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David H. Hunt was associated with Sosman & Landis from approximately 1894 until 1923.  He encouraged the firm’s founders, Joseph Sosman and Perry Landis, to diversify their interests, expanding into the field of theatrical management in the 1890s. By 1894 he was managing Sosman, Landis & Hunt. Later in 1910, Hunt moved to New York to establish New York Studios, an eastern affiliate of Sosman & Landis. Hunt is quite an elusive character. I have tracked his life in both historical records and newspaper accounts, but am still left with many more questions than answers. His story is complex, and a little shady at times. As with other Sosman & Landis employees, I am going to start with his parents, Patrick and Anna Ella Hunt.

Patrick Hunt was born in March 1851 in Ireland. He purportedly emigrated to the United States as a child during the 1860s, likely between 1861 and 1863. By 1869 he was living in Detroit, Michigan, and married a woman named Anna (b. 1848).  I have yet to locate any official immigration records or marriage certificate for the couple. This means, I have no idea what Anna’s maiden name was or when she traveled from Ireland to America in 1863, marrying Patrick five years later.

In September 1869, the young couple celebrated the birth of their first child, David Henry Hunt.  Anna would go on to have eight more pregnancies, with three children surviving to adulthood by 1900. The couple’s only surviving children were David Henry Hunt (b. 1869), James Joseph Hunt (b. 1881), and Francis John Hunt (b. 1886). The Hunt Family lived in Detroit from 1870-1900.

The 1870 US Federal Census listed Patrick, “Annie”, and their infant son, David, as living in Detroit. At the time, Patrick’s occupation was simply listed as “laborer.” He would later secure employment with the railroad in Detroit as a switchman. The 1900 Census listed Patrick, Anna, and their three adult sons all living at home, their residence listed as 151 18^th Street in Detroit. They had lived at this address since the mid-1880s. Between 1900 and 1910, all of the boys moved out, leaving Anna and Patrick alone, still residing at the same address, now known as 151 Porter Street.

I have yet to discover how David H. Hunt became involved in the theatre business, or exactly when he was introduced to Sosman and Landis. 1886 Detroit Directory listed David H. Hunt as a cashier at W. P. Rend & Co., boarding at 151 18th. [W. P. Rend & Co. is the name of a coal company located west of Benton about five miles.] The 1887 Detroit Directory again listed David H. Hunt as a clerk at W. P. Rend & Co., boarding at his parents’ home at 151 18^th. Between 1888-1889 I have yet to locate any information about Hunt, but in 1890 and 1891 Hunt was working as a clerk at Fletcher, Jenks & Co., again boarding at 151 18^th. [Fletcher, Jenks & Co. was a gun and rifle manufacturer].

This means that sometime between 1891 and 1893, Hunt became associated with Sosman & Landis. It is during this same period that Sosman & Landis begin diversify and invest in other business endeavors. The mid 1890s were a time of transition for Sosman & Landis, and the began setting their sights beyond the theatre supply industry. By 1893, Sosman & Landis were listed as theatrical managers for two electric scenic theatres on the rooftop of the Masonic Temple.  That same year, Hunt was visiting Chicago and associated with the theatre industry. On June 4, 1893, the “Detroit Free Press,” reported that Hunt was managing a benefit performance, “Caste” at the St. Boniface and Jesuit churches new auditorium (page 15). On June 20, 1893, the “Detroit Free Press” reported that the production featured Harry C. Barton of the Warde-James combination, Una Abel of the Rhea Company, Henry Wilkinson, Mrs. T Kennedy and W. H. Powers Jr. of the Nora Machree Company, and both Adelaide Cushman and John P. Barrett of the Glen-da-Lough Company. This was not a show that simply featured local amateurs. The article also commented on Hunt’s managerial role, stating “Manager David H. Hunt has returned from Chicago where he made arrangements for special scenery to be used throughout, and promises excellent staging.” Within the next year, Hunt convinced Sosman & Landis to invest in a new theatrical management form – Sosman, Landis & Hunt, and takes charge of the Pike Opera House in Cincinnati, Ohio. Thus was a well-respected venue with long history.

Over the course of three years, Hunt transitioned from a clerk at Fletcher, Jenks & Co. in Detroit, to a theatre manager in Cincinnati, Ohio. Keep in mind, that at this time Sosman and Landis also helped found the American Reflector & Lighting Company, each becoming an officer at the new firm. By 1894, their scenic studio had also delivered painted settings to 4000 stages across the country and their catalogues featured American Reflector & Lighting Company equipment. Their hands were full. Maybe this meant they let their guard down and started taking too many risks. Yet, I am still amazed that a young clerk from Detroit could convince two successful businessmen from Chicago to invest in a theatrical management firm, especially one run by an individual with virtually no experience in the theatre industry. By the age of twenty-five, Hunt was managing the Pike Opera House and would soon also manage the Grand Opera House in Indianapolis, Indiana.

Sosman, Landis & Hunt primarily managed big vaudeville theaters, while also establishing touring stock companies. In addition to large houses, and touring shows, the firm also leased four summer theaters, located in both Atlantic City and Asbury Park.

During this time, Hunt continued to list his permanent residence in Detroit with his parents. The 1896 Detroit Directory listed David H. Hunt as a manager, still boarding at 151 18^th. By the late 1890s, Hunt began keeping a separate room in Cincinnati.

Although he worked in Cincinnati, the 1897 the Detroit Directory listed David H. Hunt as a “travel agent,” still living with his parents. 1897 was a year of transition for Hunt, he became increasingly associated with Cincinnati’s Pike Opera House. That year he led the remodeling and redecorating the Pike Theater in Cincinnati, representing an early project for Sosman, Landis & Hunt. The firm hired Chicago theatric architect Sidney R. Lovell for the renovation. Lovell was J. M. Wood’s business partner (Link to my post on Wood & Lowell: https://drypigment.net2019/01/09/tales-from-a-scenic-artist-and-scholar-part-610-theatre-architects-col-j-w-wood-and-sidney-lovell/). The Pike Opera House project was just prior to Wood’s work on the Temple Theatre in Detroit, another Sosman & Landis project.

On Dec. 13, 1897, the “Cincinnati Enquirer” reported, “Combination. The Pike to Have Both Legitimate and Vaudeville.” (page 7). The article continued, “It has been definitely determined by the management of the Pike to make a partial change to the characters of its entertainments an to install a stock company for the production of standard plays in connection with first-class vaudeville.

“Yes, it is true,” said Manager D. H. Hunt. Then approached in regard to the subject last night by an Enquirer representative. “Negotiations have been completed, and the contracts will be signed on Monday or Tuesday. I do not exactly know the date upon which the company will give its initial performance, but that also will be settled within a few days. It must not be supposed that vaudeville will be abandoned entirely. The management believes that there is a large number of theatre-goers in Cincinnati who will never tire of more refined type of vaudeville, and not to overlook the class of pleasure-seekers altogether, we will continue to have a number of first-class vaudeville acts each week in connection with the stock company’s productions.”

“It is true that Mrs. John D. Hopkins, of Chicago, will manage the company?” was asked. “No,” Mr. Hunt said, “that is a mistake. Mr. Hopkins will not be interested in stock company or the theatre in any way whatever. The leading man and manager of the stock company will be James Neil, a well-known and capable actor, and previous to that with William H. Crane. He will bring with him practically the same company that he had in St. Paul and Minneapolis last summer, and I do not hesitate to say that as a stock company it has no superior in the country. The character of the plays will be such standard productions as “The Charity Ball,” “held by the Enemy,” “Aristocracy,” “Diplomacy,” “Jim the Penman,” and other social and melodramatic play of that class, and, although this will be an expensive innovation, you may say that the management will not advance. The process of admission, but, in some sections of the house, may find it possible  to lower them.” This move of the management of the Pike was foreshadowed some weeks since. Connected with it were rumors that the house would be remodeled, but this Mr. Hunt denies. The truth is that vaudeville has been overdone in Cincinnati. There is not enough so-called high-class or star materials to keep the Pike supplied. The syndicates are in a measure responsible for this condition of affairs, to say nothing of the return of many of the stars to the legitimate. This new arrangement will give the management the desired opportunity to weed out the light-weight materials”

On September 18, 1898, “The Cincinnati Enquirer” reported, “Manager D. H. Hunt of the Pike Opera House, is expected to arrive here tom-morrow to look after the advance work and pave the way for the regular opening of that theatre next Sunday with the popular Neill Stock Company in “Mr. Barnes of New York.” The members of the company are expected to arrive about Wednesday or Thursday of this week and several rehearsals of the play have been called, although they are almost unnecessary, owning to the play having been produced this summer by the company during the Minneapolis engagement. Sosman & Landis, the Chicago firm that controls the Pike, will also put a stock company in at the Grand Opera House, Indianapolis, to be managed by Mr. J. J. Murdock, formerly stage manager at the Pike. This enterprising firm has surrendered its lease upon the Masonic Temple Roof Garden, in Chicago, which it has operated successfully for the past several seasons, and contemplates building a new theatre in the Windy City which can be operated as a summer roof garden and then be enclosed as a perfect music hall for vaudeville performances. The promoters have not selected a site, but they announce that when completed the new theatre will be the finest of its kind in the West”  (page 17).

In 1899, the “Chicago Inter Ocean” reported, “David H. Hunt of Cincinnati, a member of the firm of Sosman, Landis & Hunt, the well-known theatrical managers, says: “Chicago can’t compare with New York as a theatrical town” (16 July 1899, page 14). Another article, entitled “How the Stock System Pays” was published in the “Los Angeles Herald” that year. It provided a little more insight into Hunt’s roll at Sosman, Landis & Hunt. Hunt was interviewed and explained the success of the stock company. He was quoted:

“The growth of the stock company idea in the west would surprise you easterners,” said David H. Hunt, of Sosman, Landis & Hunt, the other day. “I have charge of the Pike opera house In Cincinnati, and we are making more money with a stock company than we did when the house was given over to vaudeville and variety was the society fad. A haphazard stock venture will not succeed, but properly managed the scheme is a huge success, and the companies are now so plentiful that it has become a matter of difficulty to obtain players who are not only willing but capable of doing leading stock work. The lesser people are not hard to get hold of, for there will always be an excess of players, but to get good names to head the company is constantly becoming more difficult because of the advance of the idea. We have a big company, and not only get good plays, but we try to give for seventy-five cents as good a production as is provided by a visiting company for double the money. We have two scene painters and two assistants always at work, and we never use a rag of scenery for more than one play.”

The two scene painter were Thomas G. Moses and Fred McGreer, both Sosman & Landis employees at the time. McGreer is Sosman & Landis Employee No. 13. Here is the link: https://drypigment.net2021/04/10/sosman-landis-shaping-the-landscape-of-american-theatre-employee-no-13-fred-mcgreer/] Although Moses moved onto other projects, eventually leaving Sosman & Landis in 1900 to found Moses & Hamilton, McGreer remained on site as the scenic artist at the Pike Opera House until 1900.

The 1899 “Los Angeles Herald” article continued, “We give the property man money enough to hire really good furniture and we have as good a stage manager as we can get, for we very early awoke to the fact that we could save money on this department of the work. A competent man will get all there is that is good in an actor, while an incompetent one will spoil a good player. Then we have found that we must spend a little money in royalties. It is a nice thing to have the old plays to fall back on, but a season which lists a succession of ‘East Lynne’ and ‘A Celebrated Case,’ with ‘Leah’ and similar plays to follow, will not be a remunerative one in the west, and we find that by laying out four or five hundred dollars for the use for one week of a play like ‘The Prisoner of Zenda,’ we cannot only get back the money we pay out, but enough more to make it worth our while to get the best. Of course, there is the constant study to be urged against the stock system, but to offset this, there is the avoidance of the discomforts of travel and to be able to settle down in a flat for a season instead of alternating between the one night stands and the sleeping cars, is a sufficient attraction too many to offset the fact that they will have to get up a new play each week instead of one or two for the season.”

Manager D. H. Hunt was also associated with the Grand Opera House in Indianapolis at this time. On September 9, 1899, “The Indianapolis News” published an article entitled, “The Grand Stock Company” (page 32). Here is the article in its entirety as it provides some context for the scope of production produced by the stock company at this time:

“From now until the opening of the Grand Stock Company’s season, Monday, September 18, the members of that organization will be kept busy rehearsing ‘Jim, the Penman,’ the play with which the season begins. Manager D. H. Hunt and the entire company have arrived from New York, where they have already had some days of rehearsal under the direction of the new stage manager. Mr. Waiter Jewett Craven. Mr. Hunt, in a letter a few days ago, said that the company, was already well up in the play, so that the coming week will be devoted to the work of putting the final polish to the various parts. Miss Shannon will, of course, be seen again as Mrs. Ralston, wife of the skillful forger; the other parts are not yet fully announced though it is pretty certain Geoffrey Stein, the successor to the parts played last year by Mr. Sheldon, will play Baron Hardfelt. Geoffrey Stein, who is to do the character work this season, is a capable actor. He has been a member of the Frawley Stock Company, the Schubert Stock Company, and other good companies of this character. Before settling down to stock work he was with Marie Wainwright one season; was in the original New York production of Joseph Arthur’s ‘The Cherry Pickers,’ and played other important engagements. It can be seen how his acting impressed the critics from the following quotation form the Rochester Standard’s review of “Sweet Lavender,” when played by the Schubert Stock Company: ‘Geoffrey Stein, as Richard Phenyl, the bibulous barrister, easily carried off the honors of the production. The impersonation of the lovable old vagabond was in his hands quaintly forcible. He fully conceived the tenderness which underlies its drollery and made a teardrop follow the ripple of laughter. While in Washington with the Frawley Stock Company, the Washington Capitol, referring to Mr. Stein’s appearance in “The Wife,’ said: ‘Geoffrey Stein, as Silas Truman, scored another hit, You must watch this young actor’s career. He has great talent, and moreover. Is a hard student. I predict great things for him.” Numerous other newspaper notices of his work give him high praise.

Among the plays to be produced by the stock company during the present season are ‘The Dancing Girl,’ ‘Men and Women,’ ‘Lord Chumley,’ ‘Alabama,’ ‘Held by the Enemy,’ ‘The Crust of Society,’ ‘Brother John,’ ‘His Wife’s Father,’ ‘Sweet Lavender,’ ‘Saints and Sinners,’ ‘ Young Mrs. Winthrop,’ ‘The Butterflies’ and other successes. A few of the most popular plays seen last season may be given again.”

On Nov. 6, 1899, “The Indianapolis Journal,” reported, “Manager D. H. Hunt, of the Pike and the Grand Stock companies, is back from a trip to New York, and will arrive here this afternoon to see the opening production of “The Charity Ball,” to-night, While in New York, he secured some strong plays for the Grand Stock company, among them “Madam sans Gene” and “The Masqueraders” (page 3). In 1899, Hunt was certainly a mover and shaker, zipping from one town to the next. It was this same year that a young actress named Angela Dolores was part of the Pike’s stock company. Both Dolores and Hunt were lodging at the Burnet House in Cincinnati. Hunt had been a fixture at the boarding house since 1897, when it was first listed as his residence in the Cincinnati Directory. Both would continue to live at the boarding house util their marriage.

Despite a positive outlook, Hunt soon made a misstep that would cause the eventual closure of Sosman, Landis and Hunt. On April 6, 1900, the “New York Times” reported that Manager David H. Hunt was one of the gentlemen interested in the production of the Jeanette Gilder’s version of “Quo Vadis” (page 2). In New York, “Sosman, Landis & Hunt” later produced Gilder’s “Quo Vadis,” but ignored a few of the contractual stipulations. On Nov. 19, 1902, the “New York Times” published and article entitled, “Miss Gilder Goes to Law” (page 1). The problem was that Sosman, Landis & Hunt failed to produce Gilder’s version of ” Quo Vadis ” for five weeks each in two years at their various theatres, including the Pike Theatre Opera House. A series of lawsuits were filed against Sosman, Landis & Hunt around this time. Hunt didn’t quite follow the rules laid out in various contracts, and both actors and authors contended that the firm violated agreements and took their cases to court. To date, this was the only negative press that I have ever uncovered about Sosman & Landis, and it must have been quite embarrassing. The immediate solution was to remove their association with the theatrical management and solely credit Hunt. “David H. Hunt’s Pike Theater company” is soon advertised in the papers. Sosman and Landis may have remained investors, but their names were no longer linked to the Pike. It was as if Sosman, Landis & Hunt never existed. Interestingly, in 1901, various newspaper articles indicated that Hunt’s stock company had been in existence for nearly seven years, during which time it had played over 250 different plays and had appeared in almost 2,400 performances. Sosman & Landis were not mentioned at all.

On April 15, 1901, the “Detroit Free Press” described Manager David H. Hunt in an article about the Pike Stock Company’s production of “Charity Ball.” The article reported, “The organizer and manager of this enterprise is David H. Hunt, a young man whose ideals are high and whose mental attitude toward the theater is not merely sordid. By this it is not meant that his work is entirely altruistic. There is a necessary commercial side of art, and Mr. Hunt knows that in order to continue along the lines he has followed since the beginning of his managerial career the support that comes only through the box office is essential. But he also knows that while he is a frankly confessed merchant of theatrical wares, it behooves him to offer the best, and to present them in an attractive manner. The public is well enough acquainted with his way of doing business to feel justified in expecting another season of honorable achievement on his part. It is quite within the limits of conservatism to say that the re-advent of his company is a distinct public gain, for it may fairly be assured that what is known as the popular-price theater can boast no better balanced combination of players than the cast that Mr. Hunt gave us last evening.”

On March 30, 1902, the “Cincinnati Commercial” reported, “The Pike Theatre Company’s season in Cincinnati will close next Saturday evening. On the following day, the organization will open in Detroit for the summer. During its engagement the company will put on its most successful productions, four car-loads of scenery, for which will be carried North with it. Those who will be included in the organization will be Messrs. Douglas, Farren, Waldron, Maher, Everham, Reynolds, Hall, Hackett and Witte, Misses Collier, Dolores, Melville, McCaul and Roland, Manager David H. Hunt, Business Manager A. C. Robinson, Scenic Artist Slipper, Master Carpenter Eckert and several assistants”  (page 46).

The Pike Opera Company also began to travel with its own scenic artist. Hunt’s marketing of the company was quite something. Just as McGreer’s work for the Pike had made headlines from 1898-1900,his replacement did the same.

On May 26, 1901, the “Detroit Free Press” published an article entitled, “The Illusion of Scenery” (page 44). The article interviewed the Pike Stock Company scenic artist, a man known as Mr. Slipper. The article reported:

“People are just commencing to realize that good plays are frequently as dependent upon good scenery as good actors,” said Scenic Artist Slipper, of the Pike Company, “and it is certainly true that a play without the embellishment of scenery even though it be of the most meager and unpretentious sort, would be a burlesque upon the modern methods of management. We are told that Shakespeare’s plays were first produced without scenery, but we are not informed they were great success, except as lectures or monologues of rare literary merit. The success of the drama depends upon the illusion it creates; acting is an illusion – that, is, it excites the auditor to tears over a situation which does not exist, or moves to mirth with an incident that is purely imaginary. So, too, is scenery an illusion. We show you a landscape in a production at the Lyceum which seems to the spectator in front to stretch away for miles, whereas it is but a few rods distance from the eye and perhaps no more than three feet away from the house, or the shrubbery, or the forest which seems so near you. Thus, if the actor deceives your ear with a cry which seems to have it in tones all the attributes of heart-felt sorrow and tragedy, the artist deceives the eye by producing an impression simply by a few touches of the brush and the proper combination of colors something akin to that produced by the hand of nature herself, as revealed in the far-­­stretching landscape, or as is shown in the more artificial work of the man as applied to the architecture and the furnishing of apartments.”

1902 was not without tragedy, however. The newspaper article about Slipper may have been strategically released to distract local audiences from the fire at the Pike. On March 30, 1902, Hunt made news when there was a fire started in the basement and destroyed much of the auditorium. At the time, the Pike stock company was playing its closing week in Cincinnati. The story made news across the country, yet Hunt managed to feature himself in a positive light, despite the tragedy.

On April 1, 1902,Racine, Wisconsin’s “Racine Journal” reported on the fire at the Pike Opera House on March 30 (page 8). The article reported, “The matinee performance was in progress before a crowd that filled all the seats and most of the standing room when flames were discovered. The fire started in the basement. The theater is on the second floor, with two stairways leading to the fourth. There is also a stairway from the stage leading to Backer alley in the rear. The curtain had been raised for the first act of “Sag Harbor” by the Pike Stock company and the play had been in progress about ten minutes, when the portieres between the corridors and the north aisle were seen to be ablaze. With great presence of mind Manager D. H. Hunt addressed the crowd in an effort to quiet their fears, and his staff, quickly taking positions about the auditorium began to direct the general movement toward the exits. The burning portieres were snatched from their hangings and quickly trampled underfoot. This prevented the immediate spread of the fire withing the theater, but did not materially lessen the danger, for the smoke by this time was pouring up from the lower floor, where the flames had gained great headway…(there is much more, page 8).” The “Democrat and Chronicle” of Rochester, on March 31, 1902, (page 1) reported, “The only thing burned in the auditorium was a portier. Scenery stored in the lower part of the building was damaged to the extent of $10,000. Members of the company saved all their costumes and baggage…Thirty six years ago the Pike building of the same site was destroyed by fire. The damage to-day was between $20,000 and $60,000” (page 1). Despite the loss, plans for the company to begin its summer season in Detroit continued (“Inter Ocean,” 31 March 1902, page 3).

Hunt continued to make headlines despite the tragedy, toting his past successes in a series of article aimed at building up his own reputation. On 13 Sept. 1902, “The Evening Star” of Washington, D. C. reported, “Stock was a new thing when Mr. David H. Hunt decided that vaudeville was not a success at his Cincinnati theater, and installed the first stock company there since the famous old days when Davenport, McCullough and other old-time stars had appeared with the ante-bellum stock companies in the smoky city.  Mr. Hunt was a young man, his company contained players who were themselves little known, and with the development that followed hard work and success the organization was brought to a standard of perfection.  Mr. Hunt early decided that pecuniary success would only result from artistic success.  He set about obtaining good plays and good players, with the result that people in Cincinnati accord the Pike Theater Company both consideration and affection.  For several years the company played entirely in Cincinnati, then tried Minneapolis and St. Paul for spring engagements, next added Detroit to their list of cities and now adds Washington, New York and Baltimore” (page 22).

Despite the law suits and fire, Hunt continued to make good press for himself. In 1903, Hunt married Miss Angela Dolores, an actress with the Pike Theatre Co.  That year, his birthplace was listed as Pennsylvania, her father Spanish, and her mother Irish. 

Their relationship and impending marriage were published on May 21, in the “Detroit Free Press” (page 12). In 1903, Hunt was known as “ D. H. Hunt, manager of the Pike Theatre Company…a well-known theatrical gentleman from Detroit.” On March 21, 1902, the “Detroit Free Press” described Hunt as “a Detroit man and widely known in the theatrical profession of the middle west as a hustling manager” (page 12). The last line of the article noted, “In line with this announcement is another which concerns a former member of the Pike stock company. This is Miss Angela McCaull, who was leading ingenue last year. She is the daughter of the late Co. McCaull and is to be married to Lionel Barrymore, now making a hit in the character part with his uncle John Drew in ‘The Mummy and the Humming Bird.’ Miss McCaull also very popular in Detroit.”

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The article noted that their romance sprung up while she was under his management, with her forte being dramatic roles. It also suggested that Dolores had been living with a sister in New York for quite some time, with Hunt trying to keep their relationship secret. Not quite, as both Hunt and Dolores had been listed in the Cincinnati Directory from 1899-1902 as living in the Burnet House. On March 21, 1902, the “Detroit Free Press” described Hunt as “a Detroit man and widely known for his theatrical profession of the middle west as a hustling manager”  (“Detroit Free Press,” 21 May 1903, page 12). Dolores continued to perform under her maiden name.

In 1905, the couple celebrated the birth of their daughter, Anna. It is around this time that the Hunts move Chicago and Hunt resumes his position at the Sosman & Landis scenic studio. In 1905, Thomas G. Moses wrote, “Went to Baraboo to see Ringling Bros.  Hunt went with me.  I don’t know why, as I had to do all the talking and make the sketching for ‘The Field of the Cloth of Gold.’ We got the contract for $3,500.00.” Hunt remains in the Windy City and soon lands the management position at the Grand Opera House. Of this endeavor, “Inter Ocean,” reported, “David H. Hunt who has considerable experience in this particular branch of amusement business, will assume active management, and he has made definite arrangements with important Eastern managers whereby he will offer their successes at popular prices” (19 August 1906, page 26).

On Aug. 26, 1906, the “Decatur Daily Review” announced “Chicago to Have Stock Company” (page 20). The article continued, “For the past few months persistent rumors have connected the Chicago Opera House with stock company organizations. No statement was ever made by the management until the past week, when an authorized announcement proclaims that a dramatic stock company will take possession on Sept. 9. David H. Hunt, who has had a world-wide experience in this line of entertainment will assume active management of the new policy. He has completed some arrangements with large eastern producers whereby Chicago will receive the benefit of all the important dramatic offerings at popular prices. Mr. Hunt when seen at the opera house stated, ‘It is our purpose to assemble an organization of dramatic stars at the Chicago Opera House with a view to presenting standard offerings at popular prices. There is a great demand for a stock company of strength in the loop district, and we aim to provide one unequaled anywhere. The original scenic and costume display will be used with the original manuscript, and I will put on a new offering every Sunday evening. We shall play seven evening performances and present bargain matinees on Sunday, Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday afternoons, charging prices ranging up to 50 cents for the best seats. I am not ready to announce any more plans in detail relating to the company or the list of attractions. I expect to offer Mrs. Leffingwell’s Boots for the initial play.”

In 1907, Hunt was again at the scene of another fire, this time at the Chicago Grand Opera House. On June 29, 1907, the “Chicago Tribune” reported that there was a small fire after a projector exploded (page 3). The article interviewed Hunt who again minimized the danger and damager:
“There was no panic except a slight alarm among those in the gallery,” said Manager D. H. Hunt. “The lights were turned on at once after the explosion. This is a standing order for our employees, for the fuses often blow out and if the theatre were left in darkness at such times alarm would develop and alarm would develop among the audience. The operator was burned slightly on his right hand, but no one else was hurt” (page 3). And this pretty much ended his association with the opera by 1908.

On April 12, 1908, the Minneapolis “Star Tribune” announced, “Variety prints a statement to the effect that D. H. Hunt has been engaged to head the producing department to be inaugurated by the Orpheum Circuit company. Mr. Hunt, who is now manager of the Chicago Opera House, is not unknown in Minneapolis, where he managed the Pike Stock company through three summer season, a fact recalled by the engagement of his wife, Angeles Dolores, at the Orpheum last week” (page 25).

And yet this endeavor didn’t quite pan out either. His wife returned to the stage and Hunt began functioning as her manager. The touring production included William Duvre and Harry English (“Cincinnati Enquirer,” 30 August 1908, page 26). For the next few years, newspaper article repeatedly report that her tour remained under the personal direction of Hunt, promoting his wife as the “best known stock leading lady” (“Fort Wayne Daily News,” 16 Feb 1911, page 5). Despite his interest in theatrical management, Hunt remains associated with the Sosman & Landis studio. The 1910 Census listed a David H. Hunt’s occupation as a “manager” in the “studio” industry. At the time, his household included his 30 yrs. old wife and 6 yrs. old daughter, all living at 1128 E 43^rd Street. He was managing the Sosman & Landis studio, primarily working in the office.

In 1910, tensions were high between Moses and Hunt, a feud that escalated to a peak when Sosman left on a 15-week European tour. At the time, both Moses and Hunt were left in charge of the studio. Hunt was the company secretary and treasurer, whereas Moses was responsible for the design, construction and installation of all projects. Of this time, Moses wrote, “Mr. Hunt was secretary and treasurer, and expected to run the business, but I wouldn’t allow it.  Mr. Hunt kept on the road most of the time.” After Sosman returned and assessed the studio’s state of affairs, Moses wrote, “I heard some reports as to what Hunt had reported to Sosman about my treatment towards him.  I got mad and wanted to quit.  Sosman wouldn’t listen to me.  I finally got cooled.” Moses took a little time of and then returned to the studio, writing, “I arrived June 25th.  Sosman had his doubts as to my coming back.” About this same time, Hunt sets his sights on the eastern seaboard and another business venture, again partially funded by Sosman. Smart move, as it was beginning to appear that Chicago was not big enough for both Moses and Hunt.

New York Studios listed Adelaide A. Hunt as the President, Edward A. Morange as the vice president, and David H. Hunt, as the Treasurer. The company’s starting capital was $40,000, and listed the following directors: Edward A. Morange, Adelaide A. and David H. Hunt, with offices located at 325 W 29th  Street, New York. Business listings noted that theatrical equipment was the primary product produced by the company.

To establish the New York Studios in 1910, Hunt relocated his family to New York. This move also instigated a name change for his wife. Her stage name was Angela Dolores, but “Angela” was her middle name. Adelaide was her first name. By 1919, Adelaide A. Hunt was listed as president of New York Studios, with Edward Morange as Vice-President and David H. Hunt as treasurer, still supplying theatrical goods. Office locations varied between 29^th, 39th and 95th Streets. This meant a large pool for artists to draw upon for any project that came along. Many Sosman & Landis scenic artists had worked for New York Studios over the years, including John H. Young, William F. Hamilton, Victor Higgins, William Smart, Art Rider, Al Dutheridge, John Hanny, and Otto Schroeder, just to name a few. Hunt’s establishment of New York Studios is the beginning to the eventual demise of Sosman & Landis. Keep in mind that Sosman was a scenic artist; Hunt was not. Based on Moses’ description of Hunt and newspaper articles. Hunt reminds me a bit of a salesman selling any pyramid scheme, hoping for maximum returns with minimal investments; it is all based on the underlings beneath him doing the work. Hunt relied heavily on the main studio in Chicago as a support network for both labor and materials.

Between 1910 and 1912, Hunt and New York Studios were repeatedly mentioned in newspaper articles across the country. One particular article concerned an electrical apparatus that enabled a single individual to handle sixty-five drops. Hunt was part of a group interviewed about the stage innovation. At the time of the interview, Hunt was chumming around with Martin Beck (manager of the Orpheum Theatre), A. C. Carson (manager of the Denver Orpheum), and Fred W. Vincent (New York booking offices). Hunt was a genius at social networking and always falling in with the right crowd. I am including an excerpt from the interview. On Dec. 18, 1910, the “Lincoln Star” quoted Beck, “‘I have just inspected the invention of Seth Bailey, stage manager of the Orpheum in Denver,’ said Mr. Beck. ‘He has devised an electrical appliance which makes it possible for one man to handle sixty-five drops. It operates everything from the stage curtain to the back, gives absolute fire protection and does the work of an average of twenty stagehands. One man can operate it. It looks good to me, and if further tests prove it as successful as the indications are here, we will install in all the Orpheum Theatres. ‘The apparatus for handling drops, consisting of ropes and counterweights, has been the same for 200 years,’ said A. C. Carson, manager of the Denver Orpheum house. ‘Mr. Bailey has perfected, the first invention, bringing the stage mechanism up to date. It has been a field neglected by inventors.’ To add a little context, on Feb 18, 1911, the “Wilkes-Barre Times Leader,” reported, “Theatrical men and others in Denver have organized a $500,000 corporation to manufacture a mechanical device, which, it claimed, will reduce the number of stage hands needed in a theatre by three-fourths, at least. The new corporation is called the Bailey Fly Rail Machine Company. It is incorporated under the laws of Colorado. Seth Bailey, stage carpenter at the Denver Orpheum, is the inventor of the device. He worked on it several years before he announced that it was successful. About two months ago Martin Beck, M. Meyerfeld Jr., John W. Considine and other vaudeville managers, met in Denver and saw a demonstration of the apparatus. They appeared to be highly pleased with it. The names of A. C. Carson, manager of the Denver Orpheum; Fred W. Feldwich and Frank Bancroft appear at the prime movers in the matter of incorporation. Mr. Bancroft is an attorney. The device is operated by electricity (page 11). Other than patents, the stage carpenter and company seem to have vanished into thin air, as did Hunt’s association with the endeavor. However, the two article add credence to the previously-mentioned Minneapolis “Star Tribune” from 1908 that reported, “Variety prints a statement to the effect that D. H. Hunt has been engaged to head the producing department to be inaugurated by the Orpheum Circuit company” (page 25). Throughout the durations of his career, Hunt continued to juggle a series of projects.

From 1912-1914, David H. Hunt was listed as a manager in the New York City Directory, working at 1001 Times building. His was still splitting his time between Chicago and New York. In 1912, Thomas G. Moses wrote, “Sosman left for the south on a vacation.  My work doubles.  We are doing a lot of work for the New York Studios – not much profit in it for us, as Hunt seems to think we should be satisfied with a small profit.  I have made a number of designs for him which I am pleased to do as long as we get the work.”

By 1915, David H. Hunt was listed in the New York City Directory was listed as the manager of New York Studios, while lodging at the Great Northern Hotel. It was this same year that Joseph Sosman passed away and the Sosman & Landis Board of Directors elected Thomas G. Moses president of the Co.  Moses’ role as president for the firm effectively changing the dynamic with New York Studios. No more were special arrangements in terms of regional jurisdictions and non-compete agreements.

 By 1917, the New York Studios was incorporated, and the New York City Directory listed the business location as 1475 Broadway. Hunt was still listed as manager of the firm. It was a difficult time, the a world war raging and the demand for painted theatre scenery declining.

Unfortunately, on September 1, 1918, Moses resigned as president at Sosman & Landis and began working for Hunt at New York Studios. Unfortunately, his brief departure provided and opening for Hunt at Sosman & Landis. Moses really should have known better by this point in his career. By this point in his career. Moses really should have known better. Leaving was a mistake, and by the end of 1918, Moses wrote, “I am afraid that I will not be satisfied with my new deal.” Part of the problem was Moses’ trying to secure a suitable studio space. Nothing was satisfactory, so Moses began looking for other work in warmer climates.

During the fall of 1918 Moses hoped to line up a few projects in California and possibly move there, writing, “If I could only get a financial settlement with Sosman and Landis Company, we would go to California this winter.” Needless to say, he remained in Chicago for the winter. His New York Studios projects ended up being built and painted in the Peltz & Carsen shops. Of the experience, Moses wrote, “…rather hard to do in the Peltz and Carsen Studio on account of the low ceilings, being obliged to paint one part on the upper floor and the balance on the lower floor.  The studio was always warm and dry; in fact, too warm at times, which was almost as bad as not being warm enough.” Yet, Moses continued to look for a better space that spring, writing, “We looked at several buildings for a studio, but none seemed right to fill the bill.  The only way to get one and have it right is to build one.”

By summertime 1919, Moses wrote, “A new contract was entered into between the Chicago Studios [Sosman & Landis main studio in Chicago] and myself for one year. I hope it will prove to be a paying one in which I participate in the profits and a raise in salary, which means my old salary of $100.00 and a bonus.” Moses had returned to Sosman & Landis, but now Hunt was solely in charge and Moses was working on contract. Over the years, Hunt caused many of Moses co-workers and friend’s to leave the studio, starting with John H. Young. There was not even a brief honeymoon period after Moses return and soon he wrote, “We have lost John Hanny and Otto Schroeder, our two best men.  They do not want to stay with Hunt.  He is such an awful fault finder.  Larson quit us on October 24th, and Hunt insisted on my doing everything…”

The exodus of scenic artists from Sosman & Landis including five men who left to open a completing firm known as Service Studios. With competitors who intimately new the bidding and manufacture of scenery, it soon became apparent that Sosman & Landis would fold. Talk of closure began and a liquidation of assets was planned. However, issues began when both Moses and Hunt considered themselves “heir apparent” to the Sosman & Landis legacy.

Here is where it starts to get interesting, although a little  bit complicated. In 1923, Sosman & Landis began to close its doors and liquidate all assets. The liquidation would continue into the beginning of 1924. Although Moses continued to paint for the firm during 1923, he also partnered with Fred R. Megan. The two planned to purchase the Sosman & Landis name and start a second iteration of the company. Until Sosman & Landis was completely liquidated, however, Moses and Megan could not officially begin their new business venture under the Sosman & Landis name. Therefore, they temporarily conducted business as “Moses & Megan.”

While waiting to secure the Sosman & Landis name, Moses recorded that they leased the “old Fabric Studio,” adding that they plenty of work in sight, but intended to “hustle for more.”  This meant that they rented the fabric studio in the Sosman & Landis shop on S. Clinton street. They were simply biding their time until the liquidation process was completed. Other plans were brewing with Hunt as he silently backed the establishment of a new firm called The Chicago Studios. By 1922, officers of The Chicago Studio on file with the State of Illinois were A. A. Hunt of 328 N. 39^th St, New York, New York, and Frank Cain of 139 N. Clark St., Chicago. A. A. Hunt was Hunt’s wife, Adelaide Angela Dolores Hunt. In 1922, Chicago Studios was located at 15 W. 20th St. Cain stared as a paint foreman, paint manager, and moved to sales by 1920.

So in 1924, after Sosman & Landis was completely closed, Chicago Studios moved into the old Sosman & Landis building at 417-419 South Clinton St. During the liquidation of Sosman & Landis assets,  studio contents were purchased by Charles L. Hoyland and William Lemle of the Hoyland-Lemle Company. This made sense, as Hoyland-Lemle had leased the South Clinton space for over a year.

During 1923,  Moses also mentioned trying to get Hoyland and Lemle “out” as he and Megan wanted to rent the space, continuing the second iteration of Sosman & Landis at the same address. There was also a third entity wanting to rent the space – The Chicago Studios.  At the time, Moses wrote  “D.S. Hunt is also bobbing about for the lease of the studio.”  This is not surprising. Keep in mind that Hunt was part of the negotiations that requested Moses wait until the company was liquidated before he officially started working under the Sosman & Landis name. He also tried to get Moses on board with his own endeavor; asking him to stay in the studio.

Moses wrote, “Hunt wants me to remain in the studio, but I can’t see it.” In hindsight, this meant that Hunt wanted Moses to work for Chicago Studios and not pursue purchasing the Sosman & Landis name. If Moses and Megan opened a new “Sosman & Landis Company” they would directly compete with Chicago Studios. Otherwise, Hunt retained control over both Chicago and New York.

In short, Moses and Hunt were seeking to acquire the Sosman & Landis legacy. Each was planning to use their institutional memory of the company to succeed in landing future projects. It was never a fair contest. By the fall of 1923, The Chicago Studios began advertising that they were continuing Sosman & Landis under a new name. The Chicago Studios sent out letters and estimates, courting past Sosman & Landis clients, well in advance of the studio final liquidation. This made the announcement of any new iteration of Sosman & Landis appear fraudulent and weak.

Moses & Megan immediately disputed the information circulated by The Chicago Studios, sending out letters of their own, but it was too late. Moses’ letters tried to explain that firm had not closed, just moved to a new, and better, location.

On November 13, 1923, Moses and Megan sent out a series of letters. One still existed in the office archives at the Salina Scottish Rite in 2010. There was a  stamp at the top of the Sosman & Landis letterhead in red ink: “MOVED Executive Offices. Now located at 6751 Sheridan Road.”

In the letter, Moses and Megan wrote:

“Dear Sir:

It has recently some to our attention that a certain studio is advertising our old customers that they have bought the Sosman & Landis Company and are now operating same, combining it with their original company. We wish to assure you this is not a fact and that our original organization is intact, but our studio has been moved to better quarters.”

This was likely the beginning to every client, before taking on something personal. For the Salina Scottish Rite, the letter continued:

“Mr. Thomas G. Moses, our Art Director would like the opportunity of meeting with your scenery committee to submit our designs and specifications covering your requirements. You will perhaps recall that we were favored with your original scenery order, working through the M. C. Lilley Co, and therefore, it is not necessary for us to give you any reference to our ability and quality of our workmanship.”

In the end it was impossible to make the address change look good. Keep in mind that the main studio on Clinton Street had remained the official Sosman & Landis address for over thirty years. It’s reputation as being the best scenic studio in North America had been toted for years. This created a very awkward situation, as there is no way to state leaving the Sosman & Landis “home” to a better location. The studio was well known as one of the best in the country. It cast a negative light on all potential business dealings. In short, it looked like they were downsizing due to lack of work. Moses never stood a chance to win in the long run. 

Now let’s backtrack to the Hunts in New York and the beginning of the 1920s. The 1920 census listed that David, Angela and Anna Hunt were still living in Chicago, now at Oakwood Blvd.  Hunt was listed as a commercial salesman in the Scenic Studio industry. And yet, there was an identical Hunt family listed in New York directories at the time, suggesting that they were keeping two residences. By 1922, A. A. Hunt was listed as an officer for The Chicago Studio, with her residence at 328 N. 39th St., New York, NY.

In 1924, Moses purchases the Sosman & Landis name. Meanwhile, David H. Hunt ran both New York Studios and Chicago Studios; it just doesn’t appear that way on paper. The Hunts permanent residence remained in New York, and by 1925, the Hunts were living in Plandome, Nassau County, New York.  And this is where everything gets a little weird. At this point,  Adelaide A. Hunt’s birth year is listed as 1891. At age fifteen, Anna has moved out, and the household now includes their 4-yrs. old daughter Patricia. A son, David H. Hunt Hr., is born the following year, and by 1930, the Hunt household in Plendome includes David, Adelaide, Patricia and David Jr. By now, the family also has a live-in servant named Jennie Crosswell who is 23 yrs. old.

In regard to New York Studios, the firm was still placing advertisements in 1927. That year, one ad in the  “Scenic Artist” still listed the firm as the eastern affiliate of Sosman & Landis. It was as if Moses and Hunt were connected as magnets and realized that the firms were stronger when associated with one another despite their differences.  I often things of the statement, “keep your friends close and your enemies closer” when considering the long-term association of Moses and Hunt.

Moses passed away in 1934, with Hunt following only two years later. On Feb. 4, 1936, “The Miami Herald” reported, “David Hunt, 67, interior decorator, died in his home, 1515 Pennsylvania avenue, Miami Beach. He was a visitor from Long Island and leaves the widow, Mrs. Adelaide Hunt. His body was sent yesterday by the W. H. Combs Funeral Home to Brooklyn, N. Y.” (page 29).

To be continued…

Copyright © 2022 by Wendy Waszut-Barrett

John Hanny was a scenic artist at Sosman & Landis from 1906 until 1919. In 1920, Hanny and four other former Sosman & Landis employees formed Service Studios. Before his passing in 1984, Hanny shared some of his memories about Sosman & Landis with Dr. John R. Rothgeb, a professor at the University of Texas, Austin. The University considers Dr. Rothgeb a founding faculty member of the scene design program at the University of Texas Department of Theatre and Dance. He was also an inaugural member of U.S.I.T.T. (United States Institute for Theatre Technology). Unfortunately, Dr. Rothgeb passed away on Dec. 3, 1986, and never had the opportunity to share his conversations or written correspondence with Hanny. Much of his research formed the John R. Rothgeb papers in the Harry Ransom Center.

