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While Wendy Waszut-Barrett is traveling for research and art acquisitions (October 14-29, 2017) she is reposting the first fifteen installments from “Tales from a Scenic Artist and Scholar Acquiring: The Fort Scott Scottish Rite Scenery for the Minnesota Masonic Heritage Center.” Here is her fifth post from February 19, 2017.
 

Part 5: Delays

Time was running out to secure a rigging crew and order the necessary supplies to transport the Fort Scott scenery collection to Minnesota. The search for a licensed and insured company to participate in this endeavor started two months earlier in August, when I initially estimated all of expenses associated with the project. Unfortunately, my preferred ETCP rigger and owner of 20/20 Theatrical, Paul Sannerud, was not available for the project. The next best option was Ty Prewitt, founder and owner of BellaTEX in Jackson, Tennessee (http://bellatex.com/).

Regardless of how well I knew and respected Prewitt, my worries stemmed from working with an unfamiliar crew. These men might not understand historical scenery and the careful handling of each drop as it was removed from a line.

It was not until October 2 that the CEO accepted Prewitt’s initial estimation for the removal and transportation of this collection, starting November 1. This was not a signed contract and meant that there would be another delay. The final contract was not submitted until October 15, 2015, and not signed until October 26 – a mere six days before my departure. Since September, there had been continued negotiations concerning insurance and liability, specifically addressing concerns of “who” would insure the drops during removal, transportation, and their unloading into storage bays? We were losing time and the project was in jeopardy.

My largest concern continued to remain the weather in Kansas. In Fort Scott, we would be working in an unheated building for three weeks without water. Due to the size of the theatre and height of the fly loft, it would be extremely difficult to heat the space. I knew that it would be a cool working environment, but desperately hoped that it would not become too frigid.

On October 26, I received confirmation that the contract was finally signed. I immediately emailed both BellaTEX and our Fort Scott representative to nail down all of the logistics surrounding my arrival and the commencement of the project. I booked rooms and ordered all of the supplies with my own credit card, as I was never provided a company one. This should have been a red flag for me as all of the other employees had company credit cards, offices in the main complex, and a desktop computer. I had none of these. I was offered a workspace in the basement and used my own laptop. In terms of expenses, I was to submit receipts for reimbursement at the end of the project. Regardless of the circumstances, I put my nose to the grindstone and hoped to meet all of the impending deadlines.

To put this scenery acquisition in perspective necessitates looking at my contributions during 2015 as both a Historical Consultant and the MMHC Curatorial Director. My plate was full with numerous MMHC projects during the planning and initial construction of the complex. All of my duties as an independent historical consultant simply carried over into my new role as Curatorial Director. Many of the responsibilities outlined in my job description as Curatorial Director would not begin until after the center opened on June 24, 2016. This was still eight months away.

For fifteen months, I had already worked nonstop with architects, interior designers, theatre consultants, and others to provide insight and examples of historic ornamentation, color palettes, painted décor, or other decorative details standard for Masonic edifices constructed between 1910 and 1930. I had also directed the theatrical consulting firm of Schuler Shook to create a Scottish Rite stage for an anticipated historical collection. This meant replicating an historical counterweight rigging system that could accommodate dozens of drops on lines spaced 4” apart, on center. A custom system was designed for the drops while motorized lines were used for the electrics.

Besides directing these visual elements, I had also functioned as a Masonic scholar, designing the thematic layout and selecting artifacts for the six-gallery museum exhibit planned for the opening, working with other Masonic scholars from Washington, D.C. to finalize the majority of graphics and text panels prior to my departure. In addition to both artistic and scholarly endeavors, I worked with the Director of Communications for Minnesota Masonic Charities as she continued to develop the MMHC website and marketing of this new corporate identity. I had been pulled into this aspect as I would be the first “employee of interest,” a marketing strategy to constantly keep MMHC in the news both before and after the opening. Part of this role meant participating in local radio interviews to raise awareness of the MMHC mission.

