The Portland daily press., 1886-09-01
Maine Water Gas Co.

The Maine Water Gas Company has
shown during the past week that their
method of lighting is great success. Inc
illustration of this fact is shown IN the IL
Elimination of Greenwood Garden opera
House, at Peaks Island, to which we nave
previously referred. 1t is well known that
the Opera House is a structure Of consldera-
BILE pretension; that being summer theatre
the doors are frequently open in the even
ing, land there are number OF persons
standing in the further lobby, as well as ON
the ground outside the house, while every
seat is packed to the walls With the usual
gasslighting objects ON the stage would nee
essarily be more or less indiStinct to the
most remote spectators. With the new
water gas, during the past week, the stage
has seemed as brilliant as if lighted by cleo
tricity, and, under all the above conditions,
there has been no difficulty in seeing per-
fectly all that was going on on the stage. 1t
may be asked, by questioners, what was the
distance from the stage to the farthest-oH
member of the audience, and how many
lights were required to produce this brilliant
illumination. This is a question easily
the farthest spectator was over one hun
bred feet, and only twenty-five gas jets were
employed. These jets are contained in four
proscenium lights and ten footlights, but
these thirty-six burners produced richness
of light and power of illumination, such as
we have already described As to the stage
itself, with the accompanying dressing
rooms, the actors have felt as if they Occur
pied quarters superior, as far as lighting is
concerned, to the majority of the best thea
tres in the country. Everyone knows how
these parts of a summer theatre are gener
ally Illuminated. A few kerosene lamps
scattered about only serve to make dark
ness visible, and fail to show off the stage
effects that are so necessary to proper rep
resentation of spectacle or light opera with
their elegant costumes and their scenic dis
plays, in which fairy dells, and the horrors
of Hades are to be exhibited. But at Green
wood Garden Opera House the sixteen Dor
der lights, in addition to the footlights, inn
press one with the idea, from the results they
produce, that the spectator is sitting in the
Bijou, Boston, lighted with the ineandes-
cent lights, for every feature of the stage is
uIOuSub Out III UOlu I0lltl. LII oil tuoI0 DIX
sixty-four lights in the theatre. Mr. Knowl-
ton is delighted with the success achieved
and he is determined that in the future he
never will be without the Maine Water
Gas Company's lights. 1t will be of great
interest to the patrons of Greenwood Gar
den Opera House to know that Mr.. Knowl-
ton is going to make great improvements in
the theatre the coming season. One thing
he has determined upon that will prove not
only great addition TO the house, but also
have an important bearing on its interior
adornment, is the hanging of large centre
gaselier of twenty-five lights. With the
gaselier, and the changes he proposes in the
arrangements of some of the stage lights, he
will have summer theatre that will press
hard the best establishments of the kind
anywhere on the coast of New England, and
it is well known that there are several of
these theatres that are unsurpassed by any
of the kind in the country. These results it
can plainly be seen will be due to the adj
mirable light of the Maine Water Gas Com
pany. We may add, ia connection with
these remarks upon the excellence of the
companys lights, that the Goodwin Gas
Stove Company of Philadelphia, New York,
Chicago and Boston have used, and do use,
the same water gas employed by the Maine
Water Gas Company, as the fuel for their
stoves and have gained not only great rep
ntation for their stoves thereby, but find it
both more economical and agreeable than
any other.