A scene from our walk to the Citizen’s Theatre, Glasgow, Scotland, on Sept. 16, 2023.
A scene from our walk to the Citizen’s Theatre, Glasgow, Scotland, on Sept. 16, 2023.
The sun was out in Glasgow as Mike Hume, Rick Boychuk, Megumi, Alan Butland, and I walked to the Citizen’s Theatre, 119 Gorbals Street. Here is a link for the history of the building, also known as “The Citz”: https://www.citz.co.uk/about/citizens-theatre/history-the-building
The Citizen’s Theatre on Sept. 16, 2023.
Mike Hume had arranged a tour with Graham Sutherland, head of production and client representative of the Redevelopment Project. In 2019, the Citizen’s Theatre broke ground on a £21.5 million project to enlarge and modernize the building. The reopening is currently anticipated for 2024.
Our visit necessitated that an architect to be on site, as the building is in the midst of a massive project; a big ask.
Mike Hume, Rick Boychuk, Wendy Waszut-Barrett, Megumi, and Alan Butland.
The complex is magnificent and I am especially intrigued with the history of the building. I can only hope to visit once the project is complete.
On Dec. 28, 1878, the venue opened as Her Majesty’s Theatre and Royal Opera House. Less than a year later, the building went under new management, was renovated, and rechristened the Royal Princess’s Theatre. On Oct. 24, 1879, the Glasgow Herald reported, “A lease of the theatre has, as we learn, been taken by Mr. Cecil Beryl, who will be favorably remembered by many playgoers, and arrangements have been made for the commencement of the season on the 22d of December with the production of Merrit’s drama ‘New Babylon,’ which has reached something like the 250th night of performances at the Duke’s Theatre, London” (page 4).
On Dec. 19, 1879, the Glasgow Herald announced, “Our south-Side playhouse, rechristened the Royal Princess’s Theatre, is to be opened under the management of Mr. H. Cecil Beryl tom-morrow evening. During the time the establishment has been closed it has undergone considerable alteration and redecoration…a new act-drop painted by Mr. W. W. Small, and representing a scene on the Bosphorus, has been hung, while much of the scenery is fresh” (page 4). This was William Wilson Small (1830-1890), the resident artist who lived nearby. He is quite an interesting character, and now on my list of scenic artists to track down.
Small also painted scenery for the opening show that winter. An advertisement in the Glasgow Daily Mail on Dec. 27, 1879, credited Mr. H. Emden and Mr. Wm. W. Small as the scenic artists for New Babylon at the Royal Princess’s Theatre (page 1). They likely worked on paint bridges and frames high above the stage floor.
For visual reference of a paint bridge, here is an illustration by scenic artist Charles Graham for Harper’s Weekly Magazine in 1878.
Harper’s Weekly Magazine, Nov. 30, 1878.
It was not until 1894 that the Citizen’s Theatre backstage area was expanded to include a paint room with two vertical frames. Amazingly, the paint frames and machinery are still functional and intact. The distemper paint palette that scenic artists used for decades is also still in the space!
Here are a few photographs of the paint room from our tour.
Paint room with two frames at the Citizen’s Theatre.
Paint room at the Citizen’s Theatre.Notice the distemper paint palette on the right.
Graham explained that they were analyzing the paint on the walls to see what colors were used.
Paint-spattered walls and frame.
Looking up at the skylights.
Paint frame counterweight.
Winches in the paint room.
I will be curious to see what colors they identify, and if they are from the standard color palette promoted in Victorian scene painting manuals, such as F. Lloyds “Practical Guide to Scene Painting and Painting in Distemper.”
One of many scene painting guides published in the 19th-century.
Color chips were included in F. Lloyds’ book.
More color chips from F. Lloyds’ book.
It was not until Sept. 11, 1945, the theatre opened as The Citizen’s Theatre. Hume has written a lovely history about the venue and photographed the entire building before the current redevelopment project. Here is a link to his page: https://www.historictheatrephotos.com/Theatre/Citizens-Glasgow.aspx
Here are a few photographs of architectural details from our tour on Sept. 16, 2023.
Mike Hume, Rick Boychuk, and I visited Glasgow after attending the Tyne Opera House & Theatre conference last month. The stop not only offered an opportunity to visit historic theaters, but also an opportunity to visit our good friend Megumi, now scenic art tutor at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland. I first met Megumi in 2018 at a CITT (Canadian Institute of Theatre Technology) scene painting workshop in St. Catherines, Ontario, Canada.
Megumi in front of Wallace Studios, Royal Conservatoire of Scotland.
Megumi and Alan Butler joined Mike, Rick, and I on the morning and early afternoon of Sept. 16, 2023. We toured the Theatre Royal Glasgow, King’s Theatre, Tron Theatre, and the Citizen’s Theatre (the Citz). We then took Glasgow’s tiny subway, the “Clockwork Orange” to visit Megumi’s paint shop.
Glasgow’s tiny subway, now dubbed “Clockwork Orange.”
We took the subway across town to the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland’s Wallace Studios building. Megumi wanted to show us the motorized paint bridge in her paint shop and the two theater spaces.
Motorized bridge and paint frame at Wallace Studios, Royal Conservatoire, Scotland.
