Film Production – Page 3

Tales from a Scenic Artist and Scholar. Part 439 – Thomas G. Moses and “Winchester“

Part 439: Thomas G. Moses and “Winchester“

Thomas G. Moses recorded creating scenery for Edward McWade’s play “Winchester.” McWade was the author of this early Civil War drama. The five-act play premiered in 1897 and was an immediate success. The Buffalo Courier advertised “Winchester “ as the “best of all war plays” with “beautiful and realistic scenes” (22 Dec. 1901, page 22).

The play was about a romance, set in Winchester, Virginia during 1863. Virginia Randolph nurses a wounded Northern officer, Major Frank Kearney, back to health in her home. While there, Frank teaches Virginia telegraphy, unintentionally teaching her to intercept Union messages and send them to her brother, a Confederate captain. Although discovered, Franks’ romantic rival, Col. Dayton, and a Northern spy, Phillip Allen, accuse Kearney of treachery. Frank is court-martialed and scheduled to be executed at dawn. Virginia confesses her guilt to the commanding general, and then mounts her horse and rides down the moonlit roads with Frank’s reprieve in hand. This scene was popularized as “the race for life.” Advertisements for the show included a quote from the New York Morning Telegraph, “The second scene of the fifth act of “Winchester” would carry it; the heroine is shown in a wild ride with a reprieve for her lover, who is to be shot.” Virginia is pursued by the villainous Allen, whom she is forced to shoot from his horse during her dangerous ride. She reaches the firing squad just in the nick of time!

Advertisement of “Winchester,” from the Buffalo Courier, 22 Dec. 1901, page 21.

The show toured with treadmills for the horses and a moving panorama for this exciting scene. “Winchester” is also a significant production when examining the earliest uses of the moving pictures for stage-and-screen hybrid presentations. For a few productions, instead of using a moving panorama, a moving projection appeared in the upstage area to simulate the moving panorama. The consistent use of this scenic effect remains unclear, nor its overall success. There must have been the novelty of a new media incorporated into the stage, but could it really meet audience expectations for a moving panorama and onstage horse race? There would be a simple lack of color and atmosphere; a stage aesthetic that an early black and white film could never convey.

In 1901 McWade organized a new and ambitious production in New York at the American Theatre, hiring Margaret May Fish, a western actress and his future wife, to appear with her jumping horse Mazeppa. The show was to again use the racing machines popularized in earlier productions, such as “The County Fair.” This was the production that Moses worked on while living in New York. The new “Winchester” was to include 100 men and 25 horses for a full run of the show (The Saint Paul Globe, 28 Jan. 1902, page 6). Advertisements of the new touring production promised, “The same powerful cast, the same complete scenic equipment, the same thoroughbred racehorses, the same calcium lights exactly as used during the New York run. Guaranteed to be the best war play ever seen” (The Public Ledger, 16 February 1903, page 3).

The Public Ledger reported, “A carload of special scenery, properties and electrical effects are utilized scenically and mechanically, and two thoroughbred race horses are carried to vividly portray the thrilling ride” (17 February 1903, page 1).

Edward McWade (1865-1945) was an actor and writer who transitioned from the stage to film. He appeared in more than 132 films. His father and brother were also notable stage personalities, Robert McWade, Sr. (1835-1913) and Robert McWade, Jr. (1872-1938). Both McWade brothers went from Broadway to Hollywood, continuing successful acting careers. Edward McWade and his wife Margaret May performed in a number of stage and film productions together.

Margaret McWade and Louis Calhern in “The Blot” from 1921.

To be continued…

Tales from a Scenic Artist and Scholar. Part 438 – Thomas G. Moses and “Rip Van Winkle”

Part 438: Thomas G. Moses and “Rip Van Winkle”

In 1902, Thomas G. Moses created all of the scenery for Joseph Jefferson’s brand-new production of “Rip Van Winkle.” Moses had previously painted scenery for Jefferson in 1895 “to pad out his Rip Van Winkle play.”