The scenery collection was simply another acquisition for the center and not the main focus of my job. Earlier acquisitions had included the St. Paul Scottish Rite Library composed of approximately 10,000 items that would form the basis for the MMHC library. I loved historic scenery, but the Fort Scott Scottish Rite collection was just one more task to complete on a pile of directives that was overflowing.

To be continued…

While Wendy Waszut-Barrett is traveling for research and art acquisitions (October 14-29, 2017) she is reposting the first fifteen installments from “Tales from a Scenic Artist and Scholar Acquiring: The Fort Scott Scottish Rite Scenery for the Minnesota Masonic Heritage Center.” Here is her fourth post from February 18, 2017.

Part 4: The Art of the Deal – A Final Offer

The Valley of Fort Scott rejected the CEO’s $2500 donation for the scenery, countering with a request of $25,000 for the entire collection. They believed that selling drops for approximately $300 each was a very reasonable price. Although, if we did not want to pay that sum, they were willing to take their chances and auction off the backdrops individually, thus splitting up the collection.

The CEO was furious with this counter-offer and rationalized that their demand for more money was greedy and un-Masonic. He was ready to walk away from the entire offer and go with anything else that morning when I arrived at his office. It took over an hour to explain why this was a sound investment and would ultimately preserve an important artifact of Scottish Rite history. Midway through our conversation, I decided to take another approach; the price was still a “bargain” as even the fabric would cost more than $300 for each drop. That logic seemed to work.
The CEO agreed to the sum of $25,000. However, he stated that the transaction would be a “purchase” and not any kind of “donation.” I was directed to email a response to the Valley of Fort Scott, making sure they knew that WE were the ones preserving fraternal history and not selling it for profit. Inside my head, I could only think, “One gain for preserving theatre history, one loss for the Fraternity as a whole.”

This exchange was just one more incident that added to my growing uneasiness concerning the overall endeavor and working for the CEO of Minnesota Masonic Charities. Every interaction seemed to be based on winning a battle and not the actual preservation of fraternal history. I started to believe that none of my colleagues really understood the significance of this acquisition or any others that would be on display in the Minnesota Masonic Heritage Center.

The next morning, on September 3, 2015, at 9:40 I composed a response and emailed our acceptance:
“Dear John,
It would be a disservice to both Freemasonry and Bro. Thomas G. Moses to auction off individual backdrops. To honor both the Fraternity and Bro. Moses’ contributions we agree to pay the requested sum of $25,000, thus preserving our combined cultural heritage. In addition to purchasing your collection, we will invest the necessary $250,000 to remove the scenery from your theatre, transport it to Minnesota, and restore the collection for many future generations to enjoy. We will need to schedule a lengthy time frame to remove the scenes, clean them, roll them onto tubes, and transport them to our storage facility. This process takes approximately three weeks with four people working full-time. This lengthy timeframe onsite is due to the fragility of the pieces and the safety of our workers.
Please draw up the necessary paperwork for the transfer of all 80 painted drops and all ancillary painted set pieces to the Minnesota Masonic Heritage Center.
Sincerely,
Wendy Waszut-Barrett, Ph.D.
Curatorial Director, Minnesota Masonic Heritage Center”

The contract was for the sale of personal property between the “Joabert Lodge of Perfection of the Valley of Fort Scott, Orient of Kansas, Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite” and “Minnesota Masonic Historical Society and Museum.” It was not finalized until October 16, 2017. This was the first in a series of contractual delays that fall. Time was running out to secure a rigging crew and order the necessary supplies before I left town on November 1. Something wasn’t right and I couldn’t exactly put my finger on it.

Throughout the fall, I continued to reflect on our Fort Scott road trip. Why drive me such a long distance if I could only spend a few hours in the Fort Scott Scottish Rite Theatre to evaluate the scenery for conditions and feasibility of transportation? I had been very up front that I needed an entire day to evaluate the collection, eight hours at a minimum.

Why had I not been sent alone to evaluate the scenery? It would have taken me the exact same amount of time – three days to travel, evaluate, and return – as I would not have ventured on to Guthrie? I was on salary for 30 hours a week, so there was no additional expense beyond my travel and lodging. It certainly would have been less expensive than sending four of us with four hotel rooms and all of our meals.

