Waszut-Barrett Travels – Page 9

Tales from a Scenic Artist and Scholar. The Fourteen Scenery Collections at the Tabor Opera House in Leadville, Colorado, 1879-1902.

For the past year, I have slowly plugged along on the Tabor Opera House scenery project. In addition to two site visits, I tracked down a massive amount of information pertaining to the individuals and scenic studios that produced scenery for the Tabor Opera House in Leadville, Colorado, and the Tabor Grand Opera House in Denver, Colorado. Both were built by silver magnate Horace Tabor in 1879 and 1881, respectively. The story of the Tabor Opera House is intertwined with the success of a boom town, a passionate love triangle, and the establishment of the Silver Circuit. Tabor and his opera houses have repeatedly been the topic for both fictional and non-fictional accounts, even inspiring the 1932 movie “Silver Dollar.” Tabor’s second wife was the famed beauty featured in the 1958 opera by Douglas Moore and John Latouche, “The Ballad of Baby Doe”(http://usopera.com/operas/ballad.html).

The Tabor Opera House in Leadville was planned by someone who did not understand theatre architecture nor the basic logistics. Horace Tabor was simply a patron of the arts with money to burn. Although his opera house opened in November 1879, the auditorium and stage were renovated by August 1882; the acoustics and stage machinery were an abysmal failure. There were more structural changes for the building two decades later when the building was purchased by Leadville’s Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks (B.P.O.E.). Tabor lost his fortune in the early 1890s, and the building changed hands before the Elks purchased it in 1901.

*The Tabor Opera House in Leadville, c. 1879-1882*

*The Elks Opera House (renovated Tabor Opera House) after 1902*.

By the way, the founder of the Elks (actor Charles Vivian) died in Leadville and his funeral was held at the Tabor Opera House.

When the Elks acquired the Tabor Opera House (then known as the Weston Opera House), they completely renovated the auditorium and stage. Part of the renovation included adding a fly loft and purchasing all new scenery from the Kansas City Scenic Co. The Kansas City Scenic Co. subcontracted some of their project to the Sosman & Landis Scene Painting Studio of Chicago. Sosman & Landis delivered at least two of the interior settings and a ceiling panel.

Between 1879 and 1902 new scenery was delivered multiple times as the venue transitioned from a wing-and-shutter scenery to a fly drops, box sets and folding wings. Scenic artists included decorative artist James E. Lamphere (C. A. Treat, Denver), T. Frank Cox (well-known theater architect and founder of Cox Bros. Great Southern Studio, New Orleans) and Henry E. Burcky (well-known scenic artist of Hooley’s Theatre in Chicago and the 1881 Cincinnati Opera Festival).

*Signature and date on back of tree profile by Frank Cox, 1888.*

*Moving painted shutters by T. Frank Cox.*

When the nineteenth-century scenery was replaced with new scenery in 1902, the old scenery was simply stored in the attic. Over the years a few pieces were lowered to the floor, but it was an arduous task to transfer it from the attic to the stage floor, so much remained untouched. Until 2020, much of the scenery remained stacked along one attic wall, patiently waiting under piles of dust and debris.

*Piles of nineteenth-century scenery were once stored in the attic of the Tabor Opera House. Photograph from June 19, 2018.*

I was hired in 2020 to document and evaluate the Tabor Opera House scenery collections. My task was to conduct a historical analysis of the collection, evaluate the condition of individual artifacts, provide replacement estimates, and create a collections care management program. At the time, I believed there were about 50 pieces on the stage and about 30 pieces in the attic. I was very, very wrong, and grossly underestimated the amount. I could not never have anticipated the size or scope of the collections. The sheer numbers surprised everyone.

*A small section of flats stacked against the back wall of the Tabor Opera House in Leadville, Colorado.*

To date, the documented stage artifacts comprise fourteen unique theatre collections, spanning from 1879-1902. There are over 250 individually painted compositions, as many pieces are double-painted. Nineteenth-century scenery once stored in the attic was designed for a wing-and-shutter system. The twentieth-century scenery was designed for a more modern stage with a fly loft. I have never encountered so much scenery delivered to one place, specifically one small opera house in the mountains. Even when the scenery was damaged over the years, it wasn’t discarded. We uncovered dozens of painted scraps and little broken bits, just tucked away, out of sight, out of mind.

