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The Palace Theatre in Fort Wayne, Indiana.

In 1914, Thomas G. Moses wrote, “Went to Fort Wayne to Fort Wayne to see Frank Stouder on the scenery for the new Palace Theatre.” Frank E. Stouder is an interesting character in his own right; having over two decades of theatre management experience by the time he met Moses that year. In 1914, Stouder was planning the Palace Theatre, by listed as the manager for the Masonic Temple and Temple Theater (Fort Wayne News, 6 April 1914, page 1).

There was a Masonic Temple and Temple Theatre in Fort Wayne, built in 1881.

The Scottish Rite Theatre was located just down the street from the Palace Theatre in Fort Wayne. I was built in 1909.

The 1909 Scottish Rite Theatre in Fort Wayne, Indiana.

The Temple Theatre was at the corner of Clinton and Wayne streets, having been built in 1881. Stouder first became in involved with the Masonic Temple and Theatre as their acting manger in 1886 (Fort Wayne Daily Gazette, 28 April 1886, page 5). By 1889, he was also listed as the venue’s treasurer (Fort Wayne Sentinel, 30 May 1889, page 4). Stouder managed the venue for over a decade, booking successful acts to perform in Fort Wayne.

Stouder was also a well known performer and baritone, singing in many musical concerts at the Temple Theatre and throughout Fort Wayne. When booking acts in 1902, newspapers reported, “Stouder found time to devote attention to his vocal music in New York and took a lesson every day of Signor Carbone, a baritone of the Metropolitan Opera Co.” (The Fort Wayne Journal-Gazette, 11 July 1902, page 1). Stouder was a member of multiple social clubs and participated in a variety of public performances where he was praised for his musical contributions. His success as a manager, however, drove his career, and by 1906, he also managed a summer venue – the Robinson Park Theatre (Daily News-Democrat, Huntington, Indiana, 22 March 1906, page 1).

It is not surprising that Stouder was the instigator for the Palace Theatre. Partnering with Byron H. Barnett, they both become the owners and managers of the venue, with each being known for their theatrical experience. The Palace Theatre was built to feature B. F. Keith attractions, as they toured the country. It was a sizable venue with a seating capacity of 2,000, (1,700 on the main floor and balcony and 300 in loges and boxes).

Ground for the Palace Theatre was broken on May 26, 1914, with an anticipated Thanksgiving Day opening. Changes and unanticipated delays pushed the opening a little later, but the wait was worth it. Newspapers promised the Palace Theatre would be “not only the finest theatre in Indiana, but the finest in the middle west and one that could not be destroyed by fire, even if a torch were applied and no effort made to stop the progress on a blaze that might ensue” (Fort Wayne Sentinel, 31 Oct. 1914, page 9). Supposedly, there was no wood in the building, except the casings around the doors and the wood stage floor, even the staircases were made out of metal.

An article of the Palace Theatre, advertised as a “Fire-proof building.” From the “Fort Wayne Sentinel,” 31 Oct 1914, page 9.

Detail of the Palace Theatre under construction from the “Fort Wayne Sentinel,” 31 Oct 1914, page 9.

C. W. and George Rapp, two Chicago architects who specialized in theatre buildings at the time, designed the theatre. There was an emphasis on fire safety, and newspapers reported that the structure was “absolutely fireproof,” being built of reinforced steel roof trusses weighing eight tons each. There were thirty inches of exit space for each 100 people, ensuring the evacuation of the auditorium in two minutes. The article continued, “The stage roof is supported on I-beams and is of the same material as the auditorium covering. One-third of the entire area of the stage roof is left in the form of ventilators. Why? Suppose for instance that a careless performer in direct violation of the laws of the state and the rules of the house should throw a lighted match, cigar stub or cigarette into some combustible material and set fire to the stage floor, the properties and the scenery. This ventilation in the roof would cause the flames and smoke to shoot upward and none of it would reach the auditorium. The management will have installed an asbestos curtain of the very latest and best material and in the twinkling of an eye.”

But wait, there’s more beside the asbestos curtain!

There was also a “Run Down Water Curtain.” The “Fort Wayne Sentinel” described, “Without moving more than a couple feet [the stage manager] will be able to ring down a water curtain. What is a water curtain? Why it is nothing more than a succession of tiny water streams of water flowing from a big pipe above the opening. When the valve is opened the water starts flowing and renders it impossible for the flames to break though.” (31 Oct 1914, page 9).

Finally, newspapers described the new scenery by Sosman & Landis scenery. The “Fort Wayne Sentinel” noted, “Even the scenery is to be fireproof. This does not mean that it will not burn, but it does mean that it will not blaze. Why? Because when the canvas on which it is painted is first put on the stretchers it is given a thin coating of fluid that is warranted not to blaze and this means exceedingly slow combustion and little danger. This fire-proofing is required in the specifications. No oils are used in the painting as all scenery is done with watercolors and this removes another element of danger.”

To be continued…

In 1912, Thomas mentioned three projects at Sosman & Landis, writing, “A nice little order from Charlotte, N. Car., Minnie Palmer, two shows, full stock for the Empress Theatre, Fort Wayne.”

