You may have noticed that it has been a while since my last blog post.
I was bombarded with a series of projects this summer. When I wasn’t on the road, my life consisted of scenic design, scenic art, restoration, paperwork, and caretaking (people, places, and things). My theme for 2023 continues to be “Damage Control.” If only each day could last more than 24 hours….
August and September became especially busy as my out-of-town trips included: CITT/ICTS (Canadian Institute of Theatre Technology) in Toronto, Ontario, Canada; The Western Minnesota Steam Threshers Reunion in Rollag, Minnesota; the Tyne Theatre & Opera House Conference in England; and Haymarket Opera Company’s fall production in Chicago, Illinois.
All of this travel could not have been possible without the support of my husband, Andrew Barrett, and children, Aaron Barrett, Isa Marceau, and Anna Marceau. In the midst of everything, Andrew and I celebrated 30 years of marriage on Sept. 11. Sadly, our celebration occurred 4,000 miles apart.
I finally have a moment to share a presentation from two weeks ago. My presentation was for the Tyne Theatre & Opera House Conference: Victorian and Edwardian Theatre in Performance, Music & Machinery – Stagecraft & Spectacle.
[Dr. Wendy Waszut-Barrett presenting Stage Craft & Spectacle: Immigrant Contributions to North American Theatre at the Tyne Theatre & Opera House conference on Sept. 15, 2023].
I have a “window of opportunity” to write today; one that stems from opening night of La liberazione di Ruggero dall-isola a’Alcina; all of my stage notes are done! Here is a link to the show: http://www.haymarketopera.org/caccini
I sit in a hotel room, extremely grateful for not only an exceptional group of colleagues, but also an extraordinary network of support; one that has never faltered over the years.
My journey to the UK began last fall when I opened an email from Mike Hume. Hume is an amazing theatre photographer and historian. His website showcases theaters from around the world. Here is his website: https://www.historictheatrephotos.com/
On Oct. 5, 2022, Rick Boychuk and I received an email from Hume proposing that we submit a presentation proposal for an upcoming theatre conference. He attached the following call for papers:
For context, Boychuk specializes in historic rigging systems and is the author of Nobody Looks Up: The History of Counterweight rigging History, 1500-1925.
In Hume’s October email, he described the Tyne Theatre and Opera House: “It’s one of the few UK theatres with early-stage machinery, albeit much of it rebuilt following a devastating fire in the stagehouse in 1985. The stage machinery at the Tyne Theatre is really very comprehensive. David Wilmore led the reconstruction project and is continuing with further projects at the theatre.” I first met David Wilmore in Stockholm at another conference in 2016. We managed to stay in touch over the years.
In mid-November 2023, Hume, Boychuk, and I scheduled a virtual meeting with Alan Butland, Trustee and Secretary at the Tyne Theatre & Opera House Preservation Trust. We wanted to see if there would be any interest in topics that examined stage technology and painted spectacle beyond Britain. In the end, we submitted a joint proposal for three topics under the heading “The Development of North American Stagecraft and Spectacle During the Victorian Period.”
Boychuk’s paper explored Booth’s Theatre in New York, Mike’s paper explored the Auditorium Theatre in Chicago, and my paper provided context for both, each built during a time when the demand for painted illusion was greater than the supply of manufacturers.
We received a response to our proposals almost three months later. On Feb. 17, 2023, Mike emailed, “Pack your bags, folks, we’re going to Newcastle!”
Locations of Newcastle-Upon-Tyne, England
As we looked at tentative travel dates, our discussion began to include other historic venue; nearby opera houses that would be of interest. When all was said and done, we visited a total of fifteen theaters between Sept. 10 and Sept. 19, 2023. In the upcoming weeks, I will post a series of blogs about our stops in London, York, Newcastle-Upon-Tyne, Glasgow, Isle of Man, Bristol, and Bath.
In regard to the Tyne Theatre’s auditorium and stage, here is a link to Hume’s photos and research: https://www.historictheatrephotos.com/Theatre/Tyne-Newcastle.aspx
We presented our papers on September 15, 2023. The chair for our panel was Iain Mackintosh.
Here is my full paper with PowerPoint images. It includes all of the original text, as some sentences were cut to stay within the 20-min. time limit.
Stage Craft & Spectacle: Immigrant Contributions to North American Theatre by Dr. Wendy Waszut-Barrett for the Tyne Theatre and Opera House conference.
[Slide 1]
I am going to “set the stage” for stage craft and painted spectacle between 1860 and 1890 in North America, touching on four major contributing factors – the Gold Rush, the Transcontinental Railroad, the Great Chicago Fire, and Immigration. Then, I will then explore the dissemination of two scenic art traditions, introduced by immigrants during the rise of the North American scenic studio system. These traditions merged to create a hybrid form of scenic art in North America that dominated popular entertainment for decades.