Plus, the additional “side trip” to Guthrie, Oklahoma for a nice steak dinner and a brief tour of the Masonic Temple was nice, but completely unnecessary. It also meant that we had to leave Fort Scott by noon to get to Guthrie on our second of three days. Bob Davis knew of our coming, but didn’t go out of his way to do anything other than a generic tour. It made no sense at all.

Later, I would come to realize that not demanding to take the necessary time to complete a proper evaluation would mean that our representative had failed to lower fourteen drops; ones that I had not caught in the three-hour rush. These were tied off scenes and our representative had made no mention of their absence during the evaluation. The collection was not comprised of the 80 drops that I photographed, but instead 94 instead.

Furthermore, many scenes did not contain the standard leg drop, cut drop and backdrop. In most cases, a painted cyclorama formed the final layer in a stage picture. This would become problematic in both rolling and transporting the collection due to the dirt that accumulated on the netting. I also knew that the inclusion of a painted cyclorama would have to be included in the scenery installation at the Minnesota Masonic Heritage Center.

To be continued…

While Wendy Waszut-Barrett is traveling for research and art acquisitions (October 14-29, 2017) she is reposting the first fifteen installments from “Tales from a Scenic Artist and Scholar Acquiring: The Fort Scott Scottish Rite Scenery for the Minnesota Masonic Heritage Center.” Here is her third post from February 17, 2017.

Part 3: The Art of the Deal – An Initial Offer

By noon on our second day, I assured the CEO that the Fort Scott Scottish Rite scenery was in beautiful shape, historically significant, and that it should withstand any rigors of removal and transportation. Negotiations immediately began onsite before our departure between the Minnesota Masonic Charities CEO and the Valley of Fort Scott representative.

The CEO offered the local Scottish Rite Representative $2,500 for the entire collection. He jokingly noted that this amount was more than twice that the Valley of New Orleans received for their collection that previous June. I saw the look of profound disappointment on our host’s face and couldn’t help but feel sorry for both him and the Valley.   Our Fort Scott representative promised to take the offer to the Valley and said that they would respond soon.

I wanted to remind all parties that regardless of the price, the money for the scenery should be a donation and not a direct purchase. A purchase would establish a “market value” for the collection and negatively affect other historical scenery collections nationwide. My greatest fear at the time, as is now, would be that all future damage occurring to historical scenery collections and their subsequent insurance claims would take into account the “market value.” Of significant import is the fact that the same insurance company covers ALL Scottish Rite theaters. Until June 2015, insurance claims were primarily based on their “replacement value” and not market value.

The majority of my replacement appraisals for entire Scottish Rite collections are between 1 million and 1.5 million dollars. Prior to the New Orleans scenery collection purchase for $1000, there had been no available information concerning the “sale” of Masonic scenery to reference. This is like the Scottish Rite shooting itself in the foot with a semiautomatic when the scenery sells for little or nothing.

Over the years, I had battled with this same insurance company on behalf of many other Valleys when collections were damaged from leaking roofs and burst pipes. Two past examples were Danville, Virginia and Yankton, South Dakota when each of their scenery collections suffered from water damage. In each instance the insurance company had initially offered very little to even repair the damage.

A further practical consideration concerns ensuing damage. This means that the water damage to scenery affects neighboring drops, ones that are not water damaged, thus causing ensuing damage to the remainder of a collection. The dusting pigment, as a result from water damage, coats the remainder of the drops after becoming airborne. This is also hazardous to the performer’s lungs or anyone else below on the stage.

My past work has always been driven by a desire to preserve a heritage that goes beyond any one individual or community. I have always tried to educate unsuspecting stewards of these large –scale art collections. My belief is that if the owners of historical scenery collections understand the cultural significance of their material heritage, they will take care of the artifacts. They only need the information to make an informed decision, but not everyone wants to hear what you have to say.

To be continued…

While Wendy Waszut-Barrett is traveling for research and art acquisitions from October 14-29 she is reposting fifteen installments from “Tales from a Scenic Artist and Scholar Acquiring The Fort Scott Scottish Rite Scenery for the Minnesota Masonic Heritage Center.” Here is my first post from February 15, 2017, as we leave at 3AM!