*The packed stage before all of the attic scenery was lowered to the stage floor.*

I have completed two of three phases, as there are still piles of undocumented scenery scattered throughout the building, stored above attic rafters and elsewhere. The first phase of the project (February 2020) focused on the twentieth-century scenery and the second phase (September 2020) focused on the nineteenth-century scenery in the attic. The third phase will happen sometime this year and include a “rounding up” of the remaining artifacts. They just keep popping up all over the place.

The historical analysis of the fourteen Tabor Opera House collections is 440 pages long. I wrote the text in a conversational format to help communicate information to both the Board of Directors and architects. I included fun facts and stories for moments of levity, sharing the lives and careers of the many individuals involved with the stage from 1879-1902. I wanted these artifacts to personally impact those without a thorough understanding of technical theatre or theatre history. The title of my tome is “A Theatre Time Capsule: Scenic Collections at the Tabor Opera House.” My work places the collections and each artifact within a historical context, both nationally and internationally. This 440-page document does not include the individual conditions reports, replacement appraisals, recommendations or collections care program. That was a whole separate headache. When everything is put together, my work is just shy of 1300 pages. I am dreading making a hard copy of everything next month.

*A stray piece documented in the Tabor Opera House attic, June 2018.*

*That same stage artifact cleaned and lo*wered to the stage floor in September 2020.

*Nineteenth-century stage setting delivered to the Tabor Opera House.*

*Twentieth-century scene delivered to the Tabor Opera House.*

The scope of the collection is the broadest that I have ever encountered, not just in regard to the scenery, but also in regard to stage hardware. Yes, there is water damage, punctures, abrasions, poor repairs, alterations and the like, but much of the scenery is between 119 and 142 years old, so with that in mind, the scenery is in remarkable shape and all salvageable.

I will keep you posted once third final phase is complete.

Please consider making a donation to the Tabor Opera House. Here is alink to their website: https://www.taboroperahouse.net/

Travels of a Scenic Artist and Scholar: The Chicago Lyric Opera Collection in DeKalb, Illinois

Update: The building that housed this collection was sold without the University disclosing the contents. The fate of these historic stage artifacts remain unknown at this time.

Examples of historic scenic art from the Scenery Collection stored in the Arts Annex of the College of Visual and Performing Arts at Northern Illinois University. The Scenic Collection includes elements from the settings of 90 operas, with approximately 900 backdrops and borders and more than 2200 framed scenic units. The stage settings illustrate an exceptional range of production styles between 1889 and 1932. In addition to the scenery there are 3 dimensional units including furniture and properties. Furthermore, the collection is supported by an extraordinary archive of production notebooks, property lists, inventories, expense records, performance time sheets, correspondence, original photographs of the sets, selected costumes, and opera stars of the period, ground plans and blueprints, painters elevations and renderings, original costume and set design drawings, and 120 exquisitely painted and detailed ¼” scale maquettes of the settings.

Unfortunately, some of the scenery has been damaged since initial documentation. The roof leaks and flooding is a problem due to non-working sump pumps.

Travels of a Scenic Artist and Scholar: The Chicago Lyric Opera Collection in DeKalb, Illinois

Update: The building that housed this collection was sold without the University disclosing the contents. The fate of these historic stage artifacts remain unknown at this time.

Examples of historic scenic art from the Scenery Collection stored in the Arts Annex of the College of Visual and Performing Arts at Northern Illinois University.

The Scenic Collection includes elements from the settings of 90 operas, with approximately 900 backdrops and borders and more than 2200 framed scenic units. The stage settings illustrate an exceptional range of production styles between 1889 and 1932. In addition to the scenery there are 3 dimensional units including furniture and properties. Furthermore, the collection is supported by an extraordinary archive of production notebooks, property lists, inventories, expense records, performance time sheets, correspondence, original photographs of the sets, selected costumes, and opera stars of the period, ground plans and blueprints, painters elevations and renderings, original costume and set design drawings, and 120 exquisitely painted and detailed ¼” scale maquettes of the settings.

Unfortunately, some of the scenery has been damaged since initial documentation. The roof leaks and flooding is a problem due to non-working sump pumps.

Travels of a Scenic Artist and Scholar: The Chicago Lyric Opera Collection in DeKalb, Illinois

Update: The building that housed this collection was sold without the University disclosing the contents. The fate of these historic stage artifacts remain unknown at this time.