The story was about a lazy man who drinks himself into a magical 20-year sleep. He wakes up after two decades to realize that he not only slept through the Revolutionary War, but his family no longer recognizes him. The play concludes with Rip promising to stay sober and his wife promising to be a better spouse.

Rip Van Winkle after waking from a twenty-year sleep

The Jefferson name had been associated with Rip Van Winkle since 1859 when he starred in the role of Rip at Carusi’s Hall in Washington, D.C. This version of the show was a combination of the Washington Irving story, material from previous interpretations, and Jefferson’s own writing.

Jefferson prevailed on Dion Boucicault while in London to create a new four-act adaptation of the play. This 1865 version of “Rip Van Winkle” premiered at the Adelphi Theatre and was a great success with London audiences. The production then toured to New York, opening at the Olympic Theatre in 1866. By 1870, Jefferson was still playing the role of Rip at Booth’s Theatre where the show celebrated one hundred performances that year. “Rip Van Winkle” became Jefferson’s vehicle to fame and fortune.

Advertisement of “Rip Van Winkle, or the Sleep of Twenty Years” written by Dion Boucicault and scenery by J. Gates

In 1896, Joseph Jefferson also created a film version of the production; eight scenes from the show that were sold independently of each other. These shorts, running approximately 20-25 seconds each were later edited together and released as “Rip Van Winkle” in 1903.

Advertisement for the 1896 films depicting scenes from “Rip Van Winkle,” starring Joseph Jefferson

The 1902 date on the title frame of each scene was when the copyright was secured by making a bromide print of every single frame. The scenes were filmed at Joseph Jefferson’s “Buzzard’s Bay” estate in 1896 by the American Mutograph Company.

Postcard depicting Joseph Jefferson’s estate at Buzzard Bay

Dickson left working with Thomas Edison after an incident when securing the rights to Thomas Arnat’s projections device. Edison renamed this machine, the Vitascope. Dickson created his own version of the machine and called it the Biograph, calling his company the American Mutograph and Biograph Company in 1899, and later the American Biograph Company.

An 1899 camera produced by the American Mutograph and Biograph company

Poster for the American Biograph Company

Jefferson was one of the investors in this early film studio that produced hundreds of movies. The 1899 35mm mutograph camera used non-perforated film. It perforated the film inside the camera – this is how they got around the Edison patent of the time.

The films produced in 1896 consisted of eight short scenes: Rip’s Toast, Rip Meets the Dwarf, Rip and the Dwarf, Rip Leaving Sleepy Hollow, Rip’s Toast to Hudson and Crew, Rip’s Twenty Years’ Sleep, Awakening of Rip, and Rip Passing Over Hill. Here is a link to the film starring Jefferson and directed by W. K. L. Dickson: https://archive.org/details/rip_van_winkle_1896

The actor Thomas Jefferson, son of Joseph Jefferson

By 1905, Jefferson’s son Thomas began his Broadway interpretation of the Rip role. Although it initially met with a lukewarm reception, Thomas continued to play the role of Rip, starring in the 1914 film. Jefferson signed with B. A. Rolfe Photo Plays, Inc., to portray Rip. The movie was filmed at the locations mentioned by Washington Irving in his novel. Jefferson was filmed wandering thru the brambles, thickets and streams of the Catskills near Palenville, New York. The film was released only a month after Jefferson signed the contract.

Poster for the silent film “Rip Van Winkle,” starring Thomas Jefferson

Here is a link to Thomas Jefferson’s film: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LMM_q_W7hB4

To be continued…

Tales from a Scenic Artist and Scholar. Part 423 – Coney Island – “Fire and Flames”

Part 423: Coney Island – “Fire and Flames”

Besides “Trip to the Moon,” “20,000 Leagues Under the Sea,” and “The War of Worlds,” Moses & Hamilton produced several smaller attractions at Luna Park. Thomas G. Moses recalled, “At Luna Park I had a big show of ‘Fire and Flames,’ a very effective amusement park show. Real fire, real engines and an awful mob of street vendors and loafers. A lot of good comedy and it did good business.”