Part 1: Early Contacts with the Valley of Fort Scott

My initial contact with the Fort Scott Scottish Rite began long before any involvement with the Minnesota Masonic Heritage Center (MMHC). I received a call from the Sovereign Grand Inspector General (SGIG) of Kansas during the fall of 2011, asking about the market value of historic scenery. He was hoping that I could provide a complete evaluation of their scenery collection as they were preparing to sell the building and wanted an estimate on what the drops were worth. Due to a lack of funding, the evaluation and appraisal never took place.

By the fall of 2011, I had founded and was actively running a scenery restoration company, Bella Scena, LLC, and had restored over 500 historical backdrops nationwide. From a Masonic standpoint, I was an active Scottish Rite Research Society Member (SRRS), guest speaker at the 2003 SRRS meeting during the Biennial Supreme Council Session in Washington, D.C., and a published author in “Heredom,” “Scottish Rite Journal,” “Theatre Design and Technology” and other publications. Additionally, I had been awarded a Ph.D. from the University of Minnesota, with my doctoral thesis being “Scenic Shifts Upon the Scottish Rite Stage: Designing for Masonic Theatre, 1859-1929.” I was also a freelance scenic artist and set designer.

After 2011, Fort Scott popped up again on my radar during January of 2014 when I assessed water damage at the Yankton Scottish Rite in South Dakota. The Masons told me about an auction being planned to liquidate all of the Fort Scott Scottish Rite assets that coming summer. We spoke of my attending the auction with some of the men as the Yankton Scottish Rite was interested in purchasing the collection and retrofitting it for their space. Unfortunately, the date of the auction coincided with a family wedding on the east coast and Fort Scott once again faded from my radar.

During the spring of 2015, Rick Boychuk, author of “Nobody Looks Up, the History of Counterweight Rigging Systems, 1500-1925,” contacted me after examining the Fort Scott Scottish Rite theatre rigging system.

We discussed the installation as a whole and its historic significance in both the evolution of counterweight rigging systems and the design of Masonic scenery. Boychuk mentioned that the Valley of Fort Scott was contemplating another auction – one to sell their remaining asset – the scenery collection.

At this same time, I had been directed by the CEO of Minnesota Masonic Charities to locate a Scottish Rite scenery collection for purchase and display at the Minnesota Masonic Heritage Center. It was still in the planning and early construction stage. I was looking out of the state, as the Valleys in both St. Paul and Minneapolis would not have folded in time for the opening of MMHC– making those collections unavailable for the space. MMHC was being set up to accommodate both Valleys when they merged and each sold their buildings, as explained by the CEO of Minnesota Masonic Charities.

The Fort Scott collection was one of only two Scottish Rite scenery collections available at that time nationwide that could be restored in time for the opening of the building on January 24, 2016. The other Scottish Rite scenery collection was located in New Orleans, Louisiana.

During the spring of 2015, I contacted a fellow Scottish Rite Research Society member and the SGIG of Louisiana to help me attain images of the New Orleans Scottish Rite scenery collection. The New Orleans collection was posted online as “free,” and advertised through the League of Historic American Theatres (LHAT) page. I had received this information as my company was an allied service provider to LHAT. My contact with the New Orleans Valley Secretary stalled and I never received any information concerning their actual scenery inventory. That is why I turned to the Louisiana SGIG for help. Unfortunately, the entire scenery collection had been already sold for small sum of $1000 without the knowledge of the SGIG. It was sold to a group in Austin during June of 2015.

My search for a Scottish Rite scenery collection to display at Minnesota Masonic Heritage Center resumed in full force with the threat that were only one year away from opening and a space had been designed to accommodate an historical scenery collection.  I focused solely on researching the artistic provenance of the Fort Scott scenery collection, using my previous contact information from the initial call made by the Kansas SGIG in 2011. Luckily, the local representative remembered me and we scheduled an onsite visit to evaluate the collections for possible removal, transportation and restoration. By June 2015, I had also accepted the job as Curatorial Director for Minnesota Masonic Heritage Center.