[Slide 2]
The discovery of gold in the American River during the winter of 1848 prompted what is now known as the California Gold rush of 1849, an event that drew people from all over the world. Exorbitant salaries were offered to theatre professionals, those willing to brave the journey and perform in very rough settings. Even the young scenic artist Phillip Goatcher left Sydney for San Francisco (invitation by Henry E. Abby of the Park Theater), and assisted William Porter. It was a series of gold strikes that fueled a national desire to complete the first transcontinental railroad, uniting east and west coasts.
[Slide 3]
The transcontinental railroad was completed on May 10, 1869, with the final golden spike driven at Promontory Summit in Utah.
[Slide 4]
The arduous cross-country from New York to San Francisco was reduced to 7 days by 1870. Thousands of communities were now connected, with Chicago centrally located and situated along the western shore of Lake Michigan, one of the five Great Lakes in a freshwater chain that connected the interior of North America to the Atlantic ocean.
[Slide 5]
A variety of entertainment venues were constructed in the railway’s wake, including the Tabor Opera House. Located in the heart of the Rocky Mountains, the mining town of Leadville, Colorado was approximately 3050 meters above sea-level. Horace Tabor, nationally known as the “Silver King,” constructed his flagship opera house in 1879, only a month before the railway arrived in town. Ample land, abundant funds, and an ever-expanding network of transportation offered seemingly endless opportunities for theater manufacturers and suppliers. Demand for painted front curtains, stock scenery collections, stage machinery and lighting systems outweighed the supply of craftsmen to manufacture them. An abundance of work with high profits drew people from across the country and around the world.
[Slide 6]
Hundreds of theaters were now connected by rail, prompting Chicago Illustrator and printer, John B. Jeffrey, to publish his first guide and directory to operas houses, theaters, and public halls across the country in 1878. Jeffrey provided practical information for touring groups with detailed information about stage houses, writing: “We realized the necessity for a book which would be a guide to agents and managers of all amusement enterprises.”
Jeffrey’s preface stated:
“Since 1860, the Amusement Professions have shared in the extraordinary developments visible in every material interest…Intellectual foreigners have been astounded at the rapidity with which a vast wilderness has been transformed into a Nation thickly dotted with centers of industry, commerce, and art…The full extent of this marvelous progress has not been recognized generally as it deserved…The American Stage ranks in importance with that of England and France…”
Jno. B. Jeffrey’s Guide and Directory was one of many innovations to come out of Chicago during the 1870s. At the time Chicago was in the process of rebuilding itself, reconstructing the downtown area after the Great Fire.
[Slide 7]
In 1871, disaster struck when fire ravaged 8.55 km2 of the downtown area, destroying 17,500 buildings and displacing 100,000 residents.
[Slide 8]
Two decades later the City later hosted the 1893 World Fair. In addition to recognizing the 400th anniversary of Christopher Columbus’ arrival, the Columbian Exposition showed the world that Chicago has risen from the ashes victorious.
[Slide 9]
The rebuilding of the Chicago drew hundreds of thousands of tradesmen to the Midwest. 10,000 building permits were issued between 1872 to 1879. Chicago quickly became an American Hub of Economic and Industrial Innovation.
[Slide 10]
The rebuilding of Chicago coincided with shifts in immigration. There were three waves of immigration during the 19th century. The first wave primarily consisted of people England, Ireland, Scotland, Wales, and Northern Europe. The second wave included an increased number of people from western and central Europe. The third wave lasted from the end of the 19th century into the early 20th century, and mainly consisted of people from Eastern Europe and Russia. With access to western lands and opportunities, immigrants arrived in Chicago by droves.
[Slide 11]
The distribution of immigrants also radically changed as the country’s transportation network shifted to include railroads.
[Slide 12]
There was a demographic shift by the mid 19th-century from an earlier immigration wave primarily composed of those from the British Isles and northern Europe to western and central Europe by the mid-19th-century. This shift, occurred as the railroad network exponentially increased, distributing new groups of immigrants into the interior of North America.
[Slide 13]
By the mid-nineteenth century there was a dramatic increase in German immigrants. An 1874 Harper’s Weekly illustration featured Germans boarding a steamer for the United States. German emigration peaked between 1881 and 1885, when a million Germans arrived, many settling in the Midwestern United States.
[Slide 14]
Even today, we can trace the second wave German immigrants through the lives of their descendants. Here is a 2010 tracing the largest ancestry by county in the United States. There remains a large red swath that cuts across the country, known as the German Belt.