Thomas G. Moses and William F. Hamilton helped create the spectacle “Fire and Flames” for Fred Thompson at Luna Park in 1903.

The attraction that Moses referred to involved the burning of a four-story brick building over the space of a city block. In 1903, the New York Times described this upcoming attraction at Luna Park, reporting that the setting for “Fire and Flames” was to depict “the greater part of Manhattan Island below Forty-fifth Street, with millions of lights in the tall buildings” (New York Times, 28 Sept 1903, page 7). The article continued, “A hotel is to catch fire, when all the paraphernalia of the Fire Department, the ambulances, and police reserves are to be exhibited.”

Detail of a scene from “Fire and Flames” at Luna Park.

The Peninsular Club Public Opinion journal advertised “Fire and Flames” as “the most realistic and stirring of all the shows.” The article explained, “Hundreds of supers take part in this, with many horses, cabs, wagons, several real trolley cars, fire engines, hook and ladder outfit, life net and water tower. The street scene is so life-like that it doesn’t seem like a show at all, and the flames bursting from the house-windows, the people at the windows screaming for help, the firemen scaling the walls with their ladders to bring down some, while others leap into the life-net, are all so terribly real that the audience feels that it has assisted at a bona-fide holocaust. The heat and ashes from the flames are sufficiently genuine to give all the thrills an ordinary mortal requires” (The Peninsular Club Public Opinion, August 12, 1905, Vol. XXXIX, No. 7, page 200).

In 1904, the former chief instructor of the New York City Fire Department, Henry W. McAdam, left his position after twenty-one years to become the director in charge of Luna Park’s “Fire and Flames” (Fire and Water Engineering, Vol. 37, 1905, page 248). McAdam was one of sixty fire fighters cast in three engine companies employed to work for Thompson for this one spectacle. The actual burning of the block involved four hundred people (Broadcast Weekly, page 7).

Moses recalled, “It was so popular that a similar attraction called ‘Fighting the Flames’ immediately appeared at “Dreamland,” the nearby amusement park also on Coney Island. Extant photographs documenting the two shows reveal almost identical spectacles.

Detail of painted backdrop next to three-dimensional building for “Fighting the Flames” at Dreamland.

Amusement park attractions, such as “Fire and Flames,” inspired early filmmakers to record the excitement and action of the spectacle. They left small snippets of popular culture that we are able to still explore when studying the past. Thomas Edison made a short movie depicting the 1904 “Fire and Flames” attraction at Coney Island, giving us a glimpse at the scene Moses describes above. Here is a link to the short film that Moses helped create for Luna Park: https://vimeo.com/165556307

I noticed something wile watching the film of “Fire and Flames;” the scenery is identical the “Fighting the Flames” as depicted in postcard s and photographs. “Fire and Flames” used a much bigger set. I wonder the film was incorrectly labeled at time of production since both attractions were filmed at the same time.

Postcard depicting the Dreamland attraction “Fighting the Flames”

Similarly, the competing attraction “Fighting the Flames” was also filmed and is available to view: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uJylhIhtrlA

To be continued…

Tales from a Scenic Artist and Scholar. Part 335 – Pittsburgh’s Avenue Theatre and Lumiere’s Cinématographe

Part 335: Pittsburgh’s Avenue Theatre and Lumiere’s Cinematograph

Thomas G. Moses painted the stock scenery for the Avenue Theatre in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania during 1895. The proprietor and manager was Harry Davis who advertised the venue as “the Mecca of refined Vaudeville,” (Pittsburgh Post Gazette 20 Nov. 1897, page 5). He also promoted that it was the “Family Avenue Theatre” and booked acts for ten hours every day – 1PM to 11PM.