This was the first time that I have ever encountered a motorized bridge, where the paint frame is stationary and the painter moves up and down. This is opposite to what I use at home: a paint frame that moves while I remain stationary. I considered the pros and cons while I watched the bridge in action. The “con” of a motorized bridge is that you can’t quickly step back to see the entire composition, or rush to get something. It also requires a bit more planning when you shut the gate and operate the lift; no rushing to the sink. I can see that this system could slightly prolong the painting process in the long run. The “pro” is that retrieving dropped tools is far easier.
Motorized paint bridge at Wallace Studios.
Another view of the motorized paint bridge.
Controls for the motorized paint bridge.
When the paint bridge is “up.”
Caution sign on paint bridge gate.
Lookingbelow the bridge when it is in the “up” position.
There is a second vertical paint frame in the nearby Royal Conservatoire of Scotland building that houses the New Athenaeum Theatre and Chandler Studio space.
The second paint frameat the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland.
The Royal Conservatoire of Scotland building that houses the New Athenaeum Theatre and Chandler Studio.
After touring the Wallace Studios, we headed to the Royal Conservatoire’s New Athenaeum Theatre and Chandler Studio. For geographical context, these two theaters are across the street from the Theatre Royal Glasgow (the site of our first theatre tour that day).
The Theatre Royal across the street from the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland.
Here are a few pictures from our tour of the studio building and theaters at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland. For more information about the school, visit: https://www.rcs.ac.uk/
The New Athenaeum Theatre entrance.
The New Athenaeum Theatre auditorium.
The New Athenaeum stage and auditorium.
The New Athenaeum Theatre stage.
The New Athenaeum Theatre counterweight system.
The Chandler Studio entrance.
The Chandler Studio.
The Chandler Studio.
Map depicting out location at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland in Glasgow.
On Sept. 16, 2023, Mike Hume, Rick Boychuk, Megumi, and I visited the Pavilion Theatre in Glasgow. It was our last stop of the day; our seventh theater visit, and one that was completely unplanned.
The Pavilion Theatre, 121 Renfield St., Glasgow.
While walking back to our hotel, Mike Hume decided to take a chance and walked into the lobby. He asked if it were possible for us to just take a peak at the auditorium. Fortunately for us, the show for that evening had been cancelled and there was an extremely accommodating manager on site. Although we only expected to spend a few minutes in the auditorium, Cameron gave us an extensive tour of the venue.
Our tour guide at the Pavilion Theatre – Cameron. My apologies for not remembering his last name. I also wish that this photo showed his white cowboy boots as they were quite impressive!
For a little historical context, the Pavilion Theatre opened on Feb. 29, 1904, as a music hall. Designed by Bertie Crewe, it was part of Thomas Barrasford’s chain of British Music Halls. Here is a linl for more information about the Pavilion’s history: https://www.paviliontheatre.co.uk/about/history/
The Pavilion Theatre.
The Pavilion Theatre ceiling.
The Pavilion Theatre, Glasgow
The Pavilion Theatre, Glasgow.
Historic seating chart.
The counterweight system is located stage left.
It is a Knight system
It is a Knight system.
It is a Knight system.
View of an upstage bridge from the deck.
Opera box.
View from the house left opera box.
An abundance of color has been added to the original decor.
Auditorium ornament.
Proscenium ornament.
Another view of the auditorium, near the boxes. The mirrors are an interesting touch.
Mike Hume, Rick Boychuk, and I took the train from Newcastle upon Tyne, England, to Glasgow, Scotland, on Sept. 15. We were scheduled to meet up with Megumi (scenic art tutor at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland) and visit three theaters. Alan Butland also traveled up from Newcastle to spend time with us on our adventure.
Megumi in front of Wallace Studios, Royal Conservatoire Scotland. We first met at a CITT (Canadian Institute of Theatre Technology) scene painting workshop (2018, St. Catherines, Ontario, Canada).
For our Glasgow visit, Mike scheduled tours at the Theatre Royal, King’s Theatre, and the Citizen’s Theatre (the Citz). Our visit to both the Theatre Royal Glasgow and the King’s Theatre was facilitated by Gary Painter of UK’s Cinema Theatre Association. He could not have been more accommodating or kind!
Gary and Mike at the stage door, Theatre Royal Glasgow.
When all was said and done, we visited seven theaters before hopping a train for Edinburgh that evening.
Mike Hume in action at the Theatre Royal Glasgow.Hume’s theatre photography is not only beautiful, but also informative.
None of our theater visits would have been possible without Hume’s previous visits to the venues, and various relationships that he has cultivated over the years. Thank you again, Mike!
Here are a few of my photographs from our visit on Sept. 13, 2023.
Here is also the link to the Theatre Royal Glasgow’s website:
On Sept. 12, 2023, Mike Hume, Rick Boychuk, and I visited two theaters in York, Yorkshire, England. Today’s post is about our first stop and tour at the Grand Opera House York. Hume had arranged a tour with Technical and Buildings Manager, Joe Strange (pictured below).
Wendy Waszut-Barrett, Mike Hume, Joe Strange, and Rick Boychuk at the Grand Opera House York.