[Slide 15]
By 1890, 80% of all Chicago’s citizens were either foreign born or children of immigrants. From a Theatre History perspective, this made Chicago a melting pot of stage craft.
[Slide 16]
Two distinct scene painting traditions dominated the production of painted illusion in Chicago at this time – The English method of transparent glazing (left-side image) and the Continental Method of opaque washes (right-side image).
[Slide 17]
On the left, is an example of the English Method; a painted detail by William Thompson Russell Smith (1812-1896) for the Thalian Hall in Wilmington, North Carolina, in 1858. This was the stylistic approach employed by many scenic artists in eastern theaters, including Boston, New York, Philadelphia, Baltimore, and along the eastern seaboard.
On the right, is an example of the Continental Method; a painted detail by James E. Lamphere for the Tabor Opera House in Leadville, Colorado, in 1879. Note that the shape in the left image is defined by a successive layer of dark glazes, while the image on the left uses light on dark to define the shape.
[Slide 18]
These two “schools of scenic art” – translucent glazes and opaque washes – were publicly argued for, and against, in nineteenth-century newspapers and periodicals. In 1881, the British periodical, The Building News and Engineering Journal, published an article entitled “Secrets of the Scene Painter.” It simply stated, “The English school in which the greatest advances have been made, use thin glazes” and “The German, French and Americans use opaque washes, or, as it is usually expressed work in “body colour.” This 1881 article suggests that the adoption of the Continental method by many American scenic artists had already taken place by this time. In 1889, another article published in The Theatre Magazine (W. J. Lawrence, July 13, 1889) lamented the loss of the English tradition, “the days of glazing and second painting are gone forever. What matters is that the adoption of the broadest system of treatment possible – working slapdash fashion in full body colors.” In 1891, the San Francisco Call “English scenic artists as a class possess a breadth and freedom of style that are unequaled by those of any other nationality. These qualities, which are the highest excellences in scene painting, are especially noticeable in their landscapes, which are simply unapproachable, possessing, as they do at once a beauty, a realism and a fidelity to nature which we look for in vain in the work of the scenic artists of any other land” (A. Palmer, Feb 22, 1891).
[Slide 19]
Interestingly, the English tradition of frame painting remained the preferred method in the United States until the 1920s. Here is an illustration of American scenic artists for Harper’s Weekly in 1878; this was the first year that he started working for the publication. At the time, Graham was a well-known in Chicago as a scenic artist. He was later named the official artist for Chicago’s 1893 World Fair.
[Slide 20]
Here are two examples that illustrate the differences between the English method of painting on a vertical frame and the Continental method of painting on the floor. The Nineteenth-century American scenic artists favored the use of vertical frames. Much had to do with the design of the theaters allowing scenic artists to only access their work from the stage, there was simply not enough floor space, even after scenic studios built their own structures. The scenic artists worked on fixed or movable bridges above the stage.
[Slide 21]
I always include images of women painting in my presentations, as they were often left of the history books. As with people of color, they were present, just not counted. The left image shows Grace Wishaar painting in America, ca. 1902. The right image is from the 1927 publication The Continental Method of Scene Painting.
[Slide 22]
It is important to understand that both floor and frame painting necessitated a It is important to understand that both floor and frame painting necessitated a different approach. Although both used distemper paint and similar brushes, each approach determined the economy of brushwork. Here is an example of floor painting in the Continental Method, featuring French scenographer Auguste Rubè (1815-1899).
[Slide 23]
Here is an example of the English Method featuring American scenic artist Thomas Gibbs Moses (1856-1934). I paint both up and down, recognizing that each tradition has its strengths. That being said, as an aging artist, I recognize that I will be able to paint on a frame far longer than I will be able to paint on the floor.
[Slide 24]
Distemper paint was the traditional artistic medium for the stage, solely consisting of only two ingredients: pure color (dry pigment) and binder (diluted hide glue).
[Slide 25]
Dry pigment powder was transformed into wet pulp prior to mixing it with a binder.
[Slide 26]
Hide glue requires cooking and is diluted with water to create size. Strong size was applied to the fabric, preparing the fibers for paint. Strong size was further diluted to create working size, also known as size water, for the distemper painting process.
[Slide 27]
Here is an example of an American scenic artist’s palette, filled with bowls of pigment paste. The paste and size water were mixed together on the artist’s palette, then immediately applied to the fabric. This remained the standard methodology for North American scenic art until the mid-twentieth century.
[Slide 28]
The scenic artist had to intimately know each color, as the wet paint applied to a backdrop would dry several shades lighter. In a sense, the artist worked solely from memory. Here is an example of wet distemper paint placed next to the same color once dried.
