Lee Lash – Drypigment.net

Sosman & Landis: Shaping the Landscape of American Theatre. Employee No. 69 – L. R. McNeal

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

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

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

*Walter Savidge Amusement Co. letterhead, c. 1916.*

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Here is the description of the contents:

Series 1 – Ledgers, 1910-1920

Box 1
Volume

1. 1910

2. 1911-12

3. 1912

4. 1913

5. 1914

6. 1915 [& envelope]

7. 1915-1916 [& envelope]

Box 2
Volume

8. 1916 [& envelope]

9. 1918 [& envelope]

10. 1920

Series 2 – Printed matter

Box 2
Folder 1

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

Series 3 – Miscellaneous

Box 2
Folder

1. Miscellaneous

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

To be continued…

Tales from a Scenic Artist and Scholar. Part 739: Drop Curtains in Philadelphia, 1894 – Lee Lash and the Chestnut Street, National, People’s and Forepaugh’s Theatres

Four drop curtains painted by Lee Lash were described in the article “Well-known Drop Curtains in Philadelphia Theatres” published in “The Philadelphia Inquirer” on Dec. 18, 1894 (page 45).

Of the four, two depicted American scenes. Capturing life in the United States became a more prevalent theme as the nineteenth century progresses. Scene of the old world, its history and legends, began to be replaced with scenes of American activities and expansion:

Lash painted a drop curtain for the Chestnut Street Theatre by 1894:

“What might be called realism in scenic effects-the representation of actual sights and scenes of daily life-is becoming more and more, a feature of stage curtains. Bits of “local color” appear on several of these, as in the drop curtain of the Chestnut Street Theatre, painted by Mr. Lee Lash, which is a view of Broad street, looking south from Jefferson with the Public Buildings silhouetted in the distance. The big bus unloading a flower-laden troop of pretty women and children, the hand-cart, the street gamin, and other characteristic Broad street sights, are prominent in the foreground. At the right is the Mercantile Club building, in process of construction. The picture is a fine, bold piece of coloring and the figures are admirably life-like.”

The first Chestnut Street Theatre was located on the north side of Chestnut Street, between Sixth and Seventh. It was referred to as the “New Theatre,” to distinguish it from the “old” theatre in Southwark. Built in 1792, it was destroyed by fire on April 2, 1820. The second Chestnut Street Theatre opened Dec. 2, 1822, and was also later destroyed in 1856. It was rebuilt and later opened by William Wheatly on January 26, 1863. The third Chestnut Street Theatre was located 1211 Chestnut Street in Philadelphia. It was the third Chestnut Street Theatre that Lash created a drop curtain for by 1894.

Lash’s second curtain noted in the 1894 “Philadelphia Inquirer” article was for Philadelphia’s National Theatre. As with the Chestnut Street drop curtain, it depicted an American scene:

“The curtain of the National Theatre, by the same artist [Lee Lash], illustrates the picturesque side of American village life. The foreground figures, a group of women and children gossiping at a quaint old-fashioned well, are faithfully rendered, and the effect of sunshine on the whitewashed exterior of the quaint country cottages is excellent.”

Lash painted a third curtain for the People’s Theatre in Philadelphia. Originally opening in 1890, the venue’s seating capacity was over 2,200. The building was located on Kensington Avenue at the corner of E. Cumberland Street. In 1914, Thomas Lamb was hired to remodel the People’s Theatre. Part of the renovation included the reduction of seats to approximately 1,930. From 1924-26, the People’s Theatre was renamed the Desmond Theatre. In 1927 the theatre was remodeled again and renamed Kent Theatre by the Stanley Theatres Corporation.

The People’s Theatre drop curtain by Lash depicted a French scene:

“A fishing village in the south of France furnishes the motive for the picture curtain of the People’s Theatre. Grouped against the clear horizon are a picturesque handful of old houses, while on the wharf in the foreground is a cluster of fisher girls and men engaged in lively “chaffening” over the day’s catch. Large figures to the left of a young girl and her dog, and the realistic basket of coils of rope, etc., scattered around, are effective bits of still-life.”

The article then noted Lash’s drop curtain for Forepaugh’s Theatre too:

“The same artist who painted this, Mr. Lee Lash, designed also the striking curtain at Forepaugh’s Theatre, a broad boulevard in the Champs Elysees, Paris, with the commanding arch of the Porte Smarting in the background, a statue of Beethoven to the left, and the mounted figures of fashionable dames and a fine tally-ho adorning the foreground. The whole is a handsome effective piece of work.”

I have covered Lash in several posts over the past three years, but here is a lovely article from 1935, that briefly sums up his career. It was printed in the “Latrobe Bulletin,” on 25 June, 1935.