For geographical context, York is located north of London, at the confluence where the Foss and Ouse Rivers. Founded in 71 AD when Roman General Quintus Petillius Cerialis and the Ninth Legion constructed a military fortress. Roman origins remain quite visible throughout the city, forming the basis for later medieval structures.
Our walk to the Grand Opera House and Theatre Royal provided a wonderful opportunity to explore York. On a grey damp day, we passed by “The Shambles” (a medieval street), Sir Thomas Herbert’s House (Tudor), the Cathedral and Metropolitan Church of Saint Peter (York Minster), and the Assembly Rooms.
Walking through the Shambles section of York.
Sir Thomas Herbert’s House.
York Minster.
Another view of York Minster.
The Assembly Rooms. The building was erected by public subscription 1730-1736 to the design of Richard Boyle, Earl of Burlington.
The theater emerged from a previous building, dating from 1868. It was architect John P. Briggs who drew plans that converted a corn exchange and warehouse to a performance space. This 1902 venue recently underwent a major refurbishment.
Hume arranged a tour with Joe Strange, Technical and Building Manager of the Grand Opera House York.
Stage door and loading doors, Grand Opera House York.Joe is in the red shirt waiting at the stage door.
The exterior of the building still boasts tall doors; doors that provided necessary access for touring wings and other large flats. Here are several photos from our tour
A view of the auditorium from the stage.
Metal safety curtain at the Grand Opera House York.
Detail of safety curtain.
Backside of the safety curtain.
Ben Hur mural above the proscenium.
The Ben Hur mural above the proscenium arch.
Detail of the mural.
Detail of the mural.
Joe Strange in theupper gallery at the Grand Opera House York.
Auditorium Grand Opera House York.View of the opera boxes.
Opera Box detail.
More ornamental decor.
View of the stage and auditorium.
Looking up at the gridiron.
Rick Boychuk and Joe Strange discussing the grid.
The grid.
The grid.
The Fly floor looking upstage.
The fly floor.
This may be the most cozy fly floor that I have encountered to date.
My favorite backstage sign…“make it epic…”
The bridge (upstage/exterior wall). View from stage left.
I greatly appreciate the time that Joe spent giving us a tour of the building and sharing the history of this beautiful theater.
There were two events held the 1880s that drew scenic artists together in America – the Cincinnati Opera Festival (1881) and the Scenic Artists Show (1885). Henry E. Burcky participated in both events.
In 1880, Henry E. Burcky was a scenic artist Hooley’s Opera House in Chicago. At the time, he was working with Charles E. Petford. The two were credited with the scenery for “The Hearts of Oak.” A review in the “Chicago Tribune” reported, “Hooley’s scenic artists -Petford and Burcky- have spared no pains to present the drama properly. It affords fine opportunity for the painter, and in six elaborate sets we find that the opportunity has been improved. The first act, representing sunset on the coast of Marblehead, shows a cleverly-executed piece of work, and the storm, the sighing of the wind and the sound of the waves beating on the rocks, the wreck, the rescue, the rocket, and the rainstorm fill in a very realistic and effective picture. The mill scene in the second act shows great attention to detail, and the third set represents a charming painted interior of a cottage” (Chicago Tribune, 16 March 1880, page 3).
In 1881, Burcky became associated with another Chicago Theatre; Sprague’s Olympic Theatre on Clark Street, opposite of the Sherman House, featured Burcky’s work. The Inter Ocean reported that “Muldoon’s Trip To Boston” was produced “with entire new scenery by H. E. Burcky, Esq.” (4 April 1881, page 8). At this same time, Burcky’s future partner, Henry C. Tryon, was working at McVicker’s Theatre with C. Louis Malmsha. Both would travel from Chicago to Cincinnati for work on the great festival in 1881. That year, Charles Fox, the distinguished scenic artist of Her Majesty’s Theater, London, superintended the painting of the Great Opera festival (Cincinnati Enquirer, 18 Feb. 1881, page 4). After traveling to New York to procure some artists’ materials for finishing the scenery that could not be found in Cincinnati, the newspaper reported, “He returned yesterday and found that two young artists from Chicago, Messrs. Burcky and Tryon, and Messrs. Rettig and Waugh, of our city, had been progressing rapidly with their work. To-day and to-morrow will see all the scenery painted and in its place. To give an idea of the immensity of the work that has been accomplished by these artists, it is only necessary to state that for one opera alone, Lohengrin, eleven large scenes have been painted, and fully that number, if not more, have been painted for each of the other six operas.”
Cincinnati Opera Festival, 1883
The annual festival in Cincinnati drew theatre artists and crowds from across the country. On April 22, 1883, Chicago’s “Inter Ocean” described the scope of the event, reporting, “Outside of Cincinnati, from lakes to gulf and from ocean to ocean, the whole country seems to be at fever heat in anticipation of this event – that is, if application form the press for courtesies and of excursion parties for hotel accommodations are trustworthy criterions, and they certainly are. All the great papers of the country will be represented by members of the home staff. Hotels are all but overwhelmed with application for rooms, and the railroads will do an immense excursion business during that week. The daily press here has written the matter up industriously, and this week’s Harper’s Weekly has commence picturing it – a work which it has done admirably, as far as it has gone, but which it will supplement next week with some of the principal scenery” (page 5).
