dusting, the loose paint must be consolidated so that it does not continue to dust. This is when conservators debate whether to remove the dirt and cause minimal pigment loss or encapsulate the dirt when the loose paint is consolidated.

McMillan further explains, “if the surface was rubbed, the paint smudged immediately.”

I don’t really know how to interpret this statement. When distemper paint comes into contact with any liquid, even a damp cloth or humid environment, the paint will immediately reactivate.  This is why I don’t understand how “mulberry tissue paper, infused with liquid” works in removing surface contaminants from distemper drops.

If McMillan meant that the distemper paint smudged when dry, that indicates the binder was failing; the pigment dusting from the fabric.

Despite the hard work to preserve Hemsley’s work, the curtain is again compromised. There are a few scrapes that will need attention before the damage spreads, again compromising the longevity of the artwork.

Damage documented during my September 2023 visit. Thankfully, the cause of the scraping has been rememdied.

Detail of the damage.

Theatre backdrops are unique and cannot be preserved like large-scale paintings that hang in stationary positions on gallery walls. They are metamorphic in nature, intended to be constantly handled or shifted. That is magic of painted scenery; artworks that come to life under stage lights.

In early-twentieth-century North America, many stunning act-drops were replaced with fabric draperies, movie screens, or a combination thereof during the twentieth century, the original scenes long forgotten by theatre audiences. Instead of raising a painted curtain to reveal the mysteries of Thespis, heavy draperies were drawn apart to show a movie. The Gaiety Theatre has three front pieces:

Main draperies (that draw apart).

Hemsley’s act drop (also known as a drop curtain).

A contemporary advertising curtain (also known as an ad drop).

It is remarkable how each piece changes the energy in the auditorium. It is certainly a testament to the importance of what fills the proscenium opening.

My next post will be about the creator of the Gaiety Theatre’s act-drop, William T. Hemsley, scenic artist and sculptor. 

To be continued…