“The story of Lee Lash is an epic in American Art annals. At 70 he has achieved an artistic goal from which he sidetracked in youth and kept in the paths of commercialism for more than 33 years. Today the name of Lee Lash known the country over as the perpetrator of advertising drop curtains, is acclaimed with true artistic fervor. His first one mane show just held in the Keppel Galleries, New York, has revealed an artist of the first water, a painter of rare power and sensitive feeling.

The most discriminating of critics, remembering what the Lee Lash Studios stood for, were taken aback when they gazed upon the exquisite pictures to which the man has devoted his life for the past years. Not only were critics unstinted in their praise but the public came to admire and buy as well. His lovely vistas of New York roofs and skylines have been purchased by private collectors.

Lash was born in San Francisco and began to draw before he could write. His father a prosperous reporter from Prague recognized and encouraged his son in his artistic ambitions. He studied in San Francisco and then in Paris. He was already an excellent artist well on the road to fame when his father’s business crashed. Lee’s career as an artist was checked. He had to earn money. The advertising drop curtain was the result. At first he followed the European idea of surrounding the central scene with advertisements. Then he placed the “ads” in the picture itself, as signs in the landscape. The Lash family recuperated its fortune even though the art sense of the country suffered.

Today Lash, who lives with his wife in frequently changed, sky-high apartments where he studies new view, has been compensated. At this exhibition 67 picture, ranging from Brooklyn in the clear morning light, to Manhattan through its customary haze, gave glimpses of roofs, skylines – all breathing the spirit of New York” (page 3).

Other newspaper articles throughout the course of his career note that Lee Lash drop curtain composition were often street scenes or country lanes, often blocked with commercial ads. For another perspective on Lee Lash and the history of the American ad drop, see past installments 578-580.

Lee Lash advertisement in the 1901-1902 issue of Julius Cahn’s Official Theatrical Guide

1914 Advertisement in Gus Hill’s Directory

To be continued…

Tales from a Scenic Artist and Scholar. Part 580 – Harry J. Kuckuck

Part 580: Harry J. Kuckuck

In 1901, the Lee Lash was the head of two companies, one in Philadelphia and one in New York City. The Lee Lash Studio offices were located at 39^th and Broadway in New York City and 732 Drexel Building in Philadelphia.

Advertisement in the 1901-1902 issue of Julius Chan’s Official Theatrical Guide. Note the two company locations.

Lash established the Philadelphia studio in 1892. From the very beginning of its founding, a local scenic artist found work there – Harry J. Kuckuck (1876-1945). He would ascend the studio ranks, just as Thomas Moses (1856-1934) did at the Sosman & Landis studio in Chicago. Similarly to Moses, Harry J. Kuckuck would attempt to purchase the studio in the 1920s, eventually purchasing the company from Lash during 1926. At this point, the studio name changed to H. J. Kuckkuck’s Lee Lash Studio. It remained in operation for another twenty years, until the time of his death in 1945.

A Kuckuck’s Lee Lash Studios NY sign with that was once attached to the Hershey Theatre fire curtain’s controlling mechanism and is now part of the Hershey Story Museum on Chocolate Avenue (Here is the link to the artifact: https://hersheystory.pastperfectonline.com/webobject/06263EA9-4F35-41C2-A565-438659853932).

The Hershey theater with fire curtain by Kuckuck’s Lee Lash Studio

The Hershey Theatre where the sign was located. There is a nice little article on the theater in the Legacy, news from the Hershey Foundation Fall/Winter 2010, issue 11 Here is the link: https://doc-00-1o-apps-viewer.googleusercontent.com/viewer/secure/pdf/ivtn9ao9oalpirl4ja9f37o04i1917ab/7sdees3o6brel41p0vd99i2mlfma1h3t/1543624275000/lantern/17306996083351342362/ACFrOgDQNJ_Wkwea5hBfZmPehZkGlXJ-VRgXQjVbUCxH6KUAeFgME8V5gp_WHJ2YEMl0JPkcLasBRCtmiZdzzKa6u54T8BjP-66U30Rae1zOUgQyT51dGTCOLBVlJJWzmsiubeUDtA2hcZAAGeYY?print=true&nonce=t8jqutcflvo3a&user=17306996083351342362&hash=t3s4v9ei52vge1q0ertddb3p19quegnf

Looking in a 1918-19 New York Corporation Directory, Harry J. Kuckuck was associated with two Lee Lash Companies – Lee Lash Co (NY) that specialized in advertising and Lee Lash Studios, Inc. (NY) that specialized in scenery. Each was listed in R. L. Polk & Co.’s 1918-19 Trow New York Co-partnership and Corporation Directory, Boroughs of Manhattan and the Bronx (page 644).