A year after opening the Avenue Theatre, Davis, partnered with his brother-in-law, Senator John P. Harris, to present a new form of entertainment. They presented the first motion pictures to audiences in 1896. The Pittsburgh Post advertised this first exhibition of “Europe’s Reigning Sensation- Lumiere’s Cinematographe” to premiere at “The Avenue.” The Avenue Theatre was marketed as the theater “where the people go” (Pittsburgh Daily Post, 6 September 1896, page 16).

One of many illustrations available online illustrating the “cinématographe.”

The Lumiere brothers, Louis (1864-1948) and August (1862-1954). patented an improved cinematograph that allowed simultaneous viewing by multiple individuals. A cinematograph is a motion picture film camera that serves as both a film projector and printer. The device was first invented and patented as the “Cinématographe Léon Bouly” by French inventor Léon Bouly on February 12, 1892. “Cinématographe” was taken from the Greek for “writing in movement.” Due to a lack of funding to develop his ideas and maintain a hold on his patent, Bouly sold his rights to the device and its name to the Lumiere Brothers.

An advertisement for Harry Davis’ Avenue Theatre in Pittsburgh. In 1895 Thomas G. Moses painted the stock scenery for the venue. One year later, the theater included “Lumiere’s Cinematographe” as part of its “continuous entertainment” that was presented for ten hours each day from 1 PM until 11 PM.

The 1895 Pittsburgh Post newspaper advertisement for “Lumiere’s Cinematographe” included a lengthy description of this novel entertainment:

“The Lumiere Cinematographe is in brief the perfection of instantaneous photography. It reproduces life and motion with such fidelity that the beholder is well nigh awe-stricken. ‘Photography is revolutionized,’ says the entire European press, ‘and the Nineteenth Century has its greatest marvel. Hail, the inventive genius of Lumiere!’ The Lumiere Cinematographe is at present the greatest fashionable and scientific fad of London, Paris, Vienna, Berlin and the entire continent. Its exhibitions have been attended by the crowned heads, and have created a furore wherever witnessed. It is the original of all the life-photography inventions, having been shown nearly a year ago. That is the best and only perfect one is now confidently asserted. Descriptive lectures by the distinguished actor, Mr. Beaumont Smith, especially engaged as a large salary during the exhibition of the Cinematographe.” Smith was a singing comedian who traveled throughout the region.

Shortly after Harry Davis presented Lumiere’s Cinématographe at the Avenue Theatre, Edison’s Vitascope was showing at the nearby Bijou Theatre. This was Davis’ first competition and would mark a battle that would ensue across the country during the early years of moving pictures. Audiences were enthralled with this new form of visual spectacle, while panorama companies and the producers of other stationary spectacles feared the paradigm shift in the entertainment industry. It explains the theatrical manufacturers’ drive to incorporate even grander spectacles with movement for their staged spectacles, such as the chariot race in Klaw & Erlanger’s “Ben-Hur.”

In 1898, the “Chemical Trade Journal and Oil, Paint and Colour Review” included information about an upcoming photographic exhibition (Vol. 22, page 282). It reported, “The following article will be shown by Fuerst Bros. at the forthcoming photographic exhibition, Portmanrooms, London, W.: Lumiere’s cinematograph machine, Lumiere’s cinematograph special camera for projection only, Lumiere’s cinematograph blank negative gauge and positive film (perforated to either Lumiere of Edison gauge), Lumiere’s cinematograph accessories, Lumiere’s negative and positive films (a large assortment of English and foreign subjects), Lumiere’s photographic dry plates, extra rapid, orthochromatic, panchromatic and special X-Ray plates, Lumiere’s Citos paper, glossy and matter, bromides for contact printing and enlargements, Lumiere’s pyroacetone developer, Lumiere’s yellow screens, Hauff’s developers (ortol, amidol, metol, glycin, etc.) Hauff;s toning and fixing and fixing cartridges, Hauff’s thiocarbamid (stain remover), hydroquinone, eikonogen, ordinal, etc., chloride of gold in 15 grain tubes (Axe” brand, English make), nitrate of silver (cryst. And fuse, “Ax” brand, English make), and all photographic chemicals.”