The General Director of Minnesota Masonic Heritage Center and a local Scottish Rite mason accompanied the CEO and myself to both Fort Scott and Guthrie, Oklahoma. Guthrie was a side trip to do “a little research” for interior decoration pertaining to possible architectural ornamentation for the new building. Previous travels had brought us to Detroit, Michigan for MMHC architectural ornamentation research and to Washington D.C. In D.C. we examined other Masonic museums and fraternal displays. In DC, I also I pitched the Minnesota Masonic Heritage Center museum project to nationally-recognized Masonic scholars as the CEO was interested in hiring someone who could contribute name recognition and credibility to the entire endeavor.

To be continued…

Moses painted scenery from Pennsylvania to the Pacific Coast during 1890. One of his many theater projects was in Altoona, Pennsylvania where he worked in 1888 for Louis Plack’s Mountain City Theatre. Located on Eleventh Street and Twelfth Avenues, it opened in February, 1888 with a production by Emma Abbott’s Opera Company. Plack managed the theatre until it was destroyed by fire on March 5, 1889. This was to be the first of Altoona’s many theatre fires. Plack then built the Phoenix Block, a business building, on the Mountain City Theatre site. By 1906 the complex was remodeled to include the Lyric Theatre. This building was also destroyed by fire on February 24, 1907. Again, it was rebuilt and subsequently named the Orpheum Theatre, the Embassy Theatre, and then the Penn Theatre.

It was also in Altoona during 1888 where Moses reconnected with Perry Landis while each was hoping to secure the same scenery contract with J. T. Baltzell and Charles B. Rouss.

They were the owners of the Eleventh Avenue Opera House. Moses and Landis’ chance meeting in Altoona resulted in Moses returning to the Sosman & Landis studio. He had originally left the studio to found “Burridge, Moses, and Louderback Studio.” In Altoona, Baltzell only awarded Sosman & Landis the scenery contract with the terms that Moses would paint all of the drops. Moses was a very well-known scenic artist by 1888 and would prove to be a valuable asset to Sosman & Landis. He had worked as a scenic artist all over the country and was greatly respected for his work after having been in the profession for 14 years by that point.

This background for Baltzell & Rouss’ Eleventh Avenue Theatre on Opera Block is worth mentioning as it was Altoona’s leading playhouse for a quite a period of time. It also parallels the construction Plack’s endeavor, the Mountain City Theatre that was undergoing a similar change about the same time.

The Eleventh Avenue Opera House was originally built in 1868 as a market house. In 1874 it was purchased by William T. Marriott and later sold to Rouss during the spring of 1888. Prior to Rouss’ ownership, however, a theatre had been constructed on the upper floor. It was Rouss, who practically rebuilt the entire building. The Opera House was four stories high, but only the upper portion was devoted to a theatrical enterprise. The reconstructed theatre opened on October 1, 1888 with an opening night performance featuring Mr. and Mrs. W. J. Florence in “The Mighty Dollar.” Baltzell & Rouss initially occupied the lower floor as merchants. A later tenant was the Imperial Dry Goods Company. The theatre itself was large, with a main floor furnished to include cane-seated chairs and a gallery.

The theatre’s first manager, E.D. Griswold, was succeeded by I. C. Mishler and Charles S. Myers as managers, who brought in many notable productions.

The Eleventh Street Theatre was destroyed by fire on June 14, 1907. A few months prior to its destruction, a law passed by the Pennsylvania Legislature prohibiting the use of any but a ground floor for theatrical purposes, ending this property’s use as a theatre.

Ok. So those are the two theatres outfitted by Moses in 1888. For Plack’s he was representing his own studio and for Baltzell & Rouss’ he was representing Sosman & Landis. Why was he back in town during 1890 and what were the two theatres that he was working on?