In the directory, Lash was listed as president of Lee Lash Co (NY) and Harry J Kuckuck was listed as the treasurer. The capital for the company was $500,000, with the directors being Lee Lash and Harry Kuckuck. In the same directory, Lee Lash Studios Inc. (NY) also listed Lee Lash as president, Hugo Gerber as Secretary, and Harry J. Kuckuck as treasurer. The capital for this company was reported to be $100,000. The directors were Lee Lash, Hugo Gerber and Harry Kuckuck. Both companies were located in the same building at 1478 Broadway Road 724.

I have uncovered very little information about Harry J. Kuckuck’s personal life. Kuckuck was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania during 1876. He began working for Lee Lash at the age of 16 years old when Lash opened a studio in Philadelphia during 1892. That meant he was the same age as many other boys who entered the scenic art industry at the time, starting as pot boys and apprentices. For Lash, Kuckuck was a necessary addition to the new studio, providing cheap labor for the newly formed company. In 1894.

Kuckuck was still listed as living in Philadelphia at 1944 North Fourth Street That year his family hosted a birthday party for him and published it in the local paper (Philadelphia Enquirer, 9 Dec 1894, page 14). He was still in the city during 1897 when the “Times” reported, “On Wednesday evening, January 6, Mrs. Annie M. Kuckuck celebrated the twenty-first birthday of her son, Harry J. Kuckuck, at their home on North Fourth Street” (Philadelphia 10 Jan 1897, page 21).

Many years later, Kuckuck even mentioned as a New York artist who “paints on scenery and drapes” in a entertaining poem. It was published in the “Arizona Daily Star” during 1938. At the time, Kuckuck would have been working as a scenic artist for 46 years (8 Jan 1938, page 18). Here is the poem:

The “Sky” Line of New York

“Did you ever go a-messin’

Round the land of delicatessen

Way up in Harlem or the Bronx?

Where there’s Abe and Jake and

Izzy,

Whose last names would make you

Dizzy,

Like Tinskys and the Plotskys

And the Kronkes.

Ther’s Finifter and Dorshininsky,

Gronowitz and Sam Tuchinsky,

Manowitz and Katrowitz and Weiss.

Where the Haases and the Hesses

Handle cloaks and suits and dresses,

And the Wassermans are friends

Of Kalt and Heiss.

Wishnofsky and Wishnettsly,

Turkenvich and J. Pisetsky,

Dinerman who offers Kosher meat,

Rabbi Yarshun fixes marriages,

Hyman Zarchin, baby carriages,

While Suckerman the lawyer’s

‘cross the street.

Joseph Spitz sells atomizers,

Jacob Slutsky appetizers,

Harry Kuckuck paints on scenery

And drapes,

I Janowitz sells butter,

And so does Perlmutter,

Izzy Sklarsky deals in oranges, and

Grapes.

There is Yokel and there’s Yevel;

All these names are on the level.

I’m telling you the truth, I hope

To die,

If you doubt it have your own look

Thru the pages of your phone book.

For I’m sure the Book of Numbers

Doesn’t lie.

Now I’ve been a cheap ham actor,

Peddled books and run a tractor,

Around the honky-tonks;

I’d take any job you’d tell me,

But one job you couldn’t sell me-

That’s the guy who takes the census

In the Bronx.

-El Toro”

I have located little else about Kuckuck, other than in a 1940 census. Harry J. Kuckuck was listed in the 1940 census as a 64 year old man who was born in Pennsylvania during 1876. These dates match newspaper accounts mentioning his 21^st birthday in Philadelphia during 1897. The census also listed Kuckuck’s residence as being in Assembly District 21, Manhattan, New York City, New York. Other people in his household at the time were Leonora (age 55 yrs.) and Frederick (age 26 yrs.) His marital status was widowed.

To be continued…

Tales from a Scenic Artist and Scholar. Part 579 – Lee Lash

Part 579: Lee Lash

Lee Lash (1864-1935) was a friend and colleague of Thomas G. Moses (1856-1934). They worked together when Moses was working in New York City and living in Mount Vernon, New York. Moses & Hamilton Studio operated in the area from 1900 to 1904. There is even a newspaper clipping that shows Moses painting in the Lee Lash studios, possibly next to his partner William F. Hamilton. Moses pasted this clipping in his scrapbook. Lash is quite an interesting artist and studio owner, especially in light of his exploits as told by William Chambliss in 1895 (see post 578).

Lash was born in Vancouver, British Columbia, during 1864. Isador Lash moved his family to San Francisco in the following year. There, Lee and his brother Sam attended public schools before focusing on art. In his early teens Lash was a pupil of artists Juan B. Wandesforde and Domenico Tojetti. He then journeyed to Europe for further artistic instruction. He traveled to Paris where he studied with artists Jules J. Lefebvre(1836-1911) and Gustave Boulanger (1824-1888) at the Académie Julian. Lash received a positive reception at the Paris Salons. After eight years of study from 1881 to 1889 in Europe, he returned to the United States.