Examples of historic scenic art from the Scenery Collection stored in the Arts Annex of the College of Visual and Performing Arts at Northern Illinois University.

*Scenery Collection stored in the Arts Annex of the College of Visual and Performing Arts at Northern Illinois University.*

*From the Scenery Collection stored in the Arts Annex of the College of Visual and Performing Arts at Northern Illinois University.*

Travels of a Scenic Artist & Scholar: The Chicago Lyric Opera Collection at USITT, 1989

Update: The building that housed this collection was sold without the University disclosing the contents. The fate of these historic stage artifacts remain unknown at this time.

We all experience those unique moments in life that fuel our artistic passions. We may be 18 or 80, but that moment is unforgettable and guides our path. At the University of Minnesota, I went from performance to painting in the blink of an eye. Historic scenery brought focus to my chaotic aspirations.

I first attended USITT as an undergraduate in 1989. That year the conference was held in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. The USITT Expo floor contained a potpourri of historic scenery and models that had been recently acquired by the School of Theatre and Dance at Northern Illinois University. This was during the same time that Lance Brockman was acquiring several historic design collections for the University of Minnesota, including the Twin City Scenic Co. collection, the Great Western Stage Equipment Co. Collection and Holak Collection.

*Painted detail* *from the Scenery Collection at USITT in 1989.*

The scenery on display at USITT was a very small sample of a much larger collection that was documented by Alexander F. Adducci in the 1980s. He painstakingly photographed each artifact with a crew of students and produced an exceptional slide collection. The slides were initially used as a teaching resource. Adducci was listed as the curator for “A Collection of Late 19th and Early 20th Century Scenic Art, Containing 3100 Color Images, Documenting a Rich Period of American and European Scene Painting and Opera Design.” The slide collections sold by the University of Northern Illinois were purchased by a variety of academic institutions and archives throughout the country in the late twentieth-century. Many of the slides now sit in their archival sleeves, carefully protected and often inaccessible. They remain untouched. Here is the link to the slide collection at the University of Minnesota: https://archives.lib.umn.edu/repositories/9/resources/1907

This collection ignited my own spark, a spark that continued to be kindled by dry pigment and barrels of size water. At the time, I did not truly understand the historical or cultural significance of the collection, only seeing the beauty of the brushwork. It is only now that I recognize the international significance of this collection. As the slide inventory states,”Housed in the Arts Annex of the College of Visual and Performing Arts at Northern Illinois University, the Scenic Collection includes elements from the settings of 90 operas, with approximately 900 backdrops and borders and more than 2200 framed scenic units. These sets illustrate an exceptional range of production styles between 1889 and 1932, reflecting the influence of Realism, Romanticism, Impressionism, Modernism and Art Nouveau in scene painting. In addition to the scenery there are 3 dimensional units including furniture and properties. Furthermore, the collection is supported by an extraordinary archive of production notebooks, property lists, inventories, expense records, performance time sheets, correspondence, original photographs of the sets, selected costumes, and opera stars of the period, ground plans and blue prints, painters elevations and renderings, original costume and set design drawings, and 120 exquisitely painted and detailed ¼” scale maquettes of the settings.”

*Backdrop from the Scenery Collection at USITT in 1989.*

*Backdrop detail from the Scenery Collection at USITT in 1989.*

*From the Scenery Collection at USITT in 1989.*

In an odd twist of fate, the Scenery Collection popped back onto my radar a few years ago while attending another USITT conference in Fort Lauderdale. I have since reacquainted myself with the collection as its future is in peril.I am going to start sharing images of these extraordinary artifacts, now housed in a leaking warehouse with an uncertain future. Although these precious pieces have been quarantined for quite some time, they deserve another moment under the spotlights. I will be working with Dave Doherty, and we will bring every nook and cranny of this collection to you online. Here are a few photos from when the scenery was featured at USITT in 1989.

To be continued…

Travels of a Scenic Artist and Scholar: Salina, Kansas

In 1927, 117 drops were moved from the Scottish Rite Theatre in McAlester, Oklahoma, to the Scottish Rite Theatre in Salina, Kansas. The collection dates from 1908, originally delivered by the Sosman & Landis Scene Painting Studio of Chicago. Thomas G. Moses (1856-1934) supervised the design and painting of the collection.