There were two theatres that were being planned simultaneously in 1890, the East Side Theatre and the World’s Museum. The East Side Theatre, later the home of the Frohsinn Singing Society (German Singing Society), was located on Ninth Avenue and Twelfth Street (1108 N. 12^th Ave.) The building was completed in 1891. The hall was located on the second floor and had a seating capacity of 1000 people. During the first few years it was regularly used as a theatre with Cloyd W. Kerlin as the manager and Fred Schneider as the manager of home theatricals. The East Side theatre was also mentioned as the location where the installation of Grand Lodge Officers for the Grand Lodge of Pennsylvania was on Feb. 3, 1914 (Proceedings, 1914). So the Freemasons continued to use this venue too.

The other theatre that would have been in the planning and construction phase during 1890 was the World’s Museum in the Woodcock Arcade on Eleventh Avenue near Fifteenth Street. It was completed in 1891 and was in operation until it was leveled from fire on January 30, 1893.

The only other possible commercial entertainment venue candidate would have been the Eden Musee, Menagerie, Curio Hall and Theatorium, located at Green Avenue and Eleventh Street. It opened on September 5, 1892 by Harry Davis, manager of the Fifth Avenue Museum in Pittsburgh.

But seeing the Masonic use of the East Side theatre made me rethink my line of research. There was another potential venue where Moses painted scenery – the Masonic Temple or any of the many other fraternal spaces with small stages in Altoona. So what was being constructed in 1889-1890? The Masonic Temple. That will be my next post!

To be continued…

At the end of 1890, Thomas G. Moses wrote, “I did better this year, financially – a little better than $4500.00, but when I think of the miles that I had to travel and the long hours and the separations from my family, I should have, and am entitled to, double the amount.” He had his regrets. We all do when extended absences for work separate us from our loved ones. In between trips, Moses would briefly return to Chicago where he would work on a number of specialty projects. After his seven month absence in the Pacific Northwest, Moses continued with other projects in Denver (Broadway Theatre), and Pueblo, Colorado; Altoona, Pennsylvania (two unnamed theaters); and Evansville, Indiana (an opera house). He was constantly on the road, both securing future contracts and painting scenery – salesman and scenic artist. He knew all the numbers, the competitors, and the profit margin. He received a weekly salary from the studio, knowing that his name and reputation were landing many of the jobs.

Of Evansville, Moses wrote, “The town was very picturesque – beautiful sunsets on the river.” The 1890 census, ranked Evansville as the 56^th largest urban area in the United States. The city was a major stop for steamboats along the Ohio River, and it was the homeport for a number of companies engaged in river trade. The Evansville Opera House opened on Sept 9, 1868 and was a popular social gathering place on Sycamore Street, located across from the St. George Hotel.

The 1875 Evansville directory noted the new Opera House as having a dress circle, family circle and galleries, seating 957 people with a 50’ deep stage and complete set of scenery. This was the first space before renovation by millionaire David J. Mackey in 1890. The directory continued that this first stage used “flats” that were 25 feet in breadth and 18 feet in height. This was the “shutter” part of the wing and shutter system for the venue; large flats that slid together to form a painted background, instead of using a drop. Shutters and roll drops were used when the theater did not have enough height to accommodate a fly system that would raise, or “fly” drops out of sight. This directory also noted that the theater was lit by gas and heated with a furnace.

In 1890, the year Moses went to Evansville for work, the opera house had just been acquired by Mackey and he was in the process of renovating the space. Mackey remodeled the performance venue and moved the stage to first floor from an upper level. After the renovation, various publications promoted that it was “the finest theater south of Chicago” in 1890. The building was located at 215 Sycamore Street, between the Vendome Hotel and the Business Men’s Association.

The building was designed by James William Reid and Merritt J. Reid of Reid Brothers Architects. The firm designed buildings across the country, including the Willard Library, many buildings for the Evansville and Terre Haute Railroad, and the Hotel Del Coronado in San Diego.

Sadly, Mackey’s grand opera house was destroyed by fire less than a year after opening, on February 23, 1891. This was one more venue where Moses’ work was destroyed by fire, leaving today’s extant collections even more significant.

The theatre was rebuilt and in 1893, the Grand Opera House and the People’s Theatre consolidated in the same building. In 1909 the Grand Opera House was renamed the New Grand Theatre, and later simply called the Grand Theatre, or the Grand.