Jules J. Lefebvre (1836-1911) was one of Académie Julian professors who Lee Lash studied with while in Paris.

An 1889 newspaper article reported, “Lee Lash, a San Franciscan whose work in France and abroad, and whose picture in the last Salon was praised by the French critics, has returned to this city. Eight years Mr. Lash spent in Europe. He brought with him many pictures of great merit, through which the terms of his apprenticeship and mastery may be noted” (San Francisco Chronicle, 27 Oct. 1889, page 12). Upon his return, Lash established a studio in San Francisco and taught at the School of Design from 1891-1893. It was during this time that he had the altercation with William H. Chabliss and “borrowed” Charles D. Smith’s idea for the development of American advertising curtains.

Design for an advertising curtain. From the Twin City Scenic Co. Collection at the Performing Art Archives, University of Minnesota

Lee Lash Studios opened in San Francisco during 1892, founded by himself and his brother, Samuel Lash. In 1893, the brothers moved their theatrical curtain company to Philadelphia, and a few years later established a second studio in New York City. By 1895 Lash’s two curtain advertising enterprises were continuing as successful endeavors. There is some debate as to when the New York Studio was establish; some records note 1895 and others 1898. At first their New York studio was located at Thirtieth Street and Broadway, but moved several times over the next decade. By 1910, Lash built a studio in Mount Vernon, N.Y. By now, the firm was doing much more than ad drops and drop curtains. They were also building scenery for shows designed by others, often featuring well-known scenic artists as “staff supervisors” for premiere productions. Lee Lash’s studio became heralded as one of the best in the country, a very large outfit that could produce up to thirty curtains at one time.

Postcard of Lee Lash Studio in Mount Vernon, New York

Lee Lash Studio in Mount Vernon, New York

Lash was reported as having advertising curtains in 1700 American theatres that brought in more than $250,000 during the hey day of vaudeville (Star-Gazette, 4 March, 1973, page 7). One of Lash’s employees was Paul V. McTighe was tasked with visiting every playhouse on the Subway Circuit twice each month to make sure that the Lee Lash curtains were being displayed according to contract. McTighe also worked as a bell-captain at the Flanders Hotel.

Most of Lash’s curtains carried their own ad block:

“If in this world, you

Hope to rise,

By a balloon, or

advertise.” (Star-Gazette, 4 March, 1973, page 7).

The 1922 publication of American Elite and Sociologist Bluebook reported Lash to be “Business President and Director, of 1476 Broadway, New York City; and a member of various clubs and societies. He is president of the Lee Lash Studio of Mount Vernon, N. Y. He is chairman of the board of directors of the Hugo Gedro Studios; and the president of the Lee Lash Company, and of the Lee Lash Company, Incorporated. He resides at Mount Vernon, N.Y.” (page 319).

Harry J. Kuckuck, who had joined Lee Lash in 1892, eventually purchased the company by 1926. At that point, the studio name was changed to H. J. Kuckkuck’s Lee Lash Studio. It remained in operation for another twenty years, until the time of his death in 1945. A sign with that name was once attached to the Hershey Theatre fire curtain’s controlling mechanism and is now part of the Hershey Story Museum on Chocolate Avenue (Here is the link to the artifact: https://hersheystory.pastperfectonline.com/webobject/06263EA9-4F35-41C2-A565-438659853932).

Sign noting curtain installation by Kuckuck’s Lee Lash Studios. This once hung in the Hershey Theatre

Lee Lash retired after the stock market crash in 1929, but he continued to do fine art pieces. In 1935 he exhibited his paintings for a one-man show in New York. There are many Lee Lash artifacts, dating from 1912-1941, in the New York Public Library Archives & Manuscripts.http://archives.nypl.org/the/22147

Here is the overview for the NYPL Lee Lash Studio Designs collection: 11 boxes (ca. 381 drawings); 2 boxes (ca. 180 photographs). The collection is held in the Billy Rose Theatre Division and contains original designs for curtains, drops, olio curtains, nightclubs, set designs, parts of set models, and photographs of designs by Lee Lash Studios. Most designs are color on paper or board and are unidentified, although many are numbered. Identified set designs include the play “Bet Your Life” by Fritz Blocki and Willie Howard (John Golden Theatre, 1937), and designs for the motion picture “Everybody’s Girl” (ca. 1918).

To be continued…

Tales from a Scenic Artist and Scholar. Part 578: The Tale of Lee Lash and the Tivoli Advertising Curtain

Part 578: The Tale of Lee Lash and the Tivoli Advertising Curtain

For the next few posts, I will look at the life of Lee Lash and the origin of the advertising curtain. It is being included at this point in Thomas G. Moses’ story because in 1908 and 1909 some areas of the country were calling for the removal of advertising curtains. The origin of the American advertising curtain is an interesting tale, often crediting Lee Lash with the idea. This story even is included in the Cambridge Guide to American Theatre.