I planned a visit to the Harry Ransom center during the fall of 2016. On October 27, I slowly sifted through materials sent from John Hanny in the late 1970s and early 1980s. One letter penned by Hanny on October 8, 1979, was in response to a request for a biography. Although Hanny wrote many letters and sent a variety of materials, this one was special. I am including as much of Hanny’s original letter when possible, filling out his details along the way. I want to honor Hanny’s legacy as best I can. After all, I feel like he left a trail of bread crumbs about Sosman & Landis for me to follow;  it’s the least that I can do. I’ll start with the opening paragraph of the five-page letter:

“Dear John,

Thank you for being so patient! Your request for a bit of biography surprised and stunned me. My first thought was – what can I contribute to a biography? That only applies to someone of distinction, etc. However on second thought it is only a record of one’s activities, life style, saint or sinner, accomplishments, if any, important or not. With this thought in mind I will submit the following facts. If there is anything of merit you can use, please feel free to do so. On separate sheets I have listed the variety of work in which I have been involved – but handled by contractors.”

At the bottom of the first page, Hanny wrote, “I like music – especially orchestral. I like painting both oils and water colors. I enjoy subtle humor, good mystery stories and western movies. I enjoy good friends.” Dr. Rothgeb had become a friend. The two visited in person, by telephone and written correspondence until Hanny’s passing in 1984.

Of his personal life, Hanny wrote very little, but his story started:

“1890  Place and date of birth – Fort Madison, Iowa, Dec. 31, 1890.”

Hanny left a gap from his birth until 1906, when he was 16 yrs. old and started at Sosman & Landis.  To date, I have located dozens of genealogical records about his relatives, all littered with misspellings and incorrect dates. Hopefully this post will help several family trees connect with one another. His family history needs to be posted somewhere, especially as he left this world without any direct descendants to tell his story.

As with past biographies, I am going to start with Hanny’s family history and early life, sharing the stories of his parents and grandparents. This information helps set the stage for Hanny’s later life and career.

John Hanny was the only son of William Rudolph Hanny (1861-1900) and Catharine Reichert (1867-1964). Both William Rudolph Hanny and his father, Heinrich Rudolph Hanny, went by their middle name – Rudolph. I am going to start with John Hanny’s grandfather, Heinrich Rudolph Hanny, a German immigrant who came to America at the age of 20. Heinrich was born in Karlsruhe, Baden, Deutschland, in 1834. After emigrating to the United States in 1854 he married Philomena Willem (1840-1868) on June 8, 1857 at St. John’s Church in Burlington, Iowa (This is the Church of St. John the Baptist Catholic Church). Much of the following information was taken from the Willem family bible as submitted to ancestry.com by a descendant. However, everything they entered correlates with other historic records. Philomena’s parents were listed as Ignatius Fay Willem (1792-1875) and Marianna Dietrich (1798-1878). Her parents and many siblings were born in Alsace, France. In later census reports, Philomena’s birthplace was also listed as France. Keep in mind that the areas of Alsace and Lorraine are on the French/German border, and depending upon the decade census reports reflect whether individuals listed their birthplace as France or Germany.

It remains unclear as to when the Willem’s family emigrated to the United States, but it was during the 1840s. Philomena’s older brother, Matthias Willem, was the first to arrive in Iowa, approximately 1844. The rest of the Willem family followed five years later in 1849. The 1856 Iowa State census listed all of the Willem’s living at the home of Matthias Willem (1829-1901), who was employed at a “bar house” in Burlington, a profession that her husband (William Rudolph Hanny) would also go into. At the time, Philomena was 16 yrs. old; she would marry William Rudolph Hanny the following year.

In 1858, the William Rudolph and Philomena Hanny celebrated the birth of their first child, Mary A. Hanny in Burlington. Mary A. was named after her maternal grandmother, Mary A Willem. The young couple remained in the Burlington area for at least two years. The 1860 Census reported the couple living in Burlington, Iowa, with their 2 yrs. old daughter Mary.  At the time, Heinrich listed as a saloon keeper.

Sometime between 1860 and 1861, the Hannys moved from Burlington, Iowa, to Beardstown, Illinois, where they celebrated the birth of their second child, William “Rudolph” Hanny (John Hanny’s father). Then there is seven-year gap where I have yet to discover the family’s whereabouts. Philomena passed away on May 9, 1868, and was buried at St. John the Baptist Church in Burlington on May 11, possibly in or near the Willem family plot. She was only 28 years old at the time, leaving a 10-yrs.-old daughter and 7 yrs. old son. It is very likely that the Hanny’s returned to Burlington, where the extended Willem family helped care for the children.

Mary A. Hanny was married in Burlington, Iowa. On Feb. 6, 1877, she married John Herman Ebbesmeier at St. John the Baptist Church in Burlington. By 1880 Mary and her husband were living in West Point, Lee County, Iowa, where Ebbesmeier worked as a section boss for the railroad. By 1885, the Iowa State Census listed Rudolph Hanny living with the Ebbesmeiers at 6^th street in Fort Madison, Iowa. They were all living in the home Catherine Ebbesmeier. The household also included Herman and Mary’s children: Kate Ebbesmeier (5), William Ebbesmeier (3) and Philomena Ebbesmeier (1).

By 1889, William Rudolph was living on his own and had moved to Quincy, Illinois. There he boarded at Fletcher’s Tremont House and worked in the saloon next door, known as “The Cabinet.”  The Cabinet was two years old, having first had opened in 1887. On Dec. 13, 1887, “The News” reported, “Messrs. E. G. Bauer & Co. opened their new place, ‘The Cabinet,’ to-day, on Hampshire street. One door east of the Tremont House. It is one of the most handsomely fitted up places in the city and they are popular with all. Stop this. Evening and see their new place” (page 4). By 1891, the Quincy Directory listed “Rudolph Hanny” as the proprietor of The Cabinet Sample Room, and living at 210 N. 4^th Street.

Between his arrival in Quincy and his lease of The Cabinet, William “Rudolph” Hanny married Catherine “Kate” Reichert. The two celebrated the birth of John Hanny on Dec. 31, 1890. However, John was not born in Quincy, he was born in Fort Madison, Iowa, that year; likely at the Ebbesmeier’s home. For geographical context, Fort Madison was just up the Mississippi River from Quincy.

John’s maternal family, the Reicherts, were living in Beardstown, Illinois; the same town where William Rudolph Hanny was born and buried. Kate Hanny’s parents were Fred J. Reichert (1836-1924) and Catherine Anna Derohn/Rohn (1840-1911). The Reichert’s haled from Darmstadt, Germany; a city near Frankfurt. Her father emigrated to the United States as a young man, between 1852-1854. Her mother emigrated to the United States in 1841 as an infant. Her parents were married in Cass County, Illinois, on April 4, 1860, and farmed near Beardstown. Kate was named after her mother, and one of seven children born to the couple. Her siblings were Mary A. Reichert, Louisa H. Reichert, Anna M. Reichert, Matilda “Tillie” Reichert, Fred Reichert and Nellie Reichert.

Life was looking good in 1891 for the Hanny’s as they settled into life along the Mississippi. Rudolph was elected Financial Secretary of the Quincy Liquor Dealers’ Association and began planning for Quincy to host annual meeting of the Illinois State Liquor Dealers’ Protective association. The convention, planned for the summer of 1892” was anticipated to bring over 1,000 members to Quincy for 4-5 days.”

Business was looking up, and on July 24, 1892, the “Quincy Daily Herald” reported, “Harry Pool has accepted a position with Rudolph Hanny, at the Cabinet” (page 5).

At the beginning of 1893, the “Quincy Daily Herald” announced that Rudolph was elected financial secretary for Saloon Keepers Protective and Benevolent association (Feb 4, 1893, page 5). 

Then tragedy struck when his sister became gravely ill. On March 31, 1893, the “Quincy Daily Herald” reported, “Rudolph Hanny left for Rock Island on Wednesday on telegraph information that his sister was not expected to live” (page 5). On April 14, 1893, the “Quincy Daily Herald”
 reported, “Mrs. Rudolph Hanny is expected sometime to-day or to-morrow, accompanied by her husband’s sister, Mrs., Ebbesmeier, who has been seriously sick. She is recovering and will convalesce in Quincy.” (page 5). A few days later the two arrived in Quincy. On April 19, 1893, the “Quincy Daily Journal” reported, “Mrs. Rudolph Hanny and her sister-in-law, Mrs. Ebbesmeier, arrived from Ft. Madison last evening. Mrs. Ebbesmeier has been very sick and still is weak, but with change of scene down here will doubtless soon pick up and be herself again” (page 4). This was Mary A. Hanny Ebbesmeier (1858-1893). [ancestry.com shows that a Catherine “Katie” Ebbesmeier was the daughter of John Herman Ebbesmeier (1854-?)and Mary A. Hanny (1858-1893). In 1880 she was living in West Point, Lee, Iowa and her brother William Rudolph Ebbesmeier (1882-1967) was born in West Point two years later; Katie Ebbesmeier (daughter, Rudolph’s niece) lived in Ft. Madison in 1895; Katie lived in Burlington, Iowa in 1897 where she passed away on Jan. 18.

Mary A. Ebbesmeier died on April 29, 1893.

On April 30, 1893, the “Quincy Daily Herald” reported:

“MORTUARY.

Several Deaths Reported in the City Yesterday.

Mary A., wife of Herman Ebbesmeier, of Fort Madison, died at the home of her brother, Mr. Rudolph Hanny, No. 715 North Seventh street, at 1 o’clock yesterday morning of consumption, after an illness of fifteen weeks. She was born at Burlington and there spent her girlhood days and the days of her young womanhood and married Mr. Ebbesmeier. Afterwards, she removed with her husband to Fort Madison, and that city was her home until three weeks ago, when she came to Quincy in hope that at the home of her only brother, she might find improvement of health. At her death she was 35 years and 1 month of age and leaves besides her husband five bright children to mourn the loss of the best of wives and dearest of mothers. The children are Katie, William, Philomena, Joseph and John. Her mother’s sister, Mrs. C. Work, of Burlington, has been here during Mrs. Ebbesmeier’s sickness attending her. Those who knew her here and her friends at Burlington and Fort Madison sincerely mourn the death of this estimable lady.” (page 2). Mary was buried at Saint Boniface Cemetery in Quincy, Adams County, Illinois.

By that fall, an announcement in the “Quincy Daily Herald” on Sept. 16, 1893, gave a little more background about Rudolph’s youth in Fort Madison. “Frank Helling, the leading grocer and saloon keeper of Ft. Madison, was here yesterday, visiting his friend Rudolph Hanny. Sixteen years ago Hanny and Helling, boys then, clerked together in the store of Helling’s uncle and they have been fast friends ever since” (page 5).

Rudolph’s father had worked as a successful saloon keeper. Rudolph’s close friend Frank Helling worked as a saloon keeper. The luck did not last for Rudolph in Quincy. On March 17, 1894, the “Quincy Daily Herald” reported, “The Cabinet Closes. The Saloon shut tight under a mortgage for $739. Late yesterday afternoon Mrs. Mary Hagenbuch, mother of Will Hagenbuch, the cigarmaker, closed Rudolph Hanny’s Cabinet Saloon, 517 Hampshire, foreclosing a mortgage on the fixtures for $732.90. The Wahl Brewing Co. have an attachment against stock for $610, but neither they nor Mrs. Hagenbuch will realize the value of their claims” (page 4). On March 28, 1894, the “Quincy Morning Whig” announced, “Sold at Auction. The stock and fixtures of the Cabinet saloon, located just east of the Tremont house, was sold at auction yesterday under a chattel mortgage given by Rudolph Hanny to Mary A. Hangenbruch [sic.]. The outfit was sold to John Ryan on his bid of $725.” (page 3). Two weeks later Rudolph resigned as the financial secretary of the Saloonkeeper’s Association. By November of 1894, Rudolph was sued by Wahl Brewing Co. and lost.

By 1897, the Hanny Family relocated to Chicago where Rudolph was listed as a painter in the City Directory, living  at 170 Townsend. In 1898, Rudolph was listed as a trunk maker, now living at 405 N. Wells. He would remain at this address until 1900. That year, the census listed that the Hanny’s were living at the same address on Wells. Their household included Tillie Schukraft (b. 1869), Louise Schukraft (b. 1899), Nellie Sage (25, b. 1874) and Henry Dackerman (30, b. 1870).  Nellie Sage was actually Nellie Reichert Sage (later Nellie Duker), Kate’s youngest sister.

“Tillie” Schukraft was actually Mathilda Reichert Schukraft, Catharine Reichert Hanny’s sister. Both Tillie and Nellie worked at a laundry while their sister Kate watched the kids at home. She was recently married when the census was taken, having married John F. Schukraft on June 15, 1900. Tillie had met the Schukrafts in Quincy, before she moved to Springfield, and later Chicago. On Aug. 22, 1894, the “Quincy  Daily Herald,” reported “A surprise and farewell party was given in honor of Miss Tillie Reichert at the residence of H. G. Schukraft [sic. this is John G. Schukraft, her future father-in-law], 615 Oak street, last evening…Miss Reichert leaves for Springfield in a few days to accept the position of a forelady in a laundry. She has been a resident of Quincy for two years and has become a very popular lady” (page 1). On June 15, 1898, Mathilda “Tillie” Reichert (1869-1943) married John F. Schukraft (1869-1908) in the church study at Holy Trinity Evangelical Church in Chicago; they were issued a marriage license on the same day (The Inter Ocean, 16 June, 1898, page 10). They two had already celebrated the birth of their daughter Louise in March 1899.

This was the living situation in 1900 when John Hanny’s father passed away. He was attending school and living with his two aunts, a young cousin, and a boarder. His parents had been married for ten years and he was nine years old. Withing then next six years his life would drastically change, yet he would continue living in Chicago. His mother remarried, his step father adopted him, and he begin working at Sosman & Landis as a paint boy. On Jan. 10, 1905, Kate Hanny married John Roedder in Chicago. Like the rest of Hanny’s family, Roedder was a German who emigrated to the United States (1881).  Roedeer was a shoe salesman.

In Hanny’s 1979 letter to Dr. Rothgeb, he wrote:

“1906. Hired by Tom Moses (Sosman & Landis – age 16 years at $6 a week. Attended night classes Art Institute two nights a week under Albert Fleury.” Hanny was following the pattern as most of the boys who worked at Sosman & Landis. When he wasn’t working in the studio, he was taking art classes or going on sketching trips; anything to improve his skill set.Albert François Fleury was a French emigrant from Le Havre who settled in Chicago by 1888 where he was commissioned  to decorate Chicago’s new Auditorium Building. By 1907, Fleury was one of the founders to establish the Chicago Water Color Club. There is a lovely post about Fleury at Chicagology (https://chicagology.com/goldenage/albertfleury/). It includes an article written by Fleury for “Brush and Pencil,” Vol. 6, No. 6 (September 1900) and an article written about Fleury by Maude I. G. Oliver. By the way, I have written about Oliver in the past, here is a link to my post: https://drypigment.net2020/01/01/tales-from-a-scenic-artist-and-scholar-part-888-palette-chisel-club-1914/

In 1904, Oliver wrote, “It is with unusual pride that Chicago alludes to her resident French artist, Mr. Albert Fleury, who finds his inspiration in the city’s apparent ugliness, and who, through the medium of an exceptionally sensitive touch, has happily recorded beauties and even poetry itself, which native artists have failed to discover. Mr. Fleury is preeminently the painter of Chicago; but it is Chicago idealized which animates his brush. He knows just how to appropriate a telling composition from amongst some bits of smoke begrimed architecture or mud-besmeared streets, to select an effective arrangement of an imposing- looking warehouse, held as a firm, skillful note in juxtaposition with the proverbially “dirty Chicago River.” The commercial life of the river, showing its airy drawbridges, its solid embankments, its busy little tugboats, together with its groups of sailing craft, enhanced, as they are, by the commanding dignity of their fine old masts, is a favorite theme for this appreciative artist. He loves also to employ the material of a crowded thoroughfare, depicting its surging, teeming, metropolitan spirit by well- considered masses of restless humanity, cleverly balanced by the unique feature of the notorious Chicago ‘skyscraper.’”

John Hanny could not have picked a better individual to study with, especially one who was so well connected with the scene painters in Chicago. By 1910, he was still living with his mother and step-father. The 1910 census listed Hanny as a scenic artist working on his own account, boarding with John Roedder and Catherine Hanny Roedder.  In his 1979 letter to Dr. Rothgeb, Hanny wrote:

“1912. In six years my salary increased from $6 a week to Journeyman pay – $35. Came up the line by painting tormentors and grand drapery borders, AD curtains – lettering excepted, surroundings for Front Curtains, Streets, and Olios, etc. Later completed Front Curtains surroundings and picture – figures excepted.” For a little financial perspective, $6 in 1906 is the monetary equivalent of $185 in 2022. $35 in 1912 is the monetary equivalent of approximately $1000 in 2022.  This is a substantial pay increase for a young man, providing the much-needed discretionary income for artistic study.

Although Hanny continued to work at Sosman & Landis, he also began picking up work at other studios. By 1917, he listed Peltz-Carsen as his employer on his WWI Draft Registration card.  At the time, Peltz-Carsen was located at 1507 N. Clark Street in Chicago, with Hanny was living at 920 Buena Ave. I have written about Herman M. Peltz and Robert Carsen in the past; here is a link to one of the posts: https://drypigment.net2020/05/31/tales-from-a-scenic-artist-and-scholar-part-1007-peltz-and-carsen-studio-1918/

In 1918, Sosman & Landis subcontracted some construction work for frames to Peltz and Carsen Studio. It would make sense that Peltz and Carsen, in turn, hired some of the scenic artists at Sosman & Landis for other projects. Hanny was also working for David H. Hunt, head of Sosman & Landis’ eastern affiliate New York Studios. My guess is that Hanny’s work outside fueled any dissatisfaction that he had with Sosman & Landis at the time. There was trouble brewing at Sosman & Landis, with many of the employees not particularly happy with their work situation. Troubles began when Thomas G. Moses resigned as President of Sosman & Landis to work for New York Studios during the fall of 1918.  He wrote, “September 1st, I resigned as President of the Sosman and Landis Company which severs my connection with the firm after thirty-eight years of service.  I joined the New York Studios and expect to get a studio and an office to do business.”  This must have signaled the end for his fellow scenic artists at the firm.

In 1919, Moses wrote, “We have lost John Hanny and Otto Schroeder, our two best men.  They do not want to stay with Hunt.  He is such an awful fault finder.”

The 1920 Census listed John Hanny as still living with his parents, noted as the adopted son of John Roedder. They were still living on Buena Ave. Roedder was listed as a commercial salesman in the shoe industry, and Hanny as an artist in the scenic studio industry. However, on Jan. 16, 1920, John married Ella May Tillou (1891-1958) in Chicago. He began a new life and started a new business the same year.

In Hanny’s 1979 letter to Dr. Rothgeb, Hanny wrote:

“I stayed with Sosman & Landis until 1920 when four other men and myself decided to go it on our own and formed Service Studios. We remolded – with borrowed money, a Jewel Tea Co. barn of 18 horse stalls into a Studio of five 24’x48’ – and one 24’ x 38’ paint frames, plus floor space of 50’x50’- This was the best equipped studio in Chicago – Sosman & Landis excepted. We rented several frames to Hoylund and Lemle company on which to paint their Ad curtains.

Service Studios was initially located at the corner of State and 20th street in Chicago in a building that was previously known as the Marshall Field Store. The firm soon moved to 2919 W. Van Buren and set up an impressive space after when the Marshall Field estate sold the building. On June 26, 1921, the “Chicago Tribune” reported: “Old Time Marshall Field Store Building is Sold. The Marshall Field estate has sold the southwest corner of State and 20th. 155×120, to L. R. Warshawsky, for $75,000. After the Chicago Fire Marshal Field & Co., then Field, Leiter & Co., used part of the property for their retail store for some time. Later they used it for wholesale purposes. It is now used for a scenic studio by the Chicago Service Studios. The property is improved with a four story building contains eight stores and eighteen flats with a two story building on the rear. Mr. Warshawsky intends to make extensive alterations and will use a portion for his automobile accessory business. S. C. Iverson of Hubbard, Porter & Brother, represented both parties” (June 26, 1921, page 26). The scenic studio in the old Marshall Field Store, must have been a temporary situation as the new studio was prepared in 1920.

In 1924, the Hoyland-Lemle business address was listed as 6751 Sheridan Road in Chicago, the address as William Lemle’s residence (certified List of Domestic and Foreign Corporations for the year 1924). Hoyland and Lemle would continue to rent frames after Service Studios closed in 1926.

In his 1979 letter to Dr. Rothgeb, Hanny wrote:

“When we sold out to Art Oberbeck in 1926, he agreed to continue renting frames to Hoylund & Lemle Co. I mention this because after my trip to Oklahoma City – my record show that I was on the Hoylund-Lemle staff as third man 48 weeks during the following two years when extra help was needed.” By 1926, the demand for painted scenery was beginning to wane and the firm was struggling. Service Studios sold out to Art Oberbeck of ACME Studios. Oberbeck had also started as a young artist at Sosman & Landis, two years before Hanny in 1904. In 1926 Oberbeck moved ACME Studios from 36 West Randolph Street to the Service Studios at Van Buren and Sacramento Street (2919 W. Van Buren).

Hanny had gone to work for Oklahoma City Scenic Co. after selling Service Studios. Aldo known as Oklahoma Scenic Co., the firm had been around for quite some time. Already in 1903,the firm was being managed by a Mr. Patterson, who was also construction theaters for the Southwestern Circuit (Daily Democrat, Anadarko, OK, 7 Feb 1903, page 4). Times were changing and scenic artists began to scramble for work by the mid-1920s. Of this change, Hanny wrote, “About this time it was becoming evident that scene painting, as such, was on its way out. Almost every artist automatically was becoming a free lancer, picking up odd jobs perhaps a day or two here and there – “touch ups” and the like.”

In an undated letter to Dr. Rothgeb, Hanny wrote:

“After the Depression of 1929 which lasted about five years, conditions were extremely bad. Studios disappeared, many artists had to find other kinds of jobs. I was not spared in this but was very fortunate to get on staff of the Ravinia Park Grand Opera. They put operas during the summer month with stars form the New York Metropolitan Opera Company. During the summers of 1928-29-30-31 I put in some 50 weeks. With open time on my hands I became interested in oil painting. I joined a sketch class led by Mr. Frank Peyraud and also took some private instruction from him from time to time. Mr. Peyraud was referred to as the Dean of Landscape painters of Illinois and as lived near Ravinia Park and got much of his subject materials in and around Skokie he took his classes there to sketch. Skokie was at that that time natural open country and beautiful trees.”

[I have written about Frank C. Peyraud quite a bit; he was Sosman & Landis Employee No. 11. Here is the link to my post about him: https://drypigment.net2021/04/08/sosman-landis-shaping-the-landscape-of-american-theatre-employee-no-11-frank-c-peyraud/ ]

In an undated later letter written to John Rothgeb, Hanny wrote, “The depression of 1929 just about stopped the production of stage scenery – at least in Chicago. Road shows, musicals, etc., if any, were being produced in New York and Hollywood. At this point all of the studios disappeared but the scene painters just couldn’t disappear and had to become free lancers. There was no such thing as a steady job and the boys were hard put to find a day’s pay. Most of the following years were really tough and 1929 proved to be a big change in our business. In purpose, in design, paint and other materials.” The 1930 Census listed John and Ella Hanny living at 901 Cornelia in Chicago. He listed his occupation as a scenic artist in the “Scenery” industry. Ella was still working for the telephone company.

As with many scenic artists at this time, the poured a lot of energy into their easel art. By the mid-1930s, Hanny was associated with several fine art groups and exhibiting throughout the area. In 1936, Hanny exhibited an oil painting with the Business Men’s Art Club of Chicago. On Feb, 27, 1936, the “Chicago Tribune” reported, “’Late Summer,’ by John Hanny is rich in color with a suggestion of Peyraud in its composition and quality” (page 15). At another Business Men’s Art Club event entitled the “Art for Art’s Sake Exhibition” Hanny’s “At Ease” was mentioned as a picture of merit (“Chicago Tribune,” 10 Mar 1937, page 19). That same year, Hanny’s oil painting “Drying the Nets” was featured at the third formal opening and tea of Northwest Art League, Inc. The exhibition was held at the Edgewater Beach Hotel (“Chicago Tribune,” 21 Nov 1937, page 32).

For some, their financial situation improved as the economy slowly crept back. In an undated letter to Dr. Rothgeb, Hanny wrote:

“As the economy improved – work was to be had on industrial exhibits, Home shows and Auto shows, etc. These were contracted for by such firms as Bromels Detroit, Dramaturgy Cleveland, Wildings Chicago and a few others. These were not scenic studios but rather combinations of carpenters and machine shops equipped to turn out booths, revolving turn tables, electrical effects and so on. The biggest change to us painters was our paints, Luminal Casein was pretty well established as a very practical and useful medium so, it, and show card color was the norm. So – no more ‘dry’ colors – no more soup bowls or hot size and of course no more paint frames. Drops, if any, were painted on the floor. The house painter’s sash brushes came into use and many of the former ‘tools’ such as snappers, and center-poles and others were no longer needed. The folding 2 ft. brass bound rule gave way to the yards stick.”

Just as life began to improve for the Hanny family, another disaster struck. Hanny’s step-father passed away at the beginning of 1938, three days shy of his thirty-third wedding anniversary. Roedder’s  obituary published in the “Chicago Tribune” on Jan. 8, 1938, announced, “ROEDDER – John Roedder, Jan. 7, of 3000 Sheridan road, beloved husband of Kate, father of John. Services at Rosehill chapel Monday at 2:30 p.m. Remains at chapel, 3419 N. Clark street”  (page 14). Hanny’s mother, Kate Reichert Hanny Roedder, went to love with her sister Louis Reichert Thomas at North Sheridan Rd, In Chicago. His mother would live for another two decades.

Hanny continued to work in his easel art between scenic jobs. On May 5, 1940, the “Chicago Tribune” reported, “Nine north side artists are among those exhibiting this month at the Club Women’s Bureau at Mandel Brother’s department store”; Hanny was one of them (page 126). He also began to share his artistic knowledge with other aspiring fine artists.

On June 2, 1940, the “Chicago Tribune” reported, “North Shore Art Guild. Members will meet at 1:15 o’clock this afternoon in the Webster hotel, 2159 Lincoln Park West. John Hanny, artist, will demonstrate the art of landscape painting” (page 37). 

By the fall of 1940, Hanny was finally beginning to win awards and advance in fine art organizations. On Nov. 20, 1940, the “Chicago Tribune” reported, “The gold medal for the best work in oil was given to ‘Wet Snow, Michigan Avenue,’ by John Hanny” at The All-Illinois Society of the Fine Arts exhibit in the Stevens Hotel. That same year, Hanny was listed as the second vice president of the North Shore Art Guild in 1940 (“Chicago Tribune,” 8 Dec 1940, page 120). The next year he was the first president of the Guild (“Chicago Tribune,” 2 Nov. 1941, page 21).

In 1941, Hanny exhibited with the “Spare Time Painters Open Loop Exhibit.”  On March 16, 1941, the “Chicago Tribune” described the group as “A little cluster of men who’d rather spend spare time setting down tranquil sunsets, smiling faces, and the vibrant sea on canvas than playing poker, golfing, or gulping highballs had their big day yesterday, Fourteen of them, members of the Business Men’s Art club, opened an exhibit in the club of women’s bureau at Mandel Brothers of water colors and oils which they created after office hours” (page 21). The article noted that John Hanny was a scenic designer.

Hanny’s WWII Draft Registration Card from 1942 listed his address as 901 Cornelia, Chicago, Illinois.  His mother, Mrs. Kate Roedder of 2550 Leland, Chicago, was listed as the person who would always know where he lived. Odd that he did not list his wife Ella.

During the war, Hanny continued to exhibit his easel art. On April 25, 1943, the “Chicago Tribune” mentioned Hanny as one of the artists whose work was exhibited with the North Shore Art guild in the club women’s bureau: “A clever work is seen in ‘Victory Tableau’ by John Hanny” (page 67). In addition to fine art, Hanny made a name for himself as a mural painter in the region. In 1947, Hanny painted the murals in the new Terrace Roo of the Italian Village, designed by George Bonaguide, in Madison, Wisconsin (Wisconsin State Journal, 24 Jan. 1947, page 8). John Hanny was described as a “well-known mural painter” who “came from Chicago to do the walls.” Hanny painted a series of Italian murals. The article described, “At one end is a panorama of the city of Florence, while on the sides are views of the Villa Carlotta at Lago di Como, Pallanza from Isola Bella Lago Maggiore, and the front entrance to the Pallanza.” For historical context, The Italian Village restaurant was started in 1947 at 651 State St. by Mateo Lombardino, who immigrated from Sicily in 1921. When Dean Martin and Frank Sinatra would perform in Madison, they often ate at Italian Village, as did other well-known singers such as Vic Damone and Liza Minnelli. Here is a fun article about the restaurant:

After the war ended, Hanny became associated with the Amphitheatre of Louisville, Kentucky, where he worked with Technical Director Rollo Wayne. On July 8, 1949, “The Courier-Journal” of Louisville, mentioned Hanny’s work at the Amphitheatre in Louisville (page 54). It reported, “One of his crew is painter John Hanny who worked on the original “Song of Norway” set in Los Angeles. Hanny explained that ‘Norway’ was one of four productions put out every spring by the Curan studio, playing for two weeks in San Francisco and two weeks in Los Angeles, “Nobody had any idea we had such a terrific hit on our hands at that time,” Hanny said, over a table of paint cans at the Stanford studio-hangar yesterday. “But Lee Schubert came out to California and took the show to New York. Then it really made history. Handy said that the Louisville sets resemble quite closely the Hollywood originals. He has been an Amphitheatre painter for the past four seasons. He was working with technical director Rollo Wayne. The article noted, “Wayne used the first revolving stage ever seen in America when in 1926 he designed sets for Lee Schubert’s “Pinafore”. At the Amphitheatre, Wayne uses revolving stages which he explains, “give a chance for greater originality and speed up scene shifts.”

Hanny remained with the venue for quite some time. In 1955, Hanny was the scene designer for the Louisville Park Theatrical Association’s production of “South Pacific” at the Iroquois Amphitheatre in Louisville (Courier-Journal, 9 Aug 1955, page 15). On June 19, 1955, Hanny was mentioned in an article about the scenery for the Amphitheatre published in Louisville’s “Courier-Journal.” The article was entitled “Green Does Scenery Job,” with Hanny being  noted as the scenic artist who “creates the design of the whole structure.” Dexter Green was also noted as having been associated with the Amphitheatre since 1838 – “In fact, scenery has been the trade of the Green family since 1887. The business has been handed down over the years and has become the special profession of Dexter Green, local craftsman who resides at 731 Harrison Ave, Clarksville, Ind.” I only included this information about Rollo Peters and Dexter Green, as hopefully this will assist someone else’s research. Many of Hanny’s sketches, technical drawings, and photographs from his Amphitheatre days are now part of the John Rothgeb papers at the Harry Ransom Center, University of Texas, Austin. Hanny sent a variety of his work to Rothgeb before his passing in 1984.

By 1958, Hanny suffered the loss of his wife. On March 18, 1958, the “Chicago Tribune” published Ella’s obituary: “HANNY – Ella May Hanny, 901 Cornelia avenue, March 16, 1958, beloved wife of John Hanny; sister of Carl; W. Tillou and Marion E. Walker. At chapel, 2121 W. 95^th street, where services will be held Wednesday, March 19 at 1 p.m. Interment Rosehill, Member of Telephone Pioneers of America” (page 22).  His mother died six years later, on Nov. 2, 1964.

During this time, Hanny continued to work for a variety of television stations. In his 1979 letter to Dr. Rothgeb, Hanny wrote:

“I answered some 15 of these calls between 1934 and 1965. In between, filling in at the T.V. studios – ABC – NBC – CBS and Mutual part time until 1957 when I was employed steady at CBS for three years, Due to company policy regarding age at 65 retirement and pension considerations, I was taken off permanent payroll and retired- (fired) in 1960 at the age of 70. However I put in a lot of time there after that being called when a second man was needed and always to take over while #1 man was on vacation. With the above work and what I did for General Exhibits I was kept in the ring until 1972. By that time I was 82 years old and my last salary check came from General Exhibits in 1972.

1972.   I had to get all the above data from a notebook in which I listed all my earnings for income tax purpose, and I must say I found jobs I had long forgotten and am amazed at the number of projects I got involved with. There are even more. I do hope I haven’t bored you with so much detail but in relating my activities I found it difficult to separate then from the history of the business itself. Perhaps some of this will serve to round out your own research.

1979. As we take note of how scene painting has contributed and maintained the aesthetic quality of the Drama through the years, we should regret that it must lean so heavily on the commercial for survival. As I look back over the years, I now realize that I have had a full and exciting life – hopefully a productive one – and have known and rubbed elbows with some wonderful generous people including Tom Moses and Wm. Nutzhorn for which I am most grateful. No doubt you have finished your shows by now. I hope they have come out the way you wanted. Will be glad to hear.

Most sincerely, John Hanny October 24, 1979”

On May 14, 1984, the “Chicago Tribune” published Hanny’s obituary: “John Hanny. Services for John Hanny, 93, a retired scenic artist, will be at 10 a.m. Monday in chapel at 430 E. Roosevelt Rd., Wheaton. Mr. Hanny of Wheaton died Thursday in a nursing home in the suburb. There were no immediate survivors” (page 29).

It was very brief and gave no inkling of his theatrical contributions. I have to wonder who wrote it, if it was his nephew Bruce William Walker, a retired naval officer, who cared for him later in life.  The last correspondence between Dr. Rothgeb and John Hanny was managed by Walker. Unfortunately, Walker passed away a decade ago. Here is a link to Hanny’s nephew’s obituary: https://www.legacy.com/us/obituaries/dailyherald/name/william-walker-obituary?id=25627526

I am going to end this post with one last undated letter written by Hanny to Dr. Rothgeb:

“Dear John,

As usual I must say ‘sorry to be late,’ but I am slowing up somewhat and I hope you will be patient with me. Your inquiries of your last letter of Nov. 1 are important and related to the great change in the painting and production of stage scenery from the early 1900s to the early 1930s. This era has gone forever and as most of the old timers have passed on, it may just be possible that I am the only one around to record it.”

Hanny’s contribution is priceless, as he left far more than just a few written memories. He left sketches, technical drawings, photographs and detailed accounts of scenic art practices the Sosman & Landis studio from 1906-1919.  We have Dr. Rothgeb to thank for his persistence in helping Hanny reminisce about his early career in Chicago. Of particular interest are Hanny’s drawings of scenic tools and palette arrangement.  Both Hanny and Rothgeb left a theatrical legacy that will be valued for generations to come. Here is a lovely article about John R. Rothgeb published in ENCORE Fall 2013 (The University of Texas at Austin Department of Theatre and Dance Alumni Newsletter): https://issuu.com/uttad/docs/encore_fall2013_v6

Here are some of Hanny’s drawings, sent to Dr. Rothgeb before his passing.

To be continued…

Copyright © 2022 by Wendy Waszut-Barrett

In 1888, Thomas G. Moses wrote, “My assistant was Jack Taylor and a good hustler.” Both Moses and Taylor were working for Sosman & Landis at the time. Two of their projects included the Grand Opera House in Los Angeles and the Los Angeles Theater.  

I am going to start with the year 1888, before I get into the life and career of Jack Taylor . That year Moses returned to Sosman & Landis after a failed partnership with Walter Burridge and J. D. Louderback. It was Perry Landis who convinced Moses to return to the firm that spring. They accidentally met in Altoona, Pennsylvania, each going after the same project at the Mountain City Theatre. Of the encounter, Moses wrote, “Mr. Landis also showed up after the same job.  After our meeting, we went to the hotel and sat up long after midnight, talking over business.  Sosman and Landis wanted me to come back with them, and I agreed to do so as soon as I could finish my work.  I was to receive my old salary of $50.00 per week, and a chance to do contract work, which would increase my salary to $4000.00 per year.” Because of this deal, Sosman & Landis won the contract, as Mr. Plack want Moses to paint the scenery for his Mountain City Theater. By June, Moses was painting scenery for Sosman & Landis in California. When he arrived at the Grand Opera House in Los Angeles, the paint frame was still being completed. This is when he mentioned his assistant Taylor. Moses’ comment that Taylor was a “good hustler,” meant that his assistant worked fast. They painted together all June and into July.

On July 8, 1888, the “Los Angeles Herald” published an article entitled “The Grand” describing the “great transformation” as the venue underwent a renovation (page 2). Moses’ work for the Grand Opera House, located on S. Main, was mentioned in the article. Here is the article in its entirety:

“The remodeled Grand Opera House will be thrown open to the public tomorrow night, and those who attend will scarcely believe that in so short a time so great a change could have been made. From the entrance on Main street to the back of the stage there is scarcely a feature which will remind the visitors in the least of the appearance of the house as it was six weeks ago. The lobby has been so changed by mural and stucco work that it presents an entirely different appearance. The box office wherein Frank W. Conant, the popular Treasurer, has held forth for many seasons, has been entirely remodeled and enlarged. It is now ” the model box office of the Coast, and with its plate and stained glass is an ornament which greatly relieves and makes inviting the entrance to the theater. As elsewhere in the theater, the tone of the work is terra-cotta and bronze, and must be seen to be appreciated. The entrance to the lower portion of the house has also been entirely changed and passing through the portals as now arranged the visitor will gaze upon one of the prettiest interiors in the country. The upholstering of blue plush harmonizes with the bronze and terracotta of the walls and proscenium, and the brass rails around the ledge and proscenium boxes add to the general appearance in such a manner as to give the impression that a master-hand has had the arrangement of the work. The seats on the main floor are new, and are upholstered in blue plush. They have the latest attachments designed for the comfort of the audience. The center aisle has been taken out and two side aisles run from the back to the stage. Just below the dress circle are six lodge boxes, each holding four seats. These are upholstered in blue, and are surrounded by highly polished brass rails. At each rail are four proscenium boxes so arranged that each has an unobstructed view of the stage. The decorations of these are in perfect keeping with the rest of the house. The proscenium arch is a marvel of beauty and attracts immediate attention. The prevailing tone here is bronze and terracotta, with which the drapery of the boxes harmonizes. The former gallery has been turned into a family circle, in which the chairs formerly in the parquet and dress circle have been placed. The entrance to this part of the house is by two flights of stairs starting at each side of the lobby. Above this is the gallery, from every part of which the stage is in plain view. This gallery increases the seating capacity of the Opera House by about 500. The new drop curtain is one of the prettiest ever seen on this Coast, and besides this there are eight new sets of scenery which will replace those of which the public is somewhat tired. Manager H. C. Wyatt is responsible for this change for the better in the Grand Opera House, and it was through his efforts that the architect, Mr. Woods, was engaged. The sale of seats for Denman Thompson will be at the new box office to-morrow morning.”

In California, Moses also painted scenery for the new Los Angeles Theatre, located on Spring Street between Second and Third. It is likely that Taylor stayed in California to assist him. On Dec. 16, 1888, “The Los Angeles Times” reported, “The proscenium arch is 30×28, and the drop curtains slide up and down, without having to be rolled. The drop curtain proper is a gorgeous affair, representing foliage and drapery. The entré-act curtain gives a picturesque scene in Jerusalem, set in handsome frame, and with the words ‘Nadjy Daud’ underneath. This was reported to be the name of the artist of the picture, which T. G. Moses of Chicago has copied on his curtain” (page 2).

It remains unclear as to how long Taylor assisted Moses. In addition to the Grand and Los Angeles Theater, Moses worked on a variety of other Sosman & Landis projects that year, including the New California Theatre (San Francisco, CA), and two other venues in South Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, and La Crosse, Wisconsin.  In 1888, Sosman & Landis was inundated with work, having successfully secured projects across the country. Work included: scenery for Benedict’s touring production of “Monte Cristo”; Power’s new Grand Opera House in Decatur, Illinois; the new opera house in Owensboro, Kentucky; and the Turn Hall in Fremont, Nebraska, to name a few. They also delivered scenery for several social events that year, including the Carnival of Nations for the Young Women’s Association at the Exposition Building in Chicago and a Grand Ball at the Elms in Leavenworth, Kansas. Sosman & Landis managed several teams of scenic artists, stage carpenters, and their assistants all over the nation, rapidly contracting and completing a variety of projects that year.

The other factor to consider is Moses’ describing Taylor as an “assistant.”  At Sosman & Landis, the position of scenic art assistant was a step up from “paint boy,” or “pot boy.” Paint boy was the starting point for most aspiring scenic artists at Sosman & Landis, a young individual responsible for a myriad of menial tasks at the studio. Paint boys were also referred to as pot boys during this time. Pot boy was a reference to one of their tasks, filling pots with color (dry pigment paste) on an artist’s palette.

There was no guarantee that any paint boy transitioned to the role of assistant. In many cases, paint boys never left the position, so simply departed from the studio in either disgrace or disgust. John Hanny, who began as a paint boy at Sosman & Landis in 1906, later recalled the life of a paint boy in a letters written to Dr. John Rothgeb late in life. Hanny wrote, “When the artist wanted his palette cleaned, he called for a ‘swipe-up’ which included having his palette washed with a sponge, brushes cleaned, clean hot size, pail of clean water and straight edges wiped clean.” Paint boys were responsible for “swipe-ups.”

Hanny even wrote a brief definition of “Paint Boys”:

“PAINT-BOYS. A mis-leading compound word. As there was no apprentice-ship policy at Sosman & Landis. The word paint had no significance relating to the duties they were expected to perform. The word BOYS meant young lads who were not old enough to know better, but were strong and hefty enough for heavy work and needed a job…the Paint-Boys did all of the heavy work around the Studio. They prepared the Palettes for the Artists in the morning, filling the bowls with color, hot size, clean water, clean straight edges, etc. During the day they washed up the Palettes whenever the Artist wanted. Other jobs were handling all the sets and drops off the paint frames and stacking them….then the other jobs – priming drops and wings, cutting the muslin, sweeping the floor, running errands, loading wagons, etc. If capable, were allowed to pick pounces, cut and shellac stencils. The word Paint-Boys really meant cheap labor. Only a lad who could endure this program and still have the ‘yen’ and urge strong enough could qualify as a proper scene painter.”