The Grand was home to a variety of entertainments over the years. It housed musicals, operas, melodramas, and performances by traveling stock companies, dancers, acrobats, clowns, and magicians. The building later hosted silent movies, and then the “talkies.” The theater was also used as a community space for town hall meetings, school commencements, political rallies, convention sessions, and talent shows. By 1930, the Grand Theatre regularly featured motion pictures and hosted community events.

The venue was sold to the Fine Brothers in 1938 and later to Producers, Inc. The building was demolished in 1962 with the intent to use the lot for parking. A parking garage now sits on the original site of the Grand Opera House.

To be continued…

The Ogden Grand Opera House was partially funded by the Browning Brothers and opened with Emma Abbot’s performance of “Carmen.” A full-page review about this new entertainment venue was published on the December 30, 1890, in “The Standard” (No. 308, Vol. 3, front page). Here are some details from the article pertaining to the stage space and painted front curtain by Thomas G. Moses:

The auditorium was 65 feet between the walls in width and 72 feet in length. Seating accommodated 1700 people with was overflow available in the foyer and other rooms that could accommodate another 100 people. The first floor of the auditorium was divided into orchestra and orchestra circle, while the gallery was divided into a balcony and family circle with a second gallery above. The proscenium arch measured 32 feet in height by 38 feet in width. The distance between the curtain line to the footlights was five feet. The distance from the footlights to the back wall was 45 feet.

A sounding board with “artfully painted figures,” measuring 11 feet by 65 feet above the proscenium arch. This reminded me of the proscenium arch that I just saw at Matthews Opera House in Spearfish, South Dakota. In Spearfish, the painted figures above the sounding board by the Twin City Scenic Company depicted portraits of Shakespeare, Joseph Jefferson, and Edwin Booth.

Ogden’s stage measured forty-two feet in width by seventy feet in height. There were with four sets of “modern grooves hanging twenty-feet above the stage.” The height to the fly girder was twenty-seven feet and to the rigging loft fifty-six feet. At this same time, the proscenium arch would increase from 32 feet high by 38 feet wide to 36 feet high by 38 ½ feet wide in 1905, suggesting a renovation (Julius Cahn’s Theatrical Guide).

There was a paint bridge planked by two counterweighted paint frames, each measuring thirty feet by thirty-seven feet in size. This is where all of the scenery would have been painted onsite by Moses and Ed Loitz. In Fort Scott, Kansas, Moses had also constructed a paint frame on site to use for the drops. The wood was later incorporated into top battens, unlike in Ogden, Utah, where it was left to hang for future projects. The Ogden Grand Opera House also had two quarter traps, a center trap, and one thirty foot bridge. “The Standard” article printed that all of these features were “fitted in the most appropriate styles.”

The article also noted,“2,500 feet of rope used for hoisting and cording the counterweights and 12,000 yards of canvas used for scenery purposes.” Based on standard Sosman and Landis drop construction, 143 yards of fabric would have been used for a 33’ x 39’ drop (36” wide muslin with vertical seams). This would be enough fabric to create 83 full-size drops. Based on the inventory of past collections, I believe that there would have been approximately 50 drops with the remaining fabric being used for wings, borders, and flats that would lash together to form box sets.

For me, however, the most interesting aspect of the entire front-page article was the description of the scenic artists and the front curtain painted by Moses.

“The stage equipment will be equal in every respect to any metropolitan theatre in the country. Sosman & Landis, the scenic artists have been represented here by Thos. G. Moses, an artist of wide reputation and ability, who has fitted up some of the largest and finest theaters in the country for the firm he represents. His work reflects great credit on Sosman & Landis and himself.

The drop curtain is without doubt one of Mr. Moses best efforts. It is purely oriental in design and color, and represents a view in the Orient from the interior of a mosque. The delicate blue sky is softly blended to a warm grey of the hazy distant city, which is seen beyond the river. The greys and purples of the middle distance form a charming contrast between the extreme delicate distance and the warm supply foreground where the minarets and domes of the ruined mosque stand in bold relief against the clear sky, and fairly glitter in the strong sunlight. The cool green palms and delicate vines lend a very picturesque effect to the architecture, while the lazy natives and ungainly looking camels put life to the picture and give the landscape a most decided oriental feeling. A cool shadow is thrown across the immediate foreground which partially throws the arch of the interior in shadow, where the polished wood is thrown in strong relief against the landscape and is nicely draped with blue plush with a lining of ecru silk, which falls in soft folds on the polished floor, on which is spread an oriental rug, with a vase of flowers and gold and silver urns, etc., gives the whole finish which is artistic and homelike.