Here a brief summary of the tale: When Lee Lash was a young painter and working on an olio curtain in San Francisco, he conceived of the idea of incorporating the names of advertisers in natural places within a street scene (rather than the customary practice of painting the names in “patchwork style”). His idea worked so well that he founded Lee Lash Studios, soon expanding its operations to serve theaters across the country. Now, much could be said about the actual composition of Lee Lash’s curtain versus the supposed “patchwork quilt” one too. First of all, advertising curtains were around long before Lash.

There is a second version of the story, however; one that is told by William H. Chambliss in his memoirs. Chambliss blames Lash for stealing the advertising curtains idea from Charles D. Smith. I am starting with Chambliss’ version of events as they are a “first hand” account, and it is a far more entertaining tale. This is a novel length post today, but certainly worth it!

Chambliss’ story was part of “Chambliss’ Diary: Or, Society As It Really Is, 1895.” His account was fully illustrated with over fifty copper-plate half-tones and photo engravings, including twenty-five society pictures by Laura E. Foster. His account is available online as part of “California as I Saw It: First-Person Narratives of California’s Early Years, 1849-1900.”

Although it is very long, here is Chambliss’ account. It is really worth reading:

“I undertook to start a new line of advertising here, and made arrangements with the late Mr. Kreling to put an advertising curtain in the Tivoli Opera House; but a bum artist named Lee Lash, a member of the Bohemian Club, and a supposed friend, whom I employed to make a sample sketch of the Tivoli drop curtain to show the merchants how the signs were to be placed on it, appropriated the contract and the idea, together with sixty dollars in cash.

With the assistance of his father, and his brother Sam, and their attorney, Edward Lande of 405 California Street, Lee Lash developed the curtain scheme on the stolen idea. He made a good deal of money out of it, so I am told.

“I employed “Lawyer” W. M. Cannon to enjoin the Lashes from using the ideas, and have Lee arrested for obtaining money under false pretenses; but the shyster compromised with the knaves for the sixty dollars which Lee got from me. The shyster then charged me half of the amount for giving Lash a 336 receipt that left him in undisputable possession of the business.

This lesson taught me to steer clear of the society of sheenies and shysters. Creations like the Lashes, claiming to be Jews, are well calculated to get honest Jews a bad name.

“The chapter of the Lash history with which I am personally acquainted affords such a true picture of the real character of the particular class to which he belongs that it would be an injustice to my readers to omit a brief mention of it. I see no reason in the world why I should not give it to my readers; I certainly paid for it, and paid dearly, too.

“I met Mr. Lee Lash through some mutual acquaintances in January, 1891. I shall not give the names of those mutual acquaintances, for I esteem them very highly. They have expressed to me their regrets for ever having known Mr. Lash at all. At the time of my first chance meeting with Lash, I was an officer of the City of Peking, and Mr. Lash was introduced to me as the “talented young artist.” He had a studio in the back yard of his father’s house upon Post Street, but subsequently he moved out and set up in “business” in a little cottage at 2309 Bush Street, near Steiner, and right close to a big Catholic church.

“In April, 1892, while I was confined to my room at the Palace Hotel from the effects of a bullet of lead which Dr. McNutt had extracted from my right leg, some lady friends of mine called upon me one day, bringing Lee Lash along to carry some flowers which they had picked for me. Mr. Lash, in the kindness of his heart, called again. About this time, while waiting for my wounded leg to get well, Mr. Charles Duryea Smith of New York called in to talk over the proposition of going into business in San Francisco, mentioning the advertising business.

“Mr. Smith proposed to put advertisements on theater drop curtains, a scheme which was well known to everybody in New York and Paris. Mr. Smith said that if I would go into business with him he would secure a contract with Mr. Kreling to advertise on the Tivoli drop curtain. He went off and made arrangements with Kreling to that effect, and, while I was not enthused with his wild ideas of vast wealth to be made in that line, I agreed to go in with him as soon as I got well enough to walk out. The young man seemed highly pleased with the prospects, and left me on the evening of April 19 in high spirits.

“That night there was a violent earthquake which shook San Francisco from cellar to garret. The shocks kept coming at intervals for three days, and I think they shook my poor friend Smith’s mind all to pieces, for he came in to see me on the morning after the first shock, looking like a ghost. “My God, William,” said the poor boy, “do you have those things very often? If so, I will—” He did not finish his sentence, for just then a rumbling sound, like an approaching freight train, caught his ear. “Great Heavens, it’s another earthquake!” said he. In a second the giant caravansary began to rock and groan; windows rattled, doors flew open, and it looked for a few seconds as if we were going into the bowels of the earth. General T. B. Bunting of Santa Cruz and Mr. M. G. Coward, now of the Chicago Times-Herald, were in my room at the time, and they will remember this circumstance: “Good-by, gentlemen,” said Mr. Smith, “I am going to leave this rocky, shaky city.” So saying, he left the room, and hurried away to his own apartments.