[Slide 29]
A strategic combination of colors applied by a skilled hand resulted in stunning compositions, that transported generations of theatre audiences to distant locations. Distemper paint is quite different from the pre-mixed paints used by Contemporary scenic artists as it fully permeates each underlying later; there is not a continued build-up with each successive layer paint.
[Slide 30]
Very little pigment is needed for the distemper painting process. This means that many distemper backdrops could function as translucencies. The image on the right is the same urn viewed from the backside of the drop. The original paint layer was quite thin, creating opportunities for backlighting. This also means that distemper scenes could be easily folded and packed in touring trunks.
[Slide 31]
Here is a detail from a distemper drop that I painted for the Haymarkt Opera Co. for L’amant anonyme (Chicago, 2022). When lit from behind, an entirely new range of colors is revealed, affecting the atmosphere of the scene without the necessity of colored lights.
[Slide 32]
To date, have written hundreds of biographies about American scenic artists, tracing their lineage to various countries. For today’s presentation, I am briefly going to touch on Harley Merry who painted in the English tradition in New York.
[Slide 33]
Harley Merry was the stage name for Ebenezer Brittain (1844-1914). Brittain began his theatrical career as both an actor and scenic artist. He worked in the theaters of London, Norfolk, Edinburgh, and Glasgow. It is relatively easy to trace his early career in newspapers from the time. In 1864, he married Louisa Maria Raven Rowe (1843-1915), who went by the stage name Adelaide Russell or Roselle.
[Slide 34]
After emigrating in 1869, the Merry’s worked all over the country, with Harley Merry painting scenery for theaters in New Orleans, St. Louis, Memphis, Chicago, Philadelphia, and New York.
[Slide 35]
Merry permanently settled in New York, where he operated an extremely successful studio until his passing in 1914. He was also a major influence in amusement park attractions, especially those on Coney Island in New York, as well as producing scenery for early Edison films. He was extremely influential in the development of American Theatre from both a performance and production perspective.
[Slide 36]
In America, Merry helped establish the Actor’s Order of friendship, joining Edwin Booth and Lawrence Barrett in 1888 to lobby congress against the importation of foreign productions.
[Slide 37]
He was also instrumental in the establishment of the American Society of Scene Painters in 1892. It was organized in Albany, New York, with the executive staff including Richard Marston (Palmer’s Theatre), Henry E, Hoyt (Metropolitan Opera House), Homer F. Emens (Fourteenth Street Theatre), Sydney Chidley (Union Square Theatre), Harley Merry (Brooklyn Studio) Brooklyn and Ernest Albert (Albert, Grover & Burridge). This group truly represents the English Tradition in American scenic art.
Three years later, the American Society of Scene Painters gave rise to the Protective Alliance of Scene Painters of America. In 1895, Merry was elected the organization’s first president and members included scenic artists from all over the country, representing both the English and Continental traditions. In short, it prevented stage employees from handling any scenery except that painted by members of the Alliance, stirring up excitement among English managers.
In 1896 when members gathered in their lodge rooms to install officers, the following statement was recorded: “If George Edwards brings a shipload of scenery from England to America, he will not be able to get a scene shifter or carpenter in New York to handle it, and the orchestra will not even play slow music. For that matter, no piece of scenery painted by a non-union man will be handled in any of the large cities in this country. We have to protect ourselves against the hordes of fresco men who dabble for a farthing, and some of the managers who care nothing for the art, but only for making money.”
Members included George Becker, Moses Bloom, Harry Byrnes, Sydney Chidley, James Fox, W. Crosbie Gill, Frank King, Richard Marston, Harley Merry, John A. Merry, Thomas G. Moses, Arthur Palmer, Seymour D. Parker, Frank Platzer, W. T. Porter, Adolf T. Reinhold, John Rettig, John W. Rough, Horace N. Smith, Orville L. Story, Howard Tuttle, A. G. Volz, Harry Weed, and David W. Weil were just a few of the participants actively involved in the establishment of the alliance.
This organization truly bridged the gap between the two schools of scene painting. Scenic artists across the country united for a common cause.
[Slide 38]
In addition to Merry’s legislative legacy, his artistic legacy continued from one generation to the next. One brief example was the studio established by two of his students – Walter Burridge and Ernest Albert, who partnered with Oliver Dennet Grover in 1890 to construct an astonishing scenic studio by 1891 measuring almost 4500 square meters. Brochures noted, “After a scene is painted, it can be hung, set and lighted in an open space – [the space, measuring] the full size of any stage in the country, so that a manager can not only inspect it as an entirety, and thus suggest alterations, but he can bring his company to the studio and rehearse with the new scenery.” They went bankrupt in two years.