However, there were some stalwart individuals who advanced and became scenic artist assistants. Their chores then transitioned from menial tasks to scene painting.  Individual assistants were assigned to journeyman scenic artists at Sosman & Landis, providing a unique opportunity for a young artist to study with an older and more experienced scenic artists. If they proved worthy, the scenic artist assistant would eventually earn his own palette. Then, these young artists would work their way up the line. Hanny described that this ascent began with first painting tormentors and grand drapery borders. After a young artist showed proficiency in these compositions, they moved onto advertising drops (but not lettering), surrounds for drop curtains (but not the center composition), street scenes and olio drops (but not figure painting). Eventually, an aspiring artist earned his own palette at Sosman & Landis. However, the promotion was never guaranteed and many left for other studios or decorative firms.

Keep in mind that Taylor was already working as a scenic artist assistant at Sosman & Landis in June 1888 when Moses returned to work at the firm. He was also a fairly proficient assistant, or Taylor would not have been sent to California to assist the firm’s star artist. It is possibly that Taylor had been with the firm for a few years, starting as early as 1886. However, it remains unclear as to where Taylor permanently resided, or if he always on the road. Keep in mind that by 1888, Sosman & Landis managed three regional branches: Chicago, New York and Kansas City. Taylor could have been associated with Chicago, New York, Kansas City, or all three as a “floater,” drifting from one job to the next. It is also possible that Moses brought Taylor with him from New York. Whenever Moses returned to Sosman & Landis after a striking out on his own, he returned with those he was already working with at the time. Taylor may have been an assistant to Moses at Moses & Hamilton in New York.

Tracking down Jack Taylor was extremely difficult, especially since “Jack” was a nickname. After trailing many false leads and cross-referencing dozens of historical records, I think that I managed to successfully track down the assistant mentioned by Moses in 1888. Taylor was from New York.

John W. “Jack” Taylor was born on April 4, 1873. He was the only son of Lafayette Taylor (b. 1847) and Maria Amanda North (b. 1851).  His father was the son of Edward Randolph Taylor (1801-1884) and Martha Taylor (1809-1880). The 1860 US Federal Census listed his father, then aged 13 yrs. old, as an inmate at an Asylum for the Poor with the rest of the Taylor family, Edward Taylor (54 yrs.) and Martha Taylor (51 yrs.), Henry Taylor (23 yrs., farm hand), George Taylor (22 yrs., mariner), Edward Taylor Jr. (14 yrs., farm hand), and Isaac M. Taylor (10).

Lafayette Taylor transitioned from pauper to private, enlisting in the Union Army when he was 15 yrs. old. He joined the 23rd New Jersey Volunteer Infantry on August 28, 1862, after the Civil War started. He was mustered in as a Private in Company K on September 13, 1862. Lafayette served in the December 1862 Fredericksburg Campaign and the May 1863 Chancellorsville Campaign. He was honorably mustered out as on June 27, 1863, at Beverly, New Jersey. This provides a little insight into Jack Taylor’s father, who would die when he was only 8 yrs. old.

The Lafayette Taylor and his wife Maria A. “Mary” North is a little unclear. The 1870 US Federal Census listed Lafayette and Mary A. Taylor as part of the Aaron H. North Household in Camden Middle Ward, Camden County, New Jersey.  At the time, Lafayette was listed as a 25 yrs. old carpenter and Mary as a 27 yrs. old domestic.  Aaron North was a 39-yrs.-old grocer, and head of the household. Other members of the North household included Aaron’s wife Emma (32 yrs.) and children Clara (10 yrs. old) and Wilbert (5 yrs. old). And yet, Maria did not marry Lafayette until 1871. New Jersey marriage records list the date of Lafayette and Maria’s marriage as Jan. 18, 1871 in Chews Landing. Chews Landing was an unincorporated community in Gloucester Township of Camden County, New Jersey. The two would later be buried the nearby town of Blackwood, New Jersey. Like Chews Landing, Blackwood was an unincorporated community within Gloucester Township, Camden County, New Jersey. The couple remained in the area, celebrating the birth of their only son in Camden County, the spring of 1873.

By 1878, Lafayette Taylor was listed as a stair builder in the Camden Directory, living at 616 north Sixth St. The 1880 US Federal Census reported that the Taylor family was still living in Chews Landing. The household only included Lafayette, Maria and John at the time. At the time, Lafayette was working as a carpenter and John was only thirteen years old. Sadly, both John and his father were listed as sick, with Lafayette suffering from consumption and John ailing from Catarrh. Taylor’s father passed away on June 18, 1881, and was buried at Blackwood Methodist Cemetery in Blackwood, New Jersey. I was shocked, when I located the gravestone of Lafayette Taylor in Blackwood.

I have yet to locate any information about Taylor or his mother in the year’s immediately following his father’s passing. However, in 1887, Maria A. Taylor received a permit to build a home in Brooklyn, New York. Her was one of 83 building permits issued by Commissioner Platt at the time. On October 8, 1887, “The Brooklyn Daily Eagle” reported “On the south west corner of Railroad avenue and Hill street, in the Twenty-sixth Ward, Miss Maria A. Taylor is about to erect a two-story frame residence, 14×30 for one family, cost $500.” (page 1). Taylor would live with his mother in her home on Railroad avenue from 1896 until his passing in 1938. John W. Taylor was repeatedly listed as an artist at that residence in the “Brooklyn Directory” over the years.

The 1910 Census listed Taylor as a sign painter, working for an advertising company. That year, the Taylor household included his uncle Richard Paddow (74) and his aunt Mary E. Paddow (69). At the time, Taylor was 37 yrs. old and single. Ten years later, the 1920 Census listed Taylor and his mother still living at 438 Railroad Ave. in Brooklyn. He was listed as an artist in the “Paintings” industry. His mother, now 68 yrs. old was working as a music teacher.  The two continued to live together for another decade and the 1930 census listed Taylor and his mother still living in Brooklyn, but now 420 Autumn Ave. The report listed that neither was working; both unemployed, likely a result of the market crash of 1929.

Maria Amanda Taylor died at the age of 84 in 1936. Her obituary was published in the Brooklyn Times Union on March 30, 1936. Her obituary published in the Brooklyn Times Union on March 30, 1936, page 20. “Maria Amanda Taylor, 84, widow of Lafayette Taylor and a prominent member of the Goodsell Memorial M. E. Church, will be buried tomorrow at Blackwood, N. J. Funeral services will be conducted in the church tonight at 8 o’clock by the Rev. Dr. Ralph Welles, the pastor. Mrs. Taylor died on Saturday in her home, 432 Autumn Ave. She was one of the 13 founders of the Goodsell Memorial Church, and played organ in its early days. For 25 years, she was superintendent of the primary department of the Sunday School. A son, John W. Taylor, survives.” Maria’s obituary was also published in ”The Brooklyn Daily Eagle” the same day, announcing: “Services Tonight for Maria Taylor. Funeral services will be held tonight at 8 p.m. at the Goodsell Memorial M. E. Church for Mrs. Maria Amanda Taylor, 84, widow of Lafayette Taylor, one of the 13 original founders of the church, who died Saturday at her home, 432 Autumn Ave. She was for many years the only teacher of piano in the section. Mrs. Goodsell [sic] played the organ during the early days of the Goodsell Memorial Church, and was superintendent of the Sunday School for 25 years. A son, John, survives. The services will be conducted by the Rev. Dr. Ralph Welles Keeler, pastor of the church. Burial will be in Blackwood, N. J.” (page 15).

John W. Taylor died on April 3, 1938 at Kings County Hospital (451 Clarkson Avenue) from Pulmonary Tuberculosis. He was buried April 7, 1938 in Black Wood Cemetery, Black Wood, NJ. Death records for John W. Taylor report show that he was still working as a sign painter when he passed, still living at 432 Autumn Ave.  His death certificate listed that the informant was his brother, also noted as an executor of his estate – Lafayette Taylor. To date, I have yet to locate any historic record suggesting that Taylor had any other sibling.

Interestingly, John W. Taylor and Maria A. Taylor made newspapers in 1942. On Feb. 23, 1942, “The Brooklyn Citizen” announced:

“ SUPREME COURT OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK, COUNTY OF KINGS – HOME OWNERS’ LOAN CORPORATION, plaintiff vs. GEORGE E. RHODEBECK, heirs-at-law, next-of-kin, devisees, distributes, grantees, assignees, creditors, lienors, trustees, executors, administrators and successors in the interest of MARIA A. TAYLOR and JOHN W. TAYLOR, her son, both deceased, if they be living, and if any of the foregoing be dead, their respective heirs-at-law, next-of-kin, devisees, distributes, grantees, assignees, creditors, lienors, trustees, executors, administrators and successors in interest of the aforesaid classes of persons and all persons who by purchase, marriage, succession or otherwise have or claim an interest on or lien upon the  premises described in the complaint, derived through or from any of the aforesaid identities and whereabouts of all of the foregoing being unknown to plaintiff, et. Al., defendants.

SUMMONS AND NOTICE.

TO THE ABOVE NAMED DEFENDANTS: You are hereby summoned to answer the complaint in this action and to swerve a copy of your answer, or if the complaint is not served with the summons, to serve a notice of appearance on the plaintiff’s attorney withing twenty (20) days after the service of this summons exclusive of the day of service and in case of your failure to appear or answer judgement will be taken against you by default for the relief demanded in the complaint.

Dated, New York, Jan. 17, 1942.

SIDNEY SCHNEIDERMAN,

Attorney for Plaintiff,

Office and Post Office Address, 36 West 44^th Street, Borough of Manhattan, City of New York.

TO THE ABOVE NAMED DEFENDANTS IN THIS ACTION:

The foregoing summons is served upon you by publication pursuant to an order of Hon. EDWIN L. GARVIN, a Justice of the Supreme Court, Kings County, dated January 14, 1942, and filed with the complaint in the office of the Clerk of Kings County. The object of this action is to reform and foreclose a mortgage held by the plaintiff, made by MARIA A. TAYLOR., dated March 29, 1934, and recorded in the Kings, County Registers office on March 29, 1934, in Liber 7889 of Mortgages, page 205, covering premises situated on the corner formed by the intersection of the southerly side of Hill street with the westerly side of Autumn Avenue, being 25 feet front and rear and 100 feet in depth on each side, less any land lying in the bed of Autumn Avenue as a result of the shifting lines of said street, and more particularly described in said mortgage, and known as 423 Autumn Avenue, Brooklyn, New York.

Dated, January 17, 1942.

SIDNEY SCHNEIDERMAN,

Attorney for Plaintiff” (page 6).

To be continued…

Copyright © 2021 by Wendy Waszut-Barrett

L. R. McNeal was purportedly a scenic artist who worked at the Sosman & Landis Scene Painting Studio during the early twentieth-century. His previous work for the firm mentioned in a 1916 newspaper article.

In 1916, McNeal was contracted to paint scenery for Walter Savidge (1866-1949) in Wayne, Nebraska. Savidge ran an amusement company that toured small towns in Nebraska.

On April 20, 1916, the “Wayne News” of Wayne, Nebraska announced, “Scenic Artist Arrives” (page 6). The article reported, “Walter Savidge has secured the services  of the well-known scenic artist, L. R. McNeal, who arrived in this city on Tuesday from Chicago. Shortly after his arrival Mr. McNeal started painting the scenery for the production of Graustark and before leaving Wayne will complete the entire scenic equipment for each of the six plays that will be presented by the Savidge Dramatic Players during the coming season. Mr. Savidge has been fortunate in securing Mr. McNeal who has been connected with some of the largest scenic studios in this country, including The Lee Lash Studio of New York and The Sosman & Landis Studio, Chicago.” This story was also published in “The Nebraska Democrat” on April 20, 1916 (page 6).

McNeal’s scenic contribution was again mentioned at the Summer Carnival in  Ainsworth, Nebraska that summer. The event ran from June 28 to July 1 that year. The Walter Savidge Amusement company performed their productions in a tent. On June 23, 1916, “The Ainsworth Star-Journal” reported that the company was using a “new water-proof canvas theatre.” Again, the new scenery by “well known artist L. R. McNeal” was mentioned in the article. McNeal was still mentioned that fall when the Walter Savidge Amusement Company was featured at the Tri-State Fair and Carnival in Crawford, Nebraska, that fall. On September, 8, 1916, the “Crawford Tribune” reported, “The Walter Savidge Amusement Company opens a five-day engagement in Crawford on Tuesday, September 19^th. In presenting his company this season, Mr. Savidge feels safe in the assertation that he has the strongest aggregation of attractions that he has ever carried. Especially does this apply to the Savidge dramatic players, who will appear in their new waterproof canvas theatre. Mr. Savidge has devoted much time and care to the selection of both plays and players. His company will include Miss Katherina Dale, an old favorite of this territory, who has been engaged as leading lady. Mr. A. C. Wilson has been retained as stage director and will have entire charge of each production. Fritz Adams and Miss May Wilson, two favorite players have been retained. Among the new members may be mentioned O. TR. Prather, Dick Elliot, Marvin Landrum, Edwin Henderson, Miss Marie Hardwick and Miss Anna Nielson.

The plays presented this season constitute the most pretentious repertoire ever opened by a tented attraction and will include Graustark, a romantic play in five parts from t eh novel by George Barr McCutcheon, dramatized by Grace Hayward; The Call of the Cumberlands from the popular novel of the same name by Charles Neville Buck, stage version by Hugo Kock; The Printer of Udell’s from the novel by Harold Bell Wright, dramatized by Mr. Wright and Elsbery W. Reynolds; the Belle of Richmond, a beautiful play of the old south, by popular actor author Sidney S. Toler. On the Board, a play of Mexican border life by the late Myron Leffingwelt, one of the most successful and prolific modern playwrights; The Girl of the Mountain, a well written play by W. C. Herman, who has just scored a great success in the larger cities with his latest play Any Man’s Sister, The only comedy offered during this engagement will be The Prince of Liars, which was written for laughing purposes only by James J. Runnion. Each of the above plays will receive a complete scenic production, the scenery having been designed and painted by the well known artist, L. R. McNeal. Among the new carnival features are: The African Ostrich Farm, Oriental Museum of Reptiles, and the Birds of All Nations. The Ferris wheel and the Merry-go-round will be in operation during the day and evening and free band concerts and feature free acts will be presented both afternoons and evenings” (page 1).

The Nebraska State Historical Society included a Walter Savidge Amusement Co. Collection in its manuscripts division (RG1667.AM). The collections contents date from 1899-1970, with the majority of records and photographs dating from 1910 to 1931. Here is the link to the collection’s description: https://nebraskahistory.pastperfectonline.com/archive/773D6CEE-F0B8-482E-AA29-979449914441

Here is the “Scope and Content Note” for the collection:

“The records of the Walter Savidge Amusement Company have been arranged into three series: 1) Ledgers, 1910-1920; 2) Printed matter and 3) Miscellaneous.

Series 1: Ledgers, 1910-1920, consists of employee salary records. Employees received wages, and a bonus if they stayed with the show for the entire season. End of season entries include the signature of the employee, signifying that they had received full payment. Some records have notes regarding work performed: “band,” “canvas,” “snakes,” etc. Several ledgers contained loose bills, receipts, and a few items of business correspondence which have been placed in envelopes at the beginning of each volume.

Series 2: Printed matter, 1899-1970. contains four “mail and route lists” for the company, Mabel’s piano lesson book, and articles about the company. Series 3 contains miscellaneous items, including the obituary of Walter Savidge.

Here is the description of the contents:

Series 1 – Ledgers, 1910-1920

Box 1
Volume

1. 1910

2. 1911-12

3. 1912

4. 1913

5. 1914

6. 1915 [& envelope]

7. 1915-1916 [& envelope]

Box 2
Volume

8. 1916 [& envelope]

9. 1918 [& envelope]

10. 1920

Series 2 – Printed matter

Box 2
Folder 1

Route and Mail Lists, 1927-1929, 1931
“A Graded Course of Studies and Pieces for the Piano-Forte,” 1899
Clippings

Series 3 – Miscellaneous

Box 2
Folder

1. Miscellaneous

Series 4 – Photographs (transferred to photo collection: RG1667.PH)

Group 1:  Midway Shows & Acts
Group 2:  Bands & Musicians
Group 3:  Rides & Midway
Group 4:  Guernsey Dam area
Group 5:  Storm Damage
Group 6:  Groups and individuals
Group 7:  Women
Group 8:  Custer State Park

History Nebraska also included a  “Background Note” for the collection:

“Walter T. Savidge was born in Deloit, Nebraska in 1886. As a child in Humphrey, Nebraska, he tried to imitate the stunts of the aerialists he saw at the circus (walking a tightrope between the family barn and a shed, for example). When he was 16, Walter left home to perform tricks at fairs and picnics, and by the age of 20 [ca. 1906], he had formed the Savidge Brothers Amusement Company with his brother, Arthur, who performed under the stage name of Elwin Strong. In 1911 he married Mabel Griffith, whom he had met while he was performing at the fair in Wayne, Nebraska a few years previously. Sometime between the 1914 and 1915 seasons, management disagreements with his brother led Walter to start his own company, the Walter Savidge Amusement Co., using $500.00 as capital. The show grew from a single boxcar load to a 20 car private pullman train carrying 125 employees, concession stands, tents and equipment. The Company traveled a circuit of Nebraska and Midwest towns with the Savidge Players, who performed popular dramatic productions from New York and Chicago in a specially made tent theater, as the main attraction. Outside the big tent were rides, sideshows, and animals. Walter and Mabel Savidge traveled the circuit for 35 seasons, until the Company began to feel the effects of competition from movies and radio. In 1941 they sold the show and retired to Wayne. Walter T. Savidge died in Wayne, Nebraska on September 20, 1949.”

It is possible that this collection provides more information on L. R. McNeal. To date, I remain unsuccessful in tracking down any information about this “well known scenic artist” or his affiliation with any scenic studio.  It makes me wonder if “L. R.” are the initials for his first and middle name, or if it was simply a typo republished in a few newspaper articles that summer. That being said, it is possible that McNeal worked as a paint boy, and had yet to reach the full status of scenic artist at either studio.

In fact, I have only located one other scenic artist with the last name of McNeal from this period. In 1917, there was a 22-yrs.-old scenic artist/electrician who perished after a July 4^th fireworks accident (holding fireworks that exploded). Hugh Marshall McNeal worked as a scenic artist and electrician at the Gladmer Theatre in Lansing, Michigan. His horrific death was described in the “Lansing State Journal” on July 6, 1917 (page 1). It is unlikely that this was the same McNeal hired by Savidge in 1916.

If more information comes to light about L. R. McNeal, I will update this post.

To be continued…

Copyright © 2021 by Wendy Waszut-Barrett

Charles H. Colson worked for Sosman & Landis Scene Painting Studio in 1904, primarily painting scenery for theaters in Kansas. He was not only an accomplished scenic artist, but also a well-known Midwestern performer.

Charles Herbert Colson was born on February 4, 1859, in Sugar Grove, Illinois. He was the son of Judson Colson (1835-1919) and Ellen Elizabeth Wyatt (1838-1905). In 1860, the US Federal Census listed 1-yr.-old “Charlie” Colson living in Sugar Grove, with his mother and father, then 21 yrs. old and 26 yrs. old respectively. They were all living with his paternal grandfather, Daniel Colson (61 yrs.). Other members of the household that year included his paternal grandmother Betsy Colson (51 yrs.) and his aunt Jane Colson (25 yrs.). There were also three other members of the households: Jane M. Vandelip (11 yrs.), Horace Kinkaid (13 yrs.) and Henry Mullen (21 yrs.). I have yet to identify how they were related, or why they were living there.

Charles was one of three children born to Judson and Ellen. When he was three years old a younger sister, Theresa,  was born in 1862. However, I have yet to locate any record for he beyond an 1870 census report, suggesting that she may have died as a child or married extremely young. When Charles was eight years old, a younger brother was born, Daniel Wyatt Colson (1867-1942). Interestingly, Daniel’s birth was recorded in Plainfield, Illinois, approximately 21 miles southeast of Sugar Grove. For geographical context, Plainfield is almost due south of Naperville, Illinois, and about 40 miles southwest of Chicago. It was around the time of Daniel’s birth that Charles purportedly began his acting career. Years later, an 1890 newspaper article about Charles Colson would remember, “The comedian, Mr. C. H. Colson, is an old stage favorite, having been on the stage twenty-two years, his first appearance being as little Heinrich with Joe Jefferson in ‘Rip Van Winkle.’ (“The Holton Recorder” 18 Sept. 1890, page 8). This suggests that Colson played the role of Little Heinrich in 1868. That year, Joseph Jefferson, was starring in “Rip Van Winkle” at McVickers Theatre in Chicago so he was at least in the region. It remains uncertain as to whether Colson made a one-time appearance with the production or was part of the cast for a longer period of time.

I have yet to locate any mention of Colson as a performer during the late 1860s or 1870s. The earliest date that I have located is from 1881. On Jan. 28, 1881, the “Star Tribune” in Minneapolis, Minnesota, reported, “C. H. Colson was part of the cast in the domestic drama ‘Destiny; or the Trials of Eustache Baudin,’ starring Samuel K. Chester” (page 6). At the time, he was 22 yrs. old. This indicates that his acting career began in earnest during the 1870s, likely between 1878-1879; this is about the same time that his mother and her second husband moved west to Nebraska.

From all appearances, Colton had a pretty rough childhood.  His parents separated, and then each remarried, starting a second family. Charles and his brother remained with their mother in the beginning, moving from Illinois, to Iowa and then Nebraska during the 1870s. It is quite complicated, but here is a brief summary of his parents to provide a little familial context for Charles’ early childhood.

Charles’ father, Judson Colson, was born in New York, and his mother, Ellen E. Wyatt, was born in Quebec, Canada. Ellen’s parents were not French Canadian, however, but US Citizens, having been married in Vermont on March 18, 1834. By the time Ellen Wyatt was twelve years old, her family was living in Brandon, New York. She was one of six children born to Davis Baker Wyatt (1790-1866) and Mandana T. Pratt (1811-1896). At some point between 1850 and 1859, Ellen met and married Judson Colson, and the two settled in Sugar Grove, Illinois, where Charles was born.  The couple remained in Illinois, but separated by 1869. Again, this is about the same time that Charles’ acting career began.

By 1870, Elizabeth and her three children moved to Iowa, and settled in New Hampton, Chickasaw County. For geographical context, New Hampton is approximately 40 miles due north of Waterloo, Iowa. For those unfamiliar with Iowa, New Hampton is about 35 miles south of the Minnesota bored.  When Ellen left her husband and relocated to New Hampton, she was  30 years old with three children ranging in age from 3 to 11: “Herbert” (11 yrs.), Elizabeth “Theresa” (8 yrs.) and Daniel ( 3 yrs.). Ellen began working as both a milliner and seamstress. At the time, the household included not only Ellen and her three children, but also her mother,  Mandana “Mary” Wyatt (59 yrs.), and another milliner named Magie Collins (21 yrs.). Interestingly, the children and their grandmother were listed in another US Federal Census that year, in Dayton Township. Dayton Township is also in Chickasaw county, with the nearest post office being listed as New Hampton.

In New Hampton. Ellen married her second husband on May 1, 1871. Albert William Utter (1843-1920) was a farmer at the time. The remained in Iowa for quite some time, but eventually headed west to secure a homestead in Red Willow County, Nebraska. Later historical records note that they moved to Nebraska in 1879. By this time, however, Charles Colson was 20 yrs. old and no longer part of the household. Only his mother, stepfather and younger brother Daniel moved west. The 1880 US Federal Census listed Ellen E. Utter, living with her second husband, A. W. Utter, and D. W. Colson, her 13 yrs. old son from her first marriage.

His mother and stepfather began a second family, celebrating the birth of two children. Their first child was a daughter, named Josie Ellen; she died in infancy. On Dec, 4, 1880, a son was born near McCook, Nebraska – Anthony John “Archie” Utter (1880-1955). By 1882, the relocated to Lincoln, Nebraska, after Ellen fell and fractured her hip. They remained in Lincoln for several years before returning to McCook. The 1891 Lincoln City Directory listed A. W. Utter as a contractor and his wife, Ellen E. Utter, as a music teacher. The Utters returned to McCook by 1894 where they would remain until Ellen’s passing on January 12, 1905. Here obituary published in the “McCook Tribune” remembered, “Mrs. Ellen E. was and accomplished and brilliant woman in her day, a musician and vocalist of splendid ability, a woman of high attainment and character.” This suggests that Charles’ skill as a performer likely came from his mother, and she was the one who possibly encouraged his artistic pursuits at a young age.

Meanwhile, Charles’ father remarried shortly after his mother. Judson Colson married Josephine Kircher (1850-1925) in Des Moines, Iowa, on Dec. 29, 1870. The couple also started a second family, celebrating the birth of a daughter on Sept. 26, 1873, in Plainfield, Illinois – Alice Colson (1873-1898). Over the years, the couple primarily remained in Iowa, living in Polk City, Sheldahl, and Madison.

Charles Colson was also married twice. His first wife, Emma, was an actress and toured together with her husband for almost fifteen years.

Emma Henchell [also spelled Henchel in some accounts] was born in St. Louis, Missouri in 1862. The two were married on June 16, 1884 in Vermillion County, Illinois. It was well over a decade before the two celebrated the birth of a child. On March 12, 1898, Lucille Katherine Colson was born in St. Louis, Missouri. Sadly, Emma passed away when Lucille was only a year old. Family photos posted to www.ancestry.com

The early 1880s are an interestingly period in Charles Colson’s career. At the beginning of 1881, he was performing in Minneapolis, Minnesota with a company that featured Samuel K. Chester. That year, Colson played the role of Henri de Brissac in “Destiny; or the Trials of Eustache Baudin.”  He also played the role of Capt. Shrimpton in “Camilla’s Husband” at Pence Opera House in Minneapolis. By the summer of 1881, Colson was touring in the five-act melodrama, “East Lynne!” and performing in the role of Archibald Carlyle. On August 11, 1881, “The Juniata Herald” reported that Colson’s involvement with the “East Lynne!” performance at Thorne’s Hall in Juniata, Nebraska (page 4).

In 1882, Colson was performing with the Clifford Company. On September 9, 1882, “The Wisconsin State Register” of Portage, Wisconsin, reported, “The membership of this company for the coming season will be as follows: Edwin Clifford, Fred Kent, Tom Coleman, B. K. Hodges, Burt Imson, C. H. Colson, Graham Earle, Edward L. Burdick, C. F. Hall, T. H. Snyder, Chas. Perry, and others. The ladies are ‘Lottie,’ Misses Clara Douglass, Mable Holten and Clara Bronell. ‘Lottie’ who won such an inevitable reputation a few seasons ago, and Edwin Clifford will be the attractions. Fred Kent, stage manager and the inimitable Tom Coleman, comedian, in all making one of the strongest companies on the road” (page 3).

During this time, Colson’s permanent residence was in Chicago. On Jan. 3, 1883, the “Evansville Courier and Press” announced Colson’s arrival at the Sherwood House in Evansville, Indiana, noting, “C. H. Colson, of Chicago” (page 4).

Withing the next two years, he married and began producing his own productions. What Colson did was quite clever. He began to work as a professional manager, arriving in small towns and organizing a benefit performance for a local organization. For example, on March 27, 1885, “The Falls City Journal” of Falls City, Nebraska, reported, “The dramatic club have engaged Mr. C. H. Colson, of Chicago, as its professional manager” (page 8). He arrived with a full set of scenery and starred in the production. The performance was supplemented with local talent and a percentage of the proceeds would support a local individual or organization.

On June 26, 1885, “The Bay News” of Bayard, Iowa, reported, “The great military drama, ‘The Spy of Atlanta,’ will be presented on Friday evening, July 10^th, 1885, for the benefit of the Robt. Henderson G. A. R. Post, under the management of C. H. Colson, of Chicago, who carries a full set of scenery, costumes, etc. The drama abounds with the most beautiful tableau, drills, scenes before the battlefield, in Andersonville Prison etc. Look out for small bills.” (page 1).

Jan. 30, 1887, “The Nebraska State Journal” of Lincoln, Nebraska, reported, “The Spy of Atlanta will be presented at the opera house on Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday evenings of this week by home talent under the management of Mr. C.H. Colson of Chicago” (page 10). On March 31, 1887 “The Crete Democrat” described a benefit performance of “The Spy if Atlanta” for Crete and Wilbur people “Under the management of C. H. Colson.” reported, “The play was brought here by the Masons and G.A.R.’s of which Mr. Weaver is a member.” Benefit of E. J. Weaver. On April 17, 1887, “The Nebraska State Journal” described the production that the great military drama under the auspices of the Woman’s Relief corps., assisted by Prof. C. H. Colson of Chicago and a company of 160 ladies and gentlemen” as Funke’s Opera House (page 8). “He comes highly recommended as an actor and drill master” (Lincoln Evening Call, 18 April, 1887, page 1).

On January 12, 1888, the “St. Paul Phonograph” of St. Paul, Nebraska, listed a “Mrs. C. H. Colson,” playing the role of Maud Dalton, in C. H. Colson’s “The Spy of Atlanta production” (page 8). The article reported that Colson had “made this play a study for several years.” (Jan 12, 1888, page 8). In addition to “The Spy of Atlanta,” Colson was also performing in “The Hidden Hand.” On May 19, 1887, the “Central City Courier” of Central City, Nebraska, reported that C. H. Colson, was playing the role of Wool in ‘The Hidden Hand’ on Saturday Evening (page 5).

In 1888, Colson produced, performed and painted scenery. On March 6, 1888, the “Kearney County Democrat of Minden, Nebraska, reported, “The new scenery that has just been finished by Mr. C. H. Colson was used by the Halladay Minstrels last Tuesday evening, and the painting is the finest piece of work that has ever been done in this city” (page 1). He and his wife continued to tour Nebraska, picking up whatever work they could find.

Unfortunately, he occasionally skipped town without paying all of his bills. At the time, he was  marketing himself as Prof. C. H. Colson, reminding me of Prof. Harold Hill from “The Music Man.”

Some outraged individuals even published letters in the newspapers, warning others to avoid the theatrical endeavors of Colson. Here is one example of those who were less than thrilled of encountering Colson. On September 13, 1888, the “Wahoo News” of Wahoo, Nebraska, warned:

“The readers of the DEMOCRAT will remember that during the week beginning February 9, 1887, a man calling himself Prof. C. H. Colson, of Chicago, used the local dramatic talent of Wahoo in presenting the military drama entitled ‘The Spy of Atlanta.’ Since his appearance in Wahoo he has worked many towns in Nebraska, the last being Broken Bow. A former resident of North Bend, now living in Broken Bow, sent the following communication to the North Bend Flail, which was published last week, Read it, you G.A.R. men of Wahoo who censured the DEMOCRAT for saying Colson was no good, and then go out and kick yourselves for giving utterance to the expression that ‘Colson is working for the G.A.R. and the DEMOCRAT opposes him for political reasons:’ ‘Some of you readers probably remember C. H. Colson, ‘of Chicago’ who put on the play the ‘Spy of Atlanta’ on the boards at North Bend some time ago. This same gentleman came to Broken Bow shortly before the G. A. R. Reunion last month, and arranged to play his military  drama for the benefit of the G. A. R, post of this city. Accordingly he secured some talent and a couple of school ma’ams of the country who were just ready to return to their homes after attending the normal school, promising to pay their board at one of the leading hotels. Among the other participants here was a domestic petite form and pleasing face, who played the part of leading lady, the spy’s wife. While the rehearsals were in progress the professor pretended to be completely  captivated by the charms of Miss Potato Masher, and, before the week’s engagement closed, he proposed that she become Mrs. C. H. Colson, ‘of Chicago,’ and travel with him as his wife, taking the roll of Mrs. Dalton in the great military drama, ‘The Spy of Atlanta.’ She, with the alluring prospect of emerging from the back kitchen to be an enviable start actress, accepted, and the wedding was set for Sunday. For such a notable and romantic marriage it was necessary for the professor to purchase a new suit of clothes. Of course nothing sufficiently fine for the auspicious occasion could be procured in Broken Bow, consequently Saturday morning after the close of the Theatre Friday night, started for Grand Island, ostensibly for the purpose of obtaining the desired outfit and was to return in the evening train to be in readiness for the ceremony Sunday morning. Twi weeks have elapsed since that day, and Prof. C. H. Colson, ‘of Chicago,’ has not put in an appearance. In the meantime, Miss Masher, who was just ready to step upon the stage and electrify the theatrical world went back to washing dishes, It was soon learned that the gentleman ‘of Chicago’ had failed to turn over any of the receipts to the post, left the young ladies to pay their own hotel bills, and others who were to receive pay for their services, got nothing. Thus Mr. Colson has come and gone, and we presume he is endeavoring to assist some other G.A.R. post and flirting with other innocents” (page 1).

Two months later, Colson was associated with another production, credited with producing and starring in “The Dutch Recruit.” He was still using local talent and targeting G. A. R. posts. On Nov. 2, 1888, “The Syracuse Journal-Democrat” of Syracuse, Nebraska, reported, “Full reports both by telegraph and telephone, from the elections of next Tuesday will be read from the stage at the opera house during and after the play of the ‘Dutch Recruit’ by C. H. Colson and troupe. Admission 35 c” (page 7). By the next month, he was performing in Kansas.

On Dec. 1, 1888, the “Nemaha County Republican” of Sabetha, Kansas, reported, “A large audience gathered at the G. A. R. Hall last Monday to see this celebrated military play, under the management of Mr. C. H. Colson if Chicago, supported by a cast composed of local talent. Mr. Colson took the part of the ‘Dutch Recruit’ and played it to the Queen’s taste. He is a splendid actor and kept the audience in a roar of laughter almost during the entire time he was one stage. Except this part and the part of Frank Duncan, the entire cast was composed of Sabetha young people, and the play was admirably rendered, notwithstanding the facts that but a very short time was allowed for rehearsal.  All the parts were splendidly rendered, but Miss Lillian Bradley as Maud St. Leon, F. E. Stewart as Lieutenant Harker, and Fred Russell as Harry Pearson, deserve special mention E. A. Richmond ad Uncle Ned and Will Keenan as Sam were typical negroes, and O. Cook as Teddy O’Connor the regulation Irishman, and each contributed much to the success of the play. The drama was given for the band, and they furnished splendid music before and during the play. The receipts for the evening were $125, of which the band received a goodly share, and are well pleased with Mr. Colson and his play” (page 5)

Despite his marriage, Colson continued to target local women who hoped to start on the stage. For example, Lillian Bradley performed the role of Maud St. Leon in Colson’s “Dutch Recruit” in Sabetha, Kansas. On Dec. 22, 1888, the “Nemaha County Republican” reported, “Miss Lillian Bradley disposed of her restaurant business last week, and we understand will join C. H. Colson’s dramatic company” (page 5). On Jan. 3, 1889, “The Seneca Tribune” of Seneca, Kansas” reported, “Miss Lillian Bradley went to Soldier City, Kans. last week and will assist C. H. Colson in his war plays this winter” (page 2). This ended poorly, as it had with Miss Potato Masher in Wahoo, Nebraska. On Jan. 12 1889, the “Nemaha County Republican” reported, “C. H Colson spent last Sunday in Sabetha. The report that Miss Bradley and Frank Carleton were married, he says, is untrue. Miss Bradley is not with his company” (page 5).

In 1889, Colson changed his approach and again toured with a complete company, no longer supplementing his productions with local performers.

On Jan. 3, 1889, the “Soldier City Tribune” reported, “Attend the grand opening at the Soldier Opera House by Chas. Colson’s Chicago company, two nights, commencing Monday evening January 7, with the well-known and every pleasing comedy drama of ‘The Hidden Hand’ with Miss Emma Henchell as ‘Capitola’ the newsboy, and Chas. Colson as ‘Wool’ the negro servant will make you laugh till your sides ache. Come and see the fine scenery and hear ‘The Hidden Hand” (page 1).

On Sept. 18, 1890, “The Holton Recorder” of Holton, Kansas, reported, “A Rare Entertainment” At G. A. R. hall. Thursday and Friday nights, September 18 and 19^th, the McCann-Crocker Company will fill an engagement with two sparkling comedy dramas, ‘Flopper, the Agent,’ and ‘The Vagabond.’ Miss Josie Crocker, the leading lady, is an accomplished actress brim full of dramatic gesture and mimic talent of a high order. The comedian, Mr. C. H. Colson, is an old stage favorite, having been on the stage twenty-two years, his first appearance being as little Heinrich with Joe Jefferson in ‘Rip Van Winkle.’ To see these two shows is a treat not often to be had” (page 8).

This means that he was acting in 1868 at the age of nine.

In 1890, the Colton Comedy Company featured “the popular comedian” C. H. Colton, supported by Miss Josie Crocker. An advertisement for the company’s touring production of “The Vagabond” appeared in the “Dubuque Daily Herald” on September 27, 1890, page 1. On Oct. 3, 1890, the Colson Company performed “Rip Van Winkle” at the Duncan & Waller’s opera house in Dubuque, Iowa (“Dubuque Daily Herald,” 3 Oct 1890, page 4).

On October 28, 1890, Colson and his wife were listed in the “Dubuque Daily Herald” as “experienced theatre people from Chicago” (page 4). They performed in “The Spy of Atlanta” at the Grand Opera House. It was a benefit performance, supported by a local cast, for the charity fund of Lookout Post, No. 70, G. A. R. Mr. and Mrs. Colton played in the lead roles of Edwin and Maud Dalton. On October 26, 1890, the “Dubuque Times” reported, “One hundred people, under the management of C. H. Colson, of Chicago, will be in the play giving the great bombardment of Fort Sumter, Battles, Marches; Drills and scene upon the battlefield; also the horrors of Andersonville prison with all special scenery” (page 9). After the performance, however, Colson made Dubuque papers again. On Nov. 2, 1890, the “Dubuque Sunday Herald” reported, “Colson has Skipped. Amateur theatricals are coming to grief in Dubuque, It is now given out that C. H. Colson, who managed the ‘Spy of Atlanta’ has skipped town, leaving several unliquidated bills. Will Colson and Isabella’s $25 crown both gone, this would be a dull Sabbath were it not for the free beer at Henderson’s headquarters First ward” (page 5).

On Oct. 9, 1891, the Belleville Telescope of Belleville, Kansas, reported, “”Rip Van Winkle’ at the Odd Fellows Hall, last Thursday night brought out a full audience. The play was rendered by Prof. C. H. Colson and wife, assisted by an excellent company. As ‘Rip,’ Colson is a huge success, and his wife, in the character of ‘Gretchen’ is a faultless actress. Should they return they will be greeted with a crowded house.-St. Louis Republic. At Powell’s Opera House, Sept. 15 and 16. (page 5).

Colson and his wife became associated with a production and a new company in the early 1890s. Emma Henchell was listed as part of Colson & Ousley’s company production of “The Vagabond.” She also played the role of Gretchen in ”Rip Van Winkle,” opposite of her husband.

Henchell was marketed a single, starring as the female lead in the company’s productions. On Nov. 21, 1891, the “Weekly Interior Herald” of Hutchinson, KS, reported, “Miss Emma Henchell is a star performer also, and fully sustains the part she plays” (page 4). On Dec. 24, 1891, she was still associated the Colson & Ousley’s  “Rip Van Winkle” (“The Daily Mail,” Wellington, KS, 24 Dec. 1891, page 2).

On Feb 26, 1892, the “Keytesville Chariton Courier” reported that their production of ‘The Vagabond’ was well received, commenting, “C. H. Colson, as the tramp, played the principal part and in manner to call forth repeated applause”(page 1). His character was described in the “Brookfield Daily Gazette” of Brookfield, Missouri, on Feb 19, 1892:

“The role of ‘The Vagabond’ is not simply restricted to a portrayal of the commonplace events which cluster around the life of a tramp but the omnipresent vagabond appears as the staunch protector of innocence and the avenger of the wrong. Mr. Colson is a strong actor, both in complete conception and in absolutely careful delineation of his role” (page 1). The Colson Theatre company returned to Brookfield that summer with another performance of p “The Vagabond” at Bennett’s opera house, commencing August 22, 1892.  At the time, the company included Emma Henchell and Arietta Kimble. On August 19, 1892, the “Brookfield Gazette” added, “The show carried eighteen people, a fine band and orchestra, with repertoire of the latest laughable successes, owned by the company. Dancing and singing and all the latest specialties. Colson, the manager of the Colson Theatre Co. who are to be at the opera house next week will be remembered as the gentleman who played the part of the tramp in the ‘Vagabond’ at the Bennett last spring” (page 5). Other productions by the company at Bennett’s Opera House included “The Gyp” and “The Lightning Rod Agent” (“Brookfield Gazette,” 26 Aug 1892, page 1).

Later in 1892, they were still starring in “Rip Van Winkle,” but it was with another company – Marney & McGowney. On Dec. 27, 1892, the “Republican” of Salem, Illinois, reported, “Among the coming attractions at the Opera House is Marney & McGowney’s Spectacular Rip Van Winkle Co., supporting C. H. Colson and Emma Henchell as Rip and Gretchen on Thursday Evening, Jan. 5^th. They carry their own Knickerbocker band, orchestra, special scenery and some pleasing specialties are introduced. “ (page 1).

By the mid 1890s, Colson was again working with local talent. On March 27, 1896, the “Decatur Wise County Messenger” of Decatur, Texas, reported, “The Decatur Dramatic Club will in the near future present at the opera house a very superior play entitled ‘Sidetracked,’ under the direction of Chas. H. Colson, the gentleman who so successfully drilled them for their last play. Mr. Colson is a comedian of unusual ability and will play the lead role on this occasion. There will be special scenery for the play including two trains of cars. The proceed will be applied toward buying musical instruments for the club’s orchestra” (page 5).

On Feb 11, 1897, the “Mound City Republic” announced, “C. H. Colson leaves today and reports that he goes to New York City to Fill an engagement” (page 8). I have yet to locate any information about Colson’s work in New York in newspaper accounts. However, in 1904, Colson will be credited with working for Jacob Schott in New York. It may have been a painting engagement that drew Colson east for a short period of time.  Regardless, the next day, Colson was credited with managing another production – “The Great Diamond Robbery.” On Feb 12, 1897, the “Linn County Republic” of Mound City, Kansas, reported that the comedy drama, “The Great Diamond Robbery” was under the management of C. H. Colson. The article commented, “Mr. C. H. Colson, under whose supervision the play was put on the boards is highly praised by members of the Thespian Club. He worked hard to make the play a success, and succeeded in giving our people a much better entertainment than half of the professional companies give us” (page 1). Colson played the role of Peter Grump in the production.