To be continued…

Tales from a Scenic Artist and Scholar. Part 145 – Harley Merry’s “Parsifal” and Scenic Realism

In 1893, Merry was credited for his “innovation in scenic realism” at the Holmes Star Theatre. His scenery for “The Pulse of New York” was advertised as “a perfect picture of city life” with “elaborate scenic embellishments” and “wonderful mechanic effects” (The Brooklyn Daily Eagle, April 30, pg. 10). Merry’s stage settings introduced well-known points of interest and scenes from everyday metropolitan life, including a bustling elevated railroad, activity around a river pier, a famous Bowery resort, a steam pile driver at work, and a building on fire. The rescue scene showcased the “leap for life” – the new the method adapted by the New York Fire Department for saving human lives. This final scene would later be developed into the Luna Park attraction “Fire and Flames.”

Poster for “The Pulse of New York,” a production designed by Harley Merry.

At the time, Merry was exploring a new type of stage entertainment; one that that went beyond any romanticized visual spectacle. I believe that it was a late-nineteenth century version of our current “reality TV.” It was understandable that Merry gravitated toward creating realistic settings for both the stage and film. He soon partnered with the Edison Manufacturing Company and was involved in an early film production “Parsifal.” This short film was based on the New York Metropolitan’s Opera that ran for approximately one half hour.

1904 Edison film “Parsifal” with scenery by Harley Merry.

A scene from the 1904 Edison film “Parsifal” with scenery by Harley Merry.

Each copy of the film was sold with an illustrated lecture on the life and works of Wagner, the story of Parsifal, and a synopsis of the different scenes. The movie was divided into eight reels, each reel containing a separate scene running from 20 feet to 382 feet in length: (part one) “Parsifal Ascends the Throne;” (part two) “Ruins of Magic Garden;” (part three) “Exterior of Klingson’s Castle;” (part four) “Magic Garden;” (part five) “Interior of the Temple;” (part six) “Scene Outside the Temple;” (part seven) “Return of Parsifal;” and (part eight) “In the Woods.” The production team was relatively small: Edwin S. Porter (director and photographer), Edison Manufacturing Company (producer) and Harley Merry (scenery). The cast included Adelaide Fitz-Allen, as Kundry and Robert Whittier as Parsifal. Unfortunately, due to the expensive price and unfamiliar medium, the film only sold only a small number of copies. Merry almost certainly lost his $1800 investment.

Advertisements in Motion Picture World (Dec. 7, 1907, page 655) noted “In Parsifal we offer the greatest religious subject that has been produced in motion picture since the Passion Play was first produced by the Edison Company about eight years ago, and there has been a constant demand for this picture during all these years, and continuing up to the present day. At the same time, there has been not only a demand, but a long-felt want for a new religious picture of interest and merit similar to the Passion Play.

Harley Merry acquired the motion picture rights for Parsifal and brought his idea to Edison and Porter. Edison had been experimenting with ways to combine silent films with recorded music and the fit seemed perfect. This is the same year that Edison films for many other topics also appeared, including spectacles at Coney Island, such as“Fire and Flames.”

The final contract to produce “Parsifal” was between Edison Manufacturing Company and Merry Scenic Construction Company, giving Merry a royalty payments based on the linear feet of each film sold. Merry was to receive two cents foot for a film that measured 1,975 feet long. Each copy was sold for approximately $335 dollars (today’s equivalent of over $9,000). Although several full-page ads were placed in the New York Clipper, the film did not sell well at all. Interestingly, the Library of Congress restored the film in 2001, taking the soundtrack from surviving copies of the original Kinetophone cylinders.

Advertisement for the Kinetophone by Thomas Edison.

What I find fascinating about Merry’s career as a scenic artist and designer is the he continued to adapt his scenic art form to new technology. Merry, as well as Ernest Albert and others, were continuously integrating new technology into their final painted product, whether it was stage machinery or Kinetophone.

To be continued…