[Slide 39]
This was a period in American Theatre History denoting a distinct shift in the manufacture and distribution of painted scenery. There was a transition from scenery being painted by itinerant scenic artists on site to scenic studio artists mass-producing and shipping scenery by rail.
[Slide 40]
No American scenic studio better exemplifies this shift that Sosman & Landis. Joseph S. Sosman and Perry Landis met and began working as itinerant artists in 1876. By 1879, they saved enough money to open a scenic studio in Chicago. Between the summers of 1881 and 1882, the firm delivered scenery to 74 theaters across the country, then established regional offices New York, Detroit, Kansas City, and St. Louis.
The success of Sosman & Landis was based on a stream of highly skilled scenic artists with national reputations coming in to do what they did best, and then leaving. This cut down on the studio’s overhead, while securing name-recognition from the beginning. Early on, the reputation of the firm was linked to the individual reputations of their scenic artists and stage mechanics.
Over time, the studio became a factory, with a main studio staff, annex studio staffs during times of high productivity, and road crews that painted some installation on site. By 1894 they had delivered scenery to 4,000 stages. Their catalogue that year announced, “Our Artists are selected with reference to their special abilities. Some excel in designing and painting drop curtains, others in landscapes, and other in interior scenes; so, we divide our work that each is given what he can do.”
[Slide 41]
In 1902, Sosman & Landis advertised that they had delivered scenery to more than 6,000 stages in the United States, Canada, Mexico, the Carribean, and South Africa. The firm produced painted spectacle for a variety of popular entertainment, including moving panoramas, cycloramas, grand circus spectacles Wild West shows, amusement park attractions, industrial exhibits, charity events, and more. They knew stage craft and how to produce painted spectacle well.
[Slide 42]
During their reign, Chicago became the largest theatrical manufacturer and supplier in the country. They also diversified their business interests. In the 1890s, Sosman and Landis established the American Reflector & Lighting Company, as well as the theatrical management firm of Sosman, Landis & Hunt; the ran theaters and stock companies. Sosman and Landis even purchased manufacturing firms, such as the Tennessee Pottery Co., to directly source materials for lighting equipment.
[Slide 43]
Over the past few decades, I have identified 113 Sosman & Landis employees, tracing their lives and careers. Although this is only a small fraction of their total employees, it exhibits an unprecedented diversity in the American Theatre industry. The Sosman & Landis scenic studio was the proverbial melting pot of stage craft, a successful blend of old-world traditions and new world innovation. Here is a list of nineteen Sosman & Landis scenic artists who were born overseas in England, Scotland, Ireland, Wales, Denmark, Sweden, and the Germany Empire (Prussia and Bavaria).
[Slide 44]
Here is a list of thirteen 1st-generation scenic artists, the children of emigrants who were Bavarian, Polish, Czech, Dutch, English, French, and German. Again, these are the artistic who are confirmed, representing a small fraction of the complete employee total.
[Slide 45]
With a corresponding map, so you can see the specific region.
[Slide 46]
Seventeen employees came from families who had been in the country for quite some time, but they had been raised in the east; in the states of Connecticut, Massachusetts, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and New York. These scenic artists trained in the English Method.
[Slide 47]
With a corresponding map, so you can see the specific region.
[Slide 48]
Thirty-five scenic artists were born and raised in the Midwestern States of Ohio, Indiana, Michigan, Illinois, Iowa, Missouri, Kansas, and Nebraska; a hodge podge collection of descendants representing the United Kingdom and Europe; many raised on a farm, or the children of local merchants. These individuals became scenic artists, trained in both the English and Continental methods. Many were trained in the hybrid method, using opaque washes on a vertical paint frame.
[Slide 49]
With a corresponding map, so you can see the specific region. Please keep in mind that these slides of lists do not include the dozens of stage carpenters, seamstresses, salesmen, or office staff who worked at Sosman & Landis in Chicago or many of the branch offices. The slides also failed to include those who never make the news; underrepresented communities, and those people of color who were passing for white.
[Slide 50]
Statistically, thousands of scenes painted by nineteenth-century scenic artists remain scattered across North America, with many now tucked away in storerooms, under stages, or above auditorium rafters. They are primary sources for future generations of theatre scholars and practitioners to study. These historic artifacts not only represent the legacy of American scenic artists, but also the legacy of immigrant artists and their homelands.
[Slide 51]
The End
Here is a link to the Tyne Theatre & Opera House conference web page: https://www.tynetheatreandoperahouse.uk/international-conference/