About this time Emma left the stage and returned to St. Louis. The 1897 St. Louis Directory listed Emma C. Colson residing at 1020 N. Cardinal av.” My gut instinct says that she returned to St. Louis once she became pregnant. By the spring of 1898, she gave birth to a daughter. Lucille Katherine Colson was born on March 12, 1898, in St. Louis. Emma died the following year. She was only 37 yrs. old at the time, when she passed away after suffering an intestinal obstruction. On April 27, 1899, the “Perry County Republican” of Perryville, Missouri, announced, “Mrs. Chas. H. Colson, well known to our theatre going people, died recently at her home in St. Louis” (page 3). the time of her passing, Emma was living at 3045 Morgan in St. Louis. She was buried at Saint Peter’s Cemetery in Normandy, Missouri. Normandy is only a little northwest of St. Louis. Her mention in the Perryville news surprised me a bit and I did a little digging. The Colson Stock Company performed in Perryville during the fall of 1898. On September 29, 1898, “The Perry County Republican” reported, “The Colson Stock Company under the management of Colson & Gruen will open the season at the Opera House next Sunday night, October 2d, with the latest comedy success, ‘Dixie Land.’ The company will remain three nights and will present new plays each night” (page 3).

On Sept. 22, 1899, the “Belleville Daily Advocate” of Belleville, Illinois, reported, “Mechanics Lien. S. Mayo, of East St. Louis, filed a mechanics lien, yesterday, against Chas. H. Colson, Fred A Espenschied, W. S. Forman, Robert Bethmann, St. Louis, Belleville & Suburban Railway Co., and the Heim Brewery Company, to recover $112.68, which amount he claims is due to him for lumber and other materials used in the construction of a certain theatre building and dancing floor at Edgemont Park” (page 4).

Nov. 3, 1899, in the “Esbon Times” of Esbon, Kansas, reported, “Theatre at Lebanon, Opera House, Thursday Eve Nov 9. The great 4 act laughing Railway Comedy – The Vagabond – will be presented by the favorite Chicago Comedian, C. H. Colson, assisted by 10 artists. Latest Specialties. Good plot.” A little too much is going on at this time while mourning the death of wife: touring shows, failed business endeavors, infant daughter and an upcoming wedding. He must have been courting his second wife during the fall, if a marriage occurred at the beginning of 1900.

On Dec. 21, 1899, the “Phillipsburg Herald” of Phillipsburg, Kansas, reported “Colson & Palmer’s Stock Co. at Opera House Thursday, Friday and Saturday this week, come to us highly recommended by the press of other towns where they have lately given the best satisfaction with their company. They will open Thursday night with ‘Rip Van Winkle’ all special scenery for the production. With eminent comedian Chas. H. Colson as ‘Rip.’ The company numbers 14 people all engaged for their special line. Don’t fail to see this great play. Seats now on sale” (page 5).

Colson remarried less than nine months after his first wife’s death. Granted, he needed someone to care for his 18-mths-old daughter, yet he married another performer. His second wife was Lalla Guilbert (1873-1939).  They celebrated the birth of a son, Guilbert Charles Colson (1904-1963) in Kansas. Later in life, Guilbert would go by Gilbert C. Colson. He would also make news in Perryville, Missouri. On Jan. 12, 1933, the “Perry County Republican” reported, “The year 1932 was pretty tough for most of us, especially for Gilbert Colson of Chicago if he happens to be among the unemployed. His wife presented him with twins twice during the year, one pair being born in January and the other in December” (page 7). Oof! I can’t imagine.

Back to his father Charles Colson.

On Jan 11, 1900, “The Concordia Daylight) of Concordia, Kansas, announced the marriage license for Charley H. Colson (age 40) and Lalla M. Guibert (age 26)” (page 5). There was also a marriage announcement on the same page: “Miss Lalla Rookh Guilbert, daughter of Celestion Guilbert, was married to Mr. Chas. H. Colson, of St. Louis on Tuesday morning the 9^th, at the Catholic parsonage the ceremony being performed by Rev. Father Perrier. Mr. Colson is a very efficient actor and has a company on the road. Miss Lalla is known by all the citizens of Concordia as a charming and beautiful girl and is highly respected by all. The Daylight with its host of friends wishes them a happy, prosperous life” (page 5). They likely met at the business of her father when Colson was performing in Concordia. Celestin Guilbert was a hotel proprietor, running his business at 513-517 in Concordia. For a little context, C. Guilbert’s obituary was published in the “Concordia Press” on June 22, 1911 (page 3). The obituary noted that “Celestin was born in St. Hyacinthe, Canada, February 11, 1836. He was one of the few survivors of the Nicaraguan Expedition led by General Walker in 1856. Eight children and a wife survived him.”

Shortly after marrying in 1900, Charles and Lalla took to the road with another tour. He was also making plans for the future. This seemed like another get-rich-quick scheme too. On Jan. 26, 1900, the “Wichita Daily Eagle” reported, “Ground Will Be Given. Riverside will have summer theatres like big cities. That Wichita’s parks will be alive with amusements the coming summer is evidenced by the number who are contemplating putting in different kinds of entertainment for the people who will ride in and out on the new street cars. Yesterday Mayor Ross received a letter from C. H. Colson, of the Colson & Palmer Stock company, now en route, asking as to the availability of establishing somewhere in Riverside a summer theatre and resort, such as all-important cities now have somewhere along or at the terminus of the street railways. The letter is as follows:

“Enroute, Jan. 24, 1900.

Hon. Finlay Ross, Mayor, Wichita, Kan.

“Dear Sir: I am desirous of putting a summer theatre and resort in your city park if you think it would pay. I sold out the finest summer theatre and park in St. Louis last fall and am looking for a new location. Can give plenty of references from St. Louis, Chicago, and Milwaukee. I want to put in a fine summer theatre, drama and vaudeville; also buffet and café, and all A No. 1 amusements to be run in A No. 1 style and no hum business. Can the city park be leased for the purpose?

An early reply stating your opinion with regard to same will greatly oblige.

C. H. Colson, Superior, Neb.”

“Mr. Ross said the subject would naturally interest the street car people more than the city, and referred the matter to Mr. McKinley. The street car company has about twelve acres of good ground adjacent to Riverside which it can use as it pleases, and it has always been supposed that the company would either establish or encourage such enterprises there as would an attraction to the public. With reference to Mr. Colson’s letter, Mr. McKinley stated that he would be glad to have such an attraction as the letter mentions, and would give the promoters all the ground they desired for their business in the proper manner. He will expect them to erect a creditable pavilion and make such other improvements as the enterprise warrants. He said a good vaudeville, comic opera and dramatic companies supported with good specialties, would be a good thing for the city, and he would encourage such an enterprise as much as possible and give them all the privileges commensurate with business principles. Mr. McKinley said there were such amusements as these at the terminus of nearly all of their lines in other cities, and he believed they had been paying investments both for the street railway and the proprietor of the resorts. Only in one, or two cities had companies ever conducted their own parks and amusements and they much preferred that amusement enterprises be conducted by others. Mr. McKinley will answer Mr. Colson’s letter at once, and if the gentleman is prepared to meet the requirements in the way of erecting a pavilion on the company’s ground, Wichita will have the novelty of a theatre in the park next summer” (page 1).

All during this time, Charles remained in contact with his mother. On April 20, 1900, “The McCook Tribune” of McCook, Nebraska, reported, “Mrs. A. W. Utter [Ellen Elizabeth Wyatt Utter (1838-1905)] of McCook came down Saturday evening, to attend the presentation of ‘The Noble Outcast’ at the opera house, and to spend Sunday with her son, Chas. H. Colson. The meeting was one of much happiness to both – Republican City Democrat” (page 1). Colson was again running his own stock company, primarily touring theaters in Kansas, Missouri and Nebraska.

By the fall of 1900, Colson was again on the road with his new bride. On Sept. 28, 1900, the “Cambridge Clarion” of Cambridge, Nebraska, reported, “Commencing Monday Evening Oct. 1. The Colson Stock Co. will be here for one week, presenting all the latest successes of the day with a company of 14 people, supporting the favorite comedian, Chas. H. Colson.

The company carries all special scenery and will present every play with proper settings.

Mrs. Colson has been here before and it is needless to say he is a favorite there and will be greeted by good houses during his engagement here. Seats are now on sale at the usual place” (page 5).

On Feb. 8, 1901, “The Prairie Home” of Heartwell, Nebraska, reported, “’The Fatal Letter,’ a rural comedy drama in five acts presented by Chas. H. Colson, the eminent actor, and supported by a metropolitan company with elegant special scenery, will be at Schapper’s Opera House Tuesday evening, February 26, one night. Reserved seats at Pahr’s Drug Store. Prices: 35c, 25c and 15c” (page 5).

By the spring of 1901, Colson found an investor. On April 26, 1901, “The Benkelman Post and News-Chronicle” of Benkelman, Nebraska, reported, “W. T. Page and wife left for McCook Monday evening. Mr. Page is deeply interested in the show business, he having entered into this business with Chas. H. Colson, under the firm name of  The Colson Stock Co. This company have hired a force of first-class actors who will at once commence preparing for the season at McCook where they have been hired to open the new auditorium building” (page 1). Their production included “Sidetracked,” “Struck Glass,” “Dixie Land,” “The Diamond Thief,” “The Gentleman Tramp,” and “The Kentuckian.” On Aug 28, 1902, the “Ellsworth Messenger” of Ellsworth, Kansas, reported, “The Colson Stock Company will open a three nights’ engagement at the opera house Monday evening, September 8. The company carried all its own scenery and mechanical effects. They also make a feature of specialties. Mr. Chas. H. Colson has visited this city before and his company this season is the best he has ever carried. Miss Gay Erroll is his leading support. During their stay here they will produce ‘Dixie Land,’ ‘The Diamond Thief,’ and ‘A Gentleman Tramp.” The prices will be 25c, 35c and 50c.” (page 3).

On Oct. 18, 1902, “The Fairbury Journal” of Fairbury, Nebraska, reported “The Belle of Manila, under personal direction of its author, Mr. Chas. H. Colson will be the attraction at the Opera House, Saturday, Oct 19, 1906. The piece is new in dialogue and situations and has a well balance cast and fine special scenery” (page 8). Lalla was no longer on the road. Instead of Chicago, the couple now listed their permanent residence as Concordia, Kansas. Guilbert C. Colson was born on Dec. 19, 1903. At the time, his older sister Lucille was four years old. She would also become part of the act.

Colson’s luck seemed to be improving. On Oct. 29, 1903, the “Burr Oak Herald” of Burr Oak, Kansas, reported, “Chas. H. Colson, of Concordia, known to most play goers in this part of the state, has just sold to Cincinnati theatrical men his dramatization of Dr. John Uri Lloyd’s famous story, ’Stringtown on the Pike.’ The price paid is said to be $25,000” (page 1). The story was quickly picked up and made headlines across the country. On October 30, 1903, the “Marshall County News” of Marysville, KS, reported, “C. H. Colson, a Kansas theatrical man living up in the Concordia country, has just sold to a Cincinnati firm a dramatization of ‘Stringtown on the Pike” for $25,000. He is now in the Ohio city collecting his newfound fortune. Colson is known in many Kansas towns, as he has served a faithful apprenticeship on the kerosene circuit-Capital” (page 10).

On Jan. 14, 1904, “The Louisburg Herald” of Louisburg, KS, reported, “C. H. Colson’s Show. One of the best audiences that ever assembled in Louisburg gathered Monday night to hear C. H. Colson, and old Louisburg favorite in the play ‘The Belle of Manilla.’ The support throughout was good. A number of specialties was introduced that added spice and variety to the play. Our folks will turn out and give Mr. Colson and his people a cordial welcome would they come this way another season” (page 3). It appeared that Colson finally struck it rich.

And yet….by the summer of 1904, he was working for Sosman & Landis as a scenic artist, marketing himself as such. I have to wonder if he only received a partial payment for “Stringtown on the Pike,” the buyer backed out at the last minute, or the John Uri Lloyd (1849-1936) protested the dramatization of his book. Here is a link to Lloyd’s “Stringtown on the Pike,” published in 1900- https://digital.cincinnatilibrary.org/digital/collection/p16998coll19/id/34066/  

On May 26, 1904, “The Florence Bulletin” of Florence, Kansas in Marion County noted Colson’s many skills, reporting,  “C. H. Colson, the scenic artist, actor and author, and his family arrived yesterday evening with the expectation of making their summer home in the Firmin residence.” The fact that scenic artist was listed first is a telltale sign of his picking up work painting scenery.

On Jun 16, 1904, “The Salina Evening Journal” reported, “New Opera House Curtain. C. H. Colson Finishes Some New Scenery for the Opera House. A new drop curtain will be seen at the opera house this evening by those who attend the closing exercises of the school of the Sacred Heart, and as it is something beyond the ordinary a little mention of how it came there will not be out of place. The work of the painting the curtain and scenery has been done by Mr. C. H. Colson, of Concordia, and the designs are both unique and well painted. The main curtain has the usual display of advertising but the manner in which they are put around the Swiss scene makes them interesting to anyone who at most times despises advertising in any shape or form. The colors used in this painting are bright and lend a cheerful aspect to the scene which is an improvement over the old curtain now taken down. The other scenes are ready to use and in these, too, much that is artistic is shown. An especially pleasing design is ‘Rocky Pass,’ a scene in the Colorado canon with blue and white set in deep contrast. The other piece is a parlor setting with hand painted roses and will be used in stage settings. The management is to be congratulated on securing these additions for the next season” (page 4).

Colson also began paiting for Sosman & Landis during the summer of 1904, completing a regional project in McPherson, Kansas. At the time, his wife was living in Concordia Kansas, raising his 5-yrs.-old daughter and 1-yr.-old son. McPherson was located 87 miles due south of Concordia. On July 1, 1904, “The McPherson Daily Republican” published an article entitled “New Scenery” (page 1). The Sosman & Landis Studio was credited with new scenery for the opera house in McPherson, Kansas. The article reported, “C. W. Bachelor, manager of the opera house is now having new scenery made for the house, at an expense of about $300.00. Charles H. Colson formerly from the Jacob Schott studio of New York and lately with Sosman & Landis, of Chicago is doing the work. This is something the opera house has needed for years, as the old scenery has been in use ever since the house was built and becoming rather rusty. All the new scenery will be of the latest styles and patterns and hand work, no stencil work on them. Our house will be fully equipped with as good scenery as can be seen in Kansas City and the larger places. There will be a new parlor, kitchen, street, cottage, wood and landscape scenes, new draperies and borders. The list of attractions for the coming season. So far Mr. Bachelor informs us, will be above the average that has been here, a great many direct from New York booking agencies and McPherson can expect a good round of entertainments for the winter.” There remains one photograph of Colson’s scenic art, partially hidden behind a minstrel cast. Here is a detail of his scenery.

Amazingly, the opera house in McPherson is still standing and was recently renovated. Here is a link to the image at http://cinematreasures.org/theaters/34958 and backstage image: https://www.travelks.com/listing/mcpherson-opera-house/1810/ and the current opera house webpage: https://mcphersonoperahouse.org/history/ 

Colson stayed close to Concordia during the summer of 1904.

By the end of July was painting in Hope, Kansas. Again, Hope was about the same distance away from Concordia as McPherson, but to the southeast. On July 21, 1904, “The Hope Dispatch” reported, “Chas. H. Colson, a scenic artist from Chicago has taken the contract to paint the scenery for the new Auditorium, and has already gone to work at it” (page 7). Colson’s scenic art for Hope’s new auditorium and the recent sale of rights to his dramatization of “Stringtown on the Pike” were mentioned a week later.  On July 28, 1904, “The Chapman Lookout” of Chapman, Kansas, reported, “Hope’s New Auditorium…C. H. Colson, scenic artist from Chicago, has just finished five scenes and the drop curtain, which he states is the finest in this part of the country, is certainly superb. Mr. Colson has dramatized Jno. Uri Lloyd’s production, “Stringtown on the Pike,’ for which he received $25,000 and a royalty of 2 ½ per cent.  Mr. Colson will retire from his present occupation and will do no more work except for his own stage settings. We congratulate the Hope people and wish them the success they merit” (page 4).

I interpret the statement, “Mr. Colson will retire from his present occupation and will do no more work except for his own stage settings” as leaving the brief employ of Sosman & Landis to again work for himself. His work for the firm, however, occurs during an interesting period. This was a period of extreme expansion for the studio, and one of the reasons that Thomas G. Moses returned to the studio, leaving his own successful scenic studio in New York (Moses & Hamilton).  An article from May 13, 1904, published in the “Indianapolis Journal” says it all when they report that six scenic artists from the firm were working on site (page 7). The article reported, “Six artists from the Chicago scene painting firm of Sosman & Landis are now busily engaged on the stage at the Grand in painting two new sets of scenery to be used next season at the local home of vaudeville. One of the sets will be an ‘interior’ and the other an ‘exterior.’ And a new ‘olio drop’ will also be painted. The same artists will, before leaving Indianapolis, complete several scenic sets to be used on the stage of Dickson & Talbott’s new theatre in Dayton, O. The Grand is to be renovated during the summer and new carpets will be placed in the auditorium. The women’s reception room will be completely refurnished, and several other improvements will be made. Resident Manager Shafer Ziegler, who has been in the city all week superintending the work at the theatre, will journey down to St. Louis to-morrow to spend a few days at the world’s fair, and will go to New York the latter part of next week to join his brother, Henry M. Ziegler, the prominent race horse owner, who is now at the Morris Park track. Ed E. Daily, the Grand’s press agent, will go to St. Louis next week and will not return to Indianapolis until the opening of the next vaudeville season in September.” Sosman & Landis was producing scenery at the main and annex studios in Chicago and shipping them all over the country. They were also operating multiple regional branches, often staffed by former studio employees who were also running their own firms (yet not competing against them for work). Sosman & Landis also sent teams of scenic artists and stage carpenters to manufacture and install scenery on site at a variety of venues. Remember that by 1902, the firm had delivered scenery to over 6,000 venues in the United States, Canada, Mexico, Jamaica, and South Africa.

The rapid influx of projects in 1904 meant that the Sosman & Landis Studio was frantically scrambling for scenic artists, all over the country, pairing regional artists with nearby projects.

In 1905, Colson continued to paint, but also returned to producing another “Rip Van Winkle” production. On August 18, 1905, the “Marshall County News” of Marysville, Kansas, reported, “Mr. and Mrs. C. H. Colson who have been spending a week here left Monday for Chicago where they will arrange to put out two Rip-Van-Winkle shows for the coming season” (page 5). I have to wonder if the one picture that remains of his daughter Lucille dressed as Little Heinrich in “Rip Van Winkle.” After all, she would have been almost the same age as when Colson purportedly plated Little Heinrich in Joe Jefferson’s production of “Rip Van Winkle.”

That fall, painted another drop curtain for a nearby opera house in Pratt, Kansas. Pratt was approximately 85 miles southwest of McPherson, Kansas. On November 23, 1905, “The Pratt Union” reported, “Charles H. Colson, the artist on the new opera curtain, is number one. He has made a curtain and some scenery at the Roll opera house that is first class. It is an entire change from the former styles of painting” (page 6).

On May 11, 1906, the “Sterling Kansas Bulletin” of Sterling, Kansas, reported, “The rural comedy ‘Up York State’ will be given at the opera house next Monday evening by a home talent company under the direction of Perle Kincaid. Those who will take part…C. H. Colson…Mrs. Perle Kincaid McMeachan will take the leading role” (page 1).

“The Country Editor” by Chas. H. Colson’s company, drew a large audience Friday night (The Marysville Advocate, Kansas, 27 Sept 1906 page 4).

On Feb. 11, 1909, “The Princeton Union (Princeton, MN), reported,

“Mabel Heathe.

The beautiful pastoral drama of ‘Mabel Heathe’ will be presented at Brands’ Opera House on Thursday, evening, Feb 18, under the management of C. H. Colson, assisted by the Princeton Dramatic club. The above play will be the finest home talent production yet given by Mr. Colson. Special scenery will be used for the great snow scenes, and the public may expect and elegant presentation in every way. Seats now on sale at Avery’s” (page 8). On Feb 25, 1909, “The Princeton Union” reported, “Chas. H. Colson and family departed on Tuesday for Minneapolis, where Mr. Colson will reorganize his dramatic company. The Colson people made many friends during their stay in Princeton” (page 5). On Jan. 21, 1909, ”The Princeton Union” reported, “With the exception of Mr. and Mrs. Chas. H. Colson, the characters were taken by home talent…Mr. and Mrs. Colson are excellent artists and during their stay in Princeton have become favorites with the theatre going public” (page 1).

His father-in-law, Celestin Guilbert, passed away in 1911. C. Guilbert’s obituary was published in the “Concordia Press” on June 22, 1911 and it mentioned “His daughter, Mrs. L. Colson” was now living in Chicago.   After 1911, it became increasingly difficult to follow Colson’s career. Fortunately, Lalla is a unique name and helped track the couple’s travels. By 1915, the Colson’s were living in Des Moines, with Charles’ occupation as “manufaction of Novelties ” in the State Census report. They remain in Des Moines for the next five years. In the 1920 Census, Charles, Lalla and Gilbert are living at 1115 Ninth Street. Charles’ occupation is listed as “Chemistry”: in the “Factory” industry. By now, Gilbert is 16 yrs. old and attending school.

By 1921, Charles and Lalla move to Seattle, Washington, where they are listed in the City Directory as living at 7724 Meridian av.  They remain in Seattle for the next few years, moving to Oakland California during 1924. In 1924, they were listed in both the Seattle Directory, living at 6207 Linden av., and in the Oakland Directory, living at 817a 55^th. This is where it gets a little weird. In Oakland, Chas. H. Colson is listed as a manufacturer of toilet goods.  This shift to toiletries will continue for quite a few years, with Colson even establishing a Denver-based company called Juvee Inc. Charles and Lalla (now spelled Lolla) remain in Oakland in 1925, living at 2 1407 Colfax. However, by 1926 they move to Denver, Colorado. The 1926 Denver Directory listed Charles and Lolla living at 7 2543 15^th . C. H. Colson is listed as the president of Juvee Inc., a company specializing in toilet articles, located at 2504 15^th. His son, Gilbert C. Colson, is also listed in the Denver Directory, living with his parents at  7 2543 15^th . They family was living an apartment complex, Airy Court Apartments. The Colson’s remain in Denver until 1927; that is the last year that they were listed in the City Directory. Interestingly, Gilbert is no longer working for his dad’s firm, Juvee Inc. Instead, he is listed as a chemist for Can-Do Products Co. Gilbert and his parents are still living in unit seven at 2543 15^th.

And then the Colson’s relocate, returning to Chicago. This was possibly a result of the 1929 Market Crash.  The 1930 US Federal Census listed Charles as 71 years old and working as a scenic artist in the “art studio” industry. Both Lalla and Gilbert are still living with him. However, Gilbert is now working in the insurance industry. They were living at 1917 Lincoln Ave., housing nine lodgers with a variety of occupations ranging from newspaper salesman and salesladies to typists, carpenters and electricians.

In Chicago, Colson would return to performing for the last few years of his life. His death certificate listed “Theatrical Actor” as his occupation. Charles passed away on March 14, 1936, in Chicago.

To be continued…

Copyright © 2021 by Wendy Waszut-Barrett

William Grabach worked with Sosman & Landis in 1897. He would maintain a relationship with the firm over the years, after all the scenic art world was quite small then.

This is one long post, but it is a VERY intriguing story. This is the life that should be made into a movie. Lots and lots and lots of drama, almost to an unbelievable point. Regardless, his story is certainly worth telling.

Exploring the life and career of Grabach is like trying to figure out a Rubik cube. You come close to solving the puzzle, only to realize that one square is still out of place. Part of the difficulty is that there were quite a few individuals named William Grabach running about the same time.  This is always a nightmare, as you have to backtrack all of the information, correlating parents, siblings, birth year, location, etc. To make matters worse, there were a few William Grabachs living in the same area. This is the problem with very large families because of multiple individuals who may share the same name. Just because you pick the perfect name for your child doesn’t mean that your sibling won’t pick the same name.  

William came from quite a large family. He was the son of Augustus Grabach (1818-1860) and Maria “Mary” Elisabeth Setzler  (1821-1903), born on July 20, 1856, in Fremont, Ohio. To date, I have successfully identified the following Grabach children:

John Grabach (1843-1924)

Henry Grabach (1844-

Johan F. Grabach (1845-before 1860)

Anna G. Grobach (1846-before 1860)

Augustus Grabach Jr. (1847-1869)

George Grabach (1850-1927)

Elizabeth Grabach (1850-?)

Catherine “Katie” Elizabeth Grabach Loeffler (1851-1926)

Philip Grabach (1853-1927)

William M. Grabach (1856-1913)

Charles A. Grabach (1858-1909)

Between 1850 and 1860, the Grabachs moved south from Rice Township in Sandusky County. In Ohio to Adams Township in Seneca County.  This was not a huge move, and their journey passed through the larger city of Fremont. We are only talking about a 15-mile trek.  The Grabach family would remain in this area for quite some time. To help you imagine this area, Fremont is approximately 35 miles southeast of Toledo, Ohio.

On March 16, 1860, Augustus Grabach Sr. passed away from fever. At the time of his passing, his occupation was listed as a Master Mason.  That same year, his son John was also listed as a masonic apprentice. John’s younger brother August Jr. would also follow in his father’s footsteps, becoming a brick mason and general contractor when first employed.

Augustus Sr.’s  passing meant that his widow Elizabeth was left alone with several young children to cloth and feed. Each child was pushed out of the nest as soon as they could earn a living, one right after another. The first to leave was Henry Grabach; keep his name in mind as he is a major character throughout the story. Henry Grabach moved to Fremont and began working as a confectionary store in 1860. He would continue to help out over the years, offering work and a place to stay for his younger siblings over the years. He would also help out with his nieces and nephews, always coming to the rescue. He was part of the family’s foundation in Clyde, Ohio.

In the midst of mourning the loss of Augustus Grabach, shots were fired on Fort Sumter the next spring, and the United States entered a Civil War. Although too young to fight in the Civil War, three of William’s brothers joined the Union: John, Augustus Jr. and Henry. They all came home, and picked up their lives where they left off. William did not leave home until he was fourteen years old. In 1870, he went to work for his brother Henry.

By 1870, Henry Grabach was employed as a boot and shoe manufacturer, working for his older brother Henry. Years later, a newspaper article about William Grabach would note, “He did not like the farm, nor the shoe business, in which he was engaged with a brother in Northern Ohio.”  In 1870, Henry Grabach’s household included his young wife, two infant children, younger brother William, and another female (likely a family helper). They were all listed as living in Green Creek, Ohio. Green Creek was a 2 ½ hr. walk north of the Grabach family home in Adams Township.

By 1876, Henry and William Grabach were working in Clyde, Ohio. This was only a one-hour walk from Green Creek, but the family soon moved to Clyde. In 1877, Henry advertised in the “The Clyde Sentinel” – “Grabach is the man to buy your boots and shoes of” (The Clyde Sentinel, 25 May 1877, page 8).

William Grabach began his painting career in Clyde, possibly first making signs for his brother’s store or other local businesses. Installing a new sign made news! On April 20, 1877, “The Clyde Sentinel” announced, “Grabach has some new signs”.

In Clyde, Henry Grabach briefly partnered with John Joseph to establish the short-lived firm of Joseph & Grabach. By 1879, the partnership ended, with Henry opening H. Grabach’s store. Advertisements placed in “The Clyde Sentinel” directed, “Boots, shoes, slippers, hats and caps, coming by the dray load every day for H. Grabach. Clyde has never had such a full assortment. Go and see them” (May 9, 1879, page 5). Henry Grabach went on to enjoy quite a successful career as a well-known boot and shoe maker. In 1881, he even held a patent for a show improvement. Here is the link to the patent: https://patentimages.storage.googleapis.com/2e/c5/37/6b63b239d47541/US244588.pdf

Unlike his brother Henry, William was not passionate about shoeing the public, and began to focus on painting. He did not stay in town for long, and headed west for Illinois. By 1880, however, his easel art made news in Springfield, Illinois. The earliest mention that I have located to date about Grabach’s art career is from 1880. On July 22, 1880, “The Clyde Enterprise” reported, “Many of our citizens will remember Mr. Wm. Grabach, who spent some time here a few months ago with his brother Mr. H. Grabach. He is an accomplished oil painter and artist, though the only work we know of his having done here was frescoing and ornamental painting in Masonic Hall.” The article included an excerpt describing Grabach’s oil painting: “In Springfield (Ill.) Daily Post on July 12^th, we find the following complimentary mention of a portrait in oil executed by Mr. Grabach:-

“A BEAUTIFUL PAINTING.- In the window of Mr. Frank Simmons’ book and stationary store, on South Sixth street, there is an oil painting that is attracting much attention from passers-by. It is the likeness of the little son of Mr. and Mrs. George Henly of this city, executed by Mr. William Grabach. It is certainly a very fin piece of work, and is a good sample of the ability of the artist” (page 3).

By the mid-1880s was working as a painter. Like many artists at the time, he also worked as a decorative painter and fresco artists. He partnered with his younger brother Charles to establish the painting firm of Wm. Grabach and Brother. They were listed in both the 1886 and 1887 Clyde Directories. The two are even listed in the biographical dictionary entitled “Artists in Ohio, 1787-1900.” Here is their listing in the publication: https://www.google.com/books/edition/Artists_in_Ohio_1787_1900/ZdICm_W8xKwC?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=%22William+Grabach%22&pg=PA346&printsec=frontcover

Charles did not remain in the painting business, and soon returned to farming. Later on, his obituary notice would state that Charles, “spent most of his life on farms in Adams and Thompson townships in Seneca county, south of Clyde”(“The Clyde Enterprise on March 11, 1909, page 4).

On March 1, 1881, William Grabach married his first wife, Margaret J. Watterson, in Sangamon, Illinois (Springfield County Court records). Their marriage was also recorded in church records held by Roman Catholic Diocese of Springfield Sacramental Records. Watterson was listed as a Catholic and Grabach the Congregationalist. The groom’s parents were listed as August Grabach and Elizab. Setzler. Watterson’s parents were listed as Johann Watterson and Anastatia Haffermann.

The young couple celebrated the birth of their first child that fall. Margaret “Maggie” May Grabach was born on  Sept. 15, 1881. She was baptized a month later on Nov, 20, at  the Catholic church of St. Pater and Paul.  Baptism records from the Roma Catholic Diocese of Springfield list “Gulielmus Grabach” and “Margar. Watterson” as her parents. For the record, the “Gulielmus” is Latin for “William.” Maggie May was listed in church records as “Margaretha Maria Grabach.” Years later, her marriage records would list state her mother’s name as Maggie Harrison; this was an error. I managed to track down William’s wife in the 1860 US Federal Census. At the time, she was listed as the 5-yrs. old daughter of John (48 yrs.) and Ann (46 yrs.) Watterson; the youngest of their seven children living at home  in Harlem, Winnebago County, Ill. William and Maggie celebrated the birth of three children: Maggie May (b. 1881), William Jr. (b. 1883) and Paul (b. 1886).

William Grabach continued to work as a scenic artist and ornamental painter. He was listed as an artist in the 1883 and 1884 Springfield directory, living at 295 English Ave. Although he was listed in the directory, his family moved back to Clyde, Ohio, in 1883. In Clyde, William Jr. and Paul were born. This was when William Sr. began painting with his younger brother Charles. The firm of “William Grabach and Brother” was listed in the 1886 and 1887 Clyde City Directory. The Grabachs continued to live in Clyde for the next few years, with William continuing to secure projects throughout the region.

William purportedly remarried his second wife in 1888. They may have hooked up that year, but William did not leave his first wife until the fall of 1891; and that is a whole other bit of drama that I will cover in a few paragraphs.

His second wife was Nancy Anna “Nannie” McKay (1856-1902). I have yet to find any official marriage record, but I have located her gravestone in Denver, Colorado. The 1900 US Federal Census provides a little information about Nancy, including a birthdate of May 1856. This information matches the inscription on her gravestone and other historical records that I have encountered. Nancy was Born in New Castle, Delaware, the daughter of George and Elizabeth McKay. By 1900, the census listed that the two had been married twelve years and were living with their son Paul in West Omaha, Nebraska. At the time Paul Gustav Grabach was 16 yrs. old, with his birthdate listed as Feb. 1884.

Grabach was still in Clyde in 1889. On Jan. 10, 1889, “The Clyde Enterprise” reported, “Mr. Wm. Grabach, scenic and fresco painter is in Findlay doing the frescoing of an elegant new church edifice there, erected by the United Brethren” (page 3). Grabach also began accepting an increasing number of projects in Michigan that year. On August 29, 1889, “The Clyde Enterprise” included an excerpt from the Three Rivers Mich., Herald – “The fresco social at the Lutheran church Wednesday evening was well attended. Prof. Graubaugh [sic.], explained to the audience in a most satisfactory manner the significance of the 14 beautiful fresco designs which decorate the ceiling” (page 1). The article went onto describe the significance of the murals.

Some of the difficulty is that the spelling of Grabach’s last name is very inconsistent. Variations in spelling include Grauback, Graugbaugh, Graybach and Grayback.  He begins to cast his net wide for work. As with other scenic artists of his generation, staying put in a small town will not pay the bills.  Painting was a lucrative business, but only if one was willing to travel. The profession demands that artists spend incredibly long period away from their family and home.

This is what happened to Grabach by the late 1880s. He began accepting bigger, and bigger projects, which meant extended absences from Clyde, Ohio. Thomas G. Moses encountered this when he tried to stay in his hometown of Sterling, Illinois. Work necessitated establishing a permanent residence in large metropolitan area, one that was well-connected to other regions of the country by rail.

In 1890, Grabach won the contract for decorating the new congregational church in Kalamazoo, Michigan.  On Feb 20, 1890, “The Clyde Enterprise” reported “Kalamazoo, Mich., Gazette, Feb. 19^th: “The bids for the decorating of the interior of the new Congregational church were opened yesterday. Those submitting bids were Coover & Son, of Ft. Wayne, Jno. C. W. Rhode, of Chicago, Wm. Grabach of Clyde, O., and one other Chicago firm. The bid of Mr. Grabach at $1,000 was accepted. The design is a very handsome one and his work here and elsewhere is a guarantee that it will be first class. The work of plastering the interior is progressing rapidly and the work of decorating will be begun as soon as material can be obtained. Clyde talent always gets to the front.” (page 3). This is the project that brought him to Michigan, where he continued to accept work for some time. In 1891, William Grabach was listed briefly listed as a painter in the Detroit City Directory, living at 82 Abbott.  This was a common practice when scenic artists accepted a long-term project. He was not listed in either the 1890 or 1892 directory, he was still living in Detroit in 1892. Likely Grabach was focused on another matter – the abduction of his two young sons.

The story was published in “The Clyde Enterprise” on June 16, 1892 (page 3). The article was entitled, “Got His Children Back.” First published in the “Cleveland Leader,” the article reported, “Two small boys, who, it is claimed were abducted from home by a Roman Catholic priest, and placed in St. Vincent’s Orphan Asylum in this city, were restored to their father yesterday afternoon, by an order from Judge Solders, of the Common Please Court. The lads are Willie M. F. Graybach, eight years old, and Paul G. D. Graybach, six years old.  Their father is William Graybach, a scenic artist formerly of this city, and now a resident of Detroit. He painted the curtain and scenery in the Lyceum Theater of this city.” The article also explained the end of Grabach’s first marriage: “The father of the boys told an interesting story to the court. He said that he and his wife separated while living in this city last November. They were married in Springfield, Illinois, in 1881. They lived happily until they moved to Clyde, O., a few years ago. Soon after going there his wife suddenly became a Roman Catholic through the influence of the priest of that parish. Graybach was a strong Protestant. There was discord in the family immediately, and it continued to increase after they moved to this city a year ago. They parted November 16 last year. Graybach told the court that he agreed to provide a comfortable living for his wife an allow her to keep the children, provided she did not send them to a Roman Catholic Sunday School. His wife promised to obey his wishes, he said., Graybach went to Detroit, where he was employed, and his wife went to Clyde with the boys and a little girl, ten years old. Mrs. Graybach’s mind became affected on account of her devotion to the church and she was placed in the Asylum for the Insane of Toledo, early in May. Graybach placed the children in care of his mother on a pleasant farm near Green Spring. He returned to Detroit, but was hastily summoned back upon information that his children had disappeared. They had been left in the care of a neighbor by their grandmother while she went to the village. A stranger called and said he had been sent to take the children home. It was learned afterwards that they were taken to the residence of Rev. Mr. Moran, pastor of the Roman Catholic Church at Clyde, upon his orders, by a man named H. Gibbons. They were kept in the priest’s house overnight, and the two boys were then taken to this city and placed in charge of Mother St. Joseph, lady superior at St. Vincent’s Male Orphan Asylum. Three sons of Mrs. Graybach, by a former husband, learned that their stepbrothers had been taken to Rev. Mr. Moran’s residence and went there and demanded the children. They were ordered away and were refused any information about them. Mr. Graybach has been working on the case ever since. He succeeded in locating the boys at St. Vincent’s Asylum yesterday, and secured the writ of habeas corpus.”

In the end, Grabach was granted full custody of his two sons.  The article continued, “The boys ran to their father’s arms and threw their arms about his neck and cried, “Papa, papa, they won’t take us away any more, will they?” The eldest boy said to those around him that he didn’t like to live at the Orphan Asylum and was very happy because his father found him. They are unusually bright boys and good looking. Mr. Graybach said that he would immediately take measures to secure his daughter. He has learned that she is in the care of a Roman Catholic in Toledo and expects to obtain possession of her today.

When asked as to the correctness of the above from the Leader, Rev. T. F. Moran stated to the ENTERPRISE that it is chiefly fiction. In the first place he says Mrs. Graybach was born and raised a Catholic, that she was a Catholic when Graybach married her, and that he himself frequently accompanied her to Catholic church without objection until a few years ago he failed to secure the job of frescoing the new church, since which time he has been very bitter against the church; that Mrs. Graybach always desired her children to be raised Catholics, and frequently expressed that desire; that the children were shamefully abandoned and neglected by their father and their other driven insane by his outrageous conduct; that Mr. Gibbons, who is accused of abducting the children, had in reality been previously appointed the legal guardian by due process of law, and was authorized by law to place them where he saw fit; and that the whole matter was done openly and above board, solely for the good of the children.

Henry Graybach, uncle of the children, says he believes the appointment of Mr. Gibbons as guardian was secured by collusion and political influence of Fr. Moran over the Probate Judge; he says the father is the legal guardian of the children, and was ready and offered to support them; that he himself had taken charge of them at the request of their father, had clothed them and was sending them to public schools in the country from the residence of their grandmother, from whence they were kidnapped and carried away to Catholic school in Cleveland; and that whatever has been the shortcomings of the father in the case, and without upholding his outrageous treatment of the mother and children, he considers the action of the Catholics and the alleged guardian and the Probate Judge as unwarranted and even more reprehensible than the meanness of the father. The case is not yet ended, and further developments are awaited with interest.”

On June 30, 1892, “The Clyde Enterprise” republished an article from the “Toledo Blade” that involved Grabach’s daughter Maggie.  In an article entitled “The Romance of a Child,” the story painted a very different picture of Grabach. “A very interesting case involving the custody of a little girl 10 years of age, was tried before Judge Millard yesterday afternoon and this morning. It was brought pout by a writ of habeas corpus instituted by William Graybach, a scenic artist, who at present lives in Detroit, to obtain the custody of his 10-year-old daughter, Maggie Graybach. The facts of the case show that Graybach formerly lived in Clyde, where he married a widow, Mrs. Walton [sic.], who already had several children. The child involved in the case is the issue of the second marriage, however. The evidence in the case goes to show that Graybach deserted his wife and family at Clyde and went to Detroit, neither leaving them means of sustenance or word as to where he had gone. The little girl also testified that while she lived with her father, she did not get enough to eat of have sufficient clothing. After he left, she went first to Father Moran’s house, who was a Catholic priest at Clyde, and afterwards to live with her aunt, Mrs. Walton. After a while, the mother, Mrs. Graybach, became insane and was taken to the asylum in Cleveland, and the little girl was kept by her aunt. H. G. Gibbons, of Clyde, was appointed her guardian. Since that time Graybach has come back from Detroit, and asked for custody of his daughter, which was refused to him. He says that he left his wife because she gave all her attention to the Catholic church, and told her that he would go back to support her if she left the church. The little girl, when asked, said that she preferred to live with her aunt.

The friends of Mrs. Walton, the aunt, claim that the mother’s insanity was caused by Graybach’s desertion, and say that he is not a fit man to have charge of children. Graybach, on the contrary, says that he earns $50 a week, and can support her, and that he objects to having her brought up in the Catholic church.

It was rumored that an anti-Catholic society was helping Grayback push the case, but B. F. Reno, his attorney, denied that, and said that the society had nothing to do with it. During the trial of the case yesterday an effort was made by a constable in Clyde to arrest Graybach on the charge of abuse and desertion of family. Judge Millard would not permit it, however, and Capt. Egbert Doville went on to Graybach’s bond to appear in the case at Clyde. The case is complicated, and is exciting a good deal of interest.

The conclusion to the case was published in “The Clyde Enterprise” on July 7, 1892 (page 3): In the matter of Graybach’s daughter, the custody of the child was given to her father, though she desired to remain with her aunt. When the case against Graybach for neglecting and deserting his family was called he failed to appear, having taken the little girl and left the city.”

By 1894, William, his three children and second wife moved west to Nebraska – four states away. In Omaha, he became associated with Boyd’s Opera House. This association was first mentioned while visiting his older brother John in Grand Island, Nebraska.

On Feb 14, 1894, “The Grand Island Daily Independent” reported, “Mr. Wm. Grabach, a brother to John Grabach who runs the Koehler Cigar and News stand is in the city for a week visit. He is a scenic artist and has quite a reputation among western artists, making his headquarters at the Boyd in Omaha. This is the first time the two brothers have met in ten years and they are thoroughly enjoying the event” (page 4). Brother John had also gone through some pretty horrific times. In 1875, his second wife made newspapers across the country; she tortured her step-daughter to death. It occurred after a miscarriage and she claimed to have been possessed by the devil.  I cannot image the horror of losing a child that way. Members of the Grabach family continued to make headlines over the years; bizarre stories that make you just shake your head in amazement. Yes, I have included quite a few beyond theatre projects, hence the length of this post.

From 1895-1901, William Grabach was listed in the Omaha City Directory. He consistently worked as a scenic artist in the region and was making quite a name for himself. Here is the listing:

1895 scenic artist, Boyd’s Theater.

1896 scenic artist, Creighton Theatre, 1817 Davenport

1897 scenic artist, Creighton Theatre, r. 203 S 24^th.

1898 artist, r 203 S 24^th.

1899 scenic artist, Benson Place.

1900 scenic artist, Boyd’s Theater.

1901 scenic artist, b. Barker.