A detailed description of the scenic art scene, shows the working environment that encompassed Burcky at this time. The “Inter Ocean” reported, “There are twelve artists working in scene painting alone, with each at least one helper. Not less than fifty carpenters are busy preparing flats and sets and putting up the proscenium and on the properties about thirty men, boys, and girls are employed. All these, with the painters and common laborers, will make a working force of something near one hundred and twenty-five people, working day and night getting ready. What a workshop they have. Horticultural Hall, 75 feet high, 100 feet broad, and with its appendages, 300 feet long, to say nothing of its corridors and its upper stories, all of which are used by the scene painters and property men. The spectacle of all these busy men, visible at one glance from some points of view in Horticultural Hall, makes an impression not to be forgotten. Here at the west end are a throng of busy carpenters huddled together as compactly as consistent with comfort, framing flats and working out furniture. Next beyond them under the glass roof of Horticultural Hall, in a light which on a clear day artists call wild, are the scene painters on their picturesque aerial bridges, painting away for dear life three scenes side by side; and such scenes for size – just think of it – sixty-six feet long and forty-five feet high; The frame work which supports these scenic artists’ swinging stages looks strong enough and complicated enough to serve for railway bridges…some of the best artists of the country are engaged upon them. Dewitt C. Waugh, Thomas R. Weston, Gaspard Maeder, Charles Murray, Joseph Piggot, and Harley Merry are of the number. They enter into the work with enthusiasm and are doing their level best.”
This was the event that really connected Burcky with Tryon, soon both were headed west and associated with the Tabor Grand Opera House in Denver, Colorado. In 1884 “H. E. Burcky” was identified as “the artist of the Tabor Grand (Memphis Daily Appeal, 19 Nov. 1884, page 2). This is Henry E. Burcky, sometimes spelled Burckey (Feb 1852 – 21 Feb. 1908), whose career spanned from approximately 1875-1908.
During the 1880s Burcky worked as an itinerant artist, yet primarily advertised in Chicago. Burcky bounced back and for the between Denver and Chicago. Burcky filled dual roles at both the Tabor Grand Opera House in Denver and the Olympic Theatre in Chicago.
In 1885, Burcky was involved with the renovation of Chicago’s Olympic Theatre and several upcoming shows at the venue. On August 16, 1885, the “Inter Ocean” published,
“With the conclusion of the engagement of the Wymans this week at the Olympic Theater the house will be closed until Sept. 7, when it will be reopened as the “New Olympic” by the present lessees and managers, and they state that such extensive and important changes in the place will be made as to entitle it to its name. The lobby will be changed to permit the addition of a foyer, with heavy velvet curtains shutting the body of the theatre from the foyer and lobby. In the theater and foyer will be hung twelve crayon pictures 4×7 feet with gaslight effects, arranged by Bressan, the artist. Other pictures and statuary will be added. The floors will be newly carpeted, walls repapered, entire woodwork repainted, and the roof and exits repaired and changed. H. E. Burcky is painting new scenery and a drop curtain, and there will not be a scene, border, or wing used that is not entirely new” (16 Aug. 1885, page 13).
At the Olympic Theatre, Burcky painted scenery for Mortimer & Weaver’s Dramatic Co. production of “The Colleen Bawn” at the Olympic Theatre. Chicago’s “Inter Ocean” reported, “New sets of scenery, showing the Lakes of Killarney, the cave by the seas, and other beautiful bits of scenery incidental to the play have been painted for the occasion by H. E. Burckey, the scenic artist” (9 Aug 1885, page 13). Burckey painted scenery for another Olympic Theatre production that year, Alfred Trumball’s “Custer,” starring William J. Fleming. The production included a series of scenic effects that ranged from shimmering waters to brilliantly lit skies. The “Chicago Tribune” advertised the show as including “realistic stage effects and the great battle scene by H. E. Burcky” (26 July 1885, page 6).
1885 was another significant milestone for Burcky, as well as and many other scenic artists. An event was planned to exhibit and sell distemper works by scenic artists. On August 1 , 1885, the “Inter Ocean” reported, “The scenic artists of this city held a meeting this week at Parker Galleries and determined to hold an exhibition and sale of works in distemper at those galleries early inn September. Among the artists present were: Ernest Albert, John Mazzanovich, Walter Burridge, David A. Strong, John Howard Rogers, Henry Tryon, George Dayton, Thomas Moses, John Howell Wilson, H. C. Burcky, Charles Ritter, and others” (page 4).