The next day the bell boy handed me a note reading as follows:

PALACE HOTEL, Thursday, April 21, 1892.

MY DEAR WILLIAM: I am going home to-night. Would have gone last night, but could not secure a sleeper. Will drop in later to tell you good-by. If you wish to develop the curtain scheme go ahead and do so; I must get out of San Francisco. Sincerely yours, (Signed) CHAS. D. SMITH.

“I waited in hopes of seeing Mr. Smith before he left. I expected him to call, but he never came. The next day, Friday, April 22, my young friend William O. Warnock, a nephew of Mrs. Adam Forepaugh, of circus fame, called at the Palace and took me out for a drive, to give me a little fresh air. We drove down toward San Bruno and called on some young lady friends of ours living out in the country, the Misses Nellie and Kate Dowling. Miss Nellie ran down to the front gate to meet us.

“Just then a boy came along crying out: “Extra Report, all about the suicide!” Miss Nellie got a copy of the Report, and read: “Suicide at the Palace Hotel. Charles D. Smith ends his earthly troubles. Failing to hear from New York relatives, and becoming completely stranded, he puts a bullet in his heart.” The Report went on to explain that the poor fellow was dunned for a week’s board bill by Cashier Charles Clark of the hotel, and that having not the necessary funds with which to pay, had ended his life rather than ask anyone to help him out. Had he known Mr. Clark as well as I do, he would not have bothered his head about the propriety of asking that gentleman for a little time, or even a small loan. Mr. Clark is a very obliging cashier. I have had favors from him myself, which I am happy to mention in order to clear this good man of the awful charge of having driven a guest of his hotel to suicide.

*Illustration of Charles D. Smith and his tragic suicide.*

*Article on the Charles D. Smith’s suicide from the “San Francisco Examiner,” 23 April 1892, page 3*

“Subsequently I learned something more about poor Smith. He was the son of a wealthy New Yorker, who, like a great many other unjust fathers, as well as would-be adopted fathers,—like Captain R. R. Searle,—threw barriers in the way of the young man’s matrimonial inclinations. This sad case of young Smith, and other similar cases, justify the assertion that I made in the New York Herald, March 17, 1895: The parent or guardian who prevents a grown son or daughter from marrying is a worse enemy to society than a murderer, for he murders the spirit of the Goddess of Love, the highest redeeming spirit in mankind.

“It was on the next morning after the news of Smith’s suicide that Lee Lash called. During the discussion of the unfortunate affair I called Lash’s attention to the fact that it was strange that Smith should have considered himself hopelessly stranded when he had such a good money-making scheme under way. I also mentioned to Mr. Lash the fact that I intended to let Smith have some money with which to develop his scheme. At the same time I handed Lash Mr. Smith’s letter. Lash read the letter and then asked me all about the scheme. I told him the facts. In a minute Lash forgot all about the pathetic side of the story,—the suicide of the promoter of the scheme,—and began talking about my going ahead with it where Smith “left off.”

“Why! see here, my dear friend, Smith has willed you his scheme,” said Lash. “I am an artist,” continued Mr. Lash, “and I can paint the signs on the curtain; but you must remember that I am in a position which I cannot risk by going into trade. Sign painting is trade, you know, and I am an artist. But, since you are a friend of mine, I will do this work for you.” Mr. Lash seemed so enthusiastic, and was so persistent, that finally I told him to go ahead and make me a sketch of the Tivoli drop curtain, so that I could show it to the merchants. I gave Lash an idea of how many signs there should be, and also how big the sketch should be. “Good,” said Mr. Lash, “I will have it ready for you in twenty-four hours.” So saying he took his departure, after having explained to me that he was “hard up,” and did not propose to let his pride drive him to suicide, as in Smith’s case. “Would you let a man kill himself for a few paltry dollars?” asked Mr. Lash. “All that I want is ten dollars.” He got him the ten, and went his way rejoicing.*

*I did not know at the time that Lee Lash was the same “artist” who begged permission to paint a picture of the “Old People’s Home,” and subsequently tried to make that charitable institution pay two thousand dollars for his worthless daub.