His painting work was varied, with multiple projects making headlines throughout the region. Here are a few newspaper articles describing some of the projects:

On April 27, 1895, “The Excelsior” in Omaha reported, “The contract for painting the scenery of the Creighton Theatre has been let to Grabach, and Omaha artist, whose studio is in Boyd’s theatre. Fisher & Lawrie will design the scenes in conjunction with Grabach and some excellent work is promised. The first story of the new theatre has been reached and work is progressing rapidly. From all indications theatre will be completed by the date set by the managers for the opening” (page 2).

On August 24, 1895, “The Courier” in Lincoln, Nebraska described Grabach’s drop curtain in detail: “A drop curtain from the pen of William Grabach is perhaps the most striking single object in sight. Departing from the usual custom, the artist has produced the shocking daub which too often stares theatre audiences in the face and harrows up their artistic souls, but a representation of drapery, sever in disposition and in tone harmonious with the dominant tints of the interior. This curtain, the somber beauty of which will grow upon the public, is reinforced by another, a massive structure of sheet iron, braced and rivets, and so accurately balanced that a minimum of force rightly directed will move it in its appointed channel. By means of this ponderous wall of metal an impervious barrier may be instantly set up between a fire on either side of the footlights and the other regions of the theatre; and the entire construction of the building, both in point of materials employed and in respect to the number and convenience of exits provided in all parts, has been wrought out to the end for assuming absolute safety, so fare as might be, to audiences and players” (page 7). I have several photographs of Grabach’s work in my theatre collection. Here is one that shows his skill at drapery painting.

On Nov. 1, 1896, the “Omaha Daily Bee” reported “William Grabach, who has been working on the scenery of a new opera house at Lexington, Neb., for several weeks returned home last night” (page 8).

Grabach was credited as the scenic artist at both Omaha’s Creighton Theatre and Boyd Theater in “Julius Cahn’s Official Theatrical Guide” from 1887. At the Creighton, delivered scenery for a production of “Not Guilty” performed by the Woodward Theatre Co. in 1896. An article in the “Omaha Daily Bee” reported, “Tonight they will present the five-act comedy, “Not Guilty,” with special scenery by Grabach” (August 3, page 2).

In 1896, Grabach was also credited with designing and painting a parade float for the Feast of Olympia, given by the Knights of Ak-Sar-Ben that fall in Omaha (“The Excelsior,” 11 April 1896, page 7). Parade floats and other public spectacles were profitable work; the projects eagerly sought after by many scenic artists.

In 1897, Grabach was the President of the National Alliance of Theater Stage Employes. Using that title in a letter to “The Omaha Evening Bee” on June 1, 1897, he wrote:

“Mr. Fritz Wirth. Appreciating your kindness in tendering to us the services of Miss Lynwood for our benefit to be given at Boyd’s theater tonight, we hereby send you a complimentary box for the performance, with many thanks for past favors.

Wm. Grabach

Pres. of the National Alliance of Theater Stage Emp.”

At the beginning of 1897, Grabach attended a Central Labor Union meeting in Omaha. On Jan. 21, 1897, “The Omaha Evening Bee” reported “The exposition matter came up by the reading of a written request from G. M. Hitchcock, asking the privilege of addressed the union on matters bearing upon the exposition. The request was granted, and Mr. Hitchcock appeared before the union, in the capacity of a private citizen, asking the organization to postpone action on its grievance for the present.

President Easton replies to Mr. Hitchcock and said that the laboring interest are up in arms, and are determined that the experience of the labor interests in Atlanta and Philadelphia shall not be repeated in Omaha. He said organized labor would proceed on the theory of “patronizing home industry,” and would insist the home labor be recognized. The president said he did not speak as the representative of the Central Labor Union, but was voicing his own sentiments.

William Grabach of the theatrical employes’ union, supported the sentiment expressed by Easton, and said the laboring interests of Omaha could take care of the matter without “the aid of consent” of any outside labor.”(page 8).

By the mid-1890s, Grabach also became associated with various political activities and the Silver Republicans. After the collapse of the silver market and severe depression in 1893, there was a demand to pass legislation favorable to silver. Heading the political effort was a group of men known as the Silver Republicans. Their attempts and speeches to promote the silver cause ultimately failed. In many cases they were ostracized, yet the party continued into the twentieth century. On July 3, 1900, “The Grand Daily Press” of Grand Island, Nebraska, reported “3 carloads of silver republicans leave Omaha over the Burlington at 10:45 this evening for the national silver republican convention which meets at Kansas City, July 4. The cars are models of beauty, just from the shops. The Douglas county delegates have secured a handsome banner 6×8 containing portraits of Bryan and Towne, painted with a shield representing the national government and surrounded by golden rod, Nebraska’s favorite flower. The work is done in milk distemper color by William Grabach, scenic artist”(page 4). Since the mid-1890s, Grabach had supported the Silver Republican cause in Omaha, attending a variety of meetings and often making the paper. He was also involved with the labor movement in Omaha, cited in a variety of newspapers by the late 1890s; often associated with some conflict or speech at a meeting.

In 1897, Grabach was also credited with the scenery and stage effects for the Woodward Theatre Co. and their extended engagement at the Creighton Theatre in Omaha (“Omaha Daily Bee”  4 July 1897, page 4). Their production was “Wife for Wife” and the “Omaha Daily Bee” reported, “Mr. Grabach has charge of the scenic effects, which will be elaborate.” On Dec. 18, 1897 the Overland Theatre opened in Nebraska City. In 1904, “Julius Cahn’s Official Theatrical Directory” credited the scenery for the stage to “Sosman & Landis and William Grabach, scenic artists.” To date, this is the only definitive connection that I have located linking Grabach with Sosman & Landis. The drop curtain dramatized the 1864 Overland stagecoach attack by Cheyenne Indians in the valley of Little Blue (http://cinematreasures.org/theaters/63839).

Grabach continued to live in Omaha at 203 24th St., frequently leaving town for extended to period to complete one project after another. In 1898, Grabach spent three months in Junction City, Kansas, painting over 150 pieces for the new opera house (Junction City Weekly Union, 12 Aug 1898, page 2). He was becoming a significant artist in the region, doing quite well for himself.  When a family reunion was held in Clyde that year, he returned a success.

In 1898 the Grabach family held a family reunion. On Dec. 29, 1898, “The Clyde Enterprise” described the event in an article on page 3:

“The Grabach family have been holding a family reunion here during the past few days, and among those in attendance are John Grabach and his little daughter Mary of Grand Island, Neb., Philip Grabach, of Eureka Springs, Ark., Jacob Sheets and husband, of Tiffin, George Grabach and family, of Republic, Charles Grabach, of Colby, and Henry, of Clyde. The gathering has been in honor of their mother, Mrs. Elizabeth Grabach, who resides with a grandson on her farm south of Clyde. Another son, Will Grabach, of Omaha, has been expected  but has not yet arrived, and another sister, Elizabeth Leffler, of Ogden, Ill., has been detained by illness. It will  be seen that the family is badly scattered. The members seldom get together, which makes the occasional reunions all the more pleasurable. John Grabach, the oldest of the boys, was a member of the Third Ohio Cavalry with his brother Henry, and with O. M. Mallernee and J. M. Kelsey. In the fight around Atlanta, where half the regiment was lost, John stopped to care for Lieut. Garfield, who was afterwards captured and sent to Andersonville, where he was confined for four months after his term expired. He had a wonderful soldier record, and has since had a great deal of trouble, sickness and death in the family, but he is the youngest looking Grabach in the family today, excepting the ladies, of course.”

His children were six years older, but did not return with him. Completely understandable. Now ages, twelve, fourteen and eighteen, they were settled in the Midwest and planning their own futures. The next summer, the eldest of William’s children was married. On June 23,  1899, his daughter Maggie May Grabach married John L. Glazier in Glenwood Mills County, Iowa. His daughter would go on to make a name for herself as a vaudeville actress.

On Nov. 16, 1899, the “Fremont Tri-Weekly Tribune” reported, “William Grabach of Omaha, is in the city painting new sets of scenery for the Love opera house. Mr. Grabach is well known to the profession, having painted a big percentage of scenery now in Nebraska theaters.” (page 4). He was also working in Junction City, Kansas that year and painted photographic backings. On April 21, 1899, the “Junction City Weekly Union” reported, “Photographer Street has received the new scenery for his gallery painted by Artist Wm. Grabach of Omaha. The several pieces were designed last year when Mr. Grabach was in the city”  (page 4).

In 1899, Grabach was credited with scenery for the Mirror Theatre in Des Moines, Iowa. In an article entitled, “The Art of Scene Painting,” Grabach described his painting process in detail:

“Few theatregoers know anything of the manufacture of scenery that plays such an important part in the staging of productions. Water scenes, wood scenes and interiors are viewed night after night, but no thought is given to the man who created these canvases, Scene painting is a branch of art that exerts greater influence on the public as a while than almost any other form of art, but its influence is subtle. If a wood scene is good, it is not noticed. On the other hand, if it is very bad it detracts from the actor’s art and is commented on by everyone from the dress circle to the top gallery.

Nearly everybody pretends to know something of oil painting and water colors, yet scene painting is water colors on a large scale, and scarcely anybody known of the materials and methods of the scene painter. William Grabach, a veteran scene painter from Omaha, who came to Des Moines last week for the purpose of completing the scenery in the Mirror Theatre prior to the opening of that playhouse by Frank Daniels, permitted a representative of the Capitol to climb up on the high bridge he occupies in the loft of the Mirror stage and explained to him the process of painting a wood scene. The bridge is thirty feet above the floor of the stage and extends the full length of the stage. The canvas is nailed on a wooden frame and so suspended from the ceiling that it can be raised and lowered at will. The scenic artist’s palette is a table six feet long and three feet wide, covered with oil cloth. On this palette are sixteen crocks filled with crude pigments mixed with water; no oil is used in scenic painting. Besides the colors necessary for the work is a crock filled with a thin glue mixed with water. This glue is a fixative and is mixed with the colors, as they are used to keep them from running or rubbing off. The brushes used vary from the size of a lead pencil to the size of those used in whitewashing and are all shapes.

While Mr. Grabach explained the mixing of the colors, he dipped a wide brush in dark blue paint and put the coloring on the oil cloth palette; then he dipped the same brush in the glue crock and worked the glue in with the blue coloring. Beginning at the top of the scene, worked the glue in with the blue color- he made light strokes with the brush and explained that those were the leaves in the shade. The next color to be applies was a light green, which gave the effects of leaves in the light and stood out more prominently than the dark ones put on previously. Occasionally, yellow spots were mixed with the spots of blue and green to give the effect of light seen between the leaves.

When asked to explain how he began the work on the painting, he said:

“The trees in the scene and the main branches were first sketched with charcoal. Then the sketching was corrected, and the chief lines were inked in to insure against any error in proportion. Next the dark coloring, representing the foliage far in the shade, was put on. Then came the painting in of the tree trunks and branches. The foliage less shaded was put on next and I gradually worked in the details until I came to this finishing work, the putting on of the leaves that are to stand out prominently and the correcting of details necessary to make the effort correct as to perspective. All the large yellow spots will be cut out to admit light from the rear and give an airy effect. An invisible netting will be put on the back to hold it in shape and prevent fraying where the holes are cut. Of course there will be no netting over the wide yellow space at the bottom, between the two main tree trunks, as that is left for an entrance.’

Replying to the question asked whether he knew exactly what the result of his work would be when he started the scene, Mr. Grabach said:

“No; the work goes by inspiration to a certain degree. We are asked to do a landscape, a street scene, or an interior, and we sketch in the main objects, but when the work of painting is begun, the plan is frequently changed, and the result is that new ideas continually creep into the scene and we never paint two curtains that area exactly alike. We have to work for effects, and as a man grows more experienced, he learns the bold strokes that will liven up the scene and bring it out. Our work is impressionistic: it is unlike bill painting in that we have to work for bold effects and cannot while away our time on details. A man who is accustomed to doing oil painting is always a failure in his first attempts at scene painting. His work looks flat as a distance, although it may stand close inspection.

In reply to the question, “How long does it take to paint a curtain?” Mr. Grabach said, “That depends largely on the speed of a painter and the class of the work. This scenery I am at work on is 24 feet by 21 feet. I began work on it this morning and am so near done that I will complete it before midnight. Of course, I have worked very hard because the house has to be opened soon, and ordinarily, I do not do nearly so much in a day.”

Mr. Grabach worked at the world’s fair and in New York with scene painters of all nationalities and he says that English and American scene painters excel all others, both in excellence of their work and in speed. German. French, and Italian scene painters spread their canvas on the floor and walk on them while they paint with brushed that have handles as long as those used in brooms. European scene painters are very slow, too, and fail to acquire the striking effects that Americans accomplish so successfully” (page 5). Another article was published in 1913, describing his Portland Studio and the scenery manufacturing process then too.  That article will be included near a little further down.

At the beginning of 1900 Grabach painted scenery for the new opera house in Norfolk and the Hein opera house. On Jan. 5, 1900, “The Madison Star” of Madison, Nebraska, reported, “William Grabach of Omaha, who did the scene painting for the Hein Opera House, will also paint the scenery for the new opera house at Norfolk”  (page 5).

In 1900, Grabach painted scenery for the Parmele Theatre in Plattsmouth, Nebraska. Located on Main Street and 6^th, he was credited at the scenic artist for the venue. Last fall, I acquired a photograph of the drop curtain when purchasing a small set salesman samples from his Pacific Coast Scenic Studio.

The back of the drop curtain photograph states: “Christian Crusade int. tapestry at the theatre (Plattsmouth). The photograph was taken by Leedy & Co., photographers in Plattsmouth, Nebraska. The drop curtain was signed on the front , “Wm. Grabach, P.X.T. Omaha, Nebraska.”  Or PXI? On October 30, 1900, the “Semi-Weekly News Herald” of Plattsmouth≤ Nebraska” included a lengthy article on the new Parmele Theatre on page 4.  The article described Grabach’s drop curtain depicting the Christian Crusade: “The drop curtain, which is certainly an artistic piece of work, represents a scene of the twelfth century, during the occupation of Jerusalem by the Christian Crusaders. It is the work of William Grabach of Omaha, his having also painted the other beautiful scenery belonging to the theatre.” Here is a link to the entire article: https://nebnewspapers.unl.edu/lccn/2016270204/1900-10-30/ed-1/seq-4/print/image_661x817_from_0,206_to_6715,8502/

By the spring of 1900, the Grabachs were living in Papillion, Nebraska at this time. Papillion is due south of Omaha, just between Chalco and Bellevue. On May 24, 1900, “The Papillion Times” reported, “As shown by the county records, James W. Carr last week transferred to Nancy McKay Grabach block 32 in Beadle’s 1^st addition to Papillion, in consideration of $1,000 and farmland in South Dakota. It is familiarly known as the old Beadle property. The Grabach family will take possession some time during the summer. Mr. Grabach is a scenic artist” (page 1). Despite the move, Grabach continued to keep his scenic studio in Boyd’s Opera House. However, he continued to travel across the country as a scenic artist, going from one venue to the next.

At the beginning of 1901, Grabach was credited with a new drop curtains and fancy stage, or parlor setting, for Pierce’s Opera House in Salina, Kansas and the new opera house in Junction City (The Salina Semi-Weekly Journal, 10 Jan. 1902, page 6). On his work, the “Salina Daily Republican Journal” reported, “The curtain is an advertising piece bearing the cards of prominent business houses and in the center is a reproduction of the scene of the entrance of Oak Dale park” (5 Feb 1902, page 1). It was in Junction City where Grabach set up a temporary studio to complete the two projects. The article reported, “Mr. Grabach is an artist of ability and has painted scenery for some of the best theaters in the country.” He also designed photographic backings for Mr. Streeter. The following year, he shipped the paintings to Streeter.

On March 14, 1901, “The Papillion Times” reported, “Wm. Grabach, the scenic artist, has submitted to the manager of Daley’s theatre, of New York City, specifications for the scenery and stage settings for the plays. “Prisoner of Zenda” and “Rupert Hentzaw.” If Mr. Grabach gets this job he will go to New York and personally superintend the setting of the stage for the first play. The manager of the theatre said that the models made by Mr. Grabach and sent to him are the best he has ever seen. The models are made on the scale of one-half inch to the foot. Mr. Grabach has his studio in Boyd’s Theatre at Omaha but expects to build a studio here sometime” (page 1). On May 31, 1901, “The Junction City Weekly Union” reported, When Harry Curry was in Omaha last week he had to visit with Wm. Grabach, the scenic artist who painted the handsome drop curtain and scenery for the Junction City opera house and who designed the color scheme throughout the house. Mr. Grabach is at present working on special scenery to be used in New York in a big production of ‘The Prisoner of Zenda’” (page 4).

On Nov. 29, 1901, “The Junction City Weekly Union” reported, “Wm. Grabach, the Omaha artist who painted scenery for the opera house, is in the city again. He will do some special work for the house, including a handsome advertising drop curtain.(page 2). While in Junction City, Grabach’s daughter even paid a visit (The Junction City Sentinel, 6 Dec. 1901, page 1).

On Dec. 20, 1901, “The Junction City Weekly Union” reported:

“The New Ad. Curtain.

The new act-drop or ad. Curtain just painted by William Grabach, the scenic painter, of Omaha, was used at the opera house last night for the first time. In the center of the curtain is a beautiful autumn scene at the junction of the Smoky Hill and Republican Rivers. The scene is true to nature and in itself speaks well of the artistic ability of the painter. This center piece is surrounded by advertisements of the leading firms of the city. The lettering, arrangement and display of each ‘card’ could not be better. The curtain is the finest of its kind in the state and the talented artist may well feel proud of his work.”

Between 1901 and 1902, Grabach’s world would fall apart, again. It began during the summer of 1901. On August 1, 1901, the “Papillion Times” announced, “Mrs. William Grabach is among the sick ones” (page 1). Despite an ill wife at home, Grabach continued to work and travel throughout the region, heading to Kansas City for an extended project that fall. On Nov. 21, 1901, “The Papillion Times” announced, “Wm. Grabach, the scenic artist, is in Kansas City painting some scenery for one of the theatres at that place” (page 1).  On May 8, 1902, “The Papillon Times” reported, “Wm. Grabach returned to Papillion Tuesday evening. He had been in Kansas City several months painting scenery for one of the theaters at that place. Mrs. Grabach remained in Papillion during her husband’s absence. She is in very poor health and Mr. Grabach will take her to Colorado or some other western state where she can spend a year in the mountains” (page 1). On May 29, 1902, the “Papillion Times” reported, “Mr. and Mrs. William Grabach left Papillion for the west last week. Their destination is Denver, but they are making several stops on the way there. Their first stop is for a few days in Grand Island, then at North Platte, from which they will go to the western part of the state and spend several days and then go on to Denver. Mrs. Grabach’s health is very poor, and it is for this reason that the trip is being made, and her Papillion friends sincerely hope that she will be able to return to Papillion next year fully restored to health” (page 1).

They visited North Platte for a week. On June 6, 1902, “The North Platte Semi-Weekly Tribune” reported, “Mr. and Mrs. Grabach of Omaha, who had been in town a week, went to Denver yesterday” (page 1).

They temporarily moved west, but she did not last long after reaching Denver. Nancy Grabach died on June 26, 1902, and was buried at Fairmont Cemetery in Denver. “Nancy McKay Grabach 1856-1902” is on her gravestone. On July 3, 1902, the “Papillion Times” reported, “A postal card addressed to Mrs. John Dugan, was received last evening, announcing the death of Mrs. Wm. Grabach, at Denver, Thursday afternoon. About a month ago Mr. Grabach started for the mountains with his wife thinking perhaps the change would be beneficial to her disease, consumption, from which she had been very bad all winter and spring, but Providence ruled otherwise. Thursday she was taken with hemorrhage of the lungs and died very suddenly. Her many friends in Papillion will be sorry to hear of her death and extend their sympathy to the bereaved husband and relatives.”

On July 10, 1902, an order of hearing for the estate of Mrs. Grabach occurred and was published in the “Papillion Times” a week later on July 17, 1902. A probate notice to Nancy McKay Grabach’s creditors was posted in the “Papillion Times” on September 25, 1902. William Grabach was appointed administrator of the estate. In 1904, William Grabach,  administrator of Nancy McKay Grabach’s estate, sold her property in Papillion (Papillion Times 7 July 1904, page 7). Grabach stayed in Denver where he continued to work at the Broadway Theatre.

On October 9, 1902, “The Papillion Times” reported, “James Gatewood has rented the Grabach property in North Papillion and he and his family will occupy the place as their home” (page 1). On September 25, 1902, “The Papillion Times” reported, “Wm. Grabach arrived in town yesterday morning from Denver, where he has been since last spring, employed at the Broadway theatre. He tells us he has been very busy all summer as he made new scenery and stage settings for the theatre every week. He has a contract with the above theatre for next summer. As a scenic artist Mr. Grabach has a reputation throughout the United States. He came here to look after his Papillion property and some business matters, but will leave soon for Grand Island, where he has some work to do in an opera house” (page 1). On October 9, 1902, the ”Papillion Times” also reported, “Wm. Grabach, the scenic artist, departed last Tuesday for Minneapolis, Minn., where he has an engagement with a stock company until next spring”  (page 1).

On July 20, 1903, William Grabach was married to Romelia M. Burton Hayes in St. Joseph, Michigan. At the time, Romelia was 42 yrs. old and living in Benton Harbor, Michigan. In Berrien County marriage records, Romelia mother was listed as Margarie. No other information was provided about her parents. Again, his last name was spelled Grayback. This was the same person, with his parents matching past records, despite misspellings.  He was listed as an artist, currently residing in Chicago. This also coincides with a Sosman & Landis collection, that puts Grabach in the right place to coincide with the Portland Scottish Rite project.

Some family genealogies suggest that Romelia M. Burton Hayes went by the nickname of “Emma.” I am not quite convinced. The 1910 US Federal Census listed Emma Grabach as William’s wife for 15 years, making their marriage 1885, the year after Paul Grabach’s birth. This is perplexing, unless he was a bigamist; and that factor would put the accusations of his daughter-in-law’s bigamy in perspective (that story is coming up later). It could also explain when he left his first wife in 1891 and moved to Detroit.

He continued to travel throughout the region and on Nov. 4, 1902, was mentioned in the “Minneapolis Journal.”  “The Two Orphans” was playing at the Orpheum. The article ended with, “Like all of the Ferris productions ‘The Two Orphans’ has been elaborately staged. The scene painter of this organization, William Grabach, has done much to contribute to its success” (page 4). It was about this time that Grabach reconnects with Sosman & Landis. Part of me wonders if he was a represented the company as a western sales representative, focusing on the region west of Omaha.

The connection at this time between Sosman & Landis and Grabach is the Portland Scottish Rite. Between 1902 and 1903, Sosman & Landis delivered scenery and stage machinery to the Scottish Rite Theatre in Portland, Oregon. The grand opening of the Portland Scottish Rite occurred on May 19, 1903. Scenic artist and later president of Sosman & Landis, Thomas G. Moses recorded that he supervised the manufacture scenery for the Portland Scottish Rite. However, he was also running his own firm at the time in New York – Moses & Hamilton (1901-1904). This did not mean that his association with the Chicago-based firm completely ended during this period. However, in later years, Grabach also delivered some stage settings to the Portland Scottish Rite. It is also possible that Sosman & Landis subcontracted a portion of later work to former-employee Grabach. This was a standard practice as many former employers operated regional branches for Sosman & Landis, always being careful to never compete and share a small percentage of the profits with the firm.

In 1904, Grabach painted the drop curtain for the New Grand Theater in Sioux City, Iowa. On Sept. 6, 1904, the “Sioux City Journal” reported, “There were cheers when the drop curtain rose on the performance of the evening…The drop curtain was painted by William Grabach, Omaha” (page 5). By 1904, Grabach was also credited with the scenery for the New Theatre in Missouri Valley, Iowa, and the Huntington Theatre in Huntington, West Virginia.

Between 1904 and 1905 Grabach and Otto Schossling ran the firm Grabach, Schossling Co, Theatrical Scenic Artists, in Chicago. They advertised in the 1904-1905 Julius Cahn’s Official Theatrical Guide.” They were the proprietors and manufacturers of NOFLAME, the “only solution having the official approval of Chicago” stating that “Ninety-five percent of all scenery used in Chicago since the Iroquois fire has been fire-proofed with our solution. They were located on 125 South Clark Street in Chicago.” Grabach & Schossling were located in suite 76 at 125 Clark were listed in the 1904 Chicago Business Directory in the Artists section.

By 1905, Grabach relocated to Portland, Oregon where he initially worked at the Belasco Theatre before opening Grabach’s Pacific Coast Scenic Co. in 1906.  Both Grabach and Schossling had previously worked in Belasco’s scenic art department, New York. Schossling would leave a few years after that and head in the opposition direction, to Massachusetts. On July 20, 1908, the “Daily Kennebec Journal in Augusta Maine (page 10) reported, “Frank Munsey has resigned his position as scenic artist at the Lakewood Theater on account of poor health and with his son has returned home in Salem, Mass. He is succeeded by Otto Schossling of Chicago, The latter will paint the new drop curtain before the season closes. On Aug 15, 1908, the “Chicago Tribune” reported, “Mr.  Marvin will make his headquarters at the College theater, with Otto Schossling, at one time at the head of Mr. Belasco’s scenic art department, in charge” (page 8).

The story of William Grabach’s move to Portland was published in “The Clyde Enterprise” on October 23, 1913 (page 8).

“Mr. Grabach was brought to Portland in 1905 by Belasco & Mayer when those theatrical managers bought and opened the Belasco Theater, afterward known as the Portland and later as the Heilig. Belasco & Mayer secured the services of Mr. Grabach to paint  the scenery for the big productions which the form as making at the stock house. When they abandoned this field of operations, Mr. Grabach, enamored of the climate of Portland, decided to remain and opened Grabach’s Pacific Coast Scenic Studio, which occupies a large plant in South Portland.”

Grabach, Emma and all three children ended up in Portland for a while. Even two of his brothers relocated to the city. The 1906 Portland Directory listed Wm. Grabach, manager Pacific Coast Scenic Co. His studio was located and 43 14^th N, and the Grabach’s lived at 488 Washington. By 1910, Grabach was living with all three of his adult children. Two of the three children were working in the theater industry. His eldest daughter Maggie, now known as Marie Glazier, was touring the vaudeville circuit.  His son Paul was the only one who really followed his father into backstage work. Paul first appeared in the Portland Directory in 1909, listed as a fly man at the Star Theatre, boarding with his father. Over the next few years, Paul worked as a stage hand at both the Portland Theatre and People’s Theatre. He also continued to work for his father at Grabach’s Pacific Coast Inc. After his father’s passing, Paul briefly worked as a stage hand at the Orpheum Theatre in Portland. He later went on to work at the Alhambra Theatre in New York City in 1918, yet eventually settled in Los Angeles. At the time of his passing in 1946, Paul’s occupation was listed as a stage mechanic in the show industry. He is buried at Calvary Cemetery in Norwalk, LA County, CA.

All of the children made headlines throughout the duration of their lives.  

On May 16, 1901, “The Papillion Times” reported “Paul G. D. Grabach, the fifteen-year-old son of Mr. and Mrs. William Grabach of Papillion, has been enlisted as an apprentice in the United States navy, to serve until he is twenty-one years of age. As the government demands the very best boys physically and mentally as well as those of good habits and character, Paul Grabach has reached a place in the eyes of the people that not many boys of his year will ever reach. THE TIMES congratulates not only Paul but his parents as well” (page 1). He later made news when his ship exploded. On July 27, 1905, “The Clyde Enterprise” reported, “Paul Grabach, son of William Grabach, the artist, and nephew of Henry and George Grabach of this city was a member if the crew of the U.S. ship Bennington, whose boiler exploded at San Diego, Cal. Last Friday. Young Grabach seemed to have escaped as his name was not given among the list of the dead.” (page 3). On July 27, 1905, “The Papillion Times” published a picture of Paul Grabach in navy uniform with the caption, “Paul G. Grabach on Board the United States Gunboat Bennington, Blown Up. Paul G. Grabach was a seaman on the ill-fated U. S. Gunboat Bennington, but who escaped injury, is a former Papillion boy, having lived here up to about three years ago, when he enlisted in the navy. Paul is a son of Mr. and Mrs. Wm. Grabach and is at present about nineteen years of age. He attended school here for a number of years and has many warm friends in this vicinity. His mother died two years ago and besides his father, who resides in San Francisco, there are a living brother and sister. The explosion on the Bennington occurred in San Diego, California, harbor, last Friday morning at 10:30 o’clock and was due to a defective boiler, The total casualty list is as follows: Fifty-five identified dead, four unidentified dead, forty-six wounded and one missing” (page 8). Paul also sent a letter to Mrs. Ida Schoregge, the mother of Albert “Allie” H. Schoregge who was not so lucky and passed away after the explosion. His heartfelt letter made the “New Ulm Review” of New Ulm, Minnesota, on August 16, 1905. In his letter, Paul wrote, “My mother shed tears over his body, for she thought as much of him as she does of her own sons. I shall never forget him. It chokes me to think of him. We could never do enough for one another. I do not wish to tell you how we found him as it would only tend to make you feel bad. It was a pitiable sight to see so many buried at one time.”

His older brother William was the polar opposite. By 1910, William Jr. and his wife Edna were also living with the extended Grabach family in Portland. William Grabach, Jr. had married Edna Myrtle Hopkins on January 8, 1906, in Pueblo, Colorado. I wonder how they met…

William “Willie” Grabach Jr., had been making the papers since his childhood, although it was never his own doing but the work of someone else.  There seems to have been a little black cloud that followed junior wherever he went. Already in 1896, he filed a complaint against Charles “Sloppy” Smith for an unpaid loan to buy fireworks. They were both juveniles when the story was published in the new. On July 8, 1896, the case was published in the “Omaha Daily Bee” stating, “The complaint in the case was Willie Grabach, who alleged that he gave Smith 25 cents with which to buy fireworks on the Fourth of July and that Smith never returned after his fingers touched the quarter” (page 8).

In 1906, his wife Edna was accused of bigamy in newspapers across the country. This story is really quite fascinating, and I don’t know how much to really believe at this point.

On March 6, 1906, “The Leavenworth Times” reported that William’s wife Edan was facing with bigamy charges (page 3). In an article entitled “Bride of a Day Held on Bigamy Charge” the subheading stated, “Man Appears After Ceremony and Claims Her.”  This is one of the more interesting side stories that I have encountered, so I am including the entire article.

“Trinidad, Colo., March 5. – Married less than twenty-four hours to Ulmont Humphreys, of Trinidad, Miss Edna Hopkins left him for William Grabach, who, she admitted to Humphreys, is also her husband, and now she is in the county jail and Grabach is in the city jail, held for investigation.

The story is one of the strangest in the police annals of Trinidad, and a true explanation of all connected with it has not been made. What motive the woman could. Have had in marrying Humphreys when she was already married, is too deep for the officers. She declined to talk when arrested last night, and Grabach makes no statement other than she is his wife.

Humphreys, who is a well-known young man employed by the Santa Fe road, is perhaps more astounded by the strange events than anyone else. Humphreys and the woman, who is known to him as Edna Hopkins, were married Monday night at the parsonage of the Baptist church by Rev. B. F. Lawlor. They went immediately to the groom’s house, and there a number of Humphrey’s friends called there, and a small celebration of the event was held.

Humphreys says that he has known the woman for five years, and during most of that time has been courting her. She formerly lived in Trinidad, and has been coming back to the city at intervals and working here. At one time she worked at Humphrey’s home. About five days ago she returned to Trinidad after a lengthy absence, and Humphreys set about the preparations, which culminated in the ceremonies Monday night, Yesterday afternoon, Humphreys says a man introduced himself as William Forbes and said that Mrs. Humphreys was his wife. Mrs. Humphreys admitted in Humphreys presence, that the statement was true. She told Humphreys that she had disappointed him, and upon the demand of the newcomer she went away with him.

Humphreys asked the man if he had a marriage certificate or anything else to prove his statements, and the man replied that he had not. He reiterated , however, that she is his wife and that ‘he would die fighting for her.” The story was also picked up by the “Fort Worth Star Telegram” on Feb. 27 1906, with a slightly different tone and the title “Girl Bigamist Decries Fate. Says She Likes Her First Husband Best” (page 2). The article started with the line “I think I would rather have Grabach,” said Edna Hopkins-Grabach-Humphreys, resting her chin in her hand in a meditative manner as she sat perched upon her cot in the woman’s department of the county jail this afternoon.” The article continued, “Grabach gave me money so I could send out and get stuff, and he is trying now to get bonds,” continued the girl who must answer at the next term of the district court and charge of bigamy.

“He was good to me most of the time, and I think I like him better than I do Humphreys.”

What to do with the girl bigamist is a question which is becoming more puzzling to the officers every day. That she is guilty of bigamy there is little doubt, despite her plea of not guilty. The penalty of bigamy is a penitentiary sentence, but officers have no desire to send her to the penitentiary. Many of them do not believe that she is responsible for what she did, although she is by no means insane.

William Grabach, the first husband of the woman, is making an effort to secure bond for his wife. He is not allowed to see her, but she stands by the bars of her cell window all day and raps on the glass when he appears and smiles sweetly at him.

“It is all the fault of John Forbes, who lived at our house, boarding there when we were first married, “said the girl bigamist. “Mr. Grabach used to get drunk and threaten to knock my head off, but he never hurt me, nor ever tried, and was only joshing. I knew that he did not mean it, but it made Johnny awfully mad, for he could not bear to see a woman abused. He advised me to go away, and I did not know any place to go but Trinidad. I have known Humphries for four years and was engaged to him before I married Grabach. I asked Johnny if I ought to tell people here that I was married, but he said it wasn’t necessary, and to use my maiden name.

“I didn’t know it was a crime to get married again. My mother is dead and maybe my father too, because I haven’t seen him in two years. I just never heard anybody said it was a crime, and I didn’t know it.”

Mrs. Grabach is short and plump, with large, eloquent brown eyes, and would be considered good looking anywhere.”

In 1918, William Grabach Jr.’s physical appearance was described on his WWI Draft, describing medium height, stout build, blue hair and dark brown eyes. The sight in his left eye was gone and he was employed as working as an assistant cook in Index, Washington. He was still married to Edna.  

Shortly after this scandal, Grabach expanded his Fraternal connections. William Grabach Sr. joined the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite of Freemasonry, becoming a 32^nd degree Mason on June 11, 1907.  The following year, he joined the Al Kader Shrine on January 18, 1908. This was also his shoe-in for future work. Purportedly he had been raised a Master Mason in Minneapolis, but this just doesn’t make sense when looking at his timeline, and I have to wonder if it were the same Will Grabach or another.

By the spring of 1909, William began expanding his operations. In March 1909, Grabach rented out his old studio.  The ad listed, “FOR RENT – 2 floors 50×50 each, suitable for manufactory or as storage, long time lease, reasonable rate. Call or address Wm. Grabach, Front and Sheridan St. On October 15, 1909, “the Oregon Daily Journal” announced, “Scenic Studio Co. is Incorporated” (page 2). The announcement stated, “William Grabach, Samuel Kingdon and Warren D. Kingdon have incorporated Grabach’s Pacific Coast Scenic Studio, with a capital stock of $25,000.” In 1909, Grabach’s studio was located at 383 ½ 5th St.

A few years later, his new studio was featured in a lengthy article. On Feb. 15, 1913, the “The Post-Crescent” of Appleton, Wisconsin published an article of Grabach’s painting process for the upcoming Panama Exposition. (page 4):

“The following is a part of an interview with a rising artist, William Grabach of Portland, Oregon, who is painting a picture one mile long for the panama exposition:

“We started on our tour of the studio – and believe me, it is some tour. We went down, down, down step stairs until we reached the ground floor which opens out into the gulch. Everything is pretty and green there, and you would think you are in a country far from the meddling crowd. A wagon road leads up to the door, and by tit a lumber mill. This floor of the studio is a small mill in itself. There are rip saws, planning machines, shapers, and a dozen other appliances whose names and uses I do not know. Here the rough lumber is dressed, shaped and prepared for use in the carpenter shop on the floor above where frames are put together, fireplaces made, and other stage effects are worked out, When the frames are made, they are covered with canvas, and receive a coat of priming, Then away with them to the next floor above – to the studio proper, where we find the artists at work – one being Mr. Grabach’s son, who is married, alas! Here the painting is done; and of interest is the table on rollers, with dozens of pans filled with colors – a very large palette, indeed! Instead of climbing up and down (as painters do who paint your house) to reach the high and low places on the immense drop curtains, the curtains and scenery on which they work is raised and lowered by weights and pulleys.

“On this same floor is a large rehearsal hall, which has all the rigging loft, fly gallery, lights, and in fact everything exactly like a stage of a theatre. Here the ‘sets’ can be placed, the drop curtains raised and lowered, and the productions given so that the artists can see how the whole scenery will appear at the theatre. You see how the rough lumber goes in the ground floor, and comes out at the main entrance a palace, a woodland, or an Iceland scene.

“This is really the best equipped scenic studio on the Coast,” Mr. Grabach was telling me. I have been in them all, and I know. This is an absolutely ideal spot for a studio. I guess this is the only scenic studio ever built by the artist himself for seldom is an artist able to finance his plans. It is only possible when he has a co-operative wife who is in reality the master commercial mind of the firm.”

“There is nothing you can think of that you cannot see and sketch from this window,” We looked out through one of the many big windows in the studio. Before us the beautiful East Side, the mountains, the fields, church spires, beautiful homes, ships on the river, bridges, mansions, and cottages,

“Isn’t it beautiful?” he continued with a sweep of his artistic hand toward the panoramic view. “When we can’t do the thing we wish to do, we come to the window and see how God did it, and get inspiration from that.”

“From the rehearsal hall. We went to the sanctum, where Mr. Grabach makes the beautiful water color sketches of scenes and settings. Here are many valuable volumes on costumes, architecture, and the stage, and is where I found the model theaters, many of them, and perfect in every detail. One feels a great desire to draw little paper actors and give a penny performance as they do in  childhood land.

“Mr. Grabach’s parents were Iowa farmers. He did not like the farm, nor the shoe business, in which he was engaged with a brother in Northern Ohio [Henry Grabach in Clyde, Ohio, c. 1879; Henry Grabach even held an 1881 patent for an improvement in shoes https://patentimages.storage.googleapis.com/2e/c5/37/6b63b239d47541/US244588.pdf].  The shoe­­­­ business did not fit.

“I had ambition to become an artist,” said Mr. Grabach, “and attended the Cincinnati School of Art. Then I worked with famous celebrities in the scenic world like Burrage [sic. Burridge], Albert, Vochland [sic. Volland], and others. I always desired to be an artist, but the scenic part of it worked itself out when I found I was best suited for that kind of work.”

“When you receive an order, it is left entirely to you, regarding the design and color?” I asked.

“They tell me what it’s to be used for, and how, and then I work the rest and very often make models which I submit.”

“Oregon has the most wonderful scenery in the world,” he concluded enthusiastically.”

Meanwhile, his daughter was also making a hit on the vaudeville stage. Marie Glazier was pictured in “The Oregon Daily Journal” on February 12, 1911 (page 33). Glazier was performing with Arthur Dunn in “The Messenger Boy.”  The article reported, “Miss Glazier is well known in Portland, having been raised here in the very shadow of the footlights, as her father is William Grabach, the scenic artist. Miss Glazier appeared in prima donna rolls in several leading musical comedies, prior to her entrance to vaudeville two seasons ago. Since that time she has appeared with Mr. Dunn, who also abandoned the musical comedy world. Mr. Dunn starred in the New York production of “The Chaperons” and other large offerings before joining forces with Miss Glazier.” Marie Grabach Glazier outlived both of her brothers passing away on Sept. 2, 1947 in Los Angeles and is buried at Inglewood Park Cemetery in Inglewood, LA County, CA. Her husband John Leo Glazier (1873- 1939) was an insurance salesman.

Both daughter and father’s careers were soaring at the same time.

At the end of 1911, Grabach painted a drop curtain for the Grants Pass Opera House, constructed by H. C. Kinney at a cost of $9,000 in 1907, The 700-seat theatre included a stage measuring 50-feet wide, 50-feet high and 40-feet deep. On January 21, 1912, “The Oregon Daily Journal” reported, “The drop curtain was painted by William Grabach of Portland and represents a scene on the Rogue River near the city, with the green and never barren hills in the distance” (page 31).

In 1912, Grabach’s studio delivered scenery for a production entitled “Call of the Wild” at the Orpheum Theatre in Oakland, California. On September 12, 1912, the “Oakland Tribune” in California reported, “new scenery for the production was painted by William Grabach in his Portland Studio.” Grabach delivered scenery for “Call of the Wild” starring Miss Rea Mitchell and Scott Law in 1912 (“Oakland Tribune, 2 Sept. 1912, page 16). His career was soaring, but would be snuffed out at the age of 57 yrs. old. Just a few months before his passing. Grabach again made headlines; this time in a good way.

On March 23, 1913, Grabach’s portrait was included “The Oregon Daily Journal” with the caption, “William Grabach, who painted the 600-foot scene of the Pacific Highway, which was exhibited at the [Portland Auto] show” (page 43).

That same year, William and his son battled over a purported promissory note in Justice Bell’s court. On April 24, 1913, “The Oregon Daily Journal” described how Grabach’s son accused his father of not paying a promissory note.

William Grabach died on Oct. 2, 1913. His death certificate filed, with the state of Oregon, listed his birthdate as July 20, 1857, contesting previous census reports and other historical records. It is wrong, which also meant that his gravestone was wrong; Emma did not know the full history of her husband or was in the depths of mourning. Williams’ father was listed as “not known” and only the first name of his mother was given on the certificate.

On October 4, 1913, his obituary was published in “The Oregonian” on page 9:

“SCENIC PAINTER IS DEAD
William Grabach Succumbs to Paralysis, Aged 56 Years.
A victim of paralysis, William Grabach, a noted scenic painter, died at his home in this city Thursday. Mr. Grabach was 56 years old. He came to Portland in 1905 to paint scenery for Belasco & Mayer when they opened the Belasco Theater, afterward known as the Portland and the Hellig. When they abandoned his field, Mr. Grabach remained and opened the Pacific Coast Scenic Studio, which occupies a large plant in South Portland. Sr. Grabach is survived by his widow, a son and a daughter, who is on the stage. Funeral services will be held at 12:30 P.M. Sunday at the Scottish Rite Cathedral by the Masonic Blue Lodge.” He is buried at River View Cemetery, Portland, Multnomah County, Oregon, Sec. 105, Lot 114, grave 1.

His funeral was held at the Scottish Rite Cathedral, located at Morrison and Lownsdale, on October 5, 1913 (The Oregon Daily Journal, 5 Oct 1913, page 15).