On October 12, 1885, there was the first exhibition of Water Colors by American scenic artists from all over the country. John Moran wrote an article about the Scene Painter’s Show for the “Art Union, a Monthly Magazine of Art” (Vol. 2, No. 4, 1885, p. 85):
“The Scene Painters’ Show. Chicago, October 12th, 1885
The first Exhibition of Water Colors by American Scenic Artists has been open free to the public for some weeks past, in this city, and the eighty-four examples hung on the walls of Messrs. Louderback & Co.’s galleries include some praiseworthy and valuable works. Such a collection proves that the broad pictorial treatment requisite for adequate stage effect does not incapacitate a man for the finer and more delicate manipulation essential to good aquarelles, and shows, moreover, a healthy progressive spirit among scenic artists. The name of Matt Morgan has long been gratefully familiar to us, and he is represented by diverse and facile contributions. “Alone in the Forest Shade” (1), shows lumbermen with their load descending a wild ravine flanked on either side by towering pines. The feeling of solitude and gloom is forcibly conveyed and the tree forms and foliage broadly yet carefully handled. “The Lost Comrade” (27), and “Waiting for Death” (14), are strong and weird aspects of prairies life, the former representing a horseman, lasso in hand, who has come upon the skeletons of a horse and rider among the pampas grass, and the latter a bull calf standing over the moribund body of a cow, striving with futile bellow to keep advancing wolves at bay. A nude figure, “The New Slave” (71), standing expectantly against a rich low-toned drapery, is exquisite in drawing and color and charmingly beautiful in suggestion. Mr. Walter Burridge runs the gamut of landscape figure and decoration and is good in all! His “Spring” (9), “Autumn Leaves” (39), and “Old Mill” (49), are deftly washed-in landscapes, true to nature and aerial in quality, while “My Assistant” (16), a study of behind the scenes life, and a “Ninety Minute Sketch” (83), of his friend Mr. Ernest Albert, show character and a nice sense of texture. Mr. Ernest Albert’s “Winter Twilight” (12), is full of sentiment of the season and excellent in composition, and his “October Morning” (31), “moonrise” (40), “Sunset” (79), and “Autumn” (80), are severally individual as transcripts and prove his mastery over the vehicle he uses. “A Decorative Flower Piece” (84), by the same artist, groups of roses, pansies and forget-me-nots in a most artistic and harmonious manner. “Nobody’s Claim, Col.” (65) and “Near Racine, Wis.” (76) By Mr. Thomas G. Moses, are among his best examples and are freely treated and with fidelity to locale character and sky effects. Mr. Albert Operti gives us some reminiscences of his Lapland tour in 1884, which are realistic and worthy, and Mr. J. Hendricks Young, “A Busy Day on Chicago River” (38), which together with the local bits by Mr. Moses, Mr. C. E. Petford and Mr. Burridge, is of historical value as it is skillfully painted. “Rats, you Terrier” (59), by the same hand, is a “snappy” and bright treatment of a dog’s head and fully catches the spirit of the English. Mr. Henry C. Tryon’s “Source of the Au Sable” (34), powerfully conveys a sense of somberness and grandeur, and though ample in detail loses nothing of the vastness and breadth, which such a landscape motion calls for. Other works deserving of notice are Messrs. George Dayton, Sr., George Dayton, Jr., the late L. Malmsha, C. Boettger, Chas. Ritter, H. Buhler and John Howell Wilson, whose “Country Road” (76” is especially fresh, verdurous and bright. It is to be hoped that this is only the forerunner of many like exhibitions and it marks a decided growth in the national art spirit.”
The following article was written by Henry T. Parker and published
in “American Magazine” (August 1923, page 68). Keep in mind that this was the
same year that Sosman & Landis closed their doors. Times were certainly changing.
Photograph that accompanied the article “A Successful Woman Scenic Artist” in 1918.
“A Successful Woman Scenic Artist.
When Mabel Buell was a child of two, and barely able to
crawl about a California beach, she grasped a stick and began to draw figures
bigger than herself in the sand. When she was ten she painted two heroic
tapestries for a hotel in southern Florida. When she was a year older she
“splashed” huge signs over a theatre curtain in Savannah, Georgia, and when she
was fifteen she climbed an eighty-foot ladder to a ‘bridge’ above a theatre
stage and began to paint her way down, rung by rung, to success, paradoxical as
that may sound. To-day, at twenty three, she is called upon for some of the
biggest productions along Broadway. She is the only woman scenic artist in
America.
“Her success, she says, is due to the fact that she has
always held to one ideal and has reused to be swayed from it by criticism,
handicaps, or disappointment. Even from those earliest days on the California
beach she knew that she could never deal in the miniature in art. She wanted
only the heroic, the statuesque, the bigger-than-life-itself. But once did she
try to evade the issue. Then, at the insistence of her father, she studied
landscape and portraiture for two years in London.
“Scene painting is an exacting art. It calls for a
physical strength and endurance that is not demanded in any of the allied arts.
Many times, especially when one is working in stock, and one or more complete
sets must be turned out each week, the scenic artist is called upon to work for
thirty and forty hours at a stretch. And when one considers that every minute
of each of those hours is filled with wielding a brush that weighs from five to
eight pounds, turning the big windlass that raises or lowers your canvas,
mixing one’s own paints, and forever considering the details of colors and
lights that are involved, it is easy to realize that scene painting is not
child’s play.
“I talked with Mabel Buell of the arduous side of her work,
as she paused after ‘sweeping’ a sky line across a forty-foot canvas that was
destined to be a back drop for a new production by the Coburns. Miss Buell
looks all of five years younger than her confessed twenty-three. She is small,
slim, and dainty, and her trim knickers and tailored smock were so bedaubed
with pigments that she looked as though she should have been in a nursery,
coloring cut-out dolls, rather than tackling the huge canvas that hung before
here.