Postcard with bird’s eye view of Fort Wayne, ca. 1912.

The Empress Theatre was located at the intersection of Wayne and Clinton streets in Fort Wayne. In addition to an auditorium and stage, the building included gentlemen smoking rooms, ladies rest rooms, and a nursery. Of the Sosman & Landis installation, local newspapers described fire prevention measures.

Postcard depicting Fort Wayne, Indiana, ca. 1912.

On March 8, 1913, the “Fort Wayne Journal-Gazette” reported, “The stage is fitted with the finest scenery that has ever been brought to Fort Wayne. The curtain arrangement is also something new to Fort Wayne. Two asbestos curtains will be used with a water curtain in the center, which makes the matter of a fire upon the stage the next thing to an impossibility. The curtain will be raised and lowered automatically, sliding through a metal groove which also makes it an impossibility for fire, if there should be one to get through the curtain and out into the auditorium.” (page 7).

Previously, “Fort Wayne Journal-Gazette” reported, “In matter of exits, the Empress will boast pf being one of the safest theaters in the middle west. Constructed almost entirely of concrete and steel, it is practically fireproof and being equipped with sixteen exits, open on all four sides, the place can be emptied in less than three minutes” (February 23, 1913page 15). The industry was still reeling from the Iroquois Theatre fire, with new theaters now citing how quickly an auditorium could be evacuated. Fort Wayne residents had also witnessed the Aveline Hotel Fire of 1908, a devastating tragedy for the town. The Empress Theater’s opening drew many men prominent in vaudeville to be in attendance.

Although Sosman & Landis completed the scenery in 1912, the official opening of the Empress Theatre was on March 9, 1913. With a seating capacity of almost 1300, advertisements promised, “every modern convenience known to theatre building.” The theater’s policy was three performances every day, with five hundred “choice seats” being available for ten cents. Matinees started at 2:30 and were followed by two evening shows at 7:30 and 9:00 P.M. Girls were used as ushers for the evening performances and on Sunday. For matinees, patrons were expected to seat themselves.

The opening billing included Lew Field’s “Fun in a Boarding House” as the headliner. The stage setting for the show included the section of a house, six rooms in all. Fields, of the firm Weber & Fields, was engaged to produce “fun” acts exclusively for the Sullivan & Considine theaters nationwide.

Scene from “Fun in a Boarding House,” from the “Fort Wayne Journal Gazette,” 2 March, page 25

In addition to the headliner, there were four other acts and two reels of famous “Kinemacolor pictures” as part of the new vaudeville theater’s program. The Kinemacolor pictures were changed twice weekly – on Sunday when the entire bill was changed – and on Thursday (Fort Wayne Daily News, 10 March 1913, page 8).The May 8, 1913, “Fort Wayne Journal-Gazette” article reported, “Kinemacolor pictures will also be shown, which is something new in the motion picture art in Fort Wayne. The Empress controls the sole right to these pictures in the city, therefore they will be shown at no other place in Fort Wayne. The pictures are educational in a way and also amusing.”

An advertisement in the “Fort-Wayne Journal-Gazette” stated, “The Empress theatre has instituted the new and marvelous Kinemacolor moving picture machine, which reproduces on the screen the same colors and shades that are present when the picture is taken. The colors are true to nature in every respect, and, although the system of mechanism is carried out in a very complicated manner, yet the color scheme is most simple, entirely like the doctored and painted films of the black and white machines. A filter wheel, divided in four parts, two of which are filled with a red filter and the other two parts with green filter, forms the foundation and basis of the new system, The great, yet simple, law of nature , that all colors of the rainbow can be made from three colors – red, yellow, and blue- is taken advantage of, and two colors, yellow and blue are so blended in the filter as to produce the shade of green desired. The film is sensitized so that the darker colors are shows through the green filter and then lighter shades are projected through the red filter, thus making a segregation of colors that are true to nature. The method of producing such a high degree sensitiveness on the film is the same as the other methods of film making ways, only a picture for the Kinemacolor machine must be taken out in pure sunlight, whose rays alone are strong enough to produce the desired sensitiveness on the negative. The red and green filter wheel is placed in front of the negative when the picture is taken and the rays passing through the filter form a color value on the film. Then when the film is put into the machine, a high-powered Arclight throws its strong rays through the filter onto the film and out through the lens, forming a segregation of colors that exactly reproduce the picture. The machine utilizes three times as much candle power as the black and white machines, and, being run by a one-horsepower electric motor shows forty pictures in a second, while the other machines, most of which are run by hand, project and average of sixteen pictures per second. The inventor of the machine is an American, Charles Urban who has resided in England for the past fifteen years. The machine has been in England for the last six years, but only in America for three years. It has been largely accepted by all the large theatres of the east, and its success is due to its value. The machine is merely leased to the companies, and the Empress is the only one in the city at present that will use it “(8 March 1913, page 7).

Category: Water Curtain

Tales from a Scenic Artist and Scholar. Part 871 – Fire-proof Scenery at the Palace Theater, Fort Wayne, Indiana, 1914

Tales from a Scenic Artist and Scholar. Part 822 – Empress Theatre, Fort Wayne, 1912