On October 10, 1913, “The Oregon Daily Journal” reported, “Estate Artist of Weel [sic.] Known Artist is Probated. The will of William Grabach, who died October 2, was filed with the county clerk yesterday for probate. The value of the estate is not given, but the principal property listed is his photographic studio, which was known as Grabach’s Pacific Coast Scenic Studio. His wife, Emma Grabach, is named executor, and in addition two sons and a daughter survive.”

Despite his passing, Grabach’s Pacific Coast Scenic Co. continued to thrive.

In 1914, the firm delivered scenery to the new National theatre, at Park, West Park and Stark Streets. On Nov. 1, 1914, an article describing the new venue included a studio advertisement in “The Oregon Daily Journal” on page 45. “Scenery for the New National Theatre was painted and installed by Grobach’s [sic.] Pacific Coast Scenic Studio, Front and Sheridan St. Phone a-5452. The Largest Scenic Studio in the World.” From 1916 to 1917. Emma was listed in the Portland Directory as the president of the firm, and then there was a change in command.

On March 4, 1917 (page 57), the firm advertised “SCENIC STUDIOS Pacific Coast Scenic Studio, Miller & Misner, Props., 632 Front St., Main 4853.” This was Ernest Miller, and he will have his own post. For now, some of his scenic art legacy is still housed in Twin Falls, Idaho.

In 1918, Emma was still living at 632 Front, but not listed as part of the firm. However, she was working as a seamstress for the company in 1920. William Grabach Sr.’s wife Emma remarried after his passing, becoming Emma Dillon. Her passing was published in “The Oregonian” on May 15, 1930 (page 21): “DILLON – Emma, aged 72 years, late of 4354 63d St. S.E., beloved wife of W. F. Dillon; also survived by one stepdaughter, Marie Glazier of Hollywood, Cal.; one stepson, Paul Grabach of Los Angeles, Cal.; also survived by one niece, Florence Woolery. Funeral services will be held Thursday, May 15, at 2 P.M. at the Chapel of Jacobson Co., Foster rd. at 91st St., under auspices of Myrtle chapter, O.E.S. Interment Riverview cemetery.”

In 1913, Grabach had said that his wife was “the master commercial mind” of his scenic studio.

William Grabach and the Pacific Coast Studios have popped onto my radar several times in the past few years. Most recently, I acquired some of the firm’s installation photographs. In 2020, Eric D. Hanson brought an Abe Book listing to my attention. It was a small collection of ten salesman sample photographs of painted backdrops. It was advertised as “ten salesman sample mounted photographs of painted backdrops and tableaux for stage productions, the Scottish Rite Freemasons, and Knights Templar in Portland, Oregon in the early 20th Century.”

The description of the collection noted,

“Ten mounted silver gelatin photographs, sized from 6.25 x 8.25 in. and 5.75 x 8 in. up to 7.5 x 9.75 in. mounted on studio boards in gray, some w/ embossed borders in blind, others in brown, sized from 10 x 12 in. up to 11 x 14 in., 3 w/ dittoed typed labels on versos, 1 w/ printed label of Grabach’s Pacific Coast Studio on verso, all stamped w/ M.V. Lermer Scenic Studios on verso, a few w/ annotations, and pencil notes, 1 w/ photographer’s imprint at lower left corner on recto of board (some edgewear, soiling, minor lifting to a couple of the images, a few w/ minor soiling on the images, boards w/ wear to corners & fore-edges), still VG- set of photographs, w/ most retaining bright strong contrast. This small archive of mounted sample photographs for two scenery firms in the Pacific Northwest, illustrate the continual need to supply Scottish Rite Freemasons, Knights Templar lodges, and theatre groups with historical tableaux in the opening decades of the 20th Century. The first shows a pastoral scene in the Holy Land with painted drapes and marble columns framing the scene, and signed in the lower corner by Grabach for a production in Plattsmouth, Nebraska about 1901. This is followed by backdrops for 32nd Degree 1st Section Scottish Rite ritual featuring a tent with interior opening against setting of field of tents; tableau for 30th Degree ritual featuring a Medieval castle backdrop, and burning stake and fagot in the foreground on stage; a backdrop for Knights Templar ritual depicting the Return of the Crusaders before a Medieval Castle and cross glowing overhead; and a scene featuring grand marbled hall and throne for Ninth Degree Ritual. The photo for the Ninth-Degree ritual had actually been ordered by the Portland Scottish Rite Temple for a 15th Degree, but W.H. McConnell, who was a partner with Lermer explains in extended note this was not the right scene, and in addition notes about the sample photos to “Please send these back as soon as possible.” The last three include a Tableau with lion rampant emblazoned on shield above a great hall, another marbled hall with curtains furled on the drop, and another revealing stage seats, and ferns in foreground within the image. Grabach (1857-1912) was a scene painter who worked in Indiana, Missouri, Ohio, and then Nebraska for a time for the Boyd Theatres, before moving to Sosman & Landis in Chicago, IL before moving to Portland, OR in 1905 to open Pacific Coast Scenic Co. by 1906. He specialized in producing drops for Scottish Rite Temples, the G.A.R., and also for the Belasco Theatre. He is best remembered for his 600-foot-long painting of the Pacific Highway for the 1913 Portland Auto Show next to the Hupmobile Display. Lermer (1890-1967) was a scene painter and artist who began working for Grabach’s studio before World War I, and later set up as M.V. Lermer Scenic Studios while creating backdrops and scenery for local Silent Movie studios in the 1920’s. He partnered with W.H. McConnell as Lermer & McConnell Scenic Studio, Theatrical Supplies at 632 Front for about two years, but the business appears to have folded during the Great Depression. See: Michael D. Robinson, William Grabach: A Scenic Artist, Oregon Scottish Rite Temple Files (March 26, 2019).”

To be continued…

Copyright © 2021 by Wendy Waszut-Barrett

Harry Naile worked as a carpenter at Sosman & Landis in the 1920s. He bridged the transition between the first and second iterations of the company, personally assisting Thomas G. Moses on projects between 1922 and 1925. This was after Moses and Fred R. Megan purchased the firm’s name in 1924.

Harry Elmore Naile was born on June 15, 1879 in Pierceton, Indiana. He was the oldest of five children born to Louis Phillip Naile (1855-1918) and Mary Elizabeth Orr (1854-1900). His parents were married on Sept. 21, 1878. The 1880 US Federal Census listed a ten-month old Harry living with his parents in Pierceton, Indiana. At the time his father was listed as a house carpenter. The couple’s five children were Harry (1879-1930), Charles Frederick “Fred” Naile (1884-1929), Roy Naile (b. 1886), Alta Grace Naile (b. 1891) and Ralph Brian Naile (1897-1958).

Harry’s mother passed away in 1900, and his father remarried a much younger woman named Nora A. Phipps. Nora started out as a servant in the Naile household in Pierceton, listed in the 1900 census as caring for the three youngest Naile children, ages 13, 8 and 2. She was a year younger than her stepson Harry, having been born on May 5, 1880. Nora and L. Phillip were married in Chicago on August 6, 1902, but did not stay long in the city. It was around this time that Louis Phillip Naile began going by his middle name, and began listing himself in directories as L. Phillip. By 1906, the L. Phillip, Nora, and all of their children moved to Kalamazoo, Michigan. That year they celebrated the birth of their only daughter, Loretta A. Naile.

Prior to the move, Harry and his younger brother Fred had briefly moved to North Dakota. The 1900 US Federal Census listed Harry E. Naile and his younger brother Fred living in Pleasant Lake and boarding at the Lester Holbrook farm. There was a third border staying with the Holbrook family, Peter Hobeny, but he doesn’t appear to have had any affiliation with the Nailes. In 1900, Naile was working as a printer. Fred, only 15 yrs. old at the time, was listed as a laborer.

By 1906, Harry and L. Philip Naile were listed in the Kalamazoo City Directory, each working as a carpenter and living at 118 E. Vine Street. Neither were listed in the city directory the year before or after; their stay in Kalamazoo was short. None of the Nailes were listed in the 1907 Kalamazoo Directory, but they were again listed in 1908, all living at 803 S. Park Ct.

In 1907, Harry headed west to Colorado. That year he was listed in the Colorado Springs Directory as and employee at “The Zoo,” and boarding at 1008 Cheyenne Road. During the summer of 1907, Harry married Georgia Evelyn Robinson (1888-1975) in Colorado Springs on June 1. Georgia was the only child of William W. Robinson (1863-1926) and Mary A. “Mamie” Rogers (1869-1954), born in Kansas. Georgia’s father was a well-respected sign painter in the area and likely the reason for her meeting Harry Naile.

By 1908, Harry and Georgia moved to Kalamazoo, Michigan. The couple lived with Harry’s father and stepmother at 803 S. Park Court. The extended Naile household also included Harry’s siblings, A. Grace, C. Frederick and Roy E.

The extended Naile family did not live together for long. Harry, Georgia and C. Frederick moved to Chicago by 1910. The 1910 US Federal Census listed his father’s household was still in Kalamazoo at 830 S. Park; it included L. Phillip, Nora A., Ralph B. and Loretta. Interestingly, the Kalamazoo City Directory that year listed Roy E. Naile as boarding at his parents’ home. During this time, L. Phillip worked as a contractor.

The 1910 US Federal Census listed Harry Naile as a carpenter in the theatre industry, living at 6146 S. May Street in Chicago. He and Georgia were living with two other couples: George R. and Nellie Buckley, as well as William R. and Louisa Church. Buckley was also working as a sign painter, whereas Church was listed as a “collector” in the “installment house” industry. I have no idea what that means. Regardless, Harry and Georgia did not stay in the Midwest for long They returned to Colorado Springs that year. I have yet to locate a definitive explanation for their departure, but it coincided with the death of Harry’s stepmother.

On Feb. 9, 1911, Harry’s stepmother died from complications after having an abortion. Nora was only 30 yrs. old when she passed away at the Borgess Hospital in Kalamazoo. Harry’s little stepsister, Nora’s only child Loretta, was 3 yrs. old at the time. The second oldest Naile child, Charles Frederick, moved home with his new wife Leona in 1912. Charles was employed as a motorman at M U Traction that year. That situation did not last for long, as both Charles and Leona moved out by 1913. By now, the youngest Naile boy from the first marriage, Ralph, was old enough to work and employed as a messenger.

By 1914, Phillip Naile married his third wife, Lucy Hedges (b. 1862), and Ralph moved out. Ralph began boarding at the Y.M.C.A. in Kalamazoo. His father’s third marriage did not last for long. L. Phillip Naile passed away in 1918.

During all of this, Harry and Georgia pretty much stayed to themselves. In 1910, the couple moved from Chicago to Colorado Springs. It appears that Harry initially purchased his father-in-law’s painting business, W. W. Robinson & Co., after the move. Robinson planned to relocate to California, but he never left the state.  Instead, he simply opened another painting business in La Jara, approximately 150 miles southwest of Colorado Springs (as the crow flies).  

W. W. Robinson placed a series of ads after his move to La Jara in 1910. On May 20, 1910, Robinson placed an advertisement in “The La Jara Chronicle,” announcing, “W. W. Robinson. Formerly of Kansas City, Mo., but for the past 14 years located at Colorado Springs, Colo., doing a general painting business, recently sold out and was expecting to locate in California, but after looking over this beautiful valley, has decided to locate here. HE DOES All Kinds of Painting both plain and decorative. Also Paper Hanging. He employs only first-class workmen and guarantees their work. Give Him Your Work and he will finish it to your satisfaction. Mr. Robinson can be found either at office of Chas. Magnes, or at Seyfer’s Drug Store, until he can secure a suitable building.” On July 1, 1910, another advertisement in “The La Jara Chronicle,” stated, “W. W. Robinson HE DOES All Kinds of Painting both plain and decorative. Also Paper Hanging He employs only first-class workmen and guarantees their work. HE WILL BE ABLE TO HANDLE WORK IN Romeo, Manassa, Sanford, Richfield AND THE SURROUNDING COUNTRY ON SHORT NOTICE Mr. Robinson can be found at Seyfer’s Drug Store or Office of Chas. Magnes, La Jara. Give him your work and he will finish it to your entire satisfaction” (page 3).

Robinson’s stay in La Jara only lasted a few years. He was back in Colorado Springs by 1912, running a new iteration of W. W. Robinson & Co. W. W. Robinson and H. E. Naile were listed as the proprietors. Interestingly, it was no longer a painting firm at all, but a tailor shop. This surprised me and I can’t imagine what happened to prompt a painter and carpenter to open a tailor shop, unless it was their wives’ business.  At this time, it was still fairly common men to appear as proprietors on a business run by women; a business that they had nothing to do with.

Advertisements for W. W. Robinson & Co. in  the “Colorado Springs Directory” announced:

W. W. Robinson & Co. The K. C. Cleaners. Tailors for both men and women. All garments made to individual measure. Suits and Coats for men and women range in price from $15 to $50. Alterations of all kinds done on short notice. Cleaning, pressing, dyeing and repair work called for and delivered, Phone Main 595, 128 Nevada Ave., Colorado Springs, Colo.”

The tailor business, like Robinsons’ stint in La Jara, was short-lived. Harry and Georgia moved back to Chicago in 1913 where Naile resumed work as a theatrical carpenter. In 1913 Polk County Directory in Colorado listed, “Naile, Harry E. (Georgia), removed to Chicago, Illinois.”

By 1914, the Chicago Directory listed Harry E. Naile as a carpenter, living at 3635 Vincennes Ave. The 1915 Chicago Directory listed Harry E. Naile as a carpenter, living at 3641 Vincennes Ave. In 1917, Harry E, Naile was still listed as a carpenter, but now living at 514 E. 42^nd St.

By 1918, Naile is listed as a stage mechanic at the Chateau Theatre, 3810 Broadway in Chicago. He and Georgia are now living at 514 E. 42nd Street. On his WWI draft registration card that year, Naile was described at 5’-7” with a slender build and blue eyes. Interestingly, no hair color was listed on the registration. In regard to the Chateau Theatre, it was built in 1916 with a seating capacity of 1800. The Chateau Theatre later became known as the Vogue Theatre.

Sometime within the next four years, Naile began working at Sosman & Landis. It was tumultuous time for the Nailes. On Jan. 1, 1920, the “Chicago Tribune” published a notice placed by Naile (page 36): “PERSONAL – AFTER THIS DATE I WILL not be responsible for any debts contracted by anybody except myself. Harry E. Naile.” I have to wonder what was going on to prompt such an announcement. Maybe it simply concerned his father’s estate and unpaid bills from 1918. Regardless, he and Georgia were living in the South Tower at 57 East Van Buren Street, South Town Chicago. This multi-family complex was home to dozens of theatrical technicians and performers.  The 1920 US Federal Census, however, only listed Harry as living in the South Tower. Georgia was also living in Chicago though, so it may have been an oversight.

An obituary for Georgia’s grandmother confirms her residence in Chicago that year. Oct. 22, 1920, “The Jacksonville Dily Journal” reported, “Tuesday, October 9. Mrs. H. M. Lansing passed the 86^th milestone in her journey of life, and the event was fittingly observed at her home, 802 North Diamond street, Mrs. Lansing received several nice presents as reminders of the day. A splendid dinner was prepared under the skillful supervision of her daughters, Mrs. Eva A Coker, of Pisgah, and Mrs. Mamie Robinson of Colorado Springs, and granddaughter, Mrs. Georgia Evelyn Naile of Chicago. The day was one of much enjoyment and those who were present joined in wishing the venerable hostess many more such happy days. Mrs. Lansing was remembered in a very substantial way by her highly esteemed son-in-law, Will W. Robinson, of Colorado Springs, Colorado”  (page 6).

Naile was repeatedly mentioned by Moses in his memoirs from 1922 to 1925. Projects completed by Moses, with Naile’s assistance as a stage carpenter, included scenery for the Little Rock Scottish Rite Theatre (Arkansas), Tacoma Scottish Rite Theatre (Washington), Binghamton Scottish Rite Theatre (New York), the Pasadena Scottish Rite Theatre (California) and the San Jose Scottish Rite Theatre (California).

In 1922, Naile and Moses delivered new scenery to the Scottish Rite Theatre in Tacoma, Washington. Of the project, Moses wrote, “Harry Naile showed up the latter part of February.  We then started to get things into the Temple, and it began to look like a job… On the completion of our contract and on the eve of our departure, the trustees gave us a dinner in our honor, which was attended by Harry Naile, it was very fine – we certainly felt honored.”

Naile and Moses then headed to San Francisco for a few projects, including scenery for a Shrine Circus, and then head on to Oakland, California, for more work.

In 1923, Naile assisted with the removal of the old scenery and installation of the new scenery for the Little Rock Scottish Rite Theatre. In a letter from Charles E. Rosenbaum to Sosman & Landis on April 23, 1923, Naile was mentioned by name. Rosenbaum wrote, “As time is now limited in which this work must begin and be finished, we must insist that Mr. Naile the expert stage carpenter will be here not later than May 20th next, to begin to dismantle our present stage and make preparation for equipping the new one. Mr. Moses is to either come when Mr. Naile does, or as soon thereafter that is necessary in order not to delay the work of painting, constructing and erecting the scenery.” Of Nailes work on the project, Moses wrote, “Naile and his men are not giving me full service and I am getting desperate, as to my ability to pull the contract through with profit.”

Despite Moses’ concern in Little Rock, he requested that Naile be on site for the Binghamton Scottish Rite project. Moses wrote,  “I insisted on having Naile on the job, so Hunt allowed me to send for him.  He and Mrs. Naile arrived on the 1st of October and we then proceeded to get things going.” 

By 1925, Moses and Nail were working at the Scottish Rite Theatre in Pasadena, California. The Pasadena Scottish Rite had purchased a used scenery collection from Little Rock, Arkansas, that needed to be touched-up, supplemented, and installed. Nail was in charge of both the used stage machinery and scenery installation. Of the work, Moses wrote, “Harry Naile is coming along with his work fairly well, and we will finish on time without a doubt.” Naile was also mentioned in “Pasadena Evening Post” on Feb. 14, 1925 (page 16).  The article reported, “The final work of hanging and installing the curtains will be under the supervision of Harry Naile, a member of the Sosman & Landis company. This work demands such expert workmanship that Mr. Naile was brought from Chicago so that no mistake in installation could be made”

After the Pasadena Scottish Rite project, Moses and Nail worked in San Jose. Of that endeavor, Moses wrote, “I started for San Jose on March 27th and found Naile had everything in good shape.” It was in the midst of the San Jose project that Moses’ health began to fail. He was unable to complete the job, relying heavily upon Naile and Fitch Fulton to finish everything up. Moses later wrote, “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.  Fulton and Naile went to Los Angeles to do the Fullerton job which was carried through without a hitch.  Walter handled the payments in Los Angeles, and everything was done on time and highly satisfactory, and was settled for promptly.” Moses does not mention Naile again in his memoirs.

Naile’s departure from Sosman & Landis may have had something to do with the death of his father-in-law in 1926. In 1925, William W. Robinson was still listed as a painter in the Colorado Springs Directory. The next year, he was listed as a salesman, living at 22 N. Chestnut. In 1927, the Colorado Springs Directory simply listed, “Robinson, Wm. W. died Aug 21 ’26 age 63.” To date, I have only located one official notice for his passing; it was in a newspaper in Jackson, Illinois. On August 22, 1926, “The Jacksonville Daily Journal” reported, “Will Robinson Dies in Colorado Springs. A telegram was received Saturday by Clyde C. Swales of this city telling of the death of his cousin, Mrs. Georgia E. Naile’s father, Will W. Robinson. Mr. Robinson died at his home in Colorado Springs yesterday. He had been ill but a week. Mrs. Robinson is a sister of Mrs. George Swales of this city” (page 5). To date, this is the only obituary notice that I have located for Robinson. His widow, Mary A. Robinson, soon began working as a housekeeper, living at 1418 N. Royer.

I have yet to come across any other information about the Naile’s from 1926-1929. However, Harry E. Naile is listed in the 1930 US Federal Census, living at the Kenmore Beach Hotel, at 552 Kenmore Avenue in Chicago. Naile’s occupation was listed as “superintendent” at a theatrical supply company, although it remains unclear as to which firm he was working for. If more information comes to light, I will update this post.

Naile died shortly after the US Federal census was taken that year, passing away on September 15, 1930. He was only fifty years old at the time and I have not located any death record or obituary notice. Only the Colorado Springs directory noted his passing: “Naile Harry L. E. died Sept 12 ’30 aged 51”. Naile was buried in Evergreen Cemetery, Colorado Springs, El Paso County, Colorado (plot T-077).

Harry Naile’s gravestone in Evergreen Cemetery, Colorado Springs, Colorado.

Georgia was left a widow at 46 yrs. old. Like her mother, she never remarried. Of Georgia’s own passing 45 yrs. later, Colorado Springs’ “Gazette Telegraph” announced, “Mrs. Georgia Naile, 2612 W. Cucharras, passed away Tuesday at a local nursing home. Arrangements later”  (12 March 1975, page 4). Both Georgia and Harry are buried in Colorado Springs’ Evergreen Cemetery.

To be continued…

Copyright © 2021 by Wendy Waszut-Barrett

Fitch Fulton was a scenic artist who worked with Thomas G. Moses at Sosman & Landis from approximately 1924 to 1925. This was shortly after Moses purchased the Sosman & Landis name, establishing the second iteration of the company.

Fulton is well-known in the fine art world for his landscape paintings, prices for his work still fetching thousands of dollars. He also worked in the Hollywood film industry and is included in the Matte Painting Encyclopedia, INDEXFX (http://bigerboat.com/indexfx/?p=584). One of his most famous works was of Tara, seen behind the opening credits in Gone with the Wind.

The same information about Fulton is cut and pasted from one database to another, and frequently starts with: “Fitch Fulton studied at the Art Students League of New York city and at the Art Institute of Chicago under Vanderpoel, Freer, and J. Francis Smith. He came to San Francisco in 1913 to continue doing set design work, and moved to Los Angeles in 1916, where he worked for Fox Studios and others. He was a member of the Academy of Western Painters, the California Watercolor Society and the California Art Club, among others.”

There is so much more to Fulton’s story, starting with the fact that he did not move to California in 1913; he was only working on a project there. At the time, he was still living in Denver, Colorado. Fulton’s scenic art career began long before that, however, in the small town of Beatrice, Nebraska. He was not the only member of his family to enter the theatre profession either. Here is Fulton’s story…

Fitch Burt Fulton was born in Beatrice, Nebraska, on Oct. 10, 1879, the youngest of eleven children born to John Blythe Fulton (1835-1924) and Sarah Phipps (1835-1902).  His parents were married on Nov. 24, 1858, and celebrated the birth of their children over the course of two decades. Various birth records and census reports help track the Fulton family’s journey from Pennsylvania to the Great Plains of Nebraska. In 1859, the first two children were born in Pennsylvania. Fitch arrived twenty years later in 1879, shortly after the family arrived in Beatrice. That being said, dates and names slightly vary from one census to the next, with some of the children dying in infancy. There is always the possibility of human error too. However, I have assembled a compilation of those whom I believe were Fitch’s siblings. Here are the names of the Fulton brood: twins  Margaret “Maggie” Ann and William Fulton (b. 1859); Oliver Phipps Fulton (b. 1862), Mary Belle Futon (b. 1862-1863) Thomas Baskin Fulton (b. 1864), William Sherman Fulton (b. 1867), Hattie Fulton (b. 1868), Susan Fulton (b. 1868-1869), Richard Newton Fulton (b. 1869-1870) Henry Fulton, (b. 1870) and Jesse Berlin Fulton (b. 1872-1873). Of the twelve children listed above,  Susan was likely adopted at birth, as she later appears on the Native American rolls, a full-blooded descendent of the Choctaw Nation in 1904.

The first two Fulton children, twins, were born in Sandy Lake, located in Mercer County, Pennsylvania. The 1860 US Federal Census listed John and Sarah Fulton living with their eight-month-old twins, Margaret and William. John Fulton was listed as a physician, a profession he continued throughout the duration of his life. The fourth child, Mary Belle Fulton was born in Champaign, Illinois, placing the Fulton Family in that city around 1862. Five years later, the Fultons were living in Fairbury, Illinois where Thomas, William S., and Richard N. born. Sometime after Richard’s birth in the spring of 1870, the Fultons moved to Pymosa Township in Cass County, Iowa. They were not in Iowa for long though, as Jesse B. was born in Gage County, Nebraska by 1872. Fitch was born in Beatrice seven years later. By 1880, the Fulton family home was located at 159 Seventh St. in Beatrice. Beatrice is now known for Homestead National Monument, park of the National Park system (https://www.nps.gov/home/index.htm). Beatrice was the site of the first claim staked on government land made available to settlers under the homestead act of 1862.

Little is known of Fitch Fulton’s childhood in Beatrice, exactly when his painting career began, or why he entered the theatre industry. The same year that Fulton was born, however, the railroad connected Beatrice to Marysville, Kansas. Previously, the railroad went only to Lincoln, Nebraska, Nebraska. As Fitch grew to adulthood, so did Beatrice’s connectivity with the rest of the country. By 1890 the Chicago, Rock Island and Pacific Railroad arrived in Beatrice, offering ever-increasing access to other areas throughout the region.

On September 30, 1898, “The Tribune” in Beatrice, Nebraska, reported, “Fitch B. Fulton, the young Beatrice designer and engraver, is rapidly coming to the front. He has gotten up some very handsome and artistic designs of late. The young man shows great ability and undoubtedly has a very bright and successful career before him” (page 6). Futon was only nineteen years old at the time. On October 15, 1898, the “Beatrice Daily Express” reported, “The carnival cut on this page is the design of Fitch B. Fulton of this city. It is a credit to Mr. Fulton’s genius and betrays the evidence of a rising young artist.” Fitch’s work for the local newspaper was likely helped along by his older brother, Thomas, who was the editor of the  “Beatrice Daily Sun.” This connection meant a guarantee that many of Fitch’s accomplishments and travels also made the news.

On March 14, 1899, the “Beatrice Daily Express” reported, “Fitch B. Fulton has gone to Chicago to re-enter the art institute there.” Several of the Fulton relations were in Chicago about this time. Fitch’s older sister, Hattie, had married a baker named Ewart E. Samman, and was living at 1894 Fulton Street in Chicago. As her younger brothers left home and moved to Chicago, each likely found a safe haven at Hattie’s. In 1900, the Hattie Samman was housing both Jesse Fulton and Frank Damel, each listed as actors that year.  

In Chicago, Fulton studied under John Vanderpoel, Frederick W. Freer and J. Francis Smith, all at the Art Institute. Fulton likely encountered dozens of scenic artists at the Art Institute during this time, especially many who worked at Sosman & Landis. Fulton’s studies in Chicago were very brief, and he soon headed west. By 1900, Fulton was living in Denver, Colorado. On June 23, 1900, his hometown newspaper in Beatrice, Nebraska, reported, “Fitch B. Fulton, of Denver, is in the city for a visit over the Chautauqua.” The 1900 US Federal census listed Fitch B. Fulton as a portrait painter, boarding at 353 S. Tremont St.  He was one of several individuals living at the home of Ann Rose.

He also worked as a scenic artist and sign painter, soon becoming associated with the advertising firm of C. W. Earle. In 1902, the “Ballenger & Richards Denver City Directory” listed Fitch Fulton as a sign writer at C. W. Earle, living at 353 S. Tremont. C. W. Earle was an outdoor advertising company. The firm’s listing in the directory noted: “Charles W. Earle, outdoor advertising signs, 1942 to 1948 Curtis, r. 3119 Downing av.” The directory also provides a snapshot of employees associated with the firm that year. The staff included “sign writers”- Albert E. Thomas (2532 E 3d av.) and Valentine Costello (1118 27^th). Company employees who listed themselves as painters included William H. Remmelee (2326 W 32d av.), Cleve C. McDaniel (2205 Lawrence), Lee C. Stryker (623 E 1^st av.), John G. Ohnimus (2247 Hooker), Charles W. Dent (1756 Curtis), and Bert Aldenhoven (1756 Curtis) Interestingly, William E. Dent was a carpenter for the firm, living with his brother and Aldenhoven, and the firm’s distributor, Bert Veeder, at 1756 Curtis. Fred Black was also listed as a distributor for the firm, but listed no home address. Louis Straughan was another carpenter for the firm. Joseph C. Earle was listed as the firm’s solicitor (3119 Downing av.) and Jay Kerstetter as the bookkeeper (2251 Lafayette). It was quite a sizable firm, with a substantial amount of healthy competition too.

That spring Fulton got married. He married Swedish immigrant Anna Maria Engstrom (1879-1941) in Golden, Colorado, on March 8, 1902. Born in Forsa, Gälveborg, Sweden, Anna was the daughter of Anders Wiktor Angstrom and Anna Sofia Wahlberg. The Engstrom family emigrated from Sweden in 1889. Shortly after marrying, Fitch and Anna moved back east, settling in Beatrice. In Fitch’s hometown they celebrated the birth of their son, John Phipps Fulton on Nov. 4, 1902.  Two days prior to his arrival, Fitch’s mother passed away. On Nov. 4, 1902, the “Beatrice Daily Sun” reported, “Mrs.  Sarah Fulton, wife of Dr. J. B. Fulton, died at her home in this city on Sunday morning at 4 o’clock, aged 68 years. The funeral will take place from the family residence, Thirteenth street, between Court and Market, at 3 o’clock this afternoon. Friends are invited” (page 1). A lengthy obituary was published in the “Beatrice Daily Sun” on November 6, 1902 (page 1).

Her obituary notice provides some additional information about Fitch’s mother and the Fulton’s move to Beatrice:
“Sarah Phipps, was born June 7, 1835, near Clintonville daughter of Judge Phipps. On November 24, 1858, she married Dr. J. B. Fulton. They located in Livingston county, Ill., where they resided for many years. In November 1878 they came to Beatrice where they have since resided. In 1897 at the Phipps reunion on the 26th and 27th of August a reunion of the Phipps family was held near Clintonville, Pa., on the original Phipps farm to celebrate the one hundredth anniversary of the settlement of John and Catherine Phipps. Three thousand people were present of which seven hundred descendants of the Phipps family were represented…Mrs. Fulton was the mother of eleven children, nine of whom, together with her husband, survive her. They are Oliver P., Mrs. W. W. Johnston, Richard N., Thomas B., Fitch B. and Mrs. Bell Barker of this city. Will S. and Mrs. E. H. Sammon of Denver, and Jesse B. of New York City. She had been in failing health for two years…”

Although mourning the loss of his mother, Fitch’s career began to soar. His project load rapidly increased and he soon entered into a partnership with George A. Drew. The two established Fulton & Drew, a painting studio that specialized in scenic art and sign painting. Their projects included scenery for theaters and business signage throughout the region. Again, it helps to have a brother who is editor of the local newspaper; Fulton’s projects and travels were closely monitored at this time. 

Here is a partial list of their work in 1902 to give some sense of scope:

On Aug. 7, 1902, the “Beatrice Daily Sun” reported, “F. B. Fulton and George Drew left yesterday for Council Bluff, Ia., where they have secured a contract for doing some scenic painting” (page 3).

On Aug. 26, 1902, the “Beatrice Daily Sun” reported, “Fulton & Drew have the contract for painting the drop curtain in the hall at Crab Orchard” (page 3).

On Oct. 18, 1902, the “Beatrice Daily Sun” reported, “F. B. Fulton has been putting up some neat window signs the past few days advertising the special brands of cigars handled by H. A. Miller” (page 3).

On Oct. 31,  1902, the “Beatrice Daily Sun” reported,”Messrs. Fulton & Drew have painted some neat and attractive signs on the new building of the German nurseries, corner of Second and Bell streets” (page 3).

On Nov. 1, 1902, the “Beatrice Daily Sun” reported, “Fulton & Drew have painted a fine sign for the Speier Clothing Co., on the corner of Court and LaSalle streets. The sign certainly does the young paint slingers credit. It’s a peach” (page 1).

On Nov. 7, 1902, the “Beatrice Daily Sun” reported, “Fulton & Drew are painting a nice sign for William Ellerbeck, the south Sixth street implement man” (page 3).

On Nov. 25, 1902, the “Beatrice Daily Sun” reported, “Fulton & Drew are doing some neat sign work for Hunting & Kirby. The North Fifth street dentists” (page 3).

On Dec. 3, 1902, the “Beatrice Daily Sun” announced, “Fulton & Drew, the sign painters, have secured a big contract at Omaha, and will be there the next few weeks completing the job” (page 3).

On Dec. 21, 1902, the “Beatrice Daily Sun” reported, “Messrs. Fulton & Drew, the scenic painters, returned home yesterday from a trip of several weeks in Omaha, where they painted a drop curtain at Fremont while away” (page 3).

In addition to his work as a  and sign painter, Fulton continued to thrive as an easel artist.

On Dec. 7, 1902,  Fitch’s artworks were mentioned in the “Beatrice Daily Sun”:

“Local Artist’s Work.

The Beatrice Book and Stationary Co. has on display in their north show window a number of sketches done in water colors by Fitch Fulton, a local artist. These simple studies are well executed and show a fidelity to nature that is remarkable. The color is rather subdued but is more striking because of the prevalence and effects of the soft tints, At present Mr. Fulton is in Omaha engaged in work of this nature.”

On Dec. 16, 1902, the “Beatrice Daily Express” reported, “The Beatrice Book and Stationary Co. has on display in their north show window a number of sketches done in watercolors by Fitch Fulton, a local artist. These simple studies are well excited and show a fidelity to nature that is remarkable. The color is rather subdued, but it is the more striking because of the prevalence and effect of the soft tints. At present Mr. Fulton is in Omaha engaged in work of this nature.”

Fulton’s partner, Drew, was also quite young, three years his junior. The son of a carpenter, George A. Drew was born Oct 1882 in Illinois. Unfortunately, he did not last long in the painting business and soon left the theatre industry.  Fulton & Drew only lasted for three years, from 1902 until 1904, but they accomplished quite a number of projects in their brief time together.

Here are a few projects completed by the firm between 1903 and 1904:

On  Jan. 29, 1903, the “Beatrice Daily Sun” reported, ”Fulton & Drew, the scenic artists, expect to leave today for Council Bluffs, Ia., where they have secured the contract for painting a drop curtain. From there they go to Sioux City and other points in Iowa, having secured thirteen contracts in that state for putting in new drop curtains” (page 3).

On Feb. 28, 1903, the “Beatrice Daily Sun” reported, “Fulton & Drew, the scenic painters of this city, are now at Guthrie Center, Ia. Since leaving here several weeks ago they have painted new drop curtains in the opera houses at Council Bluffs and Atlantic, Iowa” (page 3).

On July 12, 1903, the “Beatrice Daily Sun” reported, “Fulton & Drew, the scenic artists, are painting a drop curtain for the Wymore opera house. They have it about completed” (page 3).

On May 7, 1904, the “Beatrice Daily Sun” reported, “F. B. Fulton and George Drew are at Lyons, Neb., where they are engaged in painting a drop curtain for the opera house at that place” (page 3).

On July 23, 1904, the “Beatrice Daily Sun” reported, “Fulton & Drew painted a new sign for the Begole & Van Arsdale company yesterday” (page 3).

On Aug. 19, 1904, the “Beatrice Daily Sun” reported, “The new drop curtain for the opera house, has been completed and it is a work of art, highly creditable, and one that Fulton & Drew may well feel proud of. There are very few advertisements on it, and the colors and blending are perfect. It will be hung today” (page 3).

In 1904, Fitch Fulton was listed as an artist in the Beatrice City Directory, living at 427. N. 8^th. The Fulton & Drew partnership ended by 1905.  My best guess is that Fulton left town for greater profits, heading west where the money appeared to flow like water in certain areas.  By the summer of 1905, Fulton was living in Cheyenne, Wyoming, where his daughter Bernice was born on July 23.

As for his business partner, George A. Drew, Drew briefly managed a painting and wall paper firm known as Childs & Drew.  The local newspapers reported the firm’s dissolution on August 23, 1906. Within a few years, Drew was solely working for the Beatrice telephone company.

Fulton continued to thrive, as did the rest of his bothers. He was not the only Fulton to enter the theatre industry. His older brothers William and Jesse established a stock company.  I am going to add a little information about his two older brothers and their business adventure, as it helps to paint a much broader picture of the Fulton family, placing Fitch’s own career within the midst of well-educated and talented individuals.  Fitch’s older brother Jesse was quite a gifted operatic tenor. Although Jesse was also skilled as a traveling salesman and plasterer, he made a name for himself on stage. Unfortunately, his career was cut short just as his brother Fitch’s was taking off.

On Nov 29, 1912, the “Lincoln Journal Star” reported

“Death Put End to Brief Career on Stage by Fulton

Beatrice, Neb., Nov. 29. –

Jesse B. Fulton, whose death Tuesday afternoon occurred at Phoenix, Ariz., had gone there in hopes of benefiting his health, which had been very poor since an attack of typhoid pneumonia a couple years ago. Mr. Fulton died at St. Luke’s hospital in Phoenix. Mr. Fulton began appearing on stage when a boy. He had a sweet tenor voice that made a great hit wherever he sang. His first engagement was with the Boston Opera Co. and it was not long until he was singing lead roles of the ‘Mikado,’ ‘Bohemian Girl,’ ‘Pinafore,’ ‘Olivette,’ and others. Later Mr. Fulton entered the dramatic field and became a popular actor. He played with Neil Burgess in ‘The Country Fair’ and sang with the Metropolitan Quartet, a big feature of the Burgess show. He finally entered stock work and became manager of the Fulton Stock Company, which for a number of years played in Lincoln and made a record for crowded houses. Mr. Fulton was married to Mrs. Enid May Jackson, a beautiful and talented Kansas City actress and she became his leading lady of his company. Besides his widow, and little son, Oliver, he is survived by his father, Dr. J. B. Fulton, of this city, three sisters and five brothers. They are Mrs. W.W. Johnston of Omaha, Mrs. Belle Butt of Los Angeles, Calif., Mrs. Hattie Scammon, of New York; O. P. T.B. and R.N. Fulton of this city. W.S. Fulton of Omaha and F. B. Fulton of Denver. The remains will probably arrive here next Saturday or Sunday when funeral arrangements will be made” (page 5).

Jesse and his older brother William started their stock company between 1905 and 1906.

This was shortly after Jesse’s marriage to actress Enid Jackson. The two were married in Kansas City on Jan. 7, 1904, with the On Sept. 22, 1905, the “Beatrice Daily Sun” reported, “The paper speaks in the highest terms of the work of Jess B. Fulton and Miss Enid Jackson” (page 3). On Sept. 4, 1906, the Fulton Bros. Stock Co. was mentioned in the “Beatrice Daily Sun.” Will S. Fulton was listed at the manager for the company, with Mr. and Mrs. Jess Fulton working as the leading performers (page 3).  William was also a performer, as well scenic artist and sign painter. He would resume a painting career after the passing of his brother and the closing of the Fulton Stock Co.

By 1900, William Fulton was also successfully employed as a “sign writer” in Pueblo, Colorado. This was at the same time that Fitch was working was working in the same profession in Denver. William was also popular as a musical conductor. His obituary notice provided a little more information about the Fulton family’s musical attributes.

On 23 Dec 1955, the “Beatrice Daily Sun,” reported:

“They were a musical family. When the children were large enough to handle a musical instrument, Fulton’s band became a popular Beatrice organization. All members of the band were members of the family. Will continued in music professionally for many years and music was always his hobby.” In 1907 Will was listed as the conductor for the Beatrice Symphony Orchestra.

Back to Fitch Fulton…

In 1908, Fitch and Anna were listed in the city directory for Fremont, Nebraska, but was closely associated with several Omaha theaters. Fremont is located approximately 40 miles northeast of Omaha. In Fremont Fitch was listed as a painter, living with his wife Anna and children at 1619 E. Military Ave.  He continued to work throughout the region, including in his old hometown of Beatrice, 94 miles due south of Fremont. On July 12, 1908, the “Beatrice Daily Sun” reported, “The first step towards reopening the Paddock Opera house was taken yesterday when the management of the block let the contract for new scenery to F. B. Fulton of Omaha, an old Beatrice boy. The contract calls for all new scenery and the remodeling of all stage properties in the latest up-to-date designs. Mr. Fulton stated yesterday that he would put several men to work Monday on the job with the view of having it finished in plenty of time for the reopening of the opera house which will be in the early part of September. It will cost nearly $1,000 to make this improvement, and the fact that the work will be under the supervision of Mr. Fulton is a guarantee that it will be done well, as he has made a specialty of this kind of work for years”

(page 1)

By 1910, Fitch was divided much of his time between Nebraska and Colorado. The 1910 US Federal Census reported that the Fultons were living in Omaha, Nebraska. Fitch was listed as a “scenic artist” in the “studio” industry that year. However, he was also spending an increasing amount of time in Denver and became associated with the Broadway Theatre and the Broadway Scenic Studio. He relocated his family west again where opportunities abounded. On Feb. 27, 1913, the “United Labor Bulletin” (Vo. 7, No. 30, page 2) included an article on Fulton’s western projects.  The article reported, “F. B. Fulton of the Broadway Scenic Studio, has just returned from an extended trip to the Pacific coast. Why he took it is another matter which I will endeavor to explain. The Gypsy Love company played at the Broadway theatre some few weeks ago and they have a scenic studio conducted by Ellis F. Graham as master builder and F. B. Fulton as artist. Their production in the scenic line was in bad shape and Mr. Graham asked if he could rehabilitate it. He immediately put his men to work repairing the frames for the scenery and put Mr. Fulton to work repainting it. The work that the management wished could not be done in the brief engagement they played at the Broadway, but the ability displayed by Mr. Fulton in the work he did while they were playing their engagement at the Broadway, led the manager to make a proposition to the Broadway Scenic Co. to travel with them on their route and whenever there was an opportunity, to finish the job. The answer is that he worked in Salt Lake City, Los Angeles, and wound up in San Francisco, where he finished the job and sent the company on their way rejoicing, with the knowledge that out here in the wild and woolly West they have a scenic studio that embraces all the experience of the East, together with the practical experience of the West. This article is for the purpose of informing the business men and the boosters of the city of Denver that we have the men and the goods in any proposition they advocate to boost the city. AND WE BELIEVE IN HOME INDUSTRY.”

In 1913, Fulton was also hired to design a railroad exhibit for the 1915 Panama-Pacific International Exposition. On April 9, 1915, “The Rifle Telegram” credited Fulton with an achibit at the upcoming Pan-American Exposition in California known as “The Globe”  (Vol. 12, No. 8, page 6). In an article entitled, “The Earth on Exhibit” reported, “The Globe was designed and built by F. B. Fulton, of Denver, who directed the construction of the interior scenes from paintings made by himself. It is quite possible that no other single exhibit in all the stupendous exposition will attract as wide attention or be more heartily praised by visitors, who find they have been instructed while being genuinely entertained.”