‘Hard work? Of course, it is hard work,’ she said; ‘but
then so is everything else that is worthwhile. I am never so happy as when I am
‘way up here on my bridge with my paints, brushes and canvas. It is only then
that I am really living my life as I first conceived it, and I know that I
would be miserable if I couldn’t do it. I despise the detail of little work,
and have ever since I was a child in pinafores. Making a set in miniature
drives me to distraction and sometimes – even when I am in a hurry to finish a
model to show to some manager or director – I have to quit and come up here in
this atmosphere of bigness to think things out and get the right perspective.
‘But I do know that it is the so-called drudgery of the
thing that turns most women against scene painting as a means of expression and
livelihood. I have had hundreds of girls come to me and ask about my work and
by what means they, too, might take it up and succeed at it. And they have all
seemed highly interested until I have told them that the real scenic artist
must of necessity do all or most of his own painting, then they have turned
away.
‘It was simply too much for them, and very wisely, I
presume, they have sought other fields more suited to their tastes. Not
necessarily that they are afraid of so much of it and also of the handicaps
that beset every woman who takes up scene painting as a profession, for there
is, as always will be, a great prejudice against women in this field.’
‘It was probably the knowledge of this fact that, more than
anything else, led my father to try and discourage me against it. Even to-day
many theatrical managers are inclined to refuse to allow women on the bridge,
and it is only there that one can work satisfactorily. The scenic artist
naturally sees only part of his work at the time. The vast canvas is stretched
out before him, and, unless he knows the exact scale on which he is working,
the perspective is likely to go all wrong.
‘I have found many men, managers, electricians, stage
carpenters, and others, who have been only to glad and willing to help me in
every way. That is – as soon as they learned that I knew my business and was
competent to do the work for which I have been employed. But they must be
convinced, and therein lies the hardest part for the girl who is trying to
break into the game. Of course I learned much from my father, though even he
was more often than not loath to have me around. It was my brother who used to
act as his ‘paint boy,’ cleaning his brushes and mixing his paints. But I made
the most of my opportunities. I hung around and picked up what information I
could, and always kept in mind that some day I was going to climb to the bridge
and do scene painting all by myself.’”
Mabel Buell directing operations in one end of the ballroom in the Opera Club of Chicago. Photo accompanied “A Successful Woman Scenic Artist” by Henry T. Parker and published in “American Magazine” (August 1923, page 68).
A reporter from Chicago’s “Inter Ocean” interviewed
Walter Burridge on June 8, 1902 (page 42). His interview took place while Burridge
worked on the stage set for “The Wonderful Wizard of Oz;” the production opening
at the Grand Opera House. This is a great snapshot of information pertaining to
his approach to a design and the production process.
Walter Burridge, from the “Brooklyn Daily Eagle, 6 Sept. 1905, page 22.
“How Scenic Work is Done.
“How does the scene painter go to work on a new
production? “ Mr. Burridge smiled at this question. “I don’t known just how to
begin explaining,” he said. “There are so many details that it is a hard matter
to explain. Suppose, however, that a manager tells me he has decided to produce
a play or opera or a description of the scenes furnished by the author. In such
a lay-out there is a detailed write-up of the action, as to whether a character
enters through a door and jumps over a cliff. These points are called the
practical notes, the artist making a careful study of the play and noting all
the important points, action, and locality, the period, time of day, etc.
“If possible the studies are made on the ground, and
should the scene be laid in the present time and in a place easily accessible
to the artist he obtains photographs and makes studies and sketches. When Mr.
Hamlin put on “Arizona,” three summers ago at the Grand he sent Frederick
Remington and myself to Aravalpa valley, and a delightful pilgrimage we had,
positively one of the most enjoyable artistic experiences in my artistic
career.
“In the case of “The Wizard of Oz,” however, the story is
laid in fairyland, so I am obliged to draw from my imagination for the scenes
to fit the action of the play. First of all I make a ground plan of each act
and the separate scenes, drawing a diagram on a scale of one-inch to the foot.
On this scale I draw the different parts of the scenes on cardboard, finishing
the model in watercolor, pastel, charcoal, or sometimes simply in pencil. When
the different parts are ready and cut out they are fitted and glued together
upon the line of the ground plan upon a miniature stage, the front of which is
modeled in shape like a proscenium opening of a theater. The model is a reduced
copy of the stage setting, so that one realizes the relative proportions in
color and composition.
“At the Paris Exposition, the scene model exhibit was one
of the features of the fair, being a picture history of the theater in France
for a hundred years. The creation of the scene and the model is one of the most
interesting of the many processes that constitute the scene painter’s art. The
uninitiated in the theatrical world would be surprised to see the odds and ends
used in the make-up of a model – glue, pieces of coal, clay, plaster of Paris,
sticks, wire, gauze, muslin, and colored gelatins. In one of the scenes of “The
Wizard of Oz,” the entire depth of the stage will be used to represent the
approach to the throne room of the Wizard, and it will be lighted with hundreds
of illuminated globes. In making my model I was obliged to use small pearls to
indicate the globes. The time spent with the models pays in the end. With a
complete model one thoroughly understands the practicalities of the scene, its
color, lighting, etc., and changes are easy to make. To re-make and alter the
scene proper, however, would entail an enormous amount of expense.