Mr. Thomas G. Moses has been assisted in his work by Mr. Edward Loitz, a rising young artist and Mr. Wikoff, the stage machinist. The combination is one that could only be created with much study and one gifted by nature for this special class of art. The picture sets well its beautiful frame, it’s coloring is rich, the distance is good and the foreground approaches near nature. The mechanical arrangements of this, as well as the asbestos curtain, are of the most approved description, being hung and counterweighted to hoist speedily. To the right and left are encore entrances, obviating the necessity of drawing the curtain aside when necessary for the performers to appear before it.”

To be continued…

Although very little is included of the Grand Opera House scenery or building, Beth Browning’s 1947 thesis Brigham Young University, “History of Drama in Ogden,” may be of interest to someone. Here is the link to her paper: http://scholarsarchive.byu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi…She eyewitness accounts of family members and interesting stories surrounding the theatre community in Ogden.

In Ogden, Utah, Thomas G. Moses came into contact with the Browning Brothers. Moses wrote, “the chief owners of the theatre were the Browning brothers, the famous gun makers and Mormons. We were treated mighty fine.”

Jonathan Browning (1805-1879), Sr. had moved from Quincy, Illinois to Nauvoo, Illinois in 1843 where he established a gunsmith business. In 1852, Browning migrated with Mormon Pioneers to Ogden, Utah, where his son John Moses Browning and his brothers founded the Browning Arms Company. Jonathan Browning is recognized is credited with being the inventor of the automatic rifle, pistol, shot gun and machine gun. He registered 128 patents for more than eighty separate and distinct firearms. Browning’s designs were the basis for many models manufactured by Winchester, Colt, and Remington. There is a John M. Browning Firearms Museum in Ogden, Utah. The site recounts the Browning got his start while working in his father’s gun shop.

In 1878, a man brought a rifle in for repair and after studying it, the young Brown declared the he could build a better gun himself. His father had responded, “I know you could John Moses, And I wish you’d get at it. I’d like to live to see you do it!” It took him a little more than a year before he received a patent for his first design – a single shot rifle. He used this as the basis for his first gun designed for Winchester (Model 1885). Browning and his brothers soon were selling as many single shot rifles as their small shop could produce. Here is a link to the museum site: http://theunionstation.org/john-m-browning-firearms-museum/

In May 1890, J.M. Browning, M.S. Browning, D. Eccles, and Jos. Clark, suggested that they were all in a position to supply Ogden with an opera house. No sooner was it conceived when operations began in June 1890.

There was a full-page review about Ogden’s new Grand Opera House in the December 30, 1890 newspaper, “The Standard” (No. 308, Vol. 3, front page). The article noted some figures pertaining to the construction of the building, including 40,000 cubic feet of sand and stone being quarried; 2,200,000 bricks to use in the main walls; 693,946 linear feet of timber used for the roof, floors, galleries, bridges, and trusses; 1,500 incandescent lights installed; and 16,500 feet of piping to supply steam heating and water supply.

The architect and superintendent of the endeavor was S. T. Whitaker. The article praised Whitaker who “through this one structure erected a monument to prosperity, which will stand as long a rock, bricks and mortar hold together.” Well, only until 1982 when it was demolished to provide parking spaces. The article continued to describe Whitaker as a comparatively a young man who had now established a reputation that would last his life; “By this one effort he has laid the foundation for a fortune.” The interior decorator for the complex was T. C. Morris. The scenic artists Sosman & Landis, Thomas G. Moses and Ed Loitz. John Wikoff, a stage machinist from Sosman & Landis, did all of the “stage work.”

There was an extensive description of the scenic artists’ contribution to the endeavor and the painting of the front curtain.

To be continued…