The article described the Fulton’s design in detail:

“The exhibit is the production of the transcontinental system embracing the Western Pacific, the Denver & Rio Grande, the Missouri Pacific and the Iron Mountain. It stands on the northwest corner of the palace of transportation, and becomes of even greater interest as one approaches. About it on every hand are the finest examples of the locomotive builder and the car constructor, and these pieces of railroad ‘furniture’ give added point to the unique exhibit which illustrates a great railroad’s function in serving mankind. ‘The Globe’ is 52 feet in diameter; being cut off at the base, is 44 feet in height. The trains are seen traveling from San Francisco over the tracks successively on the Western Pacific, Denver & Rio Grande and Missouri Pacific to St. Louis, whence the Iron Mountain radiates to points in the southern states, and particularly to Hot Springs, Ark. Cities and places of interest are labelled with their names and a light glows at each as the train passes. Yellowstone, Mesa Verde, Rocky Mountain and Yosemite national parks and Great Salt Lake are indicated by squares of soft light. Although a train crosses from San Francisco to St. Louis in three minutes, it is impossible to regard this globe and the suggested activity upon its surface without feeling as never before the splendid achievement of transcontinental railroading and the part it plays in our national life. ‘The Globe,’ which is even more interesting within than without, is entered through ornamental arches. The pilasters are surmounted by strikingly sculptured figures of a prospector, representing mining; a fisherman, representing sports; a farmer, representing agriculture; a blacksmith, representing commerce, and a brakeman, representing transportation. Locomotives in relief appear to be emerging from the pilasters as from tunnels and their smocks drape above the arches to spell the names of the four lines. Car wheels form a border for the arch entrances. In the width of the arch is seen a fragment of ballasted track. The keystone displays a bell, beneath which are the words, ‘Scenic Line of the World.’ Adjoining the globe and forming a part of the roof of the interior exhibit is a reproduction of Marshall Pass in Colorado, the highest point reached by the Denver & Rio Grande. This pass, with an altitude of 10,857 feet, is the continental divide from which streams flow west and east

to the Pacific and Atlantic oceans. In the colorful reproduction Mt. Ouray rises solemnly in the background. The trees and rocks of the foreground being real, the spectator is assisted in getting the ‘feel’ of the ‘backbone of the United States.’ Below Marshall Pass are bas relief panels showing Ruby Canon and scenes on the Feather and Missouri rivers. The interior of this huge globe is so interesting that were the exhibit on the Joy Zone and an admission fee exacted, the never-ending stream of visitors would as eagerly pass through its entrance arches. Within the globe is shown in miniature three million feet of the finest scenery in the world. In passing along a winding fairy causeway one looks first to right and then to left upon the vistas of a partly modeled, partly painted diorama that pictures the scenery and the activities lying along the lines of this railroad system. The effect of viewing these superbly wrought miniatures is difficult to describe. Not only do they acquaint the visitor with what is to be seen on this route, but they make him prouder of being an American. Moving from scene to scene is identical with crossing the continent from west to east. The Panama-Pacific international exposition is shown just as one would observe it from a hilltop a mile away. The succeeding scenes are given in the order in which they occur: San Francisco; Sacramento, the capital of California; Feather River canon, which has made the Western Pacific famous throughout the world; Salt Lake City, Provo valley and Utah lake; Grand Junction, Colorado, with an orchard in the Grand River valley ; Glenwood Springs, the noted resort; Leadville, with its mines and smelters, and Mount Massive in the distance; Royal .Gorge, which has made the name of the Denver & Rio Grande known everywhere that men love to speak of the mighty and beautiful in j nature; the Sky Line drive, showing Canon City and the upper Arkansas river valley, where agriculture alternates with oil wells and gold and coal mines; Pueblo, with the Bessemer Steel works; the Garden of the Gods, with Pike’s Peak in the distance; Denver, the mile high metropolis of the mountain kingdom; the Pike’s Peak region from the Crystal Park auto drive at Artists’ Point, from which the eye takes in seventy miles of territory, including Colorado Springs, Colorado City, Manitou and the Garden of the Gods, San Luis valley in Colorado, showing a 2,000-acre alfalfa field; Sugar City, Kansas, with its beet industry ; the cliff dwellings of Mesa Verde National Park, in southwestern Colorado; Ossowattamie, Kansas, with a 3,000-acre farm and stock ranch; Kansas City, Missouri, with its new capitol building; St. Louis, the eastern terminal of the Missouri Pacific ; Hot Springs, Arkansas, the famous watering place connected with St. Louis by the Iron Mountain line. These scenes are faithful reproductions. They are full of color. They are made with life by the changing play of lights and shadows. There are sunrises, sunsets, night and storm effects. The growing and receding light makes one feel the might and majesty of the mountains.

When the visitor has reached the center of the earth, as it were, he finds himself standing before a softly flashing fountain. The light fades. Finally, the honey-colored moon sends a glow into the chamber. The soft firmament, with its marvelous heavenly bodies may be only a few yards away, but the illusion is perfect. It exactly as though one stood in a garden on a matchless summer night. The visitor is recalled to the actualities by a courteous attendant, who hands him printed matter in which the facts about the country he has been viewing are succinctly set forth.”

Gold and silver medals were award for Fulton’s design and execution of the Gould Railroad Building at the Exposition. On July 8, 1915, “The Oak Creek Times” reported, “Gold Medal for Colorado. The winning of the gold medal by the Globe, the exhibit of the Denver and Rio Grande and other Gould roads at the Panama-Pacific Exposition, while most gratifying to Colorado people is not a surprise to those who are aware of the exceptional ability who guides he publicity and advertising departments of the Denver and Rio Grande. It is inspired by ideas of national scope and appeal; the amount of constructed publicity which the Denver and Rio Grande has produced for Colorado through the carrying power of such ideas is inestimable. In appraising the forces that are working, day in and day out, to build Colorado , the publicity work of the Denver and Rio Grande occupies a place of the first importance. The Globe which won the gold medal at San Francisco was designed by a Denver artist, Fitch B . Fulton, and was built by Denver workmen. A detailed account of the Globe was published in the May 27 issue of ‘The Commercial.’ More than two thousand persons pass through the Globe daily, where are presented most effectively exhibits showing the attractions and resources of Colorado” (page 2).

On July 2, 1915, “The Record Journal of Douglas County” reported, “This unique exhibit, which has attracted so much attention, was designed by a Denver artist, Mr. Fitch B. Fulton. Mr. Fulton is well known to the citizens of Denver by his gigantic horse erected across Champa Street for the Knights Templar Conclave in 1913 and his equally famous elk erected on the occasion of the B.P.O.E. Reunion last year. “The Globe” was not only designed by a Colorado man, but it was constructed by Colorado workmen, who were sent to San Francisco to erect the structure. Within the Globe are twelve models, one bas relief and three mural paintings of Colorado subjects, which have in reality taken the place of the state exhibit, and Colorado visitors refer to it as “our” world’s fair exhibit.” (page 1).

Fulton’s success prompted a move to California in 1916. By 1918, Fulton was listed as a scenic artist in the Los Angeles Directory, working for the Edwin H. Flagg Scenic Co., 1638 Long Beach Ave. Fulton’s WWI draft registration card that year noted his physical appearance as short and stout, with black hair and brown eyes.

In 1920, The Fultons were at 1510 Mohawk Street and the Hurtt’s at 1518 Mohawk Street. That year Fulton partnered with J. D. Martin and Wm. T. Martin to establish the J. D. Martin Scenic Co., Los Angeles.  It was listed in the Incorporations section of “Southwest Builders and Contractors”  on Feb. Feb 1920 (page 30). The notice described J. D. Martin Scenic Co.: “Capital stock, $25,000; subscribed, $3,000; Directors J. D. Martin and Wm. T. Martin, 215 E. 25^th St., and Fitch B. Fulton, 1519 Mohawk St.; Attorney: William Crop, 544 Wesley Roberts Bldg.

The 1920 US Federal Census also listed the Fultons living next to fellow scenic artist Arthur R. Hurtt and his wife Winnifred (58 and 55 yrs. old, respectively). This is another Chicago connection. Much older than Fulton, Hurtt was a very well-respected scenic artist, who shared the same Midwestern connections. Here is a little context for Hurtt from the nineteenth-century to give some context for this veteran artist over three decades later. On February 19, 1888, Hurtt was mentioned with several other well-known scenic artists in an article entitled “Stage and Scenery,” published in “The Saint Paul Globe” of St. Paul, Minnesota (page 10). In the section, “LOCAL AND GENERAL TALENT,” the article reported, Arthur B. Hurtt at the People’s Theatre, this city, is comparatively a young artist, having been painting scenery less than ten years, and a St. Louis paper is authority for his being one of the best young artists in the country. Mr. Hurtt is very retiring and modest young artist, a great worker and works rapidly He studies hard, is a close student of nature and has the true spirit of an artist, He has made a life study of trees and landscapes, his foliage being most natural, which is not at all easy to accomplish in scene painting. Being a good colorist, and draughtsman as well, his work is not often surpassed. Mr./ Hurtt came here from Chicago a short time before the opening  of the People’s theater and has painted all the scenery used there except the drop curtain, which was let to a Chicago scenic firm owing to the rush of the opening.” In 1891, Arthur Hurtt assisted William P. Davis in painting a drop curtain for the People’s Theatre in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Previously known as the Bijous Theatre, on April 11, 1891, “The Irish Standard” reported, “The stage has been enlarged and improved, new curtain and scenery being especially designed and painted by W. P. Davis, as assisted by Arthur Hurtt” (page 5). Hurtt was a big deal.

In 1922, the Fultons were living at 1545 Columbia in Glendale, California. That year he was credited with painting a landscape for California’s Pageant of Progress and Industrial Exposition.  On September 4, 1922, the “Los Angeles Times” reported, “Camping styles for maid who crave to trade their skirts for knickers and steal away with rod and gun to fish and hunt have become distinctly a Los Angeles product. The best examples of this young Diana styles are on display at one of the most unique and effectively decorated booths on the exposition grounds. The Army and Navy camp shows a mountain woodland scene with a scenic background painted by Fitch B. Fulton, who received a gold medal at the Panama Pacific Exposition for the Gould Railway exhibit. He is a member of the California Art Club.” In 1922 Fulton’s stage settings for “La Golondrina (The Swallow)” at the playhouse in San Gabriel were also a hit. Throughout the 1920s, Fulton continued to primarily work as a scenic artist and designer, primarily focusing staged spectacles.

Throughout the 1920s, Fulton became increasing active in fine art shows. In 1923, he exhibited with the California Watercolor Society and on January 7 the “Los Angeles Times” reported, “Fitch Fulton’s ‘Wedding Dream’ is remarkably decorative in composition and color, it is permeated with delicate and refined beauty, it is a painted Epithalamium.” By 1925, some of Fulton’s painting were included in the first exhibition of the Artland Artists­­. On Nov. 1, 1925, the “Daily News” listed “Soboba Sycamore” by Fitch B. Fulton as one of the oil paintings on display (page 33). In 1926, Fulton’s artworks were part of the third exhibit of paintings by the Los Angeles Art Club (“Los Angeles Evening Express,” 3 September, 1926, page 17). That year, he also was the president of the Painter and Sculptors Club in Los Angeles. He continued to exhibit artworks whenever he could, but held off on a one-man exhibit until 1951. On April 29, 1951, the “Los Angeles Times” announced “Fitch Fulton Impresses.” (page 14). The article reported, “Fitch Fulton, now 62, has long been known here as a good landscape painter. Until his recent retirement from work for motion pictures, however, he was always too busy to prepare an exhibit. So, at 62 Fulton has his first one-man show. It consists of small oil landscapes, very sensitively recording things see by a poetic eye. This exhibit is on until May 7 at the Little Gallery, 626 N. Glendale Ave.” Here is a link to several of Fulton’s paintings now posted at invaluable: https://www.invaluable.com/artist/fulton-fitch-burt-h4a0zuidji/sold-at-auction-prices/

All the while, he kept working as a scenic artist, completing projects for a variety of studios and under his own name. The obituary of his father, J. B. Fulton, also provides a little insight into the Fulton family and suggests a possible falling out between Fitch and his father. On July 1, 1924, the “Beatrice Daily Sun” reported that J. B. Fulton was remembered as a pioneer physician, a native of Hillsboro, Ohio, who practiced medicine in Fairbury and Hammond, Illinois. By the end of the nineteenth-century. J. B. Fulton established Beatrice bloodhound kennels and shipped pedigree bloodhounds to all parts of the country, with his dogs winning prizes in Chicago, Kansas City and elsewhere. His obituary noted that he was survived by daughters: Mrs. W. W. Johnston [daughter Margaret] of Omaha; Mrs. Belle [Mary Belle] Burt of Los Angeles; Mrs. Hattie Samman of Boston, and sons O. P. [Oliver]; T.B. [Thomas], W.S. [William] and R.N. [Richard] of Beatrice, Nebraska. Fitch was not mentioned in the obituary at all, although he was alive and well in California. I have to wonder if he was estranged from his father during this time, or had a falling out with his family.

It was right around the time of his father’s passing that Fitch began working for Sosman & Landis. Between 1924 and 1925, Thomas G. Moses, Fitch B. Fulton and Harry E. Naile delivered scenery to several Masonic theaters. In 1924, Thomas G. Moses wrote, “Met Fulton at Denver and were soon on our way to San Jose.  Arriving in San Francisco, we soon reached the 3rd Street Station just in time to catch a train for San Jose…It took us eight days to close a $7,000.00 contract.”

Moses was working closely with Fitch Fulton to land several Scottish Rite contracts that year. In addition to San Jose, California, their projects included Scottish Rite scenery for Fort Scott, Kansas and Pasadena, California. The Pasadena Scottish Rite project began on the heels of the Fort Scott Scottish Rite project, but it all started with Fort Scott, Kansas.

In August 1924, Moses wrote, “Fulton is now in Fort Scott getting ready for our big work. I bought a round trip ticket for a long western trip and started on the 16th of August arriving in Fort Scott on the 17th. Put in one day with Fulton, leaving on the 19th.”

Fulton was on site setting up the paint space in the theater and was already painting when Moses arrived for a day in Fort Scott. The two worked on a platform twenty-feet above the stage-left side of the theater. The project would be completed in spits and spurts that year.

After leaving Fort Scott and stopping in Salt Lake City, Moses arrived in Los Angeles on the afternoon of the August 22. He wrote, “Got busy immediately at Pasadena for ten days. As a final deal, I offered the Little Rock drops for $8,500.00, closed the deal and at Los Angeles for a big interior for the Consistory.”

So, while Fulton began the Fort Scott job, Moses landed the Pasadena job.

Moses returned to the Fort Scott Project that fall, finished the work with Fulton, and then headed back to Chicago. By November 1924, Moses wrote, “I must get back to Pasadena as they want to open on the 24th of February, so we put the house in perfect shape for cold weather and got our tickets via the D.R.G. through Colorado. Met Fulton at Denver and were soon on our way to San Jose. Arriving in San Francisco, we reached the 3rd Street Station just in time to catch a train for San Jose. Went to the Vendome Hotel and Mrs. Fulton came up. It took us eight days to close a $7,000.00 contract and get to Los Angeles where we spent two days, finally securing a fine apartment at the 159 S. Los Robles Avenue in Pasadena, where we will remain for two months. Had a delightful Christmas day at Walters.”

During this time, the Moses and Fultons became incredibly close. At the end of 1924, Moses wrote, “The last Sunday in the year we spent at the Fultons, where we enjoyed the day.  As I had hoped a year ago, we are spending the winter in California and so far, we have thoroughly enjoyed it, as we have many winters in the past. “Even when Moses and Fulton weren’t painting scenery, they enjoyed social gatherings and sketching trips. The two were a generation apart, with Fulton in his 40s and Moses in his 60s. Both were skilled artists and greatly enjoyed plein air painting. Of one excursion, Moses wrote, “Walter, Fulton and I went out for a day’s sketching at Sycamore Rock near Eagle Rock.  We had plenty of visitors.  I found a vast difference between the far east and California as far as atmosphere is concerned.  So, I was not as successful with my sketches as I had hoped to be.”

Later in 1925, Moses wrote, “We all enjoyed the many week-end trips, we took with wonderful lunches and good sketching grounds.  Mrs. Fulton looked after the eats and she certainly did not overlook anything, as we were overfed and did not feel like sketching after the meal.  We found some very good sketching down in Topanga Canyon, over towards Santa Monica and Flint Cliff.  I would like to make an extended sketching trip out here, but I am very much afraid I will never be able to, as business will keep me from it as it has always done in the past.  It has been very pleasant out of doors.  Some days the sun was so hot that we had to get under a tree – pretty good for January.”

Moses and Fulton planned on preparing the used Little Rock scenery for installation and painting a few new scenes for the Pasadena Scottish Rite. In regard to the San Jose Scottish Rite…the groundbreaking ceremony for the San Jose Scottish Rite was announced in the “Salina Daily Index” on Feb. 20, 1924. The article reported, “Work on Scottish Rite Temple Progressing Rapidly.” The construction went quicker than the contract negotiations. Like most Scottish Rites at this time, discussions were drawn out until the last possible moment. This never worked well for either the scenic studio or client. In the end it everything was rushed through, greatly taking its toll on the artists and installers.  

In 1925 that Moses recorded, “We finally received out contract back from San Jose after they had it a month, which settled the matter of our going there immediately after we completed Pasadena.” The San Jose Scottish Rite was scheduled to open at the beginning of May. That spring, Moses wrote, “I started for San Jose on March 27th and found Naile had everything in good shape.  Fulton and I got busy immediately, got a good start and pounded away pretty steadily until April 18th”.  It was at this point, however, that Moses was rushed to hospital by Dr. Moore and Fulton. He wrote, “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.” Moses’ second operation was on May 1, 1925, with him recovering at the hospital all month. He was not released until May 30. Fulton held down the fort for Moses during his absence.

The San Jose Scottish Rite Temple opened on May 8, 1925. On May 10, 1925, the “Oakland Tribune” announced, “Masons Dedicate San Jose Home.” The article reported, “Formal dedication of the new $450,000 San Jose Scottish Rite Temple was made last evening with Sovereign Grand Commander J. H. Cowles, highest ranking Mason in the United States, as guest of honor. The dedication ceremony followed a banquet in honor of Cowles and Sovereign Grand Inspector W. P. Filmer. Scottish Rite Masons and their ladies only were in attendance, and the big new temple at Third and St. James streets was packed to capacity for the rites.”  

By 1926, Fulton returned to primarily working at J. D. Martin Studios in Hollywood. In 1927, Fulton was credited with the scenic design for the “Devil’s Plum Tree” with J. D. Martin Studios executing Fulton’s designs. By the 1930s, Fulton transitioned to working more with visual effects for film.   The IMDb credits Fitch Fulton as a matte painter for “The Enchanted Cottage” (1945),  “Citizen Kane” (1941), and “Gone with the Wind” (1939). Fulton was also listed as technical staff for “Mighty Joe Young” (1949), credited with special effects for the film. Again, this is no surprise, as Fulton was intimately familiar with engineering special effects for the stage.

The 1930 US Federal Census listed Fulton as an artist in the “theatrical” industry, living with his wife and daughter. At the time, Bernice Fulton was working as a high school teacher. After she attended public schools in Glendale, Bernice graduated from U.C.L.A. and continued her art education in Europe. She married in 1932, the “San Bernardino Country Sun” reported, “Miss Fulton has been a teacher in the art department of the Belmont high school, Los Angeles, for five years, being a graduate of U. C. L. A. and also studies in Europe. Her father was the artist painting the curtain in the municipal auditorium in San Bernardino.” That year, Fitch and his wife were living at 1545 Columbia, with Fulton still listed as an artist in the “Glendale City Directory.”

In 1935, Fulton was recognized at the Palos Verdes Art Gallery, receiving a purchase prize. Throughout the late-1930s. Fulton’s easel art continued to gain recognition. In 1938 and 1941, he received gold medals from the Painters & Sculptors Club of Los Angeles. Fulton is also included in Eda M. Hughes publication, “Artists in California, 1786-1940.”

The 1940 US Federal Census listed Fitch and Anna Fulton living in Los Angles, with Fitch listed as an artist in the “studio” industry.  Fulton’s WWII Draft Registration card listed his employer as David O. Selznick of Culver City, California. By now, Fulton’s son, John Fulton, was listed as the person who would always know is address. During this time, John Fulton was employed at Universal Picture Corp. in Los Angeles, California.

In 1941, Fitch’s wife Anna passed away. On April 7, 1941, their hometown newspaper reported, “A message was received here yesterday announcing the death of Mrs. F. B. Fulton, formerly of Beatrice, which occurred at Glendale, Calif., where she had resided since leaving this city. She has been in failing health for a year or more. Surviving are her husband, who has long been connected with the scenic department of the movie colony in Hollywood, one son John, who is also with the movies as a production representative and a daughter, Bernice” (Beatrice Daily Sun, page 1).

Fulton remarried the next year. In May 1942, he wedded to Mary Ann “Mamie” Davlin (1890-1994). Mary is quite interesting in her own right, as she was purportedly the first woman in the United States and Canada to become a freight router. Mamie was the daughter of Henry Davlin and Jennie Evans. A native of Plankington, South Dakota, she spent most of her adult life in Los Angeles, where she attended Heald Business College. This was Mary’s second marriage too; her first husband was Frank Lawrence Pitney. Mary also had a son from her first marriage named Oliver Pitney.  

Fitch Fulton passed away on Feb. 23, 1955 in Glendale, California and is buried at Mission Hills, Los Angeles, California. His obituary was published in the “Los Angeles Times” on Feb. 25, 1955. It announced:

“Fitch B. Fulton. Rosary for Fitch B. Fulton. 75, who died Wednesday at his home, 5128 Glenwood Ave., La Crecenta, will be recited at 8 p.m. Sunday at the Crippin Mortuary in Verdungo City. Requiem Mass will be celebrated at 10 a.m. Monday at the Holy Redeemer Church, Montrose. Interment will follow in San Fernando Mission Cemetery. Mr. Fulton, who first came to California in 1913, was a designer and artist. He leaves his widow Mary; a daughter Mrs. Krutchfield Ahair, Santa Barbara; a son, John P. Fulton, North Hollywood, and four grandchildren” (page 36).

His second wife Mary long out lived Fitch, passing away in 1995 at the age of 104. Mary was buried next to her husband in San Fernando Mission Cemetery. Fulton was one of the few not to be buried in the family plot in Beatrice.

Today, Fulton is primarily associated with one particular painting – his matte painting of Tara from “Gone With the Wind.” Measuring 36 inches by 31.5 inches, it was used under the films’ opening credits. In 2013, CBS reported on a Hollywood Memorabilia Auction, where Fulton’s painting was sold for $225,000. (https://www.cbsnews.com/pictures/hollywood-memorabilia-auction/). The 2010 sale price was $32,500: https://www.icollector.com/Original-Fitch-Fulton-master-painting-of-Tara-from-Gone-With-the-Wind_i10030554.

Fulton originally gifted the painting to his son, John P. Fulton, inscribing on the lower right corner, “To John from Dad.” His son John P. Fulton ended up in special effects for the motion picture industry, starting out as a cameraman. As previously mentioned, John P. Fulton was also active in the film industry. Much has been written about John’s contribution to cinematic effects. By the 1940s, John worked for Universal Pictures Corp. “The Wild and Wonderful World of John P. Fulton. A Look back at the magical creations and unforgettable visual effects of virtuoso special effects master John P. Fulton, A.S.C.”: http://nzpetesmatteshot.blogspot.com/2010/08/wild-and-wonderful-world-of-john.html. Sadly, John passed away only a decade after his father. In 1965, he contracted a rare infection while working on a film in Madrid, Spain (“The Battle of Britain”), and passed away in an English hospital.

To be continued…

Copyright © 2021 by Wendy Waszut-Barrett

Today’s Sosman & Landis employee, Julian Greer, took quite some time to track down. It is a long post, as there is so much misinformation about Greer’s acting career posted to various sites online, including the IMBD. Hopefully this will help connect the dots for some folks. Although Julian Greer was celebrated as an English actor when he passed in 1928, his career in the theatre began as that of a Midwestern paint boy to Thomas G. Moses in Sterling, Illinois. Greer later became known as an English artist, but his backstory was really constructed when he changed his name from John Julian Greer to Julian Greer in the 1880s. This post is quite long, but Greer really intrigues me. Its length continued to grow as I uncovered one fascinating tidbit after another regarding the life and career of stage actor, author, film star, and theatrical manager, Julian Greer.

John “Julian” Greer began working as a paint boy for Thomas G. Moses in 1878 and worked at Sosman & Landis in the very beginning of the firm. His passion, however, was in acting. In 1906, Greer returned to Sosman & Landis for a brief visit. That year, Moses recorded, “Julian Greer, one of the old paint boys, now an actor, author and manager, visited us for the first time in many years.”

Both Moses and Greer grew up in the small town of Sterling, Illinois, located 116 miles due west of Chicago. When Greer was only 16 yrs. old, he assisted Moses in painting stock scenery for the Academy of Music in Sterling. Unbelievably, the Academy of Music project was remembered in 1961 by local historian Mrs. Orville Wallace. An article describing Wallace’s research was published in “The Sterling Gazette” and entitled, “Club Woman Recalls Sterling Artists and Their Talents” (March 9, page 15). That spring Wallace compiled an account of past Sterling artists and presented her findings at the Sterling Women’s Club meeting in March.  The article included a section with the heading “By Thomas Moses” –

“The work that I did at the Academy of Music lasted a long time. My assistant on the job was Julian Greer, who was very ambitious to become an actor, and he succeeded. His father was a plasterer in the old home town and made some ornamental cement garden benches. I enjoy going back and reviewing the finish of the many paint boys who I started in the wild career of an artist.” It was Moses’ mention of ornamental garden benches that helped me track down the life and career of Joseph A. Greer and his son, John Julian Greer.

Mrs. Wallace provided additional details pertaining to Academy of Music project in the article too, reminiscing:

“The Academy of Music must have been built about 1878, and it was considered the finest opera house west of Chicago. There were two young artists living here at the time by the name of Moses. These boys were given the assignment to paint the big backdrop and I imagine the stage settings too, for this new play house. What a thrill it must have been because I recall the impression it made on me when I was a little fairy or chorus girl of sitting in the dress circle watching Little Red Riding Hood. I think of the woodland scene. These Moses boys left Sterling and went to Chicago to become Lithographers.” She was wrong about the artists being related, Tom Moses was the only son in the Moses family to paint for the stage.

The two young boys were actually Tom Moses and John Julian Greer, ages twenty-two and sixteen, respectively. They not only painted scenery, but completed much of the plaster painting throughout the building that year. Julian was likely selected as an assistant, since the Greer family business was in plaster, artificial stone, and other decorative stone work.

Moses recorded the project in his 1878 diary, writing, “In February I started on the decoration in the stores under the Academy of Music.  The dark clouds that had hovered over me for two years now began to show their silver lining, the decoration and scenery for the Academy of Music was a good contract, and it was awarded to me in spite of a good knock that I got from my Father.  He informed one of the owners, Mr. Tracy, that I was too young for such a big job.  Mr. Tracy informed him that he had full confidence in my ability to do the work.” Moses exceeded all expectations of Mr. Tracy. On April 27, 1878, the “Sterling Gazette” reported, “Greer and Tom Moses are doing some of the finest work in the plastering and fresco line in the Academy of Music that has ever been done in the city. The free library room will be as finely finished as any rooms in Northern Illinois. It is not time to see them now as the work is but partially done, and but little idea of the completed work can be gained; but in a couple of weeks the whole can probably be seen” (page 5). This misprint is why Wallace though that that two boys were named Greer Moses and Tom Moses, not John Julian Greer and Tom Moses.

At the time, Moses was single and boarding in town at a friend’s house. Of the lodging, Moses wrote, “I was staying with my friends, Will Tuller, until Will’s mother had so many relatives drop in for a visit that I felt I was intruding, so I went to the Galt House.” This move is what brought Moses in closer contact with the Greer family. Joseph A. Greer’s business was located at the northwest corner of Galt House in Sterling.

When the Academy of Music opened to the public that fall, the “Sterling Gazette” described the scenery in a lengthy article published on Saturday. Nov. 30, 1878 (page 8). The article reported, “There are ten full sets of scenery, including parlor, chamber and kitchen scenes; a river, sea, street, woods, prison, landscape and garden scenes comprise list of scenery. They were painted by our townsman, T. G. Moses, and we need not tell those familiar with his work, that they are finely done. The work along will give him a reputation as a scenic artist everywhere that it is known. That everything about the stage might be perfect, Messrs. Galt and Tracy brought from Chicago Robert McLeod, for twenty-five years stage carpenter for McVicker, to put up the stage. It is perfect. The whole is lighted by three sets of boarder lights, each having fifteen burners, and the footlights of twenty-five burners. The brilliant effect of these is a wonder. The drop curtain represents a scene near Amsterdam; a palace being in the foreground with sea view at the right, and in the middle distance with a distant view of a city, Like the rest of the stage work it is finely painted.” Moses got his start as a scenic artist decorator in Chicago under the tutelage of Louis Malmsha at both McVicker’s Theatre and P. M. Almini & Co. in Chicago.

In regard to the Academy of Music project, the “Sterling Gazette” also praised Moses’ decorative painting, especially the ornamentation in the auditorium hall and the fresco work in throughout the first floor.

The success of Moses’ work at the Academy of Music helped smooth tensions with his father, with Moses later writing, “The work at the Academy put me on the list, and Father heard so much praise of my work, that he finally weakened, and we called the old score off and ‘we lived happily ever after.’” As little theatre work was available in Sterling, however, Moses primarily worked as a decorative painter in the area, traveling from one neighboring town to the next. A series of small painting projects in 1878 helped Moses’ finance his first home and marriage to Ella Robbins. The couple was married on October 31, 1878, just shortly before the Academy of Music opened its doors to the public.

Other work completed by Moses and his assistant was in Tampico, Illinois, located approximately 14 miles southwest of Sterling.  Of the project, Moses wrote, “I decorated the church at Tampico, Illinois, that had been built on the same foundation from which another building had been blown by a terrific tornado.  The hotel where I boarded had been cut in half by the tornado, rebuilt and every time the sky became yellow, and a stifling heat presented itself, everyone would prepare for the cyclone cellar built in the yard.  One night I was awakened and informed of an approaching storm.  I tried to awake my assistant.  He didn’t care and said so.  I tried to drag him out of bed.  I left him and went to the cyclone cellar.  After waiting until after 12 o’clock, we heard the storm passing a mile East of us.  My assistant laughed at us for the trouble we had taken.”  Ironically, even the town’s newspaper was called, “The Tampico Tornado.”

The two continued working together until Moses relocated to Chicago and began working for Sosman & Landis. Greer likely followed Moses shortly thereafter, although I have yet to track down the specific. Regardless, Greer continued to work as a paint boy during the early days of the firm. Here is the life and career of John “Julian” Greer.

John Julian Greer was born in Bruce, Ontario, Canada, in 1862. He was the second of four children born to Joseph Andrew Greer (1839-1883) and Isabella Murray (1841-1918). The birth of each child tracks the family’s journey from Nova Scotia to Illinois between 1859 and 1872. Their oldest daughter was born out of wedlock, on October 8, 1859. Catherine “Kate” Eva Greer (1859-1945) was born in Nova Scotia, exactly a month before her parent’s wedding on November 8, 1859 in Port Elgin, Bruce County, Ontario. The 1861 Canadian Census listed Joseph Greer as a plasterer, living with his wife and young daughter in Bruce County, Ontario. The couple’s second child, John Julian Greer, was also born there, named after his maternal grandfather John Murray (b. 1806). Sometime between 1862 and 1866, the Greer family moved to the US.  His younger brother George M. Greer was born in Pennsylvania in 1866, and by 1870, the Greer family was living in Iowa. In Dubuque, Iowa, the Greer’s welcomed the birth of their fourth, and final, child in 1872. In the 1870s, Isabella’s brother, Hugh Murray (1846-1915) sporadically lived with the Greer family. He worked as a stone mason.

By the time the Greer family moved to Sterling, Illinois, Joseph Greer began specializing in artificial stone. He partnered with Peter O’Hair to establish Greer & O’Hair in the city. Their firm specialized in the manufacture and sale of decorative stone, especially a new artificial version patented by the two in 1878. 

Their partnership ended in 1879, with a notice of dissolution published in the “Sterling Daily Gazette” on April 22. Greer continued in the same line of business, however, and went on to establish J. A. Greer & Co. The company even built a manufacturing plant for artificial stone works in Genesco, Illinois, located 48 miles southwest of Sterling.

By 1880, Julian was no longer living with his parents, most likely working in with Moses at Sosman & Landis in Chicago. Moses relocated to Chicago after completing his final decorating project for the Presbyterian Church in Dixon, Illinois, located 13 miles northeast of Sterling.  When Tom and Ella Moses moved to Chicago, they initially stayed with their friend Will Tuller at O. W. Young’s boarding house, located at 438 West Van Buren Street. It is important to note that Moses ties to close friends continued over the years; he had previously stayed with Will Tuller’s family in Sterling during the Academy of Music project.  In Chicago, Moses began working at Sosman & Landis during the spring of 1880. Shortly after staring with the firm, Moses recorded, “As the business increased, we put on a paint boy. “ Although not identified by name, I believe that this paint boy was actually Greer, as it coincides with other records at the time.

The 1880 US Federal Census also did not include John Julian Greer at the family home in Sterling. The Greer household only included Joseph (40), Isabella (39), Katie (19), George (14) and Willie (8). In 1880 the Greer family was living at 129 Market St. in Sterling. Joseph  was still working in the artificial stone industry and actively advertising in local papers. On March 3, 1880, J. A. Greer placed the following advertisement in the “Sterling Standard” -:

“J. A. Greer, Manufacturer of all kinds of Plaster Center Pieces. – bracket – Cornice Enrichment &c. Shop, northwest corner of Galt House, Sterling. Remember, I can put on a center piece cheaper than the article can be bought in Chicago” (page 6).

The Greer family headed south the following year. In 1881, Joseph A. Greer was listed in the “Kansas City Directory,” still working in the artificial stone industry and living at 620 Tracy Ave. John Julian had continued as an artist and was now working as an engraver at Ramsey, Millett & Hudson. By 1882, the Greers were living in Galveston, where patriarch “J. A. Greer” advertised in the city directory as a “Manufacturer of Greer’s Patent Stone Window Caps, Keys Sills, Floor Tile, Cemetery Work, Lawn and Garden Ornaments.” The listing for Joseph A. Greer specified “Manuf’r Greer’s Artificial Stone, works and office ss Ave A bet 21^st and 22^nd, r 809 Market bet and 9^th.”  Sometime between 1882 and 1883 the family relocated to San Antonio where Greer continued his business.

By 1883, J. A. Greer had established the Greer Stone Company in San Antonio. Sadly, Julian’s father passed away on Jan. 29 1883. On Feb 13, 1883, the “Sterling Evening Gazette” reported “Appropriate memorial resolutions were passed last evening by the AOUW lodge No. 148, in honor of the late Mr. Joseph Greer, who was formerly a citizen of Sterling, and who died about February 1, in Texas. He family received $2,000 from the order” (page 4). In 1883, Isabella Greer was listed in the San Antonio Directory as the widow of J. A. Greer, living at 519 Ave B on the corner of 10^th.  Her sons, John J. and George M. were also living with her, now each working in the area. George M. Greer, Robert Fitzsimmons and John F. Williams ran Greer Stone Co. The firm’s listing in the city directory noted, “mfrs Greer’s patent artificial stone, burial vaults, caps, lawn and garden ornaments, 220 N. Flores.”  Meanwhile, John J. was briefly listed as a civil engineer.

Shortly after Joseph Greer’s passing the family split apart. His mother, Isabella Greer moved to Los Angeles, California and bought her first home by 1886. Within less than a decade Isabelle had acquired quite a bit of land in Chicago Park, including lots 2183 to 2187.

Meanwhile, John Julian Greer entered the theatre profession as an actor.  He reinvented himself, and John Julian Greer began going by his middle name, Julian. At this time, Julian Greer passed himself off as an actor from England. Over the years, even his birth date would change from 1862 to 1866 and then 1871. Interestingly, it is 1871 that appears on his tombstone when he died in 1928, so solid was his alias.

Whether the shift in birthyears was intentional or a typographical error remains uncertain, yet it was always the same person; historical records share the same names of wife, mother and brother. It is no mere coincidence and I have to wonder if Greer was a bit con man.

As an actor, Julian Greer met his future wife, Ida Florida Sollee (1864-1923) in the late 1880s. In 1888 the two were touring with a production throughout the south after Greer had made a name for himself at Wallack’s Theatre in New York. On May 27, 1888, the “Savannah Morning News” mentioned Julian as performer in “The Week’s Entertainment.” A notice announced, “The sale of reserved seats for ‘Leah the Forsaken,’ to be given at the Theatre Tuesday night, will open at Davis Bros., tomorrow morning. Miss Sollee will appear in the title role of the play, and she will be supported by Mr. Julian Greer, recently with Mr. John S. Clarke, and Miss Deland of Wallack’s theater New York…” (page 9). Greer eventually married Sollee on June 10, 1890, in Asbury Park, Monmouth County, New Jersey. On June 23, 1891, “The Los Angeles Times” reported, “GREER-SOLEE. One the evening of the 10^th of June, in the Church of the Holy Trinity, (Episcopal) New York City, Mr. Julian Greer and Miss Ida F. Solee [sic.] were united in marriage. The bride is a young lady possessing grace, beauty and many accomplishments, is an artist in her chosen profession, and is now leading lady of John Dillon’s company. The groom is an actor of ability and associated with Charles Frohman’s company. The mother of the groom lives in Los Angeles, and her many friends join her in wishing the young couple much happiness and a long life” (page 3). Despite marriage, Sollee continued to use her maiden name as a performer, also listing herself as single in census reports. By 1891, the couple’s primary residence was in New York, but they continued to tour as performers for a short period of time.

Sollee is a bit of an interesting character herself. She was the eldest daughter of Francis Carrera Sollee (1834-1907) and Rebecca Louisa Hopkins (1837-1922). The eldest of nine children born to the couple. The Sollee family initially lived in New Braunfels, Texas, in 1870, with “Frank” Sollee working as a steamboat captain. The Sollee family relocated to Jacksonville, Florida by 1880. Ida F. Sollee purportedly formed her own company at the tender age of 18 yrs. old in 1886, yet she was actually twenty years old at the time. On Nov. 7, 1886, the “St. Louis Globe-Democrat” reported, Miss Ida F. Sollee is determined to be a star. She has organized a company and will make her debut at her home, Jacksonville, Fla., on her 18^th birthday, December 16, as Juliet. She will then ‘do’ thou south” (page 11). Sollee did “do” the south and became quite popular with both performers and newspaper men alike. She has a brilliant marketing plan in the beginning.

In 1888 Greer and Sollee were credited with playing Romeo and Juliet for a local benefit in Savannah, Georgia. Their appearance was briefly mentioned in “The Macon Telegraph,” on June 4, 1888, (page 8).

On October 12, 1890, “The San Francisco Examiner” reported, “Miss Ida Sollee, a talented young Southern girl, who has appeared for the first time on this Coast last season with Rhea, has had wonderful success as Hester Malyon in ‘The Fugitive,’ now on the eastern boards…Miss Sollee has many friends in this city and Oakland where she spent her vacation last summer” (page 9). Ida did quite well at this time and toured with several productions. Unfortunately, her career began to faulter after her marriage and Sollee no longer remained in starring roles very long after her marriage.  Something went on between the two that caused a rift, eventually ending Sollee’s career.

On Sept. 23, 1890, “The Philadelphia Times” reported that Greer played the romantic lead of John Levett, in “The Fugitive” at Forepaugh’s Theatre. Described as “the manly lover,” Greer played opposite of Sollee. Of Greer’s performance, “The Kansas City Times” reported, “Mr. Julian Greer, who sustains the part of the fugitive, is said to be a clever and conscientious actor who, though only a brief time in this country, has gained a metropolitan English reputation.” By this time, Greer was consistently passing himself off as an Englishman, effectively erasing any ties of his family or Midwestern background.

The “The Philadelphia Times” article also described Sollee’s work as an actress, adding, “Miss Ida Sollee, who assumes the role of the heroine, was leading lady last season with Rhea, and has also appeared with Bandman and with Lewis Morrison in ‘Faust.’ In ’The Great Metropolis’ she was a prime favorite in San Francisco.” It is also little ironic that Julian played the part of a fugitive, as well as a little foreshadowing. In 1896 Greer became a fugitive after a scandalous affair and left the country. The 1891 production of “The Fugitive” also appears to be the last production that Greer and his wife appeared in together.

That year, Julian Greer was living in New York and listed in the City Directory  as an actor, residing at 134 W. 129^th St. He was part of the Twelfth Night Club, and was mentioned as performing for the entertainment of the Club’s membership at the Lyceum Theatre that spring. On May 8, 1891, the Evening World” reported on the event, commenting “The next feature of the programme was Jerome K. Jerome’s adaptation of Francis Coppee’s ’The Violin Maker,’ in which Thomas Wise, Effie Shannon, Julian Greer and Frederic Bond took part” (page 5).

In 1891, Greer was also performing in Charles’ Frohman’s production of “All the Comforts of Home.” Meanwhile, his wife was performing with the John Dillon Company in “Wanted the Earth” (“The Kearney Daily Hub, 6 May 1891, page 3). Their careers continued to divide, accelerating on two separate paths.  On July 18, 1891, “The Record-Union” in Sacramento, California announced, “Julian Greer is to appear again next season in one of Charles Frohman’s companies, but his wife, Ida F. Sollee is still disengaged” (page 6). Sollee was eventually cast in Martin & Booker’s “The Harvest Moon,” starring Harry Booker and Miss Louise Rial. The two toured independently of each other.

1892 became a turning point for their marriage and respective careers. That year Greer began experiencing health problems after appearing in “Men and Women” at the Grand Opera House that February. By April 28, 1892, the “Los Angeles Evening Express” reported, “Julian Greer sailed for Carlsbad Hot Springs, Germany, on the 21^st. He hopes to be restored to health soon enough to return before winter”  (page 4). Greer was listed as an outgoing passenger to Ireland that May, listed as a 26 yrs. old actor. He returned on June 6, 1892. His name did not make headlines again for the remainder of the year. That fall his wife toured with “The Froth of Society.”  The show toured the entire season, ending during the spring of 1893. By the summer of 1893 newspapers across the country reported that Sollee was engaged to play juvenile with “The Danger Signal” (Topeka Daily Capital, 19 Aug., 1893, page 2). She continued to plug along in her profession.

Meanwhile, in 1893 Greer gradually returned to acting early in the year, first participating in a benefit performance held at the Standard Theatre in New York. On Jan. 15, 1893, “The Brooklyn Daily Eagle” reported Greer performing in “Drayton Hall,” advertised as “a spirited war drama written by Southern dramatist Alexander Hume Ford.” Greer then became associated with the Florence company and performed in “The Old Love and New” that spring.