“After my models have been approved they were given to
the master carpenter who superintends their construction, builds the scenes and
delivers them to the artist to be painted. The different sections of scenery
are taken from the carpenter shop to the paint-room or ‘bridge.’ The paint
frame I am now using is the largest in this country. It is seventy-five feet
long and forty feet high, and it is lowered and raised by water power along the
rear wall of the stage of the Auditorium. The carpenter attaches to this frame
the different portions of scenery to be painted. Drops are tacked on the paint
frame, which are then raised to a level with the paint bridge floor. The
assistants then ‘prime’ a canvas with a coating of glue and whiting, and
artists begin work with charcoal placed in a crayon-holder on the end of a
stick, observing the proportions as they appear in the model. The artist, as a
rule, paints by daylight, so he must make allowance for the effect of
artificial light on his colors. He must make his tones stronger because the calcium
and footlights invariably bleach them out, and when a daylight effect is called
for of a moonlight one he must allow for the lighting-up of the scene as the
time and action differ in each set or scene. “Yellow or amber light dominates
the daylight effects; blue is the tone for moonlights-green is used by some,
but I prefer blue, as experience has taught me that a green tone tends to make
the faces of the characters appear ghastly.”
Part 518: Palette & Chisel, October 1927 – The Paint Studio
Thomas G. Moses was a member of the Palette and Chisel Club in Chicago and contributed a variety of articles to their monthly newsletter during the late 1920s. His series for “Stage Scenery” started during September 1927.
Here is the first part of the October installment during October 1927:
“The scenic artist has gradually drifted from the theatre to the scenic studios, where productions are designed, built and painted. The dramatic or operatic stock company employs its own artists and stage mechanics. The dramatic company usually has its scenery painted in the theatre. The opera company usually has so much scenery, and the greater part is carried over from year to year, that it has to have a large storehouse and usually combines a storehouse and paint room.
We visit the theatre studio first, picking our way down an unlighted alley until we find a door marked “STAGE ENTRANCE. NO ADMITTANCE.” The fine old crab who guards the door is one of the “down and outs” of the profession. He has held all of the good positions offered by the profession and he will tell you: “Me and Booth played together at Oshkosh.” He was quite likely, a property man or stage hand, hardly veer an actor or scenic artist. He is usually deaf, but his sense of feeling and seeing are very acute, so a piece of silver felt and seen opens the door and one is directed to the stairway which is found in the corner, is circular in shape and built of iron.
After a dizzying climb of thirty feet above the stage floor you will land on a solid floor called a “fly floor,” From here all scenery which is fastened to a set of lines, is raised and lowered. The drop curtain is also managed from here. In the modern theatre all of this work is done from the stage floor level. Thousands of feet of half-inch rope is required to handle the scenery, to say nothing of the steel cable that I used.
You feel your way along the rail called the “Pin rail”; to this all of the lines are fastened. You will see a bright light at the rear of the stage; this is the “paint bridge” – six feet wide and reaching from one fly floor to the other. Between this bridge and the back wall is hung the paint frame, also one on the other side of the bridge. These two frames are skeleton frames, as light as possible, but strong enough to hold the frame pieces of scenery of the drops and borders to be painted. These are operated from the floor by a windlass; plenty of counterweights are used to balance the heavy load of scenery. Everything that hangs is operated over pulleys placed on the “gridiron,” sixty feet above the stage floor. A “strip” light is necessary for painting. The artist has a designing room on the fly floor. The palette is two feet wide and eight feet long, two feet and six inches high, mounted on a table with castors. A smooth surface is required for mixing of tints, a set of palette bowls, each six inches in diameter, about sixteen in number and filled with the colors mixed in the pure state with water – other tints are mixed in pans or small pails; a pail of glue size and a pail of clean water, a few brushes. A few strong strokes, with a crayon stick filled with charcoal, you see the design and the painting starts immediately.
In this case we will not do any painting until we find out just what it is going to be. Before any actual work is done the playwright has to give over the manuscript to the manager who has agreed to produce it. The stage director is called in and sometimes whole scenes are cut in spite of anything the playwright may say. He often rehearses the play. If he is a big man, with a reputation, he pays no attention to any one and does as he pleases. When everything is O.K.’d by everyone the manuscript is handed to the scenic artist who, in turn, reads it very carefully and makes notes of the principal “business bits” which are usually marks with red ink. This is very important, as the playwright has fitted the scenes and play together and has specified as follows: “Act 1. Scene 1. A library – Tudor Gothic – one large arch C – fireplace R C – recessed window with seat, doors down L door 2-R night. Place, any place in England, early Nineteenth Century.” By making notes and reading carefully we find a character opens and enters the recessed window, necessitating a different construction; door down right must open on stage.”
Part 378: 1899, Theatrical Scene Painting and Homer Emens, second half
The article “Theatrical Scene Painting” was published in “The Philadelphia Inquirer” on August 20, 1899, by James Clarence Hyde (page 46). Here is the second half of the article posted yesterday:
Homer Emens pictured on the paint bridge, from the “Philadelphia Inquirer” 20 Aug 1899, page 46.