“Mr. Lash did not complete the sketch in twenty-four hours, nor in a week. He kept running down to the Palace to tell me about some cigar signs or soap advertisements that he had seen on curtains in the demi-monde resorts of Paris where he had studied high art. I humored him in his nonsense, and told him to get me some sort of sketch finished, and improve it later. William Warnock asked me one day what Lash was doing around my room so much, and why he was in such a confidential mood with me all the time. I told Mr. Warnock the circumstances, and was somewhat surprised at his saying that he would bet me a French dinner that Lash was playing me some trick or other. I took the bet, and subsequently paid for the dinner.

“While keeping me waiting for the sketch, Mr. Lash went quietly to Mr. Kreling and, representing himself as the rightful owner of the scheme, secured a new contract with that man on his own behalf. The Mr. Lash wrote to his father, who was in some fake wine business in New Whatcom, Washington State, to hurry down to San Francisco and bring Sam Lash, the younger brother, with him.

“On the 10th of May Lee Lash made a demand on me to pay him $50 for the sketch, which was still unfinished. (An honest sign painter would have made the sketch in a few hours for $2.50, frame and all.) Mr. Lash then came right out and told me that if I did not wish to pay so much for the sketch, I could let him have a half interest in the enterprise. The talented artist subsequently assured me that if I did not care to accept either proposition, he would start an opposition business. Seeing that I had confided my “inherited” ideas to a false friend, having investigated the scheme and having found that there was money in it, I paid “the talented artist” $50 more, making $60 in all, and took the sketch, still only half finished.

“In the meantime old Isador Lash and Sam had arrived in the city. I took the $2.50 sketch, which had cost me $60, to Taber, the photographer, to have a copy made of it to send to Washington to have copyrighted. But the three Lashes, old man Isador, Lee, and Sam, got their heads together at the office of Edward Lande, an “attorney” of the Lash tribe, and together they went up to Mr. Taber and raised such a piteous howl about my having the sketch photographed, telling Mr. Taber that it was theirs, that the gullible old photographer gave the sketch to the little petty larceny Shylocks, who proceeded immediately to develop the business with the money that old Lash had made out of several well planned “failures” in trade. *

* New York, June 6, 1895. The subjects of the above biography are carrying on the drop curtain advertising enterprise in this city. Their office is at No. 25 West 30th Street. They have an office in Diamond Street, Philadelphia, also. They call it the “Lee Lash Company,” or the “Lee Lash Studios,” or some such Oscar Wilde name. I can recommend the “firm” from personal knowledge.

“After Sam Lash had secured some orders for advertisements, he and the old man and Lee opened up business in the old Merchants’ Exchange building, and called it the “Art Advertising Co.”

“The “talented young artist” abandoned his fastidious idea that an artist should not soil his artistic hands in vulgar trade, such as painting drop curtains. He of the artistic “tastes” (I don’t mean Oscar Wilde’s tastes) even got up on a scaffold to add some finishing touches to a bicycle “ad.”

“The artistic scaffold fell down and almost killed him. I am told that this accident crippled him in such a peculiar way as to constitute an impediment to matrimonial felicity. But of that I know nothing, never having studied surgery of that kind further than the lecture contained in Deuteronomy xxiii.

“The notoriety that I got through the papers over this affair brought me before the public in such a way that a great many other “business” men with schemes and ideas offered to let me go into partnership with them and invest various sums of money, which they assured me would “double in a little while.”

Giving credit to Chambliss’ account, the “San Francisco Examiner” reported that a letter was found in Smith’s belongings after his suicide stating, “Smith wrote that he had at last ‘found the road to fortune.’ But what the road was he failed to state” (23 April 1892. Page 3). It was the advertising curtain that Lee Lash would greatly benefit from. At one time, Lee Lash was reported as having advertising curtains in 1700 American theatres that brought him in more than $250,000 during the hey day of vaudeville – and that was just an annual curtain (Star-Gazette, 4 March, 1973, page 7). It really was the “road to fortune” that Charles D. Smith envisioned at the age of 32. Smith was from New York.

To be continued…

Here is the link to Chambliss’ tale: https://cdn.loc.gov//service/gdc/calbk/108.pdf

Tales from a Scenic Artist and Scholar. Part 286 – Grace Wishaar and Lee Lash

Image of Grace N. Wishaar published with an article in 1903 that appeared in numerous papers throughout the country.

The rise of Grace Wishaar as a scenic artist has many fascinating twists and turns that brings her from coast to coast and back again. However, her career as an artist began at the San José Art School. Interestingly, her first drawing instructor there would later rise to fame as a scenic artist in New York – Lee Lash (1864-1935). The Lee Lash Studio was founded in 1891 and continued operations until approximately the mid-1940s.

Lee Lash Studio Advertisement in Julius Cahn’s Official Theatrical Guid in 1902-1903.

Thomas G. Moses working at the Lee Lash Studio (holding lining stick). Clipping from his scrapbook at the Harry Ransom Center, UT Austin.