Greer and Sollee continued to live separated lives, each focusing on their respective careers. By 1894, Sollee was touring with Eugene Robinson’s Company in their production of “Paul Kauvar.” The show starred John W. Barry, as Marquis de Vaux and aliases, with Sollee playing the role of Nanetta Potin, the wife of Rudolph, played by John W. Rose. She was still touring with the production the next season, her name making newspapers throughout 1895. Between 1894 and 1895, Greer performed with in a variety of shows and benefit performances, including in a series of Shakespearean productions starring Miss Martha Ford, “The Laughing Girl,” and “Rosedale.” While his wife was on tour, Greer primarily worked in New York and increasingly became part of social events. This is where the trouble began for Greer.

By 1896, Greer was part of a high-society scandal, accused of having an affair with Mrs. William Frederick Holcombe, the young wife of an elderly New York physician.  Articles across the country described the “most beautiful woman and successful heiress in Madison Square” and her love interest “John Greer, an artistic and literary man of no little name.” When the story broke, newspapers reported, “Mrs. Holcombe is now in Europe, and it is said that Mr. Greer has gone thither too. At any rate the artist has left his former domicile in Winchester, as No. 120 Broadway, and none of the men in his set were seen at various clubs last night was able to say that he was in town” (“Wheeling Register,” June 17, 1896, page 5). The article went on to explain that Mrs. Holcomb’s name was coupled with Mr. Greer, describing:

“Sometime in March, it is said, they were walking along West Forty-Seventh street, between Fifth avenue and Broadway, when Mr. Greer fell to the sidewalk, rendered unconscious by an attack of heart trouble. He was carried toa small hotel nearby  and was confined to his room for a week. Mrs. Holcombe, it is stated, visited him every day.”  Dr. Holcombe’s search for Greer was described in detail in the section “Doctor Hunted For Artist.” It reported, “The manager of the Winchester, where Mr. Greer lived  prior to his departure from the city, said last evening that Mr. Greer had told him he was going to California – at least, he thought so, but couldn’t be sure Mr. Greer had not said Europe. He was inclined to believe that Mr. Greer’s departure might have had something to do with the Holcombs, for he remembered, he said, that Dr. Holcomb had visited the Winchester frequently, in hope of finding Mr. Greer. The venerable physician always seemed terribly angry when he called, the manager said. “He used to ask all the tenants if they had seen a dark, handsome woman entering the building with Mr. Greer,” said the manager. Then he would add, “She’s my wife.” He gave everybody to understand that if he came across Mr. Greer is would be bad for that gentleman. Maybe it would – the doctor looked like a hard hitter.”

The article included a portrait of Mrs. Holcombe and reported, “According to Dr. Holcombe it is a case of December and May. He is a handsome old man of venerable appearance. Mrs. Holcombe is a beauty of a striking brunette type, about medium height and well on the sunny side of thirty. She has been a leader in society almost from the year of her debut. Her evenings were very popular, especially among the literary and artistic sets. Though more than forty years you ger than Dr. Holcomb, he is her third husband. This seems difficult of belief upon looking at her delicate, girlish features, for she looks to be less than twenty years of age. Her husband blames her beauty and her popularity with a certain clique of the literary troubles.” 

I find it fascinating that physical description of Mrs. Holcomb and Ida F. Sollee are very similar, both brunette beauties that captivated men wherever they went

By the fall of 1896, Greer was living in London, now associated with the Comedy Theatre. He advertised for talent in the London “Era” – “Wanted, juvenile Lady, to look Sixteen; Juvenile light comedian, two young Lady dancers, for minuet. Address, with photo and exact age and height, Julian Greer, 264, Vauxhall-bridge-road” (London, England, 10 Oct. 1896, page 25). His time overseas, remains a little foggy though. I have yet to locate any specific information pertaining to projects or productions. Greer returned stateside in 1897. That year, his name pops up in New York again.  On August 5, 1897, Brooklyn’s “Times Union” reported that “Mr. Julian Greer, Comedy Theatre, London” performed a baritone solo, as a hotel guests of the Hotel Griffing, as part of a benefit performance for area churches (page 6).

On October 12 of that year, Julian Greer is mentioned in the “New York Tribune.” The article reported, “Mrs. George S. Knight made her first appearance on the stage of continuous vaudeville yesterday at Proctor’s Theatre, Twenty-third-st. She acted the part formerly played by Miss Rosina Vokes in “The Circus Rider,” having assistance of Hugh Arnott and Julian Greer. The living pictures were a prominent feature of the performance.” (page 7). 

By 1898 Greer was again in the Midwest, now listed in the “Chicago Directory” as an author and living at 66 Rush. He was writing and translating plays. On November 19, 1898, the “Boston Evening Transcript” reported, “Miss Elliote Enneking expects to make an early appearance on the vaudeville stage, and will be seen in a one-act play translated from German by Mr. Julian Greer” (page 21). Greer continued to act during this time. On Feb. 19, 1898, the “Detroit Free Press” listed Julian Greer as part of the entertainment for the Detroit Lodge of Elks. The production included many professional performers associated with Whitney’s Opera House, Wonderland. A day earlier, the “Detroit Free Press” noted “The English actor, Julian Greer, has been specially engaged for ‘Faust’” (page 4).

That same year, Greer briefly performed in a Christmas Pantomime of “Humpty Dumpty.” On Dec. 24, 1898, the “Fall Daily River” included an advertisement for the production in River Falls, Massachusetts, reporting that Julian Greer and Miss Marguerite Evans supported the 7 yrs. old star, “Little Ruby.” The pantomime production was produced under the supervision of Chas. W. Ravel, the comical clown, known as the “Great Grimaldi” (page 5).

Despite his bounce back from scandal, it basically destroyed his wife’s life and career.  In 1896, Sollee was performing in Edward Vroom’s “For the Crown.” She was still making headlines and interviewed that spring. On May 27, 1896, “The Commercial Appeal” of Memphis, Tennessee, quoted Sollee in a review, identifying her as an author and playwright (page 5). And then she disappears from print. By 1897, Sollee’s name was no longer making headlines or was she listed in the cast of any touring production. By 1899 Ida F. Sollee was working as a clerk in Rochester, New York. This did not last for long, and she soon returned to the bosom of her family bin Florida. In Jacksonville, she remained at 406 E. Duvall until the last six months of her life, living with her mother and siblings. After moving back to the south, Ida never remarried and continued to work in retail until her passing in 1923. Six months before her passing, Ida had finally moved out and began living in her own home; she had relocated to Miami. Sollee was only 58 years old when she died, her death reported in Dade County death records.  

Greer’s career continued to evolve from acting and playwrighting to management. In 1906, Greer was associated with the production, “The Tie That Binds.” An article published in the “Morning Call” on Feb. 8, 1906, reported,  “In addition to many other sterling qualities embodied in the play, Mr. Julian Greer has added a number of high-class specialties and gotten together and exceptional strong company of players, making the attraction particularly enticing” (The Morning Call, 8, Feb. 1906, page 4).

Greer was also involved with the touring production of “Man’s Enemy.” On March 18, 1906, the “Omaha Daily Bee” reported, “For three nights, starting Thursday, Mr. Julian Greer will offer ‘Man’s Enemy,” a big melodramatic production to the patrons of the Krug theater. The play deals with the evils of drink, but contains a very pretty heart story running throughout. The show was billed as “a combination of romantic comedy and tragedy.”

On March 7, 1906, the “The Albuquerque Evening Citizen” reported that

Greer was visiting Albuquerque, New Mexico, to see his younger brother, Col. W. H. Greer, president of the Albuquerque Traction Company. Greer was considering the Traction Park Casino as a venue for his show. The newspaper commented that Greer was an actor and painter from New York City Greer. The remainder of the article is quite interesting, reporting:

“Julian Greer is here for the purpose of getting the colonel to accompany him to Omaha, Neb. Where he expected to show his performance of the theatrical company that will open the Traction Park Casino on May 15. The company was organized in New York, of excellent talent, and is now working west, playing at the most important cities en route. The troupe is expected to reach Omaha by the time the colonel and Mr. Julian Greer reach that place by leaving here tonight, which will probably be on Saturday. In speaking of the company and the people who compose it, Mr. Julian Greer said: ‘Nestor Lennon, one of the best-known actors of the American stage, and the man who succeeded Nat Goodwin successfully in ‘When We Were Twenty-one;’ Virginia Anderson, only 17, but a woman of charming personality, Maud Adams’ beauty and art, a coming star, is our leading lady. And she is certainly a wonderful young woman. There are many strong characters and specialty people among the sixteen persons, and I am not exaggerating when I say that it is one of the strongest troupes on the road. I am taking the colonel back to Omaha to witness the performance of the company.’”

“‘Oh yes,’ continued Mr. Julian Greer, ‘I expect to return with the company, and we will be here all summer. We hope to reach here in time to open by the middle of May. We carry our own scene painter, a very capable man. Who will furnish scenery for any production we may care to make? Our shows will include the best New York productions, with scenic effects.”

Mr. Julian Greer expressed himself as surprised and pleased with the elegance and adequacy of the Traction Park Casino. He said that it would be a compliment to a city of 100,000.”

However, there must have been a change in plans along the way. By April, his brother had turned the entire management of the Traction company over to W. M. Wortman, a manager of amusement parks in Pueblo, Colorado, and El Paso, Texas (Albuquerque Citizen, 7 April, 1906, page 5). That summer, the Casino was be billed as a combination house, playing a diversity of attractions. The Albuquerque Citizen, commented, “the house will probably open May 15, with a large stock company in a repertoire of modern plays, their run will be but a short time, after which they will give way to some other attraction. This plan will be followed out all summer, thus giving a variety of attractions that will relieve the monotony of a stock company for the entire season.” In the end, Wortman proposed to place El Paso, Albuquerque and Las Vegas on a summer vaudeville circuit (Albuquerque Citizen, 2 May 1906, page 8).

Little is known of Greer’s life from 1906 until his passing in 1928, his name sporadically popping up in association with various productions. In 1909, Greer toured with Frederick Hallen, formerly of Hallen & Hart, on the vaudeville circuit in a sketch entitled “A Lesson at 11 P.M.” (Fort Wayne Journal-Gazette, 10 Jan. 1909, page 8).  Ironically, Greer played the role of the jealous husband in the production co-starring Hallen and Mollie Fuller. In 1911, Greer was part of a Women’s Press Club event, held at the Waldorf-Astoria.  On Dec. 31, 1911, “The Brooklyn Daily Eagle” reported that the program included “’The Pope’s Franchise,’ written by Edith Toten and given by Julian Greer, Mrs. M, Reid Cory of Brooklyn, and Joseph Clancy” (page 6). By 1913, Greer was still performing vaudeville, but now associated with “melo-playettes.”  His productions included “The Killing” and “The Butterfly on the Wheel.” In “The Killing,” Greer was listed as “formerly leading man for Clara Morris” (The Record, Hackensack, NJ, 16 Aug. 1913, page 1). I have yet to locate any information about his work with Morris.

Then there is a large gap in the career of Greer where I have yet to locate any information pertaining to projects or travel. His mother continues living in California, and it is possibly that he spent some time with her there. Greer again makes New York headlines in 1921. On July 1, 1921, Greer is pictures with a group of Anti-Prohibition personalities in Brooklyn’s Standard Union” (page 16). To date, this is the only picture that I have been able to locate of Greer.  At the time, he was fifty-nine years old. 

It is possible that Greer temporarily redirected his focus from theatre to film. From 1921-1922, Greer appeared in two films, credited as an actor in both the Passion Flower (1921) and Sunshine Harbor (1922). In Sunshine Harbor he played the role of Editor MacSorely, and in Passion flower, he played the role of Acacia’s father. Acacia, the Passion Flower  was played by Norma Talmadge. He also continued to make sporadic appearances on the stage in his later years. But his appearances were few and far between.

On April 22, 1923, New York’s “Daily News” announced that Julian Greer would play Friar Lawrence in a production of “Romeo and Juliet,” as part of a Shakespearean anniversary event. On Nov. 2, 1925, the “Times Union” of Brooklyn announced that Julian Greer was part of the cast for “Hamlet in Modern Clothes” at Booth’s Theatre, playing a minor role (page 44). On Dec. 29, 1926, “The Times Union” also listed Greer as part of the cast of “The Strange Prince” at the 52^nd Street Theatre in Manhattan. On Nov. 15, 1927, “The Yonkers Herald” reported that Julian Greer was cast in the role of the Skipper in “White Cargo,” performed at the Warburton Theatre. This was the last newspaper article for Greer until his passing the next year.

On April 17, 1928, “The Brooklyn Daily Eagle” reported, “GREER – JULIAN GREER, Campbell Funeral Church, Broadway, 66^th st., Wednesday, 12 noon.” (page 22). On April 18, 1928, the New York “Daily News” reported, “GREER FUNERAL TODAY. Julian Greer, actor, artist and war correspondent, who dies suddenly in his home at 139 West 49^th st., will be buried today in Kensico cemetery.”

To be continued…

Copyright © 2021 by Wendy Waszut-Barrett

William P. Davis worked as a scenic artist at Sosman & Landis in 1881. That year, Thomas G. Moses wrote, “I had to go to Richmond, Indiana, this summer,  Will Davis was with me.  We had a pleasant time while there.”  In Richmond, the two were painting scenery at the newly refurbished Grand Opera House. On September 19, 1881, “The Evening Item” of Richmond reported, “The scenic work was completed by Sosman & Landis of Chicago with Thomas G. Moses painting the drop curtain.” The stock scenery delivered by the firm included: “four wings; one set plain chamber, four wings; one kitchen, and one prison, each four wings; one wood, six wings; one landscape, one perspective street, one rocky pass, one horizon, one ocean, one garden, one grand drapery border, one set tormentor wings and doors, three drapery borders, two kitchen borders, three foliage borders, one set cottage, one set bridge, four set rocks, one tree, two set waters, one foreground, one garden wall, one balustrade, two statues.” Davis continued to work for the firm, evening running a regional branch in Kansas City, Missouri, with Lemuel L. Graham until 1886.

Two decades later, Davis was recognized as a founder of the Twin City Scenic Studio of Minneapolis. Davis’ life and career are fascinating, yet so little information is known about his early childhood in Brockton, New York, or his final years in Seattle, Washington.

I’ll start at the beginning…

William P. Davis was one of three sons born to Hartwell C. and Elizabeth A. Davis in Brockport, New York.  For geographical reference, Brockport is approximately nineteen miles due east of Rochester, New York, situated along the Erie Canal.  William was the second child born the couple. His elder brother, Charlie P. Davis, died at the very young age of only four years old in 1853.

William was the second child born to the couple in 1853, and Edwin arrived five years after that in 1858.  Both Will and Eddie would become scenic artists, spending much of their lives together.  Both of their lives and careers would end in Seattle. Little is known of their early life in New York beyond a few federal and state census reports. They lived in the town of Sweden, located only a few miles from Brockport. Both towns are now considered part of the Rochester metropolitan area.

In 1855 New York State Census reported that the Davis household included H. C. Davis (32 yrs. old), Elizabeth Davis (26 yrs. old) and W. Davis (2 yrs. old). Although somewhat illegible, H. C. Davis’ occupation appears to be that of a carriage painter. However, his employment changed from one census report to the next, In 1860 his occupation was listed as a gardener and in 1865 he was working as an attorney. Only four year after that, at the age of 46 yrs. old, he passed away.

By 1869, Will Davis had moved west to Chicago and was working as a scenic artist, living at 366 Clark St.  At the time, he was only sixteen years old. On June 24 of that year, his father passed away, leaving behind a widow and two sons. Eddie was only eleven years old at the time. It remains unclear whether his father’s passing prompted Will Davis’ to move to Chicago, or if he had left beforehand. Regardless, the 1869 “Chicago Directory” listed William Davis as a scenic artist, living at 366 Clark St. H. C. Davis was buried at High Street Cemetery in Brockport. Interestingly, probate records show that his will was written just five days before his passing on June 19, 1869, witnessed by John A. Satta and Henry C. Hammond.

Will Davis continued to work as a scenic artist in Chicago while his mother and brother spent the next few years in Sweden before selling the family home. Advertisements were placed in the “Brockport Republic” on August 6 and 15, 1872, listing the sale by “Mrs. H. C. Davis.” Their property was located on the corner of Erie and Perry Streets, just a block away from the Erie Canal. After the family home was sold, Elizabeth and Edwin moved west to live with William in Chicago.

By 1880, Elizabeth, William and Edwin were all living at 612 Fulton Street. William was still working as a scenic artist, with Edwin now employed as a printer.  This arrangement only lasted for a few years.  In 1883, Davis was living by himself in Hyde Park, Illinois. Work continued to draw Davis throughout the region, and he went from one project to another.

On March 2, 1884, he was credited with painting the new drop curtain for the Grand Opera House in the “ Saint Paul Daily Globe” (page 4). The article  detailed the inspection of his work by Manager L. N. Scott, Commodore Davidson, and a few newspaper men. The article reported, “The design is oriental, and the idea has been beautifully executed. The scene represented by the picture which occupies the center foreground in from Moore’s poem of Lalla Rookh. The eye is first directed to the royal barge, which is represented with set sail and flying pennons as it enters the enchanted vale of Cashmere, where the princess is to meet her royal lover. On the deck of the barge is the princess and suite, while in the background may be seen the glittering palaces and towers of Cashmere, with steeples and minarets. The picture is done in grays and the effect is therefore subdued, it evidently being the intention of the artist to compliment the rich and beautiful effects of draperies at the sides. The effect here is beautiful and striking in the extreme. First may be mentioned the fluted arch which encloses the full-length picture of the barge as if in a medallion. The arch is Moorish in design and is supported by four columns on either side; at the base of the columns are blocks of marble surmounted by tripods which to carry out the oriental effect, exhale perfume. At the sides are rich and magnificent draperies which fall in graceful folds, being done in colors of green, scarlet and gold; the draperies are ornamented with a band or border of red, green and gold plush. The effect is sumptuous and indescribably rich, the artist having seemed to lavish his utmost opulent powers of the colors of the draperies, and the combination is harmonious to a degree. This magnificent accessory to the beautiful temple of Thespis gives a finishing touch and a look of completeness to the house hitherto wanting. As the curtain was painted by Mr. W. P. Davis, a young artist whose services were procured by Messrs. Beck & Rank of this city. The new drop curtain will be seen by the public for the first time next Wednesday night on the occasion of the performance of the ‘Pirates of Penzance’ by the Stillwater Choral union.” Here is a lovely article about St. Pauls’ Grand Opera House written by Janet Meyer on Aug. 24, 2020: https://www.minnpost.com/mnopedia/2020/08/the-short-grand-life-of-st-pauls-grand-opera-house/

By 1885, Davis moved south to Kansas City, Missouri, where he partnered Lemuel L. Graham to establish the scenic studio of Graham & Davis. In addition to running their own studio, however, the two also ran the regional branch of Sosman & Landis. In addition to contracting their own work, they worked as subcontracted for regional projects secured by Sosman & Landis. The 1885 “Kansas City Directory” listed William P. Davis as a scenic artist, associated with the firm of Graham & Davis. At the time Davis was boarding at Nivision House. One of their earliest projects was painting scenery for the Gillis Opera House in Kansas City. Other project completed in 1885 included scenery for theaters in Dodge City, Kansas, St. Joseph, Missouri, Champaign and Quincy, Illinois, Grand Island, Nebraska, and Huron, South Dakota. Newspaper articles track the firm’s steps as they go from one opera house to the next.

On March 21, 1885, the “Kansas Cowboy” of Dodge City, Kansas, reported, “Graham & Davis, scenic artists, of Kansas City, have been awarded the contract for painting the drop curtain and scenery for the McCarty opera house. There are to be five scenes. These artists painted the scenery for the Gillis Opera House at Kansas City”  (page 3).

On May 9, 1885, the “Sioux City Journal” reported, “L. L. Graham, scenic artist of the firm Graham & Davis, of Kansas City, was in town yesterday.”” (page 3). On August 4, 1885, the “St. Joseph Gazette” of St. Joseph, Missouri, reported, “Opera House improvements. The opera house cannot be obtained for the Grant memorial service, as a large force of workmen commenced yesterday on the erection of scaffolding throughout the house and ascending to the ceiling, for the use of the frescoers. Messrs. Fedeili & Suzen are doing the frescoing, and Graham & Davis the scene painting. The large center medallion in the ceiling will be retained, but all the rest will be new. It will require several weeks to complete the work” (page 5).

They also worked alongside other Sosman & Landis employees, including stage machinist Claude L. Hagan. On July 11, 1885, the “Champaign Daily Gazette” of Champaign, Illinois, included an article entitled “Getting Ready” (page 1). The article reported, “The scenery is being put in place, and when completed will be as fine as any in this part of the state. The work is being done by Graham & Davis, of Kansas City, and is superintended by Mr. C. L. Hagan. The appliances for shifting scenes, raising the curtain and presenting the finest stage effects, are all of the latest kind. The drop curtain will be in place on Monday, and we are assured that it will be a fine picture. The first entertainment will be given on Thursday evening by the Kennedy Comedy Company, who will occupy the boards three nights in succession, with a change of program each evening. The sale of seats will begin on Monday, at the post office drug store, where they may be secured for wither entertainment.”

On July 26, 1885, the “St. Joseph Herald” of St. Joseph, Missouri, reported, “The Next Season at Tootle’s. The Opera House Refitted – some of the attractions. Messrs. Graham & Davis have been occupied the past three or four weeks in painting an entire set of new scenery for the opera house. These gentlemen have just completed the painting of Boyd’s of Omaha, and were the scenic artists for the Gillis Opera House, Kansas City, the Academy of Music, Peoples’ and Standard of Chicago, and if further evidence of the ability were required it was shown in the magnificent grand drapery, tormentor wings and new garden scene at Miss Carter’s benefit last Friday. They have completed the most attractive landscape, a garden, new cottage interior, and are now at work upon a modern parlor interior, which will be pronounced the handsomest piece of scene painting ever seen on the local stage. They have also repainted the borders, tormentors, grand drapery, wings and a number of set pieces, among others a new set tree, which has long been needed. They will paint also a new street scene and a palace back, beside a number of necessary pieces” (page 4).

On August 21, 1885, the “Quincy Daily Journal” credited Messrs. Graham & Davis with the new scenery and drop curtain for the opera house in Quincy, Illinois (page 3). That spring they were contracted to fresco the auditorium and paint all of the scenery. On May 30, 1885, the “Quincy Daily Whig” reported, “Yesterday the management agreed to employ the firm of Graham & Davis to fresco the auditorium and repaint all the scenery. A large amount of new scenery has also been contracted for, and, as the firm which has secured the contract, are known as among the finest scenic artists in the west, the Quincy amusement goers reasonably expect to see a very handsome opera house and scenery when the work is complete” (page 3). The firm also delivered scenery for another Quincy stage at Geise’s German Theatre. On September 5, 1885, the “Quincy Daily Journal” reported. “Geise’s German theater will be opened in about two weeks. The scenery is being painted by Graham & Davis, at Kansas City” (page 4).

On September 3, 1885, “The Dakota Huronite” credited Graham & Davis for the stage scenery and machinery at the new Opera House in Huron, South Dakota (page 5). The article reported, “The stage was fitted by Claude Hagan, of the Gillis Opera House, Kansas City, and everything works so smoothly and perfectly that it is hard for the proprietors to find words to express their satisfaction. The scenery is the work of Graham & Davis of Kansas City, and its excellence seems to increase with each inspection.”

On Dec. 10, 1885, the “Grand Island Independent” of Grand Island, Nebraska, reported, “The handsome new drop curtain at Bartenbach’s opera house has been hung. It is a rich and handsome piece of work, costing between $200 and $300, executed by Graham & Davis, artists, of Kansas City. The curtain contains business cards representing twenty-two of the leading forms of this city, relieved by a neatly executed center piece representing a scene in Venice. Above is a life-like portrait of the proprietor of the opera house, Mr. Geo. Bartenbach, and the curtain is certainly a decided improvement over the former one and very attractive” (page 1).

While Graham & Davis were working in Kansas City, Will’s younger brother Edwin was working as a scenic artist in Cincinnati. It is possible that Edwin was operating a regional office for Sosman & Landis in 1885.  

By 1886, the firm of Graham & Davis relocated a much larger studio to accommodate the increased workload, located at 525 Main, Kansas City. Graham & Davis continued to work throughout the region, delivering scenery to opera houses in Ness City, Kansas and Omaha, Nebraska.

On May 1, 1886, the “Ness County News”  of Ness City, Kansas, reported, “The new scenery for the Opera House was received last Tuesday morning, but has not yet been placed in position. By some accident, the scenery was delayed in transit for about four weeks, and because of the lateness of the season it has been determined by Grand Army Post not to attempt the production of the military play the ‘Union Spy’ until next fall. In place of that play some minor drama will be produced for the benefit of the Post at an early day, on which occasion the scenery. Will be used for the first time. The scenery was painted by Messrs. Graham & Davis, of Kansas City and gives satisfaction in every particular” (page 5).

In 1886, Graham, & Davis delivered scenery to Boyd’s Opera House in Omaha, Nebraska. On July 17, 1886, the “Omaha Daily Bee” reported, “The ‘painter’s bridge’ which has been idle so long is now occupied by the artist Graham of Graham & Davis, of Kansas City. The gentleman arrived yesterday, and has already made considerable progress in the painting for which he came. He will be engaged here for about six weeks when the opera  house will reopen with a. fresh new supply of beautiful scenery…Mister Graham will this year, paint more new and retouch more old scenes than he has ever done on his earlier visits. Among this year’s work will be eight street wings, of both ancient and modern styles. These will be cut in profile, and act as business places, public buildings and private residences. The stage at the Boyd has never has street wings before, it being found necessary to supply their places with wood wings. He will also paint a white Elizabethan interior with armorial bearings, illuminated windows and features peculiar to that age. This will be particularly appropriate for a large number of operas and is being painted expressly for them. Besides these, there are several other ‘interiors.’ One of which is to be the most elaborate in design and excellent treatment. The supply of set pieces consisting of rocks, street, houses and other article of like nature is to be increased, so that., in fact the stage will have at least fifty per cents of its material that will be fresh to the audience” (8).

At some point during 1886, Davis headed north and began working in Minnesota. At the time, he was listed in two city directories, both in Kansas City and St. Paul. In St. Paul, he was listed as the artist for the Grand Opera House, living at 35 Court Block. Interestingly, his future business partner, William Knox Brown, was also working at the same venue as the stage mechanic. Davis’ employment in St. Paul, however, did not last for long. By 1887 Davis was again living in Chicago where he would remain for several years. He continued to travel and work throughout the region, all the while maintaining a permanent residence in Chicago.

1887 advertisements for L. L. Graham listed him as a scenic artist and “contractor for stage equipments, theatrical hardware, frame work, canvas, traps. Bridges, opera chairs, etc., and everything necessary for requirements of a first-class theatre.” His studio address was still listed as 525-527 Main Street in Kansas City. Meanwhile, J. U. Tschudi, B. F. Dunn, C. A. Oldham, and C. J. Lorella, were running the second iteration of the Kansas City Scenic Co., advertising as “Practical Artists and agents for theatrical hardware and stage supplies.” The firm’s offices and studio were located at the Gillis Theatre in Kansas City.

In 1888 Davis was listed in the “Painters and Decorators” section in the “Chicago Directory,” listing his address as 1036 W. Vanburen. By this time, his reputation as a scenic artist was quite well-respected and known throughout the Midwest. On February 19, 1888, Davis was mentioned with several other well-known scenic artists in an article entitled “Stage and Scenery,” published in “The Saint Paul Globe” of St. Paul, Minnesota. In the section, “LOCAL AND GENERAL TALENT,” the article reported,  “Among the elder scenic artists of the country are David A. Strong, of Chicago, formerly of Niblo’s Garden, New York, should be mentioned as one of the best colorists, and indeed is an artist of high rank. Marston, of New York, excels as an interior painter, and paints admirable exteriors as well. Thomas Noxon, of St. Louis, another veteran painter, has probably done his share to elevate the public taste in this line. William Voegtlin. E. T. Harvey. Henry E. Hoyt, John H. Young, Harley Merry, W. P. Davis and Phil Goatcher, number among those in the front rank.” Davis’ future business partner, William Knox Brown, was also mentioned in the same article: “W. K. Brown, of New York, the stage carpenter, deserves great credit for the clever mechanical effects to be seen at People’s. He is enthusiastic, a skilled mechanic and artist in his line. The artist and carpenter work hand and hand in the production of each play.”

In 1889, William P. Davis was still living in Chicago with his mother and brother Edwin, who was also working as a scenic artist. About this time, Will Davis became associated with the new Auditorium Theatre, continuing the build his reputation in the area. Opportunities in the northland, soon enticed Davis back to Minnesota. In 1891, Davis was assisted by Arthur Hurtt in painting a drop curtain for the People’s Theatre in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Previously known as the Bijous Theatre, on April 11, 1891, “The Irish Standard” reported, “The stage has been enlarged and improved, new curtain and scenery being especially designed and painted by W. P. Davis, as assisted by Arthur Hurtt” (page 5).

On April 23, 1893, the “Chicago Tribune” announced, “Manager Will Davis of the Columbia has returned from his trip to New York, which was taken for the purpose of arranging the final details of his World’s Fair attractions” (page 37). By 1894, Davis is associated with the Grand Opera House in St. Paul, Minnesota, boarding at the Clarendon Hotel in that city. He continues to work in the Twin Cities and is constantly mentioned in the newspapers, heralded for his scenic art works.

On April 30, 1899, “The Saint Paul Globe” reported:

“NEW DROP CURTAIN.

Picture to Delight the Eye of Patrons of the Metropolitan.

The magnificent new drop-curtain of the Metropolitan opera house will be exhibited to the inspection of the patrons of that theater for the inspection of the patrons of that theater for the first time tomorrow, Monday evening, this being a feature of the opening of Otis Skinner’s engagement. It is a beautiful and artistic specimen of scenic art, and is considered by Mr. W. P. Davis, the veteran scenic artist, to be one of the finest drop-curtains in the country. The subject represents a mammoth landscape in a gorgeous frame; in the foreground we see the limpid waters of the beautiful lake, set like a sparkling gem in a cluster of towering hills, with the blue sky of Italy overhead. In the distance the hills rise, tier on tier, to the dim horizon line where earth and sky blend in a film of delicate, shadowy color. The perspective is exceptionally good, the impression of great distance being brought out with remarkable effect. On the right can be seen a portion of the walls of an Italian castle, with broad marble steps leading down to a path which extends across the foreground, and is lost to sight in a mass of foliage o the extreme left of the picture. To the foot of the steps the figure of a beautiful woman is seen leaning in a graceful attitude on a handsome urn, holding on her arm a basket of brilliantly colored flowers.

The picture appears set on a dais, with a single rug-covered step leading to the ground line; on either side massive pillars support a canopy over the picture. Heavy draperies hang from the canopy, looped back in graceful folds on either side of the frame. The colorings are bright and harmonious, the treatment artistic and pleasing, and the general effect all that could be desired. The new drop-curtain will be an ornament to the handsome auditorium of which Manager Scott and his patrons are so pardonably proud” (page 28).

On Feb. 18, 1900, “The St. Paul Globe” described Davis’ work at the Metropolitan Opera House (page 28). The article reported, “PRETTY DROP CURTAIN. New One Will Greet Metropolitan Habitues This Evening. The magnificent new drop curtain of the Metropolitan opera house will be hung for the first time for the Danz orchestra concert this afternoon. This practically completes the process of redecoration which has been in progress at the Metropolitan since Dec. 1898, the entire house having been gone over. The new curtain is a beautiful specimen of scenic art and it is with a great deal of pardonable pride that Manager Scott announces its completion. The material is asbestos, and it forms an absolutely fireproof screen between the stage and auditorium. The borders are painted in bright, cheerful colors and tints in harmony with the decorations of the auditorium, giving an effect of striking brilliancy to the interior of the theatre. The center of the curtain is occupied by a mammoth picture, the subject being a splendid view of St. Paul from the bluffs behind the high bridge. In the foreground, on the right, may be seen a group of huge trees springing from the side of the precipitous cliff, and sweeping away to the left the view stretches across the blue waters of the Mississippi, over the level expanse of the flats to the sand rock bluff, which centuries ago formed the north bank of the river. From bluff to bluff the big bridge stretches like the web of a colossal spider, and beyond it the city of St. Paul fills up the rear ground of the picture, the view standing out with the clearness and distinctness of a photograph. The curtain is the work of W. P. Davis, who also designed and executed the decorations of the auditorium.”

Meanwhile, Edwin continued to work as a scenic artist in Chicago. The 1900 US Federal Census listed Edwin living in Riverside, Illinois, with other scenic artists. At the time, he was 41 years old and widowed. Willis M. Dietrich was listed as the head of household in the census report. Dietrick was 44 yrs. old and listed as a manufacturer of theatrical scenery. In addition to Davis, members of Dietrich’s  household included his wife, Jesse L. Dietrich (38 yrs. old), and his three sons, Harry W. Dietrich (17 yrs. old), Dean S. Dietrich (10 yrs. old), and Leslie M. Dietrich (9 yrs. old). The eldest son, Harry, was also a scenic artist.

Davis soon moved to St. Paul where he worked for his brother’s scenic studio. And this brings into play another scenic studio established by Davis, William K. Brown and Theodore Hays, the Twin City Scenic Studio. Davis’ association with the firm was not published in City Directories until 1902, but his work with the firm’s co-founders started long before that.

Much has been written about the Twin City Scenic Company by C. Lance Brockman, Professor Emeritus at the University of Minnesota. A scenic design collection, acquired by the University of Minnesota Performing Art Archives in the 1980s resulted in an exhibition from April 5 to June 14, 1987, at the University Art Museum, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, curated by Brockman. The exhibition catalogue was entitled “The Twin City Scenic Collection: Poplar Entertainment, 1895-1929,” and included essays written by Brockman, John R. Rothgeb, Forrest A. Newlin and Lawrence J. Hill.

The catalogue summarizes the history of the Twin City Scenic Company, noting that by 1895, Davis, Brown and Hayes partnered to establish the Twin City Scenic Studio. The three initially worked at Bijou Opera House, with Hays acting as the manager. Each partner managed a particular aspect of business: Hayes was the business manager, Brown was the master mechanic, and Davis was in charge of the scenic art department. From his past work in Kansas City and Chicago, Davis had access to a large labor pool of scenic artists in the region, including his brother Edwin Davis. 

In 1905 the Twin City Scenic Studio was incorporated, and became the Twin City Scenic Co.  On July 15, 1905, the “Minneapolis Journal” published “Articles of Incorporation of the Twin City Scenic Company, Minneapolis, Minnesota” (page 14). In Article 1, the listing detailed, “The name of this corporation shall be the  ‘Twin City Scenic Co.’ The object for which this corporation is organized, and the general nature of its business shall be the manufacture and sale of all kinds of stage equipment, apparatus, properties and supplies for theaters, lodge halls, clubs, carnivals, expositions, fairs and entertainments, and the manufacture and sale of costumes and theatrical paraphernalia and photographic backgrounds, advertising scenery, effects and novelties.” In Article V, the names of the individual forming the corporation were listed as William P. Davis, William K. Brown. Theodore L. Hays and John A. Van Wie, all of Minneapolis.  The four men comprised the first officers of the corporation: Davis was President, Brown was Vice-President, Hays was Treasurer and Van Wie was Secretary. The amount of capital stock of was listed as $25,000, with 500 shares valued at $50.00 each. 

The beginnings of the firm were also mentioned in a “Minneapolis Journal” newspaper article published on February 25, 1905 (page 16). The article described the firm’s contribution to the new Minneapolis Auditorium under the heading, “Fine Stage Equipment,” the article reported:

“All the stage equipments were furnished by the Twin City Scenic Studio of Minneapolis and St. Paul. All of the curtains, scenery, stage traps and stage equipment were furnished by this company, as well as the asbestos curtain, and all of the equipment is of very high grade. This company was organized but four years ago and has developed a scenic business that will compare favorably in quantity and quality with any similar company in the country. The company is composed of Theodore L. Hays, manager, W. P. Davis, chief artists, and W. K. Brown, chief mechanic. Mr. Davis was formerly chief artist of the sudatorium theater, Chicago, and is a veteran of scenic art. Under his direction the scenery for the Auditorium will be painted. Mr. Brown is conceded to be one of the ablest stage mechanics in the country and under his direction the auditorium scenery will be built, and the mechanical appliances and apparatus installed.”

In 1905, the Twin City Scenic Company hired Walter Burridge to paint the Auditorium Theatre drop curtain. Burridge was assisted by Davis in this endeavor. Hiring a well-known scenic artist to paint drop curtain for the Auditorium Theatre was a very strategic move for the Twin City Scenic Co. This was a common practice, one perfected by Sosman & Landis in the 1880s and 1890s.  Temporarily contracting a well-known artist added legitimacy to the firm and helped the project make headlines. On May 9, 1905, the “Star Tribune” described the new drop curtain. I am including the article in its entirety:

“The great Auditorium curtain, a work of high art, done by one of the most celebrated scenic artists in this country, is now practically finished , and Walter Burridge, whose whole attention has lately been given to this fine picture, left last night for New York. What remains to be done, W. P. Davis, artist of the Twin City Scenic studio, who has assisted in the work, will complete.

The subject chosen by Mr. Burridge was the ruined temple of Minerva, the only condition which is known in modern times, and one which the artist has freer rein for an idealized and imaginative work.

IN KEEPING WITH THE BUILDING

While the artist has been silently engaged on the picture few have known of his presence, or of the work of art which was growing under his hands, to be one of the greatest of the creations with which he has adorned many leading halls of America.

A few artists have seen the work, and these declare it to be the crowning glory of the splendid interior; a work perfectly in keeping with the building, restful and quietly pleasing to the eye, and in fine, a work of art upon which one might gaze long and not tire.

The subject is taken from an old picture of the ruined temple. It is not, however, simply a reproduction, the original being idealized, the scene somewhat elaborated and the treatment adapted to the purpose of a stage curtain.

The temple is shown on its stately eminence in the middle distance, the outlines somewhat hazy, and the beautiful Grecian columns in various stages of decay. The building occupies a position in about the center if the picture, and is surrounded by a characteristic and beautiful Athenian scene, which stretches away in the background to a dim and poetic distance.

The general tone of the work is quiet and subdued and in perfect harmony with the plain and massive character of the auditorium interior. The tints are neutral, sienna grays and other pale tints being mostly used.

The border, which remains to the done, will of course be Grecian, and will be worked out in subdued colors.

WORK OF MAGNITUDE

The immense size of the curtain, 44 by 58 feet, of itself made the work one of no little magnitude, and when it is considered that the colors spread over this great area were to combine into a work of high art some conception of the task of the artist may be formed.

The new curtain will be seen for the first time by the public on the opening night of the grand opera season, March 14, and will be a feature lacking at the recent grand opening, when the asbestos curtain had to do duty in its stead.

Walter Burridge designs the scenic part of all the great productions of Henry Savage, and his journey to New York is in connection with one of these.

He was specially engaged by the Twin City Scenic studio, which has charge of all the scenic work for the Auditorium.”

I want to briefly place the mention of Burridge’s work for Savage in historical context, as it relates to both Davis and Thomas G. Moses.  When Moses left Sosman & Landis in 1900 and moved to New York for four years, he was contracted by Henry Savage to design all of the scenery for his operas.  In New York, Moses also established the scenic studio of Moses & Hamilton. Moses ended his New York partnership with Will F. Hamilton in 1904, and returned to Chicago to become the vice-president of Sosman & Landis, directly supervising all design, production and installation at the firm. Moses was also a former business partner of Burridge. Two decades earlier, Moses the two had established the scenic studio of Burridge, Moses & Louderbeck. Davis, Burridge, and Moses were all intimately connected and part of a very tightly-knit network.  It is always important to examine the scenic studios that did not compete against each other. I have yet to locate any competition between Twin City Scenic Co. or Kansas City Scenic Co. with Sosman & Landis; each company being founded by former Sosman & Landis employees. Yet they all worked on projects in the same region, subcontracted work to one another, yet seldom competed for the same project. Studios owners also maintained very close friendships.  For example, Davis and Moses remained close friends from their first meeting in 1881 until Davis’ passing in 1922.

Even after Davis moved to Seattle, Washington, Moses continued to visit his dear friend whenever he was in the area.  In 1921 Moses wrote: “Ran over to Seattle and was pleased to see friend Davis.” In 1922 Moses was working in Tacoma, Washington, and recorded, “My old friend Davis called on me from Seattle.”  Their last meeting was shortly before Davis passed away in August 1922.

Both Edwin and William P. Davis moved to Seattle by 1910, although I remain uncertain as to the exact date. However, by 1911, the annual company scrapbook for the Twin City Scenic Company includes a photograph for a parade float in Seattle, Washington.

I have yet to locate any record of Davis’ scenic art work in the Pacific Northwest. Their move shortly follows the establishment of several scenic studios in the regions, however, and this may have been cause for their initial move west.  For example, in 1906 William Grabach established his Pacific Coast Scenic Studio in Portland, Oregon. Grabach was another former Sosman & Landis scenic artist. I have not tried to track down any connection between Grabach and Davis.  Neither Will or Edwin appears to have established a scenic studio or became associated with any theatre manufacturing firm. All I know for certain is that William and Edwin were living together in Seattle when Edwin passed away in 1914. His death was announced on Aug. 20, 1914, in Rochester’s “Democrat and Chronicle:”

“Edwin Davis. Brockport, Aug 20. – News was received to-day of the death of Edwin Davis, formerly of this village, in the home of his brother, William P. Davis, in Seattle, Wash. He was 55 years old, having been born in Brockport in 1859, His early life was spent in this village and he graduated from Brockport Normal. His later life was spent in Chicago, He was a scenic artist by profession. His only relative is his brother. The body will be brought here for burial in the High street cemetery” (page 5). Edwin was buried in the same cemetery as his father H. C. Davis.

Will Davis also passed away eight years later, also in Seattle. A Washington State death certificate lists his passing on June 10, 1922. Other than a digital summary, I have yet to locate any other information, including cause of death or an obituary notice.  Although his father and brother were buried at High Street Cemetery in Brockport, New York, William P. Davis was not buried there.

There was a William P. Davis (died in Tacoma, Pierce County, Washington, in 1922) who is buried at Oakridge Cemetery, Marshall, Calhoun County, Michigan, Lot #55, Sec. E, New Grounds. Tacoma is very close to Seattle, Washington. I am pretty confident that this is the same person.

Gravestone of William P. Davis at Oakridge Cemetery in Marshall, Michigan.

To be continued…