“Mr. Emens, whose ancestors, by the way, were among the earliest Dutch settlers of New York, devoted several weeks to looking up authorities in the libraries, both public and private, and making the preliminary sketches. The scenario called for a drop showing the exterior of Peter Stuyvesant’s house; an interior of Whitehall, the Governor’s mansion; the old fort at the Battery and an exterior view of Whitehall. The play is in three acts and four scenes. Mr. Emens’ next step was to make the models.
Homer Emens pictured next to the model for “Peter Stuyvesant,” from the “Philadelphia Inquirer” 20 Aug 1899, page 46.
Sketch for the play “Peter Stuyvesant,” from the “Philadelphia Inquirer” 20 Aug 1899, page 46.
A model looks very much like a toy theatre with the proscenium arch omitted. It is built on the scale of half an inch to the foot. In making these Mr. Emens is guided to a certain extent by the scene plot, a written and roughly drawn plan showing the entrances, exits, set pieces and the like that are required in the action of the play. This is outlined by the authors. In making the models as much care with regard to the details is taken as with the proposed scenery. Ever leaf and every stone is painted in watercolor.
The stage carpenters at work on scenery for “Peter Stuyvesant,” from the “Philadelphia Inquirer” 20 Aug 1899, page 46.
Upon the completion of these models duplicates are made to guide the scene builder. In the construction of this it is important to observe simplicity, so that the entire scene can be set up, or “struck,” in a few minutes. The models for the “Peter Stuyvesant” sets were turned over to Claude Hagan, an experienced scene builder. Some time elapsed before his work was completed and then the scenery, or rather, the unpainted canvas mounted upon skeleton frames, was sent to the Fourteenth Street Theatre, where Mr. Emens does his work.
Stage carpenters at work securing fabric for painting, from the “Philadelphia Inquirer” 20 Aug 1899, page 46.
The pictures taken at the Fourteenth Street Theatre expressly for the Inquirer, give an excellent idea of how things look in Mr. Emens’ workshop. The artist, you see, needs a good deal of room. He requires not only the paint bridge and paint frames, but the entire stage. The paint bridge is suspended forty or fifty feet above the rear of the stage. It is about ten feet wide and there are no protecting rails to prevent the artist or his assistants from stepping off into space. At one end of the bridge is the studio where the models are constructed; at the other end are the shelves where the supply of paint is kept. The paints are not mixed with oil, as many people imagine, but with “size,” or diluted glue. On either side of the paint bridge hangs a massive frame, big enough to hold any “drop” (the background of a scene) that may be desired. These frames are lowered to and hoisted from the stage by means of a windlass. This is where the scenic artist’s junior apprentice gets in his fine work and acquires a muscle that is useful later in life. Scenery is usually classified as drops (the backgrounds), wings (the side-pieces), borders (the cross pieces overhead), and set pieces (such as a fort or a bridge). This is the first step in preparing the scenery is, of course, to have it placed upon the frames by the boss stage carpenter and his assistants. The frame is lowered to the stage and the scenery nailed on, as shown in one of the pictures. Then it is hoisted to the level of the bridge and the painting begins. Another picture gives an excellent idea of this. You will observe Mr. Emens in the foreground at the drawing board. Back of him, at his left, is an assistant sketching in outline a border. In his right hand he holds a long stick to which a piece of charcoal is fastened, in his left the model of the border. Preliminary to this work the canvas had to be “primed,” that is, painted white, and then the body color was laid on. On Mr. Emen’s right another assistant is seen painting a drop, while near by a third is mixing the colors on a very substantial palette. In the background the junior assistant is busy with the pots of paint.
Homer Emens pictured on the paint bridge, from the “Philadelphia Inquirer” 20 Aug 1899, page 46.
One would probably wonder how such great effects are accomplished with the artist so near to the canvas.
How does he get his idea – of perspective – of atmosphere? The only answer to this is long years of study and experience. When the scenery is painted it is lowered to the stage. But there is still more to be done. In the case of a leafy border, for instance, the ragged outlines of the leaves have been marked with a thin red line, and all the intervening canvas has to be carefully cut out. In a third picture taken upon the stage, showing the carpenters and one of the artists at work upon a set piece, you will notice at the left, flat upon the stage looking a good deal like a mosaic floor, a piece of scenery. It is one of the borders, and from the canvas-littered stage you may know that busy hands with sharp knives have been cutting it out. This picture shows the boss carpenter seated at the right of the model of the old fort at the Battery in his lap. His assistants are fitting the fort together. The underpinning of the painted fort is strong enough to support several people, but it is so carefully constructed that it can be taken apart and placed flat against the wall in less than three minutes.
Perhaps in these few words an idea has been conveyed of the great amount of skill and labor required in preparing scenery for the stage, much has been necessarily left unsaid; the difficulty of getting up elaborate interiors, the use of stencils, the construction of practical waterways and a thousand and one things that a scene painter must know. He must combine the knowledge of a landscape artist of the first order, and architect and a builder. He must posses more than the ordinary patience, and then if he is a good business man he will have the happy consolation of a substantial bank account, even if the public are slow to accord him the glory that is his due.”