When the Wishaar family left California for Washington, she continued with her artistic studies. In 1894 she completed her first scene painting project. The Washington Standard heralded her success, reporting, “Seattle has a young lady scenic painter, in Miss Grace Wishaar. A new drop curtain, at Cordray’s which is universally admired, is from her brush” (30 Nov. 1894, page 2). Wishaar was eighteen years old when she painted the Cordray drop curtain.

Five years later, she ventured east to continue her artistic training at the William M. Chase School of Art and continue her scenic art career in New York. One of the first individuals that she sought out was her first instructor – Lee Lash. However, Lash he was not supportive of his former pupil entering the field of scenic art. A 1903 interview with Wishaar reported that he “coolly turned her down” and said that “scene painting was no work for a woman; that her sex would make her unwelcome among the workmen, and that women were too ‘finicky’ for work that demands broad effects” (San Francisco Call, October 13, 1904, page 6).

Painting with signature by Lee Lash, nd.

It was after the rejection of Lash and many other scenic artists that Frank D. Dodge gave her a chance.

I cannot imagine what Wishaar was subjected to as she went from shop to shop, looking for work. I read her story and start to feel slightly nauseous as I wonder when the glass ceiling will break and at what point women will achieve equality. Here we are 118 years later and many of us are still encountering horrific prejudice because of our gender. A 1903 newspaper article written by Marilla Weaver provides a small glimpse into the extreme hardships encountered by Wishaar while searching for work in New York. Weaver reported, “There was success for her, but not till after a struggle so hard and bitter that it ought to make American men bow their heads and a dull red flush of shame dye their cheeks when they remember the mothers that gave them life. It was the old struggle against sex prejudice. Here was this slender, gifted, graceful girl, a skillful scenic artist, a stranger, away from her parents, seeking honorable employment at work she could do as well as the best. Men who should have welcomed her turned from her with ominous muttering and black scowls. Sex jealousy!”

Scenic artists active in New York at the turn of the century included Ernest Albert (1857-1946), Charles Basing (1865-1933), Wilfred Buckland (1866-1946), Joseph Clare, Homer F. Emens (1862-1930), Frank E. Gates, George Gros (1859-1930), J.M. and T.M. Hewlett, Lee Lash, H. Robert Law (1880-1925), St. John Lewis, W.H. Lippincott, John Mazzonovich, P. J. MacDonold. L. A. Morange (1865-1955), Thomas G. Moses (1856-1934), Joseph Physioc (1866-1951), Hugh Logan Reid, Edward G. Unitt, Charles G. Witham, Joseph Wickes, and John H. Young (1858-1944). Fortunately, Wishaar’s drive and talent caused her to excel in a world primarily dominated by men. Wishaar became so successful that she soon went into business for herself. I do wonder if she left the studio because of her male co-workers. It could have been that it was far easier to work alone than suffer the animosity and daily heckles of your male colleagues.

What I find the most fascinating is Wishaar’s versatility, painting both miniatures and scenery. She spanned the entire artistic spectrum!

An article in 1904 reported “Miss Wishaar’s talent sweeps over a wide range. Not only is she adept with a broad brush and tricky “distemper” of the scene painter, but she is even more skillful with the tiny “camel’s hair” and oil of the miniature artist.” In the article, Wishaar was quoted saying, “I love my work. It is progressive, there is room for originality, and results are quick. I do wish you would say something about the medium I use. People generally think that scenery is painted with a whitewash brush and that some kind of wash is used. But the distemper with which I work is an opaque watercolor. It is delightfully effective, but plays some tricks sometimes on those unfamiliar with its vagaries. The first trick it played on me was with a garden drop. I fairly reveled in the delicious greens that paled and deepened under my brush, but when it dried! I wish you could have seen it.” Wishaar was noted as laughing heartily when she remembered the “dull picture” into which her work had faded.

In an earlier article, she commented, “Distemper is a really beautiful medium. You can produce such fine effects with it! But it’s very tricky unless you know just how to handle it.” This article appeared throughout the country: the Topeka State Journal (May 25, 1903, page 8), the Racine Journal-Times (Wisconsin, 27 July 1903, page 7), the Wilkes-Barre Record (Pennsylvania, 7 May 1903, page 2), the Wichita Daily Eagle (Kansas, 3 May 1903, page 22), the Richmond Item (Indiana, 2 May 1903, page 10), the Marion Star (Ohio, 2 May 1903, page 10), the Decatur Herald (Illinois, 14 June 1903, page 19), the Lincoln Star (Nebraska, 5 May 1903, page 9), and many others publications that are not digitally available to date.

Wishaar was able to overcome many gender barriers and still rise to the top of her profession in a relatively short period of time during the early twentieth century. But wait, there’s more!

Image of Grace N. Wishaar painting scenery in 1904.